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Voice of Prophecy Changes Leadership

The Voice of Prophecy Executive Committee voted to dismiss Fred Kinsey as Speaker/Director of the Voice of Prophecy at the end of their April meeting. 

The action will not become official until the Adventist Media Center Board votes on it at a later date. Kinsey was notified immediately after the meeting.

Fred Kinsey was speaker/director for Voice of Prophecy from September 2008 to April 2012, succeeding Lonnie Melashenko. Kinsey also served as the president of the Adventist Media Center, whose ministries currently include the Voice of Prophecy.

Kinsey states,

Although I don’t know all of the details behind the decision, I believe the Executive Committee wished to take the ministry in a different direction from where I was headed. While I am disappointed to not have the opportunity to finish the programs I started for the VOP, I have every reason to believe that the ministry will continue in proclaiming a soon coming Savior and I want to say I enjoyed my time there.”

Requests for comments from the Adventist Media Center and the Voice of Prophecy were referred to George Johnson Jr., communication director for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. In response, Johnson stated twice that “Employment matters dealing with people who are employed at the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, Calif. are handled by the Adventist Media Center Board.”

The Adventist Media Center Board is chaired by Dan Jackson, and includes G. Alexander Bryant, Larry D. Blackmer, Paul S. Brantley, Debra C. Brill, R. Ernest Castillo, G. Thomas Evans, Warren D. Judd, and Alvin M. Kibble, according to the 2012 Adventist Online Yearbook.

Many of Kinsey’s scheduled speaking events have been cancelled. Along with presenters such as Dwight Nelson and José Rojas, Kinsey was scheduled to speak for the “Reach Alaska” project in June. He is no longer planning to speak, according to the “Reach Alaska” project.

Kinsey was also scheduled to speak at La Sierra University’s Homecoming weekend, April 20-22, but called to say that he declined to speak. Alumna Connie Vandeman Jeffery, ’78, associate manager for the Adventist Media Center and announcer for Voice of Prophecy’s broadcasts, will speak instead, according to the La Sierra University Alumni Relations office.

The change in the Voice of Prophecy’s leadership was not the only change to come from the Adventist Media Center’s Board meeting (April 2-5). The Adventist Media Center also “voted to give permission to each media ministry to present a business and transition plan to the North American Division administration,” according to an article posted on the North American Division website. Proposed plans would “include the option to relocate from the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, Calif.”

“We have had no formal indication, as of now, which ministries will choose to relocate,” said Dan Jackson, board chair of the Adventist Media Center and president of the North American Division, according to the North American Division’s article.

By June 3 the North American Division administration will be presented with business plans of each media ministry, according to Jackson. A future Adventist Media Center board meeting will consider the proposals, according to an Adventist News Network press release.

The North American Division’s media ministries currently include Breath of Life, Faith for Today, It Is Written, La Voz de la Esperanza, and the Voice of Prophecy. Most recently, the Adventist Media Center’s Board voted to separate LifeTalk Radio from the Media Center. The decision follows a vote in January 2011 to move LifeTalk Radio’s administration to the Media Center in Simi Valley, Calif., for financial reasons.

Warren Judd, manager of the Adventist Media Center, told a local newspaper, the Ventura County Star, about the reasons for requesting relocation proposals.

Last June, Jackson said that awareness of the church in North America does not match the considerable money spent on past media ministries and requires re-evaluation. This statement followed a meeting of North American church leaders to discuss media ministries, according to the Adventist News Network press release.

While at the Voice of Prophecy, Kinsey worked with Elizabeth Talbot and Connie Vandeman Jeffery to produce daily and weekend broadcasts. Kinsey also worked as the assistant to the president for communication at the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and spent 20 years at the Northern California Conference as communication and stewardship director and assistant to the president.

After a four-year career as the speaker/director for the Voice of Prophecy, Kinsey says,

For me personally, I am very honored to have worked with the VOP. I look forward to continuing to lift up Jesus somewhere in the organization I love so much—the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

 

Midori Yoshimura is an English and Spanish double major and Honors student at Pacific Union College.

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