Early on the afternoon of July 4, the Seventh-day Adventist Church set out the direction it will be heading in over the next five years. In less than an hour, delegates at the church’s business meetings in St. Louis had voted in a total of 26 administrators, completing a selection process that began on Friday with the re-election of church world leader Jan Paulsen. The afternoon vote finalized the top level of the 13 administrative teams that will lead the church’s worldwide regional offices.

Three-quarters of the positions remained unchanged, but most delegates were not able to put faces to the names being suggested for election. This situation prompted some delegates to complain that they were simply “rubber stamping” decisions that had already been made.

Delegates cannot be expected to have detailed knowledge of individuals who will work on the other side of the world and that is why, as Pastor Gerry Karst, a world church vice president and the afternoon meeting’s chairman explained, the separate regions are invited to do the main work in “caucuses” before the final vote. However, he conceded more details about the candidates would be helpful, particularly in the case of new appointments, and said that in future business meetings he would try to ensure that more information would be made available to the delegates, albeit in summary form.

One or two constitutional matters were raised and in response to one of them a minor change was made to the method of voting. A request to have the whole report returned to the committee that generated it was voted down by the delegates and there was virtually no opposition to the names put forward.

Some observers noted that there were very few delegates on the floor at the beginning of the discussion, possibly because the discussion came immediately after lunch, but it seems unlikely that a larger voting body would have made any difference.

New officers voted today included: East-Central Africa Secretary, Blasious M. Ruguri and Treasurer, R. Martin Moores; Euro-Africa Secretary, Gabriel E. Maurer and Treasurer, Peter R. Kunze; Euro Asia Division Secretary, Michael F. Kaminsky and Treasurer, Guillermo (Bill) E. Biaggi; Inter-America Secretary, Juan O. Perla and Treasurer, Filberto M. Verduzco; North America Secretary, Roscoe J. Howard III and Treasurer, Juan R. Prestol; Northern Asia-Pacific Secretary, Akeri Suzuki and Treasurer, Donald W. Upson; South America Secretary, Raul Gomez and Treasurer, Marino F. de Oliveira; South Pacific Secretary, Barry D. Oliver and Treasurer, Rodney G Brady; Southern Africa Secretary, Solomon Maphosa and Treasurer, Jannie Bekker; Southern Asia Secretary, Rathinaraj John and Treasurer, G. S. Robert Clive; Southern Asia-Pacific Secretary, G T Ng and Treasurer, Keith R. Heinrich; Trans-European Division Secretary, Harald Wollan and Treasurer, Johann E Johannsson; West-Central Africa Secretary, Gilbert Wari and Treasurer, Ceazar J. Hechanova.

Of the new regional co-leaders, several are new to their positions. Moores was most recently treasurer of the Northern Asia Pacific region, where Upson, currently vice president for finance of Adventist World Radio, will succeed him. New Southern Africa-Indian Ocean secretary Maphosa is currently president of the church in Zimbabwe. Currently president of the Southeastern India region of the church, Rathinaraj John will now be Southern Asia church secretary. New Southern Asia-Pacific Church treasurer Keith R. Heinrich has held a variety of church leadership positions including as treasurer of the church in Arizona, United States.