Dr Rick McEdward, president of the Middle East and North Africa Union Mission (MENAUM) since 2016, was elected secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on July 6. Delegates to the 62nd General Conference Session in St Louis, Missouri, United States, voted to accept the Nominating Committee nomination of McEdward.
“As you can imagine, the last few hours have been challenging for me and my wife,” said Dr McEdward after delegates voted 1630 to 153 in favour of his nomination. “Please pray for us as we do our best for the Lord and His Church.”
A life of mission
Born into an Adventist family in Seattle, Washington, Dr McEdward, 59, moved with his family to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at age 12 after his father secured work as an X-ray technician at a large military hospital. As far as they knew, they were the only Adventists in the city.
“I remember stepping off the aeroplane as a 12-year-old boy and feeling the blasting heat of the Saudi air,” he shared in an interview years ago.
His time in Saudi Arabia left a lasting impression. “It set the tone for cross-cultural living for my whole life,” he said.
Since then, Dr McEdward has served as a student missionary in Palau, coordinated church planting in Sri Lanka and worked with the Southern Asia-Pacific Division from its headquarters in the Philippines. He has also pastored churches and served as associate director of the Institute of World Mission at Andrews University in Michigan, before joining the General Conference in 2011.
Before his appointment as MENAUM president, he directed the Adventist world Church’s Global Mission Centers for World Religions and served as associate director of the Office of Adventist Mission.
Dr McEdward received his undergraduate degree from Walla Walla College (now Walla Walla University) in 1990 and his Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University in 1992. He completed a doctorate in missiology from Fuller Graduate School in 2013.
He is married to Marcia McEdward and they have two adult children, Julia and Joshua.
His tenure as MENAUM president
As president of MENAUM, a Church region based in Beirut, Lebanon, Dr McEdward served in a region that is considered one of the most difficult places in the world to share the gospel. “The challenges are constant in the . . . region, where daily life is shaped by war, conflict and resistance to our work,” he said in his report presented to the delegates of the GC Session on July 5. “Currently six of our countries are involved in ongoing warfare, and last year violence reached the doorstep of our union office.”
In 2018 Dr McEdward oversaw the development of a media centre for effective outreach to people of other faiths. This included developing a new strategy for reaching and discipling people who live in that restricted context.
During the past few months Dr McEdward has been sharing a newsletter with an increasing number of stories and reports about “some of the most exciting of my time in the Middle East and North Africa Union Mission.” Despite the challenges related to religious freedom in some countries of the region, an increasing number of people are studying the Bible and accepting Christ and the Adventist message, he reported.
Among the good news he shared, Dr McEdward reported that recently he was able to meet the first Seventh-day Adventists in “two of our hardest-to-reach nations.” He added, “The way God works is so amazing! I was able to see the work of the Holy Spirit bring new witnesses into the kingdom.”
Dr McEdward also celebrated that he witnessed the launch of the first Seventh-day Adventist seminary in Arabic. “I was able to teach the first class of our brand-new Arabic Theological Seminary with 20 native Arabic speakers who are working for the Lord or who would like to be trained to be pastors,” he shared.
Another highlight has been meeting important national and international leaders. He recently reported on a meeting with government, religious and business leaders from around the world. “During this meeting we were able to interact with leaders and gatekeepers in the Gulf Region,” Dr McEdward wrote. “While these contacts do not create immediate impact, over time they will provide opportunities for our Church.”
In his July 5 call Dr McEdward invited Adventist members to “step into the impossible.” “When we think about the size of the task at hand, it certainly feels impossible, but when we remember that . . . God . . . is calling us, we can confidently obey His Great Commission,” he said. “Let us illuminate every dark corner of this world with Jesus.”
The original version of this story was posted on the Adventist Review website.
