[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E443-E444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING REVEREND KARL VARTAN AVAKIAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GEORGE RADANOVICH

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2000

  Mr. RADANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Reverend Karl 
Vartan Avakian on his 20th Anniversary of Ordination and his 35th year 
of pastoral ministry. Reverend Avakian serves as the Minister to the 
Union of

[[Page E444]]

the Armenian Evangelical Union on North America (AEUNA), a Fresno-based 
ecclesiastical union of 24 Armenian Protestant churches and mission 
projects in the United States and Canada.
  The Minister to the Union ``is the Pastor, the Spiritual Leader and 
the Chief Executive Officer of the AEUNA. He initiates new policies and 
programs, inspires and guides committees, implements policies and 
decisions of the General Assembly, the Board of Directors, or the 
Executive Committee''.
  Reverend Avakian was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He immigrated to 
Fresno, as a young man, and worked his way through undergraduate school 
and seminary. In 1979 Avakian was ordained a Minister of the Word and 
Sacrament and installed as Senior Pastor of the Armenian Presbyterian 
Church of Paramus, New Jersey. From 1988 to 1990, Avakian served as 
Moderator, or chief presiding officer, of the AEUNA.
  On July 1, 1990, he was installed as Minister to the Union at the 
organization's Tenth Biennial General Assembly in Waltham, 
Massachusetts. He has served as Pastor, Spiritual Leader, and Chief 
Executive Officer of the California-based hemispheric ministry for 
almost a decade. His duties have included liaison assignments with the 
Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Evangelical World 
Council, and Armenian Theological Students' Aid, Inc.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the Reverend Karl Vartan Avakian 
for his commitment to the Church and to the community during the last 
35 years. I urge my colleagues to join me in wishing Reverend Avakian 
many more years of continued success.

                          ____________________