Elizabeth “Liz” Cutler Gates, an experienced journalist with deep roots in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, will join the staff of the Brethren Missionary Herald Company on January 1 as editorial director.
Since 1996 she has been director of communications for the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Her previous experience includes working in communications with the Grace Brethren Church of Columbus, eight years as director of public relations for the Grace Brethren Home Missions Council (now GBNAM), and experience as a newspaper reporter and editor with two publications in the Warsaw, Indiana, area.
In her new position Gates will take primary editorial responsibility for the FGBC World publication to Grace Brethren churches, and will work closely with all additional contract publications and with the general editorial needs of the company and of BMH Books.
Gates and her husband Doug have been members of the Grace Brethren Church of Columbus, where she has been a deaconess and worked with several of the church’s ministries.
Columbus Pastor Jim Custer said, “Liz loves people and finds interest in their stories. She delights to find folks doing something worthwhile, then give their story a larger audience. . . They will leave huge holes in our fellowship, but they are eager to respond to a higher calling and give their lives away in a fresh start in a new community. They are some of the best we have ever released from our ministry here.”
BMH Executive Director Terry White, who was Gates’ journalism professor at Grace College in the 1970s, said, “I’m so delighted that Liz has responded to this opportunity to use her gifts to further the work of the Lord through the Fellowship. Her professional expertise, her background in our fellowship of churches, and her heart for ministry will be a tremendous asset in helping BMH fulfill its mission to build bridges of communication among the people and churches of the Fellowship.”
Gates, originally from the Grace Brethren Church of Wooster, Ohio, was a member of the board of directors of BMH prior to joining the staff.