President Ted, A 3rdTerm?

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

https://spectrummagazine.org/article/2018/06/21/should-ted-wilson-run-third-five-year-term

 

Quote

AGD’s 21 consecutive years in office, followed by William Spicer’s eight, might have ruffled feathers within the church hierarchy because, at the 1931 Autumn Council, the delegates put some checks in place. They overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that limited the tenure for executives in the same position. The preamble was as rebuking as the resolution it heralded was unambiguous:

Whereas: Our experience has proven that very long tenure of office in the same position is not for the best interest of the work…

 

Resolved: That the tenure of the office for General Conference executive officers and heads of department (including divisions) shall not exceed twelve consecutive years in any one position.

This policy has been honored by subsequent GC presidents, at least in spirit, since this resolution. James McElhany served 14 years, but he inherited two years from Charles Watson’s term. After term lengths changed from four to five years in 1970, tenure has come to mean two consecutive five-years, plus any inheritance from a predecessor, as happened with Neal Wilson and Jan Paulsen. For forty years, no GC president has run for three terms or fifteen years. If TW attempts it, he will be the only one in fifty years to violate this rule, among five presidents who faced the same situation. Should he “run,” “win,” and serve out a third term, he would become the longest serving GC president since AGD.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I thought the highest SDA church echelon members demand that any resolutions voted in should be carried out to the letter of the law.  It would be odd for the President to do a turnabout when it is himself whose job is at stake.  He'd be smart to stand aside.  But.... in the messy world of church politics, it appears to be difficult to keeps one's aprons clean...