Jere Patzer is currently chairing the Seventh-day Adventist Church's most powerful committee at the church's business session in St Louis, Missouri.
Jere Patzer is currently chairing the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s most powerful committee at the business session in St Louis, Missouri. In a July 6 interview, he shared insights into what it has been like on that committee over the last few days.
Describing the make-up of the nominating committee, which selects the church’s top leaders, Patzer said, “The nominating committee is essentially 10 percent of the delegation—[out of] 2,000 delegates, [there are] 200 on the nominating committee.”
“The group is very diverse, representing 200 countries and the 13 world regions of the church… In a sense, every person in the room is a minority; nobody dominates. Virtually no one knows more than a handful of the others, so it’s not a ‘good buddy’ system. Women are represented, in fact they represented themselves very well,” he said.
This year, the committee had completed much of its work remarkably quickly and Patzer was asked why.
“We aren’t complete yet,” he replied, “but, correct, the great majority of the work is done. We’ve filled 130 positions. It has been one of the quickest and most efficient committees, but the fact is we started slow… [It] took a couple of hours for them to get to know each other, by saying their names and where they came from, and there was a clear transition as the group began to feel a sense of cohesiveness and trust-building.”
Nominating committees have been known to be frank, spirited, and turbulent. Was that the case on this one? Without being drawn into the details Patzer simply said, “accurate,” but added, “it was very clear, when you have this kind of diversity, that the only way you’re going to come out of it with unity is if the Spirit of God is working in it.”
A number of women have been appointed to key positions in the Adventist Church this week. “There is no question that women are carrying an increasing load of responsibilities in top leadership positions in our church,” Patzer said, “and they will continue to do so.”
Over the last few days a large number of Adventist leaders have been voted back into office. Patzer agreed that “admittedly there is a high percentage of returning incumbents and that’s how it should be. These are lifetime professionals who are contributing tremendously. Our church has a successful organization, and there are many factors for that, but leadership is obviously key to that success… You stick with the winning team.”
Confidential deliberations are the basis of a nominating committee’s work. Individuals are evaluated for their performance, suitability and qualifications. But how can that privacy be protected? In a worldwide, yet close-knit church community, information travels quickly, rumors appear, and speculation abounds. Would a secrecy oath protect the process?
“No oaths are signed—it’s done on good faith,” Patzer said. “I addressed it right up front [that] cell phones should be ... turned off, thrown away, stepped on, left at home.”
Patzer admitted that after hearing some information was shared outside of the committee, he dealt with it “in a very forceful way.” The committee members themselves, he added, were equally outraged. “There was a good faith commitment to the process. That includes the ability to speak one’s mind and not have it out in the public press. If we [wanted] to have reporters there, then you’d have a different process… ”
Looking at the committee’s work at this Session, would he see a need to make changes to the nominating process?
“By and large the process works,” Patzer answered. “Does it take faith in the process? Absolutely. If we didn’t believe that God was still ultimately in control in this church, sure we’d be frustrated. Am I so naive to think that even General Conference nominees can’t make mistakes? Absolutely not. God doesn’t force His will on even General Conference nominees, as He didn’t in Israel of old when they wanted a king, but God also has ways of making that work and work correctly.”
“I sincerely believe,” Patzer concluded, “that despite the strong differences of opinion on some positions, that there wasn’t a person in the room that didn’t abdicate their own personal wishes and ultimately want God’s will to overrule. When you’ve got that basic understanding, you know you’re going to come out pretty well.”