Appointed • Tullian Tchividjian, 36-year-old grandson of Billy Graham, as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The congregation will merge with Tchividjian's New City Church. Tchividjian succeeds D. James Kennedy, who died in September 2007.

Died • Robert J. Marshall, the Lutheran leader who helped merge three denominations in 1987 to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, on December 22. He was 90.

Died • Louis McBurney, founder of Marble Retreat, a Christian counseling center that treated thousands of pastors, on January 20 in Carbondale, Colorado, after a series of strokes. He was 70.

Died • Willa Mae Dorsey, gospel music pioneer and niece of Thomas A. Dorsey, on January 5 in Portland, Oregon. She was 75 and had been singing professionally since age 19.

Appointed • Steven Johnson, as president of Latin America Mission, a Miami, Florida-based missions agency. Johnson, 55, was previously senior pastor of Cypress Community Church in Salinas, California, and has missionary experience in Argentina.



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