Raafat Kamal Confirmed as New TED President

The General Conference Executive Committee elected Pastor Raafat Kamal as the new president of the Trans European Division today, following his recommendation by the TED executive committee. Kamal, originally from Lebanon, will replace Bertil Wiklander, who served as TED president for 19 years.

The TED published a press release today about Kamal’s election. Excerpts appear below:

Pastor Raafat Kamal, 50, is the newly elected president of the Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (TED), based in St Albans, United Kingdom. Kamal’s name was recommended by the TED Executive Committee on 27 June and elected by the General Conference Executive Committee on 10 July 2014.

“I am honoured to be selected for this position and I accept it with sincere gratitude”, says Kamal, “I look forward to working with the TED team, Unions and Fields, and institutional leaders to make God known among our communities in Europe and bring glory to His name. I approach this new task prayerfully,” concluded Kamal.

Pastor Kamal’s appointment follows a nineteen-year tenure by Dr Bertil Wiklander, the longest serving president of the TED, who decided to retire to Sweden, his home country, with effect from 31 July 2014.

. . .

Kamal, originally from Lebanon, has lived and worked in England, Norway, Pakistan and Iran. He married Heidi Kamal Kendel from Norway, a registered nurse, in 1987. The couple have two daughters.

An ordained minister, Pastor Kamal holds graduate degrees in Business and Theology and four post-graduate degrees in Systematic Theology; Educational Administration and Curriculum; Islamic Philosophy and Theology; and Business Administration.

During his career, Kamal has served the Church for four years as a teacher and school administrator, and 18 years mainly in administrative and executive posts. His position for the last seven years and until his appointment as president was field secretary and assistant to the TED President, with additional departmental responsibilities for Adventist Mission, Public Affairs & Religious Liberty and Stewardship.

Pastor Ted Wilson, president of the World Church, who chaired both committees made a comment: “God has a special regard for His church and its mission outreach in the Trans-European Division where people are bombarded with secular and materialistic influences. The proclamation of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 is needed in an ever-increasing way to bring the Good News of salvation in Christ and complete restoration by God to the people of the TED territory. As we look forward to that expanded role of evangelistic outreach in TED, it is a privilege to have Pastor Raafat Kamal as the new president of that division.”

. . .

The Trans-European Division is comprised of 23 European countries with a population of 202 million people and a membership of 84,000 members. This territory makes a total of 11 Unions and three Fields.