Died • Allen Finley, longtime leader of Partners International, on October 30 in North Carolina. He was 76. Finley guided the mission agency as executive director from 1960 to 1976, then as president/ceo until 1987, while Partners worked more closely with indigenous ministries.

Selected • Lee Young-hoon, as pastor of Seoul's Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest in the world. Founder Cho Yong-gi will apprentice Lee, 52, for two years before handing over leadership in 2009. Lee currently pastors the church's Los Angeles affiliate congregation.

Resigned • Charles Colson, as chairman of the board of Prison Fellowship usa. Colson, 75, will remain on the board. Prison Fellowship International board chairman Michael Timmis will take the helm of the domestic ministry.

Assassinated • Pierre Gemayel, a Cabinet minister and Christian leader in Lebanon, on November 21 in Beirut. Gemayel prominently opposed Syria's influence.

Dropped • Vietnam, from the U.S. State Department's list of Countries of Particular Concern (cpc) with regard to religious freedom. Ambassador John Hanford explained that Vietnam has expanded religious freedom in the two years since they landed on the cpc list. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had recommended that Vietnam remain a cpc. Chairwoman Felice Gaer said that the "designation of Vietnam has been a positive incentive for engagement on religious freedom concerns. Lifting the designation removes that incentive." The State Department added Uzbekistan to the list this year for crackdowns on conservative Muslims with no ties to terrorists.

Installed • Katharine Jefferts Schori, as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church (usa) on November 4 in Washington, D.C. ...