All four officers and most of the departmental directors and ethnic coordinators were re-elected Sept. 23 at the 28th regular session of the Arizona Conference. The officers include Duane McKey, president; Tony Anobile, executive secretary (and family ministries director); D. Kent Sharpe, treasurer; and Ed Keyes, vice president (and ministerial/evangelism director).

Others elected include: Judy McGee, Adventist Book Center; Phillip Draper, communication/development; Ivan Weiss, education/sabbath school; Jason Carlson, literature ministries; Ed Eisele, trust services/stewardship; Erik VanDenburgh, youth ministries; W. Don Edwards, African-American ministries; and Jose Marin; Hispanic ministries.

The delegates authorized the Conference Executive Committee to fill three other positions at their next regular meeting: community services/disaster response/prison ministries, religious liberty and native ministries.

The nominating committee itself was the subject of the most discussion of the day. According to Anobile, for several years the Arizona nominating committee, at 140 members, has been the largest Adventist nominating committee in the world. The next largest in the Pacific Union is the Southeastern California Conference nominating committee, with 27. The delegates voted to reduce the size of the committee to 30 members. According to the action, "at least eighty percent of the membership of the Nominating Committee shall not be employees of the conference," and membership shall "be reasonably reflective of the geographic, ethnic, racial and gender diversity of the conference."

Delegates also approved new bylaws and articles of incorporation. The new documents reflected the action voted at the 2003 constituency session, which called for the merging of the Arizona Association of Seventh-day Adventists, which held title to the conference properties, and the Arizona Conference, which hired pastors and teachers and coordinated the ministry of the church. According to McKey, this merger is for legal purposes only and causes no substantive changes in the work of the church in Arizona. The official name of the new organization is the Arizona Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists, but it will usually be referred to as the Arizona Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

During a video report, the conference officers said the Arizona Conference has made significant progress in the last four years, in both finances and evangelism, with tithe increasing by 47 percent and membership increasing from 13,847 to 16,060. Anobile reported that 3,400 people have been baptized since the last session.

In his opening remarks, and several times during the session, McKey referred to "4 in 24," the conference initiative to raise $4 million dollars in the next 24 months. According to McKey, half of the money will be used to purchase land where churches are likely to be needed in the future, 37.5 percent will be used to improve elementary schools and churches, and 12.5 percent will be used for church growth, church planting and evangelism.

"As I look at world conditions, I realize I've had enough of living on this old ball of mud," McKey told the delegates. "I want to go home. Let's work together to that end."