Southern Asia Division of Seventh-day Adventists

Wilson replaces Jan Paulsen, who has served as president since 1999.

The appointment took place at the church's 59th General Conference Session, being held at the Georgia Dome and adjacent World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

"This is not just an organization, this is not just another denomination. This is God's remnant church," Wilson said in an address to delegates after his appointment.

"I do not know everything, but I shall seek wisdom from counselors and from the Bible and from the Spirit of Prophecy," he said, referring to the writings of church co-founder Ellen White.

"The Spirit of Prophecy is one of the great gifts God has given to the Seventh-day Adventist Church," Wilson said. "It applies to the past and to the future. And, we are going home soon."

Wilson asked that church members ask for God's guidance "and pray that the Holy Spirit would bring us revival and reformation."

Wilson, 60 years old, was elected as a general vice president of the Adventist Church in 2000 during the General Conference Session in Toronto. His 36 years of denominational service include administrative and executive posts in the Mid-Atlantic United States, Africa and Russia.

Wilson began his church career as a pastor in 1974 in the church's Greater New York Conference. He served as an assistant director and then director of Metropolitan Ministries there from 1976 to 1981. He went on to serve in the church's then Africa-Indian Ocean Division, based in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, until 1990. There he served as a departmental director and later as executive secretary, the second highest officer.

Following his post in West Africa, he served at the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, as an associate secretary for two years before accepting the position of president of the church's Euro-Asia Division in Moscow, Russia, from 1992 to 1996. Wilson then came back to the United States to serve as president of the Review and Herald Publishing Association in Hagerstown, Maryland, until his election as a General Conference vice president in 2000.

An ordained minister, Wilson holds a doctorate degree in religious education from New York University, a master of divinity degree from Andrews University and a master of science degree in public health from Loma Linda University's School of Public Health.

During his address to delegates, Wilson was joined on stage by his wife, Nancy Louise Vollmer Wilson, a physical therapist. The couple has three daughters.

"Our spouses are so important. This wonderful woman is a spiritual backbone for me," Wilson said.

Wilson is the son of former General Conference president Neal C. Wilson, who served in the post from 1979 to 1990.

Many delegates on the floor of the Georgia Dome said Wilson's election demonstrated the church's confidence in his leadership.

• Associate Secretary G. T. Ng was promoted to Secretary

Delegates voting in the Georgia Dome unanimously approved the Nominating Committee's recommendations, which occurred just four hours after selecting Ted Wilson as General Conference president -- three significant actions that, observers said, occurred with remarkable speed.

Ng, a native of Singapore, began his ministry in war-torn Cambodia in the 1970s where he and his wife fled before the capital city Phnom Penh was taken by the Khmer Rouge political party. He later worked in various positions in Asia, including that of professor, and eventually received a call to the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he serves as the secretariat liaison between the GC and three of the church's 13 world regions.

Addressing the delegates who voted him into the job for the next five years, Ng called the appointment a humbling experience. Never in my wildest imagination will I ever imagine t hat I would ever be put in this position of responsibility," Ng said, "but the Lord has his way." He replaces Matthew Bediako, who was elected in 2000.
Lemon, treasurer since 2002, said his appointment "was a real privilege and an honor" to work with treasury staff from around the world. He asked that delegates pray for every Adventist member and worker around the globe.In brief remarks, he also said, "We need to change the soft currency of this world into the hard currency of eternity." The biggest challenge facing the church over the next five years, Lemon said in a brief interview after his appointment, is the need to increase involvement among young people.

Edwin Manuel Garcia/ANN