Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 31, 1990                   TAG: 9003310045
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFS

The Rev. Daniel Vestal, one of the announced candidates for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, will speak in two meetings in Southwest Virginia next week.

Vestal, who ran unsuccessfully against the Rev. Jerry Vines for the convention's highest office last year, will be at Main Street Baptist Church in Christiansburg at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. He will be in Roanoke on Wednesday for a 9:30 a.m. meeting at Colonial Avenue Baptist Church.

Vestal, 45, is considered to represent the "moderate" faction of the convention, which will hold its annual meeting June 12-14 in New Orleans. He is the pastor of Dunwoody Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Ecumenical conference

> Spirituality, the relationship of individuals to their creator, will be the theme of the interfaith Roanoke Valley Ministers Conference Monday at 10 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church. A panel of Ruth Reynolds, the Rev. Christine Payden-Travers and Marty Woodward, all leaders of Christian spiritual growth retreats, will tell of plans to start an ecumenical center in Western Virginia.

Mullen Award

Barbara Hurd, student activities supervisor at Virginia Western Community College, has received the second annual P. Emmett Mullen Award for her work in ministry to commuter college students. Hurd has worked with the Community College Ministries Board for six years. The board coordinates religious activities at 10 colleges in Central and Western Virginia.