North American Division News Page 2

26 Aug

Amid Increased Racial Tensions, NAD Issues Statement Calling Members to Serve as Conduits of Peace

In

Columbia, Maryland … Racial tensions in the United States have been raised even further after the recent shooting of 29-year old Jacob Blake, a black man, by police officers in Wisconsin. This event, like countless others, has amplified the voices of Black Americans and others as they cry out seeking justice for the acts of violence perpetrated against their community.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America hears their voices and calls upon our churches and members to serve as conduits of peace and hope to our Black brothers and sisters. We recognize their pain and the injustice they face, and strive to serve as their voices when they are silenced by those seeking to quiet them. Let us call for changes in the way the Black community is treated by those put in positions of trust and protection.

When acts of racism and violence hurt the Black community, all of us are impacted. As God’s children we can and must do better in the way we equitably treat each other. Jesus Christ proclaimed, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matt. 12:25, NKJV).

–North American Division Department of Communication; photo by pixabay

19 Aug

NAD Executive Committee Recommends Name for New Division Secretary

In

Columbia, Maryland … The Executive Committee of the North American Division (NAD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted on August 18, 2020, to recommend the name of Kyoshin Ahn for the position of NAD executive secretary. Ahn’s name was presented to the executive committee by the nominating committee, which met on Aug. 17. G. Alexander Bryant, officially voted in to the position of NAD president on July 9, 2020, chaired both committees.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, the General Conference Executive Committee will meet to vote the name recommended by the NAD Executive Committee. The NAD executive secretary, along with the two other NAD officer positions of president and treasurer, are voted by the General Conference Executive Committee and then assigned to work for the North American Division.

The division’s nominating committee is termed a standing committee appointed by the NAD Executive Committee in 2015. The nominating committee has recommended the names of individuals to the executive committee for vote during the past five years in order to fill division vacancies.

Kyoshin Ahn is currently serving as undersecretary for the NAD, a position he’s held since February 2016. He also served the division as an associate secretary from 2013 to 2016.

Before coming to the division, Ahn served almost eight years as executive secretary for the Illinois Conference.

Ahn began his pastoral ministry in 1995 in the Potomac Conference, and served there until 2001. He was then president of the Korean Churches Association in North America from June 2001 to October 2005.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Sahmyook University in Korea, followed by a Master of Divinity from Andrews University Theological Seminary in Michigan, U.S., and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity from Vanderbilt University.

**This article was originally published on the North American Division website.

07 Jul

NAD Executive Committee Recommends Name for New Division President

In

Columbia, Maryland . . .The Executive Committee of the North American Division (NAD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted on July 7, 2020, to recommend the name of G. Alexander Bryant for the position of NAD president. Bryant’s name was presented to the executive committee by the nominating committee, which met on July 6. The General Conference (GC) Executive Committee will meet virtually on July 9 to receive the recommendation and elect the new NAD president.

The division’s nominating committee is termed a standing committee appointed by the NAD Executive Committee in 2015. The nominating committee has recommended the names of individuals to the executive committee for vote during the past five years in order to fill division vacancies.

Glenward Alexander (“Alex”) Bryant has most recently served as both executive secretary of the NAD and associate secretary of the GC, a position he’s held since October 2008. Before coming to the division, Bryant served as the president of the Central States Conference in Kansas City, Kansas, for 11 years.

Bryant graduated with a dual major in Theology and Business Administration from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) in 1982.

He began his ministry that same year in Springfield, Missouri, and Coffeyville and Independence, Kansas. In 1986, Bryant was ordained, and he continued his education by earning a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University in 1988. The Central States Conference voted Bryant to serve as Youth/Pathfinders/National Service Organization director, Temperance director, and superintendent of Education in 1990; and he became president in 1997. In 2011, Bryant earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.

–This article originally was published on the NAD website; photo by Rajmund Dabrowski

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