14 Oct 2010, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Ansel Oliver/ANN
The Seventh-day Adventist Church this week brought in new executives, including a new leader of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and appointed a new editor for Ministry magazine.
The ADRA International board of directors appointed Rudi Maier as the agency’s new president and executive director during the board’s regular autumn meeting, a statement from the organization said. His appointment became effective October 12.
Maier, a former ADRA employee who currently serves as a professor of international development, becomes the fourth president since the 1984 founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s global humanitarian agency.
“We are pleased to announce Dr. Maier’s appointment to this vital position,” said Dr. Ella Simmons, vice-chair of the ADRA Board of Directors. “We congratulate him and wish him success in this new leadership.”
Maier replaces Charles Sandefur, who served as ADRA president since 2001.
Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, praised Sandefur “for his untiring promotion of ADRA,” according to the statement. Wilson added that ADRA’s work on behalf of the world’s vulnerable continues to be an integral part of the mission of the church.
Maier is the former chair of the International Development Program at church-owned Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. The graduate program specializes in community and intercultural development. He has served as a professor in the department for 20 years. He previously worked for ADRA in the 1980s, building the agency’s monitoring and evaluation capacity.
Maier has consulted for non-governmental organizations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union. He holds a doctorate in Sociology and International Development from American University and a Master of Arts in South Asian Languages and Culture from the University of Chicago.
Separately on Tuesday, the denomination’s Executive Committee asked Florida pastor Derek Morris to serve as editor of Ministry Magazine, the church’s international journal for clergy of all faiths. Morris, who has yet to formally accept the position, would replace Nikolaus Satelmajer, who served in the position since 2005 and last month announced his retirement.
Morris, who currently serves as senior pastor of Forrest Lake Adventist Church in Apopka, Florida, holds a Doctorate of Ministry in Practical Theology from Andrews University and a Doctorate of Ministry in Preaching from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Ministry has previously published his articles, many focusing on effective biblical preaching.
The Executive Committee also elected David Trim to serve as director of the Office of Archives and Statistics. The 12-year Adventist educator will replace Bert Haloviak, who previously announced his retirement.
Trim is a former professor at the church’s Newbold College in England and holds a doctorate in European religious warfare from King’s College London. He is widely published in books, journals and religious magazines and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
The committee also appointed Lael Caesar associate editor of Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines. Caesar, a professor of religion at Andrews University, if he accepts the position would replace Roy Adams, who served in the position since 1988 and recently retired.
Caesar holds a master’s degree in religion from Andrews and a doctorate in Hebrew and Semitic studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French, and is also a poet.
The committee also appointed Robert Costa as an associate secretary of the church’s Ministerial Association. Costa currently serves as a Hispanic speaker and evangelist for It Is Written, a television ministry based at an Adventist media center in Simi Valley, California.
Willie E. Hucks II, an associate editor of Ministry, was also appointed an associate secretary of the Ministerial Association.
The board of Adventist World Radio on Tuesday elected Kent Sharpe as the organization’s new vice president for finance. He replaces Dowell Chow, who became AWR’s president this summer after serving in the finance position for the past five years. Sharpe previously served as treasurer for the Adventist Church in Arizona.
