Executive Council in Session This Week
The newly-elected Church of God International Executive Council is in session this week at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee.
The Council of Eighteen, combined with the five-member Executive Committee and representatives from South Africa and Indonesia, comprise the International Executive Council. The group of 25 leaders is gathered for the next few days in the Executive Council chambers where they will discuss an agenda of business presented by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee consists of General Overseer Mark Williams, Assistant General Overseers David Griffis, J. David Stephens, and Wallace Sibley, and Secretary General M. Thomas Propes. This is Williams’ first Executive Council to lead, and new members Stephens’ and Propes’ first session as members of the Executive Committee. The three, along with Griffis and Sibley, were elected to serve for the next four years.
Members of the International Executive Council meet in Cleveland, Tennessee. From top are Mike Baker, Victor Pagan, J. Martin Taylor, Dwight Allen, Ishmael Charles, Mitchell Maloney, Jerry Chitwood, Tom Madden, Kevin Wallace and Gerald McGinnis.
The Council of Eighteen is elected every two years at the General Assembly by their ministerial peers and members are eligible to serve two consecutive terms. The group consists of at least nine pastors and two representatives from outside the United States. The 2012-2014 edition of the Council includes the following members who are participating in their first Executive Council session: Dwight Allen, pastor, Cooper City (Florida) Church of God; Michael Baker, administrative bishop of North Georgia; Thomas Madden, administrative bishop of Maryland-Delaware-D.C.; Chris Moody, pastor, South Cleveland (Tennessee) Church of God; and Kevin Wallace, pastor, Redemption Point Church in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Also elected to serve for the first time, but unable to make the meeting this week was Niko Njotorahardjo, pastor, Gereja Bethel Church in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The International Executive Council meets three times a year, in January, April, and September. The meeting this week, which is scheduled to last through Thursday, if needed, precedes a meeting in Atlanta next week of the leaders of states and regions, including state administrative bishops and youth and discipleship directors.
