Four new members have been elected to the board of directors for Baptist News Global, an independent national nonprofit news service.
Joining the board are Kevin Pranoto of Little Rock, Ark.; Susan Shaw of Corvallis, Ore.; Sid Smith III of San Francisco; and Carol Younger of Brooklyn, N.Y.
They join 17 other BNG board members. A separate board, known as Associated Baptist Press Foundation, manages the endowment assets that help fund BNG’s operation. The two boards are related but have different memberships.
Kevin Pranoto
Pranoto serves as associate pastor of social work at Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark. Prior to his work there, he was executive director of Mission Oak Cliff at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas. Kevin previously worked for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and continues to be active in CBF life, serving on the Clergy Sexual Misconduct Task Force and Global Missions Transition Team.
Susan Shaw
Shaw serves as professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Oregon State University. She holds a master of arts and Ph.D. from Southern Seminary, and she is an ordained Baptist minister who now makes her church home in the United Church of Christ. She has been a columnist for BNG since November 2018.
Sid Smith III
Smith serves as a music ministry consultant in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area. A member of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, he has served as worship pastor in Southern Baptist, National Baptist, and Evangelical Covenant churches in California, New York and Florida.
Carol Younger
Younger is a veteran writer and editor who serves as editor of “Reflections” for the Smyth and Helwys NextSunday Resources product line. She has taught adjunctively at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., where her husband, BNG columnist Brett Younger, serves as pastor of the historic Plymouth Church.
“We are thrilled with the increased geographic diversity these new members bring to our board,” said BNG Executive Director Mark Wingfield. “And we are thrilled with the increased number of denominational connections represented on our board with these and other recent additions. I like to say that Baptist News Global isn’t just for Baptists anymore.”
The BNG board currently is chaired by Chris Caldwell of Louisville, Ky., with Larry Brumley of Macon, Ga., serving as vice chair. Mike Clingenpeel of Richmond, Va., is board treasurer, and Mike Parnell of Raleigh, N.C., is board secretary.
Other BNG board members include Austin Almaguer of Vienna, Va.; Janice Anderson of Houston; Otniel Bunaciu of Bucharest, Romania; Kelly Burkhart of Fairfield, Texas; Ken Cox of Louisville, Ky.; Harriet Harral of Fort Worth, Texas; Danette Kong of Kula, Hawaii; Craig Martin of Richmond, Va.; Kyle Reese of Jacksonville, Fla.; Mark Sanders of Athens, Ga.; Erica Whitaker of Louisville, Ky.; Bill Wilson of Clemons, N.C.; and Aidsand Wright-Riggins of Collegeville, Pa.