Former isle minister to lead Baptist Convention
A Southern Baptist minister with more than 25 years of service in Hawaii will return next month to take the position of executive director and treasurer of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention.The Rev. Veryl F. Henderson was elected by the convention's executive board to lead the organization of 117 Baptist congregations with about 20,000 members here. He will succeed the Rev. O.W. Efurd, who has retired.
Henderson, 60, has been in Colorado since 1995 as state director of the Colorado Baptist General Convention's church planting division. Prior to that, he was state director of missions for the Hawaii convention for 12 years. He and his wife, Cheryl, first came to Hawaii in 1969 after pastoral assignments in Colorado and Texas. He held pastoral assignments in several Maui churches. As state director of resort missions, Henderson began Bible study in hotels and coffee shops and a Christian sunset cruise as an alternative tourist attraction.
The veteran missionary told the executive board that he considers leadership training for lay leaders with ministry skills to be a priority in his new assignment.
Talk explores violence committed in the name of religion
Violence committed in the name of religion will be explored at a roundtable discussion Wednesday at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.The free program, "Religions, Religious Fundamentalism and Domestic Terrorism," will start at 7 p.m. at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Auditorium. It will be the first of two sessions offered by the University of Hawaii Outreach College. Speakers will include Keli'i Akina, Hawaii Youth for Christ director and chairman of the Jesus Hawaii Project; Rabbi Avi Magid, of Temple Emanu-El; and Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Hawaii Muslim Association.
Also on the panel will be University of Hawaii professors Tamara Albertini, an expert on Islam and Semitic languages, and Ibrahim Aoude, who specializes in Middle East politics and Hawaii political economy and social movements.
A second symposium, "World Religions, World Peace: Finding Common Ground," will be presented at 7 p.m. June 4. Cromwell Crawford, chairman of the UH religion department, will moderate a panel featuring representatives of various community faith organizations.
20 churches sponsor event at Castle High
An evening of free family entertainment and community prayer will be presented at a Wednesday rally sponsored by 20 Windward Christian churches.Kapena and Seven Easy Pieces will perform at the "Ho'ike o ka Haku," which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Castle High's football field.
The event grew out of a prayer network started by the Rev. Calvin Chinen, pastor of Moanalua Gardens Missionary Church, whose son is a Castle student. Participants in the effort have prayed for Castle students, faculty and staff, he said.
About 500 people participated in a March candlelight service at the school, Chinen said.
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