- Baptist Press - https://www.baptistpress.com -

Glorieta’s Wendell Newman dies; was lifetime achievement honoree

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GLORIETA, N.M. (BP)–Wendell Newman, recently retired manager of events planning at LifeWay Glorieta (N.M.) Conference Center, died Sunday, April 1. A graveside service is scheduled April 5 at Resthaven Cemetery in Lubbock, Texas, with a victory celebration following on April 6 at Glorieta’s Holcomb Auditorium.

Newman, 61, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year, began medical retirement from LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention on March 1.

Early in his ministry, Newman worked in youth and recreation staff positions at Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas; Severns Valley Baptist Church, Elizabethtown, Ky.; and First Baptist Church, Tyler, Texas, before becoming field services coordinator in church recreation for the Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources) of the Southern Baptist Convention.

He left LifeWay in 1989 to become minister of education at First Baptist Church, Pompano Beach, Fla., and later was associate pastor and program administrator for Manley Baptist Church, Morristown, Tenn.

He returned to LifeWay in 1998 as manager of events planning at Glorieta. On Feb. 28, his last official day on the conference center staff, Newman received the Frank Hart (Pogo) Smith Recreation Ministry Lifetime Achievement Award during Rec Lab. Smith, a longtime LifeWay employee in the church recreation department, died in 1995.

A native of Brownfield, Texas, Newman earned the B.S. degree from Texas Tech in Lubbock and the M.R.E. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth.

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His wife, Mike, of Glorieta; a daughter, Kelly Kirkpatrick of Nashville, Tenn.; and a son, Jonathan, of Jupiter, Fla., survive him.

Correspondence may be sent to Mike Newman at P.O. Box 8, Glorieta, N.M., 87535.
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: WENDELL NEWMAN.