North American Division to Hold Elections After 2021 General Conference Session

Due to the impact of COVID-19 and the postponement of the 2020 General Conference (GC) Session until May 2021, and the policy of the North American Division (NAD) of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that requires the election of NAD vice presidents and department directors to be held after a General Conference Session, the North American Division Executive Committee (NADCOM) voted on May 21, 2020, to hold division elections on May 26, 2021, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

This date is immediately after the conclusion of the 2021 GC Session and will allow for the NAD Executive Committee to meet at a time when a significant number of its members would already be present in Indianapolis. Historically, the majority of other world divisions have held their department and ministry elections during previous GC sessions, setting a precedent for the NAD to do likewise at the upcoming session.

The election of NAD vice presidents and department directors was originally scheduled to take place at the 2020 NAD Year-End Meeting, October 29 to November 3, at the NAD headquarters in Columbia, Maryland.

The General Conference has scheduled a series of departmental advisories to take place in August and September of 2021, and moving the NAD elections to May makes it possible for the newly elected directors and vice presidents to participate with their ministry colleagues from around the world. The GC has announced plans to hold the advisories virtually. In the past the meetings were held at the GC headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. This will provide the church with substantial savings on the travel and meeting costs of previous advisories.

Earlier, the NAD announced plans for the election of a replacement for Daniel R. Jackson, who is retiring from his position as NAD president on July 1, 2020. The NAD nominating committee will meet on July 6, and the NAD executive committee will meet on July 7 to select a name to be recommended to the General Conference executive committee, which will meet virtually on July 9 to elect a new NAD president.

All three NAD executive positions — president, secretary, and treasurer — will be elected at the 2021 GC Session.

This release was originally posted on the North American Division news site.