• The poor souls on the nominating committee at GC Spring Meeting started their official deliberations at 5:00 AM EDT this morning (April 14.)
• They were tasked with finding replacements for GC Executive Secretary G.T. Ng and Juan R. Prestol-Puesán, the GC treasurer. Both men had announced they would be retiring.
• Amusingly (at least to us at AT), Conrad Vine, President of Adventist Frontier Mission, followed the completed work of the nominating committee with a talk titled “Second Thoughts?” during the devotional for the day.
• GC President Ted Wilson revealed the committee considered four names for the executive secretary role and six for that of treasurer.
• Next we found out out who the nominating committee was recommending for the senior leadership roles. This was the clear focus for the second and final day of Spring Meeting.
• Current South American Division President Erton Köhler was recommended by the nominating committee for the position of General Conference Executive Secretary. Köhler is Brazilian.
• Wilson described Köhler as a consummate professional with a mission focus and “a world vision.”
• Members of the GC executive committee voted Köhler into the role 197 to 16. He is assuming his role immediately.
• In 2007, Köhler was the youngest person ever to be elected as division president when he became the top denomination official in the South American Division (SAD) in his late 30s.
• Paul Douglas, current director of the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS), was then revealed as the candidate recommended for the role of GC Treasurer.
• He was voted into the position via 204 “Yes” votes to 10 “No” votes. Douglas will start the job on August 1.
• According to the Adventist News Network story announcing his new role, Douglas, who is originally from Jamaica, first started as an assistant auditor for the GC in 1986 before taking up a “full-fledged role” after two years. He has stayed with GCAS since, assuming the director role in 2006.

Image: L-R: Köhler, Douglas.

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