Joel Edwards appointed the first black leader of the Evangelical Alliance

A FORMER PROBATION officer at Holloway Prison and once a member of seminal gospel group Kainos has been appointed the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance. As Joel Edwards (45) from Leyton, East London took up his position he predicted that the 'absolute and unchanging values of the Christian faith' would increasingly bring evangelicals into conflict with society's privatisation of morality.

As the first black leader in the 150 year history of the EA, Joel Edwards said he was 'deeply worried' that racial tension would become one of the biggest social and political challenges facing Britain in the next decade. Joel, who led the African & Caribbean Evangelical Alliance for four years before becoming UK Director of the Evangelical Alliance in 1992 said, "If we look across Britain and the rest of Europe racial tension is on the increase and ethnic identity is an ever more urgent issue."

In the '70s Joel was guitarist with the groundbreaking Kainos group who played Greenbelt and from which emerged Bazil Meade, now the leader of LCGC.

- Journalist Gavin Drake, who was the Assistant Editor of Cross Rhythms from 1992 to 1993 and more recently ran the News-Plus media relations service, has been appointed Communications Officer for Evangelical Alliance, working with the EA's Senior Communications Officer Keith Ewing.