On August 29, the Board of Directors of Hope Channel International (HCI) named Vyacheslav Demyan as president-elect. Demyan will succeed Derek Morris, who has served as president since 2016 and announced his retirement as of October 31.

Demyan joined Hope Channel International in 2019 as the vice president of programming after serving as director general of the Hope Media Group Ukraine for 11 years. For the past four years he has guided the development and execution of programming to support HCI’s missiological goals, board leaders said. “He has a passion for media ministry and a mission to reach millions of people with the good news,” they said. 

“I am honored to be elected as the new president-elect of Hope Channel International,” Demyan said. “Derek Morris has set a stellar example as a man of God, and I look forward to continuing to be a blessing to my team members and our Hope Channel network around the world in proclaiming the message of hope to our millions of viewers,” he emphasized.

“It has been a great privilege to serve as President of Hope Channel International for the past seven and a half years,” Morris said. “I was blessed to serve with an outstanding team, and we have seen God work in miraculous ways. I am thankful for God’s leadership in the election of Vyacheslav Demyan as president-elect for Hope Channel International. Vyacheslav is a gifted and humble leader who is deeply committed to the global evangelistic media ministry of Hope Channels around the world.”

Morris will continue to serve as host of Hope Sabbath School, an in-depth, interactive study of the Word of God, broadcast worldwide on the Hope Channel network.

“Today we had a blessed, prayerful and spirit-guided HCI board meeting to elect the new HCI president, Elder Vyacheslav Demyan,” said Guillermo Biaggi, chair of the Board of Directors and a general vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. “We pray that the Lord will greatly bless this transitional period and the HCI team to reach, by His grace, new levels of development for HCI’s mission worldwide,” he said.

HCI vice president for finance Gideon Mutero agreed. “We welcome Vyacheslav to his new role as president,” Mutero said. “His understanding of missiology as it relates to media is a huge asset. We look forward to working with him as we grow to reach new frontiers of mission.”

Demyan will take over his new role on November 1.

About Hope Channel

Hope Channel International Inc. is a Christian global media network that offers programs on Christian living with a wholistic focus on faith, health, relationships, and community. Hope Channel began broadcasting in North America in 2003. Today, Hope Channel is a global network with more than 80 channels broadcasting in more than 80 languages.

The original version of this story was posted on ANN.