KAREN LORD, an adviser to the U.S. House of Representatives on religious liberty, died of cancer on January 29. She was 33. Lord served as counsel for freedom of religion on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. “She diligently defended the principle of ‘religious liberty for all’ and became one of the commission’s most trusted advisers on the subject,” Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., said to Congress.
DAVID R. SWANSON, cofounder and former director of Baseball Chapel, died February 11. He was 74. Swanson established weekly chapel services and Bible-study groups with all Major League Baseball and National Football League teams, beginning in 1972. He continued his ministry to athletes until 1995, when he suffered a stroke. Swanson also owned and operated WLIX, a Christian music radio station broadcasting throughout Long Island, New York City, and southern Connecticut.
RON BENEFIEL has been named the new president of Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. Benefiel succeeds GORDON WETMORE, who retired after eight years. Before his election, Benefiel was professor of sociology and religion at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Before joining the faculty at Point Loma, he was pastor at First Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles for 14 years.
Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, has named Interim President PAUL A. RADER as the school’s president. Before coming to Asbury, Rader was the international leader and general of the Salvation Army. He directed the movement’s global operations from its international headquarters in London. Rader is a graduate of Asbury College and served as a member of the college’s Board of Trustees.
CHUCK SWINDOLL, president of Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), has been named chancellor. Mark L. Bailey, provost and vice president for academic affairs, takes Swindoll’s place as president. Bailey came to DTS in 1985 as a professor in the Bible Exposition Department. He has served as senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in DeSoto, Texas, for the past six years. Before teaching at the seminary, he was a Bible professor at Southwestern College and pastor of Palmcroft Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona.
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