The radio evangelism ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has announced a new president to head up its international operations. Dr. Ben Schoun, longtime church administrator and academic, will replace Don Jacobsen, who is retiring as president of Adventist World Radio.

“I am looking forward to joining the ministry of AWR,” said Schoun. “The Lord has granted AWR some remarkable broadcast opportunities in the past few years, and I am excited to lead out in this ministry where God is so clearly working.”

Schoun is currently president of the Adventist Church in the Atlantic Union region, headquartered in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, United States. Schoun served for 12 years at the Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States. For eight of those years, Schoun was associate dean and director of the seminary’s Master of Divinity program, the advanced training program for Adventist pastors.

Schoun says he is “enthused and excited” by the role AWR plays in sharing Christianity in the hard-to-reach countries of the so-called “10/40 Window,” an imaginary rectangle on the world map that takes in much of Asia, northern Africa and the Middle East.

Adventist World Radio is the international radio evangelism ministry of the Adventist Church. From its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, AWR operates an international network of audio ministry outlets, from shortwave to AM/FM to satellite distribution to the Internet. AWR broadcasts daily in over 50 languages for more than 1200 hours per week.