Ohio native George Papageorgiou, Metropolitan Spyridon of Italy, became head of the newly created Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on July 29. He succeeds Archbishop Iakovos, who resigned, effective on his eighty-fifth birthday, as leader of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America for 37 years. Spyridon, 51, will oversee the 1.9 million-member church in the United States. New jurisdictions have also been established in Toronto, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires.

Roberta Hestenes, who in 1987 became the first woman to head a U.S. evangelical liberal arts college, has resigned as president of Eastern College in Saint Davids, Pennsylvania, effective October 15. Hestenes, 57, an ordained Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister, will become senior pastor of the 2,200-member Solana Beach (Calif.) Presbyterian Church.

Garry E. Hill, 46, is the new chief executive officer of the New York-based Faith & Values Channel (F&V), replacing Nelson Price, who resigned after six years. Hill had been executive vice president and general manager of Z Music Television. In addition, F&V, formerly known as VISN, will change its name September 29 to Odyssey. Hill indicated the explicit F&V designation deterred some advertisers, while Odyssey will be "attractive to the broadest audience possible."

EMI Christian Music Group has purchased ForeFront Communications Group, contemporary Christian music's top independent label, which includes artists dc Talk. It is EMI's third recent Christian music buyout, following Sparrow Corporation in 1992 and Star Song Communications in 1994.

Dallas evangelist W. V. Grant, Jr., 50, was sentenced in federal court July 22 to 16 months in prison and fined $30,000 for evading taxes on $375,842 in income ...