08047
January 18, 2008

Three new mission workers appointed

Appointees begin new assignments after January orientation

by Pat Cole
Communications Associate

LOUISVILLE — Three new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission workers completed orientation this month and have begun their international assignments.

Carol Dolezal-Ng is a development associate for interpretation and support for the Near East School of Theology (NEST) in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded by the PC(USA) in the 19th century, NEST trains ministers for Protestant churches in the Middle East and Africa.

The school is now under the auspices of four Protestant denominations in the Middle East, but continues to maintain close ties with the PC(USA).

From her home base in Berkeley, CA, Dolezal-Ng assists the president of NEST in interpreting the school’s mission and strengthening its support in the United States and around the world.

Carol Dolezal-Ng

Dolezal-Ng has worked in communications and marketing for corporations and has lent her talent to several church and other non-profit entities as a volunteer. She was an elder commissioner to the 216th General Assembly (2004).

Dolezal-Ng holds a B.A. degree in English and writing from the University of Iowa and has done graduate study in public relations at Golden Gate University. She is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Oakland, CA. She and her husband, the Rev. Bill Ng, an honorably retired Presbyterian minister, are parents of 9-year-old twins, Grace and Jeremy. Bill Ng is the manager of Berkley Presbyterian Mission Homes, a ministry that serves mission personnel on interpretation assignment and international students.

Dolezal-Ng’s position has been funded through gifts to the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, a five-year campaign that is seeking funds for domestic church growth and new international mission positions.

Kristin Hamner is a partnership facilitator serving in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She works closely with the PC(USA)’s Self-Development of People program and the economically poor, oppressed and disadvantaged groups with whom it partners in the Dominican Republic.

Kristin Hamner

Hamner has worked in the Dominican Republic as a missionary and assistant project coordinator for the Foundation for Peace since 2005. She will continue those duties as she assumes her new responsibilities with the PC(USA). She holds a bachelor’s degree in youth and family ministry from Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, NE.
 
Hamner is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Grand Island, NE.

Elizabeth Toland is a U.S. coordinator with Presbyterian Border Ministry, a joint mission of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico and the PC(USA).

Based in Nogales, AZ, and Nogales, Mexico, Toland facilitates the work of short-term mission teams from U.S. congregations and supports the ministry of local Presbyterian congregations. Toland’s ministry site, Companeros en Mision, is one of seven sites that comprise Presbyterian Border Ministry.

Elizabeth Toland

Through the border ministry, Presbyterians from the United States and Mexico collaborate in ministries of evangelism, new church development, community health and development, and mission education.

Toland served with the Presbyterian Border Ministry as a PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer in 2006-2007. She also has been a program manager for the Student Recreation Fitness Center at the University of Kansas, where she earned a B.A. degree in education.