While I was busy touring Monterey Bay Aquarium with my family and eating durian, most of the rest of the Assemblies of God was in Indianapolis for our biennial ministerial gathering.
George Wood has been elected General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God. I honestly didn’t think he had a chance — our movement is still pretty anti-intellectual and he has two earned doctorates. In addition, I thought he might be perceived as part of the “old guard” in a time of great change. I’m delighted that I was wrong — he’ll be a great leader. He’s a very flexible thinker and sees both the strengths and weaknesses of our movement pretty clearly.
Alton Garrison was elected the new Assistant General Superintendent (I expected he would take one of the two top spots) — and he’s a very savvy leader. He’s much more well-read and innovative than most people expect an evangelist from Arkansas to be. He’ll be a great voice to have at the table.
John Palmer is the new General Secretary — I had expected him to become the executive director of AG US Missions instead. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard nothing but good things. Tim and Julie Smith in particular have given me very encouraging reports about him. He seems like a great addition to the team.
Zollie Smith was the most surprising election. He’s my new boss’s boss (director of US Missions, taking the position I expected John Palmer to land), and I’ve been hearing good things about him for years. His election was a milestone for the Assemblies of God — he’s our first non-Caucasian executive officer.
I’m very excited about the leadership team that came out of this General Council. It bodes well for our future as a movement. We picked some extremely competent people.
Oh — and the business sessions were feisty this year. If you’re into that sort of thing, you might want to check them out
.
I think you’re right. I’m very excited about George Wood– In a way he was kind of a sleeper. I don’t think most of the anti-intellect crowd really realized who he was– e.g. doctorates, and a west coastie– due to the fact that he sorta slipped in via the Secretary spot– after all who is a Secretary anyway except a name printed on our credential cards?
He will be an awesome Supt.
John Palmer is now in the shoot as a possible future General Supt. My only experience with his is having him as a Minister’s Institute speaker in Oregon. The thing that was great about him is, he’s a guy that really gets missions and is committed to missionaries. He took special care to spend time with all of us in Oregon, something no other district speaker had ever done in 20 years I’ve been part of that.
Three cheers for Zollie. Three cheers for the AoG. This is the biggest move since 1914 and is the first really great thing that’s happened toward healing the rift between AoG and COGIC. Don’t know him at all, but have heard great things from my spies in the NE.
All in all as I reflect on the new lineup, I am way, way pleased.