Henry Receives PUBLIC RELATIONS ACCREDITATION E World Eron Henry

ron Henry, associate director of Communica- tions

for the Baptist Alliance, received the

Accreditation in Public Rela- tions (APR) from the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB) in the United States.

Sponsored by the Public

Relations Society of America, APR certification is designed for public

relations professionals with five or more years of

industry experience, and who possess an undergraduate university degree or higher. Accredited professionals need to display knowledge and competence covering key concepts in communications theory, legal issues and professional ethics. It also recognizes practitioners who have mastered the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to develop and deliver strategic communications. The APR designation identifies “those who have demonstrated broad knowledge, experience and professional judgment in the field,” John Forde, 2015 chair of the UAB, told the BWA. It “measures a professional’s knowledge, skills and abilities in the

Baptists Release

FREEDOM AND JUSTICE BOOK

practice of public relations, which includes communication theory, planning, management science and ethics.” Forde emphasized that “professionals using this designation demonstrate to their colleagues, clients and employers their commitment to the strategic and ethical practice of public relations.” The APR is regarded as the gold standard for the profession. There are just over 5,000 accredited professionals worldwide. The US Federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the number of public relations specialists in the US at approximately 230,000. Once granted, the certification is retained for life, contingent on completion of regular continuing education activities and current membership in a UAB member organization. Henry is a member of the UAB-affiliated Religion Communicators Council (RCC). The RCC noted that Henry is one of only 19 RCC members that have received APR credentials and that he was tested “on 60 public relations knowledge, skills and abilities.” Henry has headed the BWA communications portfolio since January 2006. An ordained Baptist minister and graduate of the United Theological College of the West Indies and the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, he earned a master’s in journalism degree from Temple University in Philadelphia in the US.

BOOK NOTES

religious freedom, the environment and poverty, among others.

Authors and presenters are from

Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and North America, including past winners of BWA Human Rights Awards, Lauran Bethell, Glen Stassen and Edgar Palacios. Editors included Raimundo Barreto, former Baptist World Alliance

director

of Freedom and Justice; Ken Sehested, founding director of Baptist Peace Fellowship;

professor at

Engaging the Jubilee: Freedom and Justice Papers of the Baptist World Alliance (2010-2015)

Engaging the Jubilee: Freedom and Justice Papers of the Baptist World Alliance (2010-2015), is now available for purchase.

The volume comprises papers by commission members of the Baptist World Alliance and guest presenters on issues of peace, human trafficking, gender equality,

Luis Rivera-Pagan, Princeton

former Theological

Seminary in the United States; and Paul Hayes, senior pastor of Noank Baptist Church in Connecticut in the United States. BWA General Secretary Neville Callam expressed “sincere appreciation for the faithfulness of Barreto in completing an assignment he began while he was on the BWA staff.”

COPIES OF

ENGAGING THE JUBILEE may be obtained on AMAZON.COM

Faith Bowers, Joe Kapolyo, Israel Olofinjana, (Editors), Encountering London: London Baptists in the 21st Century

This book was released during

London Baptist Association (LBA) 150th anniversary celebrations in 2015. Unlike the book that was produced

in connection with LBA’s centenary, this 298-page book deals thematically with developments over London’s last 50 years, instead of chronologically. In a Foreword to the book, Lynn Green, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain states, “whilst we celebrate all the life, richness, diversity and faith that has been gifted to us in the LBA, particularly in the last 50 years, one look at the figures will make plain the stark reality the we have absolutely no cause for complacency.”

JANUARY/MARCH 2016 29

. . . no cause for

complacency