Atlanta 2010 - The British Union Perspective

Victor Hulbert - BUC Communications

Voting and debate continues at the 59th Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Atlanta, USA. With Pastor Ted Wilson elected as the 20th President of the World church on Friday, 25 June, along with G. T. Ng, originally from Singapore as Secretary and Robert E Lemon returned as treasurer, the election process has hotted up over the last two days – and results are now coming in that will have a more direct effect on the life of the church in the UK and Ireland. Listen to Pastor Don McFarlane's sixty second endorsement of Pastor Wilson here.

The appointment of Harold Wollan as a GC Associate Secretary on Sunday left a vacancy in the leadership at the Trans-European Division. This was ably filled by a vote on Monday afternoon that invited Audrey Andersson (ne: Boyle) to return to her native England and serve as Executive Secretary at the Trans-European Division office. Audrey currently serves as Executive Secretary in the Swedish Union. The daughter of Pastor Patrick Boyle, Audrey has had a good background in church life and studied theology at Newbold College. Before moving into a church administrative role in Sweden she worked in book publishing.

Dr Bertil Wiklander was returned as President of the TED for another term along with Johann E Johannsson as treasurer. A short audio interview with Dr Wiklander recorded immediately after his election shares his vision for the next five years.

A full list of all the election results to date can be found at: http://news.adventist.org/2010/06/elections.html.

Tuesday's nominating committee is expected to focus primarily on electing the department directors at World Church Headquarters. Following their election the TED caucus will meet to elect department directors for this region. It may be Thursday before these positions are voted.

Meanwhile, continually updated reports from the GC Session can be found on the Adventist News Network website. Reports there are available in print, audio and video formats and there is also access to extensive picture galleries on the ANN Flicker photo galleries.

We especially recommend the radio podcasts to you either from the above website or by subscribing to "Atlanta 2010 today" on itunes. The predominantly British production team are working with a BBC style ethos to produce a quality podcast for you that both informs and entertains. While you may well wish to listen to today's podcast (29 June) that covers the issues of Appreciating pastors, ordination of women deacons included in the church manual (a hot debate), the election of Division officers, tourist attractions in Atlanta, a young, vibrant leukaemia sufferer - and "End it Now" campaign stepping up a notch, you may also want to delve into the archive for an in depth interview with Pastor Ted Wilson on Friday, 25 June, a reaction from the 'progressive' side of Adventism – along with wonderful worship and music in the Sabbath, 26 June edition, and an interview with Dennis Meier, one of the best preachers heard this week in the Sunday, 27 June edition. Sunday also includes an exuberant interview with 17 year old Asher McKensie, the former head boy of John Loughborough School who co-hosted the Global Mission Programme on the main stage, Sabbath afternoon. Feedback from those listening to the podcasts has been very positive – which is very gratifying for a small team of four Brits and two Americans who are working 16 hours a day to keep you informed.