|
|||
AGRM History: Directors of the International Union of Gospel Missions |
|
Various efforts have been employed to make the ministry of rescue effective through the IUGM. One of the earliest was the appointment of Peter Quartel, Dayton, Ohio, as Field Secretary. Quartel's efforts bore fruit, but for varying reasons, he was forced to discontinue his services. Others who undertook the responsibility were I. L. Eldridge, J. Arthur Schlicter, E. R. MacKinney and Harry H. Hadley. In 1948, Reverend Chauncey Berman was hired as full-time Field Secretary and served one full year. In the mid 1950's the Executive Committee was empowered to select a man who was to be known as the Executive Secretary. This person would maintain an office that would promote rescue missions and the IUGM on an international scale. He would be employed on behalf of the total membership of the IUGM, and work directly under a committee known as the Executive Secretary's Committee, in full cooperation with the Executive Committee. (A name change in 1983 from "Executive Committee" to "Board of Trustees" was made.) The first man called to serve as Executive Secretary was Reverend Ernest Tippett, who was called in 1957. He had served as Treasurer of the IUGM. Mr. Tippett served five years, maintaining the International Office in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Winona Lake, Indiana. Upon his resignation in 1962, the Reverend Clifton E. Gregory, a former president of the IUGM, served on an interim basis while continuing to direct the City Mission, Cleveland, Ohio. In 1964 Reverend James. B. Moellendick was employed to fill the position. He established, on a temporary basis, offices in Parkersburg, West Virginia. In 1966 Mr. Moellendick directed the move of the IUGM headquarters to Kansas City, Missouri, where space was provided by the City Union Mission in that city. After five years of faithful service, during which time great progress was made, Mr. Moellendick resigned. A man with fifteen years experience in Rescue Mission ministries, the Reverend Emile Leger, was called to be the Executive Secretary in May, 1970. Under his leadership the IUGM purchased and moved into a permanent headquarters building in June, 1971. Mr. Leger, whose main efforts had been in the area of gaining dignity and stature for the office, and unifying the membership into substantial support for the IUGM, resigned the Executive Secretary's position on August 1, l974. At the 1974 convention in Los Angeles, California, the delegates appointed Reverend William L. Wooley as Executive Secretary. Mr. Wooley had served as Superintendent of The Anchorage, Albany, Georgia and as President of the Southeastern District of the IUGM and Secretary-Treasurer of the IUGM. At the 1984 convention in Huntsville, Alabama, Lloyd Olson from Campus Crusade for Christ was commissioned to do a study of the rescue mission movement and to make recommendations relating to the future of rescue ministry and the IUGM. This report, titled "New Perspective", outlined a number of historic changes including the restructuring of the office of Executive Secretary (which became Executive Director in 1986), a new track concept, new membership system, and a new constitution and by-laws. The new concepts were adopted in Seattle (1985) and constitution and by-law changes in Houston (1986). An organization better able to serve the local ministries, committed to expansion, education, training, and public awareness was the outcome. Today, five tracks (Urban Youth Ministry, Development, Christian Addiction Rehabilitation Association, the Employment and Training Track, and Women and Family Ministry) are serving those in specialized ministries. On August 1, 1989, Reverend Stephen E. Burger, Executive Director of the Union Gospel Mission, Seattle, Washington and immediate past president, succeeded Reverend William Wooley, who was named Executive Director Emeritus. |