Waldo Penner

After Penner's ordination in 1945,^[7] he volunteered for missionary service in India and stayed on in the country for more than 35 years.

In 1958 when A. B. Masilamani stepped down as Principal of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, the Seminary Council appointed Waldo Penner to take on the Principalship of the Seminary. It was during this period that ecumenical conversations were building up for the formation of a unified Seminary in the state of Andhra Pradesh (Telangana included). Penner, together with his companion, A. B. Masilamani^[12] were in the forefront^[12] of the ecumenical conversations leading to the formation of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Rajahmundry in 1964 together with the Anglicans, Congregationalists, Lutherans, the Methodists and the Wesleyans.

On the formation of the ecumenical seminary in 1964 in Rajahmundry, Penner relocated from Kakinada to Rajahmundry^[13] and joined the faculty of the newly formed ecumenical seminary and taught Systematic theology till 1971-1972 when the college shifted in its entirety to Hyderabad in Telangana. Meanwhile, the Seminary Council appointed Victor Hahn in place of Waldo Penner at the Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada. As for his companion, A. B. Masilamani, he had already moved to the Bible Society of India Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary, and like Penner was ministering in an ecumenical setting.

When the 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone struck the coast of Krishna district along the Bay of Bengal, thousands of lives were lost. As part of the relief and rebuilding efforts, the Canadian Baptist Ministries also lent its hand and its work was supervised^[14] by Waldo Penner.

In 1982,^[1] the McMaster University, Hamilton conferred upon^[1] Penner the degree of Doctor of Divinity by honoris causa.^[1]