On the last day of the 2025 General Conference (GC) Session, former GC president Ted N. C. Wilson was honored and recognized for his contributions to the Seventh-day Adventist Church during his 15-year tenure as president.

Following the recognition by the newly elected world church leadership, Wilson was presented with a signed Bible by his colleagues, delivered by the new GC president, Erton Köhler. Wilson’s wife, Nancy, received her own Bible and a bouquet of flowers.

“What a privilege it is for all of us to be a part of God’s last-day remnant church proclaiming Christ, His three angels’ messages, and His soon coming,” Wilson said. “Let us pray for our General Conference leaders and all our church leaders around the world.”

Upon his remarks, Wilson received a standing ovation from the more than 40,000 members and guests gathered in the America’s Center dome.

Ted N.C. Wilson was elected as president of the General Conference in July 2010 during the GC Session in Atlanta. Born in Takoma Park, Maryland, on May 10, 1950, the son of former Adventist world church president Neal C. Wilson and Elinor E. Wilson, Wilson spent part of his childhood in Egypt.

Wilson began his church career as a pastor in 1974 in the Greater New York Conference. He married Nancy Louise Vollmer, a physical therapist, in 1975. The couple has three daughters: Emilie Louise, who is married to Pastor Kameron DeVasher; Elizabeth Esther, who is married to Pastor David Wright; and Catherine Anne, who is married to Robert Renck. The Wilsons have 10 grandchildren.

Wilson served as an assistant director and then director of Metropolitan Ministries in New York from 1976 to 1981. He went on to serve in the church’s then Africa-Indian Ocean Division, based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, until 1990. There he served as a departmental director and later as division secretary.

Following his post in West Africa, he served for two years at the Adventist Church’s General Conference headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, as an associate secretary. He went on to accept the position of president of the church’s Euro Asia-Division in Moscow, Russia, which he held from 1992 to 1996.

Wilson returned to the United States to serve as president of the Review and Herald Publishing Association in Hagerstown, Maryland, until his election as a General Conference vice president in 2000.

An ordained minister, Wilson holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in religious education from New York University, a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University, and a Master of Science degree in public health from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health. In addition to English, he speaks French and some Russian.

Author Lauren Davis, adventist.news