c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The Rev. Don Argue, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), plans to resign his post this spring to become president of Northwest College, an Assemblies of God school in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Wash.

The Rev. Leonard Hofman, NAE chairman, described Argue’s departure as”unexpected but … not forced at all.”Argue said Thursday (Feb. 5) he would leave the NAE shortly before assuming his new position June 1.

Prior to taking the helm of NAE in 1995, Argue, a former Assemblies of God pastor, had been president of North Central Bible College in Minneapolis for 16 years. During his tenure, the school’s enrollment grew from 400 students to more than 1,500.”I just have a real interest in higher education,”said Argue.”That’s where I have been for the last 20-some years other than my service with NAE … I’ve just increasingly felt that I was a bridge to the 21st century (for the NAE) after 28 years by somebody else and I think it will be fine.” Argue, 58, succeeded Billy Melvin, who served as the organization’s chief executive for 28 years. He now will become the fifth president of Northwest College, which has 860 students.

Argue said he will continue to serve on the NAE board and be its liaison to the White House and the U.S. State Department. In 1996, he was appointed a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom.

The evangelical association’s bylaws call for the president to be elected to a four-year term. Hofman said board members had hoped to reappoint Argue.”He was serving well,”Hofman said of Argue.”He had raised the level of visibility of NAE significantly.” Argue helped NAE develop a”Statement of Conscience Concerning Worldwide Religious Persecution”in 1996 that raised awareness about international religious freedom issues. He is scheduled to depart for China on Sunday (Feb. 8) with a delegation of religious leaders who will investigate allegations of religious persecution against Christians and others in that country during a three-week trip.”I think he feels privileged _ and so does NAE _ to have him travel to China to give presence to that concern about not only just human rights but persecution of believers there,”said Hofman.

In national affairs, Argue said he worked as NAE’s president to”depoliticize”the terms”Christian”and”evangelical”_ which he said had been”captured by the religious right.””Christian is not a political term at all and evangelical is not a political term,”he said.”We’ve worked very diligently at that and I think there’s been some success.” He also sought to make his organization more inclusive by fostering greater cooperation between the NAE and the National Black Evangelical Association and encouraging younger members to participate in NAE.

Argue said NAE has not yet done enough to gain young members, something he described as”a disappointment.”But he said it is difficult to involve young members because NAE is primarily affiliated with denominational executives.”By the time a person is elected to a denominational office, most of them are approaching 60 or are in their 60s,”he said.

In addition to his work for inclusiveness within the organization, Argue has worked to build relations outside of the evangelical world. In November 1996, he became the first NAE chief executive to address the general assembly of the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical body of denominations that are generally more theologically liberal than those associated with NAE.

Although”there is no official relationship,”Argue said he feels relations between the two groups have improved.

Hofman said the association may decide who will take over transitional leadership of the NAE by the end of group’s annual meeting scheduled for March 2-4 in Orlando.”Dr. Argue served the causes of evangelical churches well during his tenure as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals,”Hofman said.”He brought energy and commitment to a ministry that spoke in behalf of Christians to public issues, touched people of all ethnic backgrounds and he championed the interests of the churches that are faithful to the word of God.” The NAE membership includes 43,000 congregations, 49 denominations and individual congregations from an additional 27 denominations.

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