Pastor Derek Bignall (left), new head of the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, greets Governor General-designate Dr Patrick Allen after the election at the union's head office in Mandeville, Manchester, yesterday. - Norman Grindley/Acting Photography Editor

PASTOR DEREK Bignall is the new president of the more than 260,000-member West Indies Union (WIU) Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Bignall was elected yesterday to replace Dr Patrick Allen, who is to be sworn in as governor general on February 26.

The election was held yesterday at the union's head office in Mandeville.

Bignall, who had been secretary of the WIU since 2005, is succeeded by Pastor Glen Samuels, former president of the Western Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The WIU comprises The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, The Turks and Caicos Islands and Jamaica.

To continue on path

In 2005, Bignall was appointed family ministry director and secretary of the WIU. Prior to that, he served as youth director of the union from 2003 and president of the East Jamaica Conference in 2000. His term as president of the WIU Conference will end in 2010.

Reacting to his elevation to the presidency yesterday, Bignall told The Gleaner/Power 106 news centre that becoming president "was not a part of the programme, as far as I was concerned, to be honest".

Bignall said he intended to continue on the path that Allen and the leadership of the WIU Conference had charted.

"I just will have to carry on the programme, the vision and the mission that we have signed off on," he explained. "There are some that are very essential from a humanitarian point, and we need to pick up the slot on that."

Open and frank

A cross section of church leaders, workers and lay members elected Bignall by secret ballot.

"There was a battery of persons that could have been selected. We have a number of leaders and they are capable and they were (also) looked at," Bignall disclosed. "It was very open and frank."

Commenting on the appointment of Allen as governor general-designate, Bignall said: "I know he has got the capacity. I know that he will do well as a leader. He is a transformational leader; he is a good coach, very wise and committed and dedicated. And so I have no reservation that this was a very good choice."

byron.buckley@gleanerjm.com