FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) -- Baptist leaders from around the world are traveling this weekend to Malaysia for an annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance.

More than 300 Baptist leaders and delegates will converge on Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur for a series of meetings July 4-9.

John Upton, executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, also is president of the BWA.

The annual gathering involves meetings of a number of BWA groups. They include the BWA General Council and the Executive Committee, along with sub-committees and divisional advisory committees, women's, men's and youth departments; regional groupings and commissions.
 
One of the first events is a communication training seminar aimed at leaders and communicators from conventions and unions in the Asia/Pacific region and interested delegates. Topics include how-to skills -- such as writing press releases and news stories; producing a newsletter; news and social media; developing a strategic communication plan for conventions and churches and using audio visual media for more effective communication.
 
Forums will highlight Baptist work and witness in the Asia-Pacific region; the recent crisis in Japan following the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leakage from a nuclear plant; and a discussion on the topic, "The Bible and Religious Pluralism."
 
The Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award will be presented to Wati Aier, principal of the Oriental Theological Seminary in Dimapur in Nagaland state in Northeast India. Aier, is convener of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, is being recognized for his efforts over nearly two decades in seeking to broker peace between various Naga factions. The conflicts, which began more than 50 years ago, have led to political instability and more than 2,300 insurgency-related fatalities between 1992 and 2009.
 
Updates of the meetings will be posted on the BWA website at www.bwanet.org, as well as Twitter , Facebook and Flickr.

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