GCSDA
Corruption #82
World Church: First Woman Vice President, Regional Presidents Voted In
St.
Louis, Missouri, United States .... [Victor
Hulbert/Braden
Blyde/ANN]
-------------------------------------------------------
In
a historic vote, delegates to the 58th General Conference Session of
the
Seventh-day Adventist Church elected veteran educator Dr. Ella
Simmons as a
general vice president of the church. This is the first
time a woman has been
elected to this position and is an attempt by the
world church to make the
leadership more inclusive.
Until recently, Dr. Simmons was provost and
vice president for Academic
Administration at La Sierra University in
Riverside, California, United
States. As part of the 10-member leadership
team -- world church
President Jan Paulsen and nine vice presidents -- it is
expected
Simmons will bring her skills in education and as an administrator
to
the job.
Delegates responded very positively to the election of
Simmons. Zeljko
Porobija of Croatia stated, "I think it is a very, very good
thing. As
a matter of principle we should see more women in
office."
Owen Lloyd Bryar Gayle, a delegate from Inter-America, agreed.
"It is
wonderful to give females a part in church leadership."
Anton
Van Wyke from the church's South Pacific region believes "It is
a
breakthrough for our church in its standings with world
organizations,
and it will lead us from strength to strength in our
mission."
It took a long day in session before the nominating committee
presented
its third report at 4:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon, recommending names
for
the nine vice presidents as well as the presidents of the 13
divisions
around the world.
While six current vice presidents were
returned to office, the three
new officers demonstrate the emphasis on the
church for both diversity
and evangelism.
Also newly elected is
Pardon Kandanga Mwansa, currently president of
the Southern Africa-Indian
Ocean church region, who brings a wealth of
experience to the world church
leadership, having served in the
Euro-Africa church region prior to his
current position.
The third new vice president is popular Adventist
evangelist Mark
Finley, currently director of Global Evangelism at the world
church
headquarters and speaker/director emeritus of the It Is
Written
television program. Emphasizing the need to raise the profile
of
evangelism both in head office and worldwide, Paulsen took time
to
emphasize that Finley "is so saturated in evangelism that it is
the
center of his life." Finley's new position is not a change of job
so
much as recognition of the importance of evangelism to the church,
he
said.
Six incumbents were returned to other general vice
presidential
offices: Lowell C. Cooper, King-Yi Eugene Hsu, Gerry D. Karst,
Armando
Miranda, Michael L. Ryan and Ted N. C. Wilson.
Paulsen also
paid tribute to outgoing vice president Harold Baptiste.
Having faithfully
served the church for many years, he indicated his
desire to retire at this
business session.
In the same report the presidents of 13 world church
regions were
elected. There were no surprises, with the only change being in
the
Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division where, due to the election
of
Mwansa as a world church vice president, Pastor Paul S.
Ratsara,
current secretary of the region, was unanimously elected as
president.
The returned regional Adventist church presidents are:
Geoffrey G.
Mbwana, East-Central Africa; Ulrich W. Frikart, Euro-Africa;
Artur A.
Stele, Euro-Asia; Israel Leito, Inter-America; Don C. Schneider,
North
America; Jairyong Lee, Northern Asia-Pacific; Ruy H. Nagel,
South
America; Laurie J. Evans, South Pacific; D. Ronald Watts,
Southern
Asia; Alberto C. Gulfan Jr., Southern Asia-Pacific; Bertil
A.
Wiklander, Trans-European Division, and Luka T. Daniel,
West-Central
Africa.
-Copyright © 2005, Adventist News
Network
(For a complete list of elected church officials
please see
http://news.adventist.org/)
