Roscoe J. Howard III is the new president of the Mid-America Union of Seventh-day Adventists. He will lead the 60,000 members of the nine-state region that stretches south from Canada to the Oklahoma border and west from the Mississippi River to the border of Utah.
Howard was elected April 9 by the Union Executive Committee, accepting the position after several days of prayer and consultation with his family. He is the fifth president of the Mid-America Union and the first African American to hold the post.
Howard comes from suburban Washington, D.C., where he was secretary of the North American Division, responsible for the Church’s administrative operations and policy implementation. He is no stranger to Mid-America, having grown up in Casper, Wyoming. He also served the Union previously as vice president for administration at headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Howard has preached the gospel in Africa, Canada, England, Jamaica, Korea, the Philippines and throughout the United States. He began ministry in 1978, pastoring several churches in the Washington Conference before becoming its first black youth director. He then served the North Pacific Union as special assistant to the president and regional affairs director.
While attending Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, Howard met his wife-to-be, the former Osceola Wimbish. They have two adult children, Heather and Seth.
Howard received his undergraduate degree from Pacific Union College and later a Masters of Divinity degree from Andrews University. Presently he is a candidate in the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Howard’s favorite scripture is: “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has began a good work in you shall complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Howard succeeds Dennis N. Carlson, who accepted the invitation of Walla Walla University in Washington State to be vice president for advancement.
