The Australian Union Conference (AUC) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has appointed a new ministerial secretary, Lyndelle Peterson, who is currently serving as associate ministerial secretary along with being Stewardship and Sabbath School departmental director.

The appointment comes following the announcement from former ministerial secretary Brendan Pratt that he accepted a call to be the new director of the global mission center for secular and post-Christian mission and associate ministerial secretary for the AUC.

Peterson comes with a diverse range of experience, starting out as an intern at Kellyville Seventh-day Adventist Church and then senior pastor for Chatswood Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sydney, before becoming the director of Sabbath School and Stewardship at Greater Sydney Conference and then director of Sabbath School, Stewardship, and Personal Ministries at the AUC. In 2021, she moved out of the role of Personal Ministries director and added the role of associate ministerial secretary.

AUC president Terry Johnson said, “God has a plan for each of our lives, and it’s wonderful to see how God has directed the ministerial pathway for Pastor Lyndelle Peterson.”

Johnson continued, “From internship to senior pastor of the Chatswood church in Sydney, departmental roles at the conference and union, where she has excelled, including as the associate ministerial secretary, where she’s learned and gained experience in the requirements necessary to lead across our nine conferences with the excellent ministerial team leaders that we are blessed with. May the Lord continue to bless her ministry as He’s expanded the scope of His calling in her life.”

Replacing Peterson as Stewardship and Sabbath School director is Nicu Dumbrava, who is currently serving as AUC Personal Ministries director and pastor for Hughesdale Seventh-day Adventist Church in Melbourne, Victoria. Dumbrava will continue serving as Personal Ministries director while also undertaking this new role.

Dumbrava served as pastor for the South New South Wales Conference for eight years before moving to Western Australia, where he served as pastor and Personal Ministries, Church Planting, and Sabbath School director. In 2021, he became Personal Ministries director for the AUC.

“Sabbath School and Stewardship has been ably and innovatively led by Pastor Lyndelle,” Johnson said. “And we know that the same will be true of Pastor Nicu, who has a proven track record in SNSW, WA, and Victoria in Personal Ministries, along with having led that department for the last three years. These are two important departments at the heart of discipleship, and Nicu is excited about the opportunity. We wish God’s blessing on him!”

The original version of this story was posted by Adventist Record.