Union presidents aren’t chosen by the pews. Every five years, local conferences send delegates to a constituency session. A nominating committee, typically chaired by the NAD president, brings a name, and the delegates vote.
The question is less hypothetical than it sounds. This April, Southwestern Union delegates elected Elton DeMoraes, a Brazilian-born pastor fluent in three languages who once pastored Houston Central Spanish. The Atlantic and Columbia unions are led by former presidents of regional conferences. So what do leaders formed in growing congregations prioritize?
Evangelism would come first, and it would be lay-led. Immigrants make up 26 percent of NAD congregations, about double the U.S. church average, and the division secretary has called that “where our growth is happening.” In the Cincinnati area, La Esperanza grew from one family meeting in a house to more than 100 members and its own building.
Budgets would get a harder look. South Central Conference president Benjamin Jones told the 2024 year-end meeting that his churches are growing but the tithe base is not. Anyone who has pastored that knows growth costs money before it pays.
The second generation would get room. In Northern Virginia, an English service for Latino youth was shut down over songs that weren’t in the hymnal. Once the boards relented, about 80 young people were showing up.
Mentoring would widen too. Nominating committees pick from people they already know, so whoever gets mentored now shapes the slate in 2031.
All of this already happens somewhere in the division. A union president who came up through it would stop treating it as the exception.
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