Delegates to North Pacific Union Conference’s 30th Constituency Meeting met Aug. 23 in College Place, Wash., where they elected Doug Bing as president for the upcoming five-year term, heard ministry reports about God’s blessings and processed important updates to bylaws and ministry policies.
The session opened with an inspiring song service; prayer by Jeff Fogelquist, NPUC chief financial officer; and a welcome to delegates and guests by Bill McClendon, NPUC vice president for administration, who also retired effective at the end of the meeting.
G. Alexander Bryant, North American Division president, opened the day with a call for God’s people to seek a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit and unite around His mission. With signs of Christ’s return on the horizon, he urged God’s people to come together, help others prepare and trust the Holy Spirit to accomplish what God has promised.
Following worship, McClendon returned to the podium to officially open the 30th constituency session, where 325 of 376 eligible delegates were in attendance and 66.9% of delegates were serving for the first time.
McClendon introduced the proposed agenda for the meeting and noted that a proposal concerning ordination credentialing for women pastors — subsequently signed by 20% of the delegates after the proposed agenda had posted some weeks ago — met the bylaw requirements to be added for a vote during the meeting. Delegates approved the updated agenda.
In his final president’s report before retirement, Freedman reflected on God’s blessings, particularly in the 9,505 lives changed across NPUC in the last five years.
“My prayer for this union is don’t stop praying,” he said. “Keep your eyes open to what God is doing. With Him, we can do all things.”
Bryant returned to the microphone to share a heartfelt farewell to Freedman and his wife, Malinda, drawing a standing ovation expressing deep appreciation for the Freedmans’ 45 years of service.
In McClendon’s subsequent secretary’s report, these last five years have been a story of growth – for the first time in NPUC history, every year in the most recent quinquennium featured year-over-year growth. Membership now includes 104,543 members who worship at 542 churches or companies within six conferences: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Upper Columbia and Washington.
Fogelquist next shared how the finance team shared how their mission is to faithfully steward the resources given by God’s people.
“Behind every contribution is an act of faith,” said Fogelquist in his finance report. “What strikes me in looking at the financial report is the collective faithfulness that produced it. The ministry [funding] represented in this report was not built through extraordinary gifts; it came from countless drops of faithfulness, and when those individual acts came together they formed streams of support for God’s mission through the North Pacific Union.”
Tithe is the most visible financial measure within the church, and the years 2021-2025 presented significant challenges for members including inflation, interest rates, housing costs, healthcare expenses, and increased household expenses.
Yet despite these challenges, Fogelquist noted, members remained faithful and gave a combined $564 million, representing a 16.57% increase over the past quinquennium and a compound analyzed growth rate of 3.11%.
A series of departmental reports, all accepted by the delegates, was followed by the nominating committee’s report. Bing succeeds John Freedman, who served two terms, and whose retirement took effect at the end of the day’s meeting. After Bing’s election, the following officers and vice presidents were approved:
- Erik VanDenburgh, executive vice president for administration
- Jeff Fogelquist, chief financial officer (reelected)
- Keith Hallam, vice president for education (reelected)
- Peter Simpson, vice president for Hispanic ministries (reelected)
- EuGene Lewis, vice president for regional ministries (reelected)
An Adventist Health report by Kerry Heinrich, Adventist Health CEO, and Kyle King, president of Adventist Health’s three hospitals in Oregon, concluded the morning’s business. They encouraged delegates and members to partner with them in reaching people in urban and rural communities.
Delegates departed for a working lunch where they met as conference caucuses to nominate representatives to join NPUC’s executive committee.
WWU Session
The NPUC session suspended for one hour for the convening of Walla Walla University’s constituency session.
Alex Bryan, WWU president, reaffirmed the university’s distinctly Seventh-day Adventist identity and its role in helping young adults develop faith, meaning and purpose.
“God has gifted us our campus to reach the next generations,” Bryan said. “You see the power of WWU in how we flood the American west, and particularly the Pacific Northwest, with graduates that end up vitalizing local congregations, schools and hospitals — the presence of God’s work in our community.”
He outlined three priorities: providing whole-person Adventist education, preparing students for ministry and calling, and strengthening financial sustainability and value.
WWU leaders highlighted expanded nursing education available on the Portland and College Place campuses, new artificial intelligence and computer science degrees, online graduate programs, and refined theology degrees with pastoral ministry and chaplaincy tracks. They also reported a clean audit, a stable financial position, and tuition and fees 21% below the national average for private colleges and universities.
Delegates approved updated articles of incorporation and membership for the 2026–2031 board of trustees.
NPUC Business Actions
The NPUC session continued with a vote that passed by a wide margin to implement a missional focus, effectiveness and efficiency study, which is intended to evaluate organizational structure, clarify roles between the union and conferences, and identify opportunities to reduce duplication and enhance operational efficiency.
A second proposal to establish a task force to study the financial and infrastructure challenges facing Seventh-day Adventist education across the union also passed with strong support.
Later in the day, delegates worked through 13 sets of updates to the bylaws document to better reflect current governance realities, including executive committee attendance policy, strengthening the agenda committee process and aligning financial accountability with denominational working policy.
Delegates did ask for a motion related to delegate privacy improvements to be referred to the constitution and bylaws committee for further review.
Moving Forward Together
The decision on ordination credentialing for women at NPUC’s 30th constituency session grew from a grassroots effort by delegates, 20% of whom signed a petition to add the matter to the agenda.
Following the vote of approval from 62.6% of delegates, NPUC leaders shared the following reflection:
The conversation gave us better insight into the range of views among our people and revealed a shared dedication to God, the global church and local ministry needs.
Together, we affirm women serving in pastoral ministry and recognize the calling, spiritual gifts and leadership they bring to the church.
The vote gives clear direction: Women pastors whose names are brought forward by conferences will now be considered for ordination approval through the same established process used for all candidates.
Throughout our ministerial convention and constituency session, a need surfaced repeatedly: Support your pastor, whether male or female. Pray for them, encourage them and work alongside them.
In NPUC and beyond, we need women and men, young and old, faithfully using the diverse spiritual gifts God has entrusted to the body of Christ. This mission belongs to all of us, and we move forward best when we work together.
Love Letters to the World
Connecting his closing message to the special-edition copies of Steps to Christ delegates received earlier in the day, Bing, as newly elected NPUC president, closed the session with a reflection from Steps to Christ, chapter 13, encouraging delegates to rejoice in the Lord and live with God’s love.
“We are love letters to the world,” he said. “May our handwriting be distinctive.”
