Adventist Mission Staff Shuffle Reaffirms Focus on Unreached

Two newly appointed directors to the Office of Adventist Mission at the General Conference expressed a deep desire to advance Adventist Mission’s goal of proclaiming the gospel to unreached people groups around the world.

Gregory Whitsett was named Adventist Mission planning director, and Kleyton Feitosa was appointed Global Mission Centers director.

Both men are ordained pastors with extensive international mission experience. Whitsett, a U.S. national, lived and worked in southeast Asia for two decades, while Feitosa, a native of Brazil, has 18 years of cross-cultural experience, including as president of the Egypt-Sudan Field.

Whitsett replaces Jeff Scoggins, who accepted an invitation to become president of the Minnesota Conference in the North American Division, while Feitosa fills a position previously held by Whitsett.

Whitsett said he has a two-part prayer in his new role as planning director, in which he would be developing funding requirements for Global Mission projects and prioritizing which people groups are highly critical to reach.

“First, I hope to follow in the footsteps of my predecessor, Jeff Scoggins, by being efficient in processing the applications of new projects and status reports of ongoing Global Mission projects around the world,” he said. “Second, I pray for wisdom to strengthen Adventist Mission’s support for church leaders who need updated data to sort through more than 7,000 unreached people groups and 550 megacities worldwide and prioritize where new mission projects should be established.”

Feitosa said he was praying “for wisdom and a renewed commitment to help bring Jesus to those who have had little or no exposure to the gospel.” As Global Mission Centers director, he will oversee the work of six centers that help start new groups of believers among non-Christian people groups.

“As the newly appointed Global Mission Centers director, I’m asking God to give us a breakthrough and to show us the way to the hearts of billions of unreached people who currently adhere to other world religions and philosophies,” he said.

Adventist Mission director Gary Krause welcomed the appointments of Whitsett and Feitosa, which were approved by the General Conference’s Administrative Committee in separate votes this week and last month.

“Greg has done an excellent job as centers director,” Krause said. “But he brings the strong strategic mission thinking with attention to detail that we need for planning director, and I’m delighted he will remain part of our team.”

About Feitosa, he said, “Kleyton will be a wonderful addition to the Adventist Mission team, bringing administrative, pastoral, and frontline mission service experience. As president of the Egypt-Sudan Field for four years, Kleyton experienced firsthand the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural mission.”

Krause also thanked Scoggins for his nearly eight years as Adventist Mission planning director. “We will greatly miss Jeff, who advanced the work of Adventist Mission in many ways, but know that he will be a blessing in Minnesota,” he said.

Whitsett served as director of the Global Mission Center for East Asian Religions, one of the six Global Mission centers under Adventist Mission, in Thailand from 2012-2022, while his wife, Amy, worked alongside him as associate director. Before that, the couple worked for 10 years in Laos with Adventist Frontier Missions. Whitsett was named Global Mission Centers director last year, and Amy became associate director of the General Conference’s Institute of World Mission. Whitsett currently is completing a doctorate in missiology from Andrews University. The Whitsetts have two adult sons, Tyler (married to Mikhaila) and Ryan, and a foster daughter, Seeda.

Feitosa has served as pastor of Living Word Seventh-day Adventist Church in Glen Burnie, Maryland, since 2017. Before that, he worked as president of the Egypt-Sudan Field from 2014-2017 and executive secretary of the North American Division’s Chesapeake Conference from 2011-2014. He received a DMin in church growth from Andrews University in 2016. His wife, Delma, teaches at an Adventist academy, and they have two sons, Derek, a second-year university student, and Malton, a third-year academy student.