Is it inevitable that Ted Wilson will be the next General Conference president? Will another candidate emerge? Here’s one church member’s quest to learn who his next world church president will be.

Note: Given the Adventist Church’s somewhat-closed system of electing a president, we invited pastor and Adventist Today contributing editor David Newman to share his personal search to learn more about the leading candidates. We recognize that different church members look for different attributes in a president, and this article should not be viewed as an Adventist Today endorsement of any candidate.

In less than two years the Seventh-day Adventist Church will, in all likelihood, be electing a new General Conference president. Our current president, Jan Paulsen, will be 75 at the 2010 General Conference Session in Atlanta.

Many observers assume that Ted N.C. Wilson, son of former world church president Neal Wilson, may be next in line for the job. At the last General Conference Session in 2005, where Paulsen was up for re-election, four candidates were presented to the nominating committee for consideration. After the first round of balloting, Jere Patzer and Lowell Cooper dropped out. In the next round, Wilson received 91 votes to Paulsen’s 98 with seven people absent or abstaining. The vote revealed that Wilson had a lot of support from the world field.

Wilson will be 62 by the time of the next session. If elected he would become the fourth-oldest person to be elected president after John Byington, 65, the first president; Paulsen (who in 1999 was elected at age 64 following Robert Folkenberg’s resignation); and W.H. Branson, 63, who served only one term.

In the Adventist system, while a number of names are usually presented to the nominating committee, only one name is placed before the conference delegates to vote yes or no.

Who Will Be the Nominee?
In preparing for this article, I learned that three names surface more often than others in respect to who the next president might be: Lowell Cooper, Pardon Kandanga Mwansa, and Ted N.C. Wilson. All are general vice presidents of the General Conference.

Lowell Cooper would be 63 and Pardon Mwansa would be 49 at the next General Conference session.

In Adventist history, it has been the unwritten rule that the president comes from the United States and has mission experience. Of the 16 men who have served in this position, only two were the exception: C.H. Watson, president in 1930, who was from Australia, and Jan Paulsen, who is from Norway. Every General Conference president has been white.

Ted Wilson comes from the United States, Lowell Cooper from Canada, and Pardon Mwansa from Zambia, Africa. Currently the membership of the Adventist Church in North America is 6.8 percent of the world membership. The membership of the Church in Africa is 33.9 percent of the world membership.

Ted Wilson has spent 13 years working in West Africa and Russia, with four years as president of the Euro- Asia Division. Prior to moving to the General Conference in Silver Spring, Md., Wilson spent four years as president of the Review and Herald Publishing Association in Hagerstown, Md.

I first met Ted Wilson in the early ’70s in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the leader of a group of Andrews University seminary students participating in a field school of evangelism. He had to mediate between the American evangelist and the local pastor, who took their private feuding public in the daily worker sessions. He helped to bring an uneasy peace between the two of them.

He has served twice at the General Conference headquarters, first as an associate secretary, then as a general vice president. My dealings with him have always been very pleasant.

Wanting to get a better feel as to how he operates as a leader, I spoke to some work associates who served with him when he was president of the Review and Herald Publishing Association. Wilson was considered to be a pleasant but somewhat distant personality. Not the kind that people automatically warmed up to. The vice presidents did not seem to love him or hate him. He was considered sincere and earnest and tried to see the best in people. He is very loyal to those who work under him, almost to a fault. He believes very strongly that standing on principle is a must. However, the principles can become very literal at times. He ordered that mustard be removed from the Review cafeteria but not ketchup. (Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White speaks out against mustard but does not mention ketchup.)

Wilson leans toward the more conservative side of the Adventist Church, say those familiar with him. He is an editorial consultant for the Adventist Theological Society, which is considered to be only slightly less conservative than Hartland Institute, 1888 Study Committee, and Our Firm Foundation.

According to those familiar with him, Wilson is a consistent opponent of women’s ordination and also opposes women being ordained as local church elders, even though women serving in that role is an official position of the Adventist Church. He chairs the church board of the Triadelphia Seventhday Adventist Church, to which many General Conference leaders belong, and opposes women serving as elders in that church (none serve).

In preparing for this article, I invited Wilson, Cooper, and Mwansa to meet with me in person or to answer my questions via email. The same questions were provided to each man in an attempt to learn more about their philosophy as Adventist church leaders. Because I personally care very much about women’s involvement in the church, I asked several questions along that line. Other members, of course, would ask different questions. My questions were:

1. What do you see as the three biggest challenges facing the Adventist Church today?

2. What is your position on the role of regional conferences in North America?

3. Where do you stand on the ordination of women to the gospel ministry? The church has officially said “no.” Do you see that changing? Do you think it should?

4. Do you support women being ordained as local elders?

5. The church allows each division to decide whether women may be ordained as local elders in their territory, but when it comes to women being ordained as pastors, the church says that has to be a world decision. Biblically speaking, is there any essential difference between women serving as elders and serving as pastors? If there is not, why should one be decided locally and the other universally? If women cannot be ordained as local pastors, why can they still serve as local pastors?

6. The Bible talks about the seventh church being lukewarm while thinking it is doing very well. Ellen White applies the Laodicean message to the Adventist Church even in her day. Do you think the Adventist Church is still in a Laodicean condition? If you think it is, what should we be doing to change the situation?

7. In October of 2007, a conference was held at Andrews University commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Questions on Doctrine. Where do you stand on the value of this book?

8. Could you include a short biographical sketch of yourself?

Both Cooper and Wilson declined to be interviewed for this feature.

Cooper questioned the intentions of my article and added that his travel schedule would make it difficult to answer the questions thoroughly. “The questions you posed,” said Cooper, “cannot simply be addressed with binary answers. To do so would oversimplify issues that have complex historical roots as well as trajectories into the future that require careful assessment and attention.”

Wilson said that the appropriate place to ask these questions was the administrative committee of the General Conference.

Pardon Mwansa, however, replied to each of my questions via email.

1. Regarding the Church’s three biggest challenges, he wrote: “plurality, loss of identity, and keeping the unity of the diverse global church.”

2. On regional conferences, Mwansa wrote: “That one day, when those things that have made us separate, are attended to, that we may serve God under one united church structure.”

3. On the three-part question about the ordination of women to the gospel ministry, Mwansa wrote:

a. “I am open to learn more from the word of God about God’s will on ordination of women. I have not closed my mind to a certain position. I am a seeker of truth on this.”

b. “History has taught us that change is possible on almost all things. I see no exception to the position on any issues, including ordination of women.”

c. “As long as the church continues to seek light on any subject, including that of ordination of women, He will show them if to and when to change. I will uphold the church’s position.”

4. Regarding women elders, he wrote:

a. “I support women serving as elders and any act or ceremony that empowers them to serve effectively.”

b. “Anyone who is given a task must be empowered and equipped with what it takes to do it.”

5. On the additional question about women pastors and elders, Mwansa simply said, “I have given sufficient reflection on this subject in my answer above— sufficient to address this question.”

6. On the Laodicean message and the Adventist Church, Mwansa said he didn’t have sufficient time to comment.

7. Regarding Questions on Doctrine, he stated: “Every book has a context and time and, rightly applied, served and serves its purpose.”

8. Mwansa provided this short biographical sketch: “Pardon Mwansa: Servant of the Lord Jesus and His Church. Served the SDA for about 28 years now in different functions and services. Married to Judith and a father of 4.” He then added this postscript: “Dear David: Please let this information be used to build the family of God. Amen.”

Workplace Impressions
How are these men regarded at the world headquarters in Washington D.C.? It all depends on whom I talked to.

Some like the rigidity of Ted Wilson— that he knows where he stands and does not deviate from it. Some see him as wanting to make the main decisions and not allow other people choices. He reads the Bible and the writings of Ellen White in a very literal way and does not allow much room for contextualization. His personality tends to be structured and not very warm. Following the rules in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy is very important to him. Wilson is viewed widely as a kind person. He does not lose his temper and is calm and considerate even in difficult situations.

Lowell Cooper is seen as a very spiritual leader. After all of the years he has spent in administration, he still has the heart of a shepherd, a pastor. He comes across as a strong yet very loving leader at the same time. He is highly skilled in leadership and administration and has excellent people skills. He is nonjudgmental, listens carefully, respects other people, and seeks to build consensus before a decision is made.

Pardon Mwsana is seen as a leader of high integrity. He lives a consistent, loving Christian life and seeks to fasten people’s eyes on Jesus first, rather than on the doctrines and rules, which have their place but which are of secondary importance. It is clearly felt that his identity is first to be a child of God, and people know it. He is not on an ego trip.

In conclusion I would like to suggest that we really open up the selection process of General Conference president. I am told that the reason we don’t do this more openly is to avoid politicizing the position. However, it is rather naïve to believe that politics does not enter into the selection process. While there are several Caucasians who would make a fine president, I believe it is time for a non-Caucasian to take that position. With North America making up less than 7 percent of the world membership, it is time for a non-North American to lead the world church.

J. David Newman is the senior pastor of New Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fulton, Md. Newman previously served 11 years as executive editor and then editor of Ministry magazine and spent 10 years on the General Conference Executive Committee.

pp. 6-8 ADVENTIST TODAY • SEPTEMPER-OCTOBER 2008