Church of God Council of Eighteen Elected
Following nominations of leaders for Youth and Discipleship and World Missions, members of the Church of God International General Council chose the group of ordained bishops to represent them on the Council of Eighteen. Combined with the Executive Committee, the body of 23 bishops forms the International Executive Council, where General Overseer Mark Williams serves as chair.
One third (six) of the 2012-2014 Council of Eighteen had served the limit of two terms of two years and were therefore ineligible to be reelected to the governing body. By the noon hour, half of the positions had been filled.
First to receive the required number of votes to elect was Kevin Wallace, pastor of Redemption Point Church in Ooltewah, Tennessee. In a second round of voting, the following were elected: David Ramirez, regional superintendent for South America, Raymond Culpepper, former general overseer and state overseer of Alabama, T. Bryan Cutshall, former pastor of Twin Rivers Worship Center, Victor Pagan, former assistant director of World Missions, Thomas Madden, state overseer of Delmarva-DC, Oliver McMahan, vice president for ministry formation with the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, William T. Isaacs, state overseer of Ohio, and Dwight Allen, pastor of Cooper City (Fla.) Church of God. In subsequent rounds of voting the remaining members elected to the Council were: Niko Njotorahardjo, pastor of Gereja Bethel Church in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nick Park, pastor in Ireland, Chris Moody, pastor of the South Cleveland (Tenn.) Church of God, Tony Stewart, pastor of City Life Church in Tampa, Fla., David Cooper, pastor of the Mt. Paran Church of God in Atlanta, Ga., Kip Box, pastor of Oak Park Church of God in Mobile, Ala., Mark Walker, pastor Mt. Paran North Church of God, G. Dennis McGuire, former general overseer and director of Multicultural Ministries, and Jimmy Smith, state overseer of Western North Carolina. .
Elections took most of the Tuesday afternoon and session of the General Council. General Overseer and Moderator Mark Williams closed the session with his State of the Church address (see article this issue).
Serving for the first time on the Council of Eighteen are pastors Tony Stewart and Kip Box.
Unlike the nominations for the executive committee and ministry leaders, the Council of Eighteen is elected by the General Council and is confirmed at the General Assembly this Friday.
The 2014-2016 edition of the International Executive Council will meet for the first time in September at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee. They will serve until the 76th General Assembly in 2016, the year of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Executive Council.
