Susan Gottshall

If you ask what she enjoys most about her job as associate executive director of Communications, Susan Gottshall will likely tell you, “There is challenge in communicating the work of American Baptist Home Mission Societies [ABHMS] in a way that does it justice, because it represents the ministry and mission of many dedicated American Baptists. It represents God’s work. We are committed to getting the word out to more American Baptists about all the good work that’s done here.”

“My ultimate goal is that every American Baptist across the country has an understanding of the work of American Baptist Home Mission Societies and how that work can be harnessed by congregations and individuals to support and enable the work to which God has called them. Many people don’t realize that our call is ministry just like the ministry of overseas missionaries, but carried out closer to home in the United States and Puerto Rico,” she says.

EDUCATION:

• Master of Journalism, Temple University, Philadelphia
• Bachelor of Arts, English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pa.

EXPERIENCE:

• Director of Communications, Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bethlehem, Pa.
• Director of Public Relations, Phoebe-Devitt Homes (now Phoebe Ministries), affiliated with the United Church of Christ and an eastern Pennsylvania provider of residential and health care services to seniors
• Communications consultant, developing communications and marketing plans for nonprofit organizations
• Freelance writer and magazine researcher
• Adjunct professor, Journalism, Northampton Community College, Bethlehem
• Vice president, Membership, and vice president, Program Development, of Lehigh Valley, Pa., chapter of International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), a professional organization focused on excellence in communication

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Birthday: Jan. 19

HOME MISSION HIGHLIGHTS: 

• Participant, ABHMS-sponsored chaplains and pastoral counselors’ visit to Topeka Correctional Institute, Kansas, June 2013: “Meeting incarcerated women face-to-face really drove home for me the complexities of crime, forgiveness, healing and second chances.”
• Producer, script writer, “A Church Stands By Its People,” video story about ABHMS ministry in World War II internment camps to Japanese Americans, November 2012: “This video became a labor of love as I grew to understand the depth of deprivation and alienation felt by Japanese Americans during this time. It’s such an important story to tell every generation of Americans, so that it never gets repeated.”
• Participant, ABHMS-sponsored American Baptist Women’s Ministries’ mission trip to Alaska, May 2012: “What a grand experience this was, seeing the beauty of God’s magnificent creation, along with the compassionate, caring ministries of Alaskan Children’s Services, Kodiak Baptist Mission and Cordova Community Baptist Church.”