A List
6/30/03

SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER APPOINTED AT ST. LAWRENCE

CANTON – St. Lawrence University Chaplain Kathleen Buckley has announced 
that the Reverend Desmond Hoffmeister will join the University community 
for a two-year appointment in the chaplain's office, beginning July 1. His 
primary responsibility will be to lead the Progressive Multi-Racial 
Christian Worship Service that meets at 5 p.m. each Sunday, but he will 
participate in other campus programs and classes as well.
      Rev. Hoffmeister is a native of Capetown, South Africa, and dedicated 
the first years of his career to the liberation movement in that country. 
He has spent the past four years in the United States, as the as the Drexler 
Scholar-in-Residence at the American Baptist Seminary in Berkeley, 
California. He holds a licentiate in theology from the Baptist Theological 
College of Southern Africa and a Master of Divinity degree from the American 
Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley.
      The first church Rev. Hoffmeister led as pastor was the Ennerdale 
Baptist Church, located in a typical "township" for blacks, near 
Johannesburg. During this time, he took up the struggles of that community 
and his ministry was characterized by addressing the inequities and dire 
economic, social, political and spiritual needs of its people. He played 
a significant role in peace-making and the establishment of infrastructure 
and programs to assist the poor. In 1998, he started the first black-led 
inner-city Baptist church in Johannesburg, the Bethany Baptist Church, 
which includes members from South Africa as well as many other African 
countries.
      In his capacity as former general secretary of the Baptist Convention, 
Rev. Hoffmeister served on the South African Church Leaders Forum and was 
part of the founding of the National Religious Leaders Forum. He also 
serves on the Leadership Commission of the Baptist World Alliance, and 
has delivered several papers and participated in events associated with 
the Alliance. 

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