On July 26, the Executive Committee of the Allegheny West Conference elected Elder Marvin C. Brown, III as the new President of the Allegheny West Conference, headquartered just outside Columbus, Ohio. Elder Brown replaces Dr. William T. Cox, who served as President for nearly 9 years. Dr. Cox accepted a call to become the Executive Director for the Regional Conference Retirement Program, which is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
Dr. Cox replaces Elder Joseph W. McCoy, who is retiring after 15 years as Executive Director at the end of this year. Dr. Cox will assume the directorship of the retirement office on October 1. Elder McCoy will then transition into an advisory role for the remainder of the year.
Elder Brown is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a graduate of Pine Forge Academy and Oakwood College (now Oakwood University). He began his ministry as a Pastor in the North Caribbean Conference in the United States Virgin Islands in 1979 as a Pastor on the island of St. Croix. He ultimately transitioned to the Allegheny West Conference in 1983, where he pastored in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia prior to becoming a Departmental Director in Allegheny West in the area of Stewardship and Ministerial.
In 2013, he was elected as Executive Vice President, where he served until being elected as President to fill the remainder of the quadrennial session, which ends in October of 2021.
He and his wife, Grace -a native of Monve, Zambia, have been married for 35 years. Their union has produced 2 sons, Marvin Christopher and Marsalis Christian.
In that same meeting, the Executive Committee also elected Elder Joel Johnson to replace Elder Brown as Executive Vice President. Elder Johnson is a native of Cleveland, Ohio; he and Elder Marvin Brown and Elder Dana C. Edmond, the Executive Director of the Office for Regional Conference Ministries, all attended the same church as teenagers after Elder Brown relocated there-the former Glenville SDA church in Cleveland, Ohio.
Like Elder Brown, Elder Johnson is a graduate of Pine Forge Academy and Oakwood College (now Oakwood University). He began his ministry in the Allegheny West Conference in 1979 and served there for 11 years before accepting a call to return to his alma mater, Pine Forge Academy in 1990. There, he served in a number of capacities-including Chair of the Department of Religion, Religion Instructor, Boys Dormitory and Academy Chaplain. He served there for 19 years.
While there, he founded the renowned Pine Forge Creative Arts Drama Ministry. They traveled extensively, sharing powerful skits and plays.
In 2009, Elder Johnson returned to Allegheny West to serve as its Youth Director. He served there until 2017, when he was assigned to the Columbus Beacon of Hope SDA. It was from that position that he was elected as Executive Vice President.
Elder Johnson has been married for the past 41 years to the former Alicia Ellis of Compton, California. From that marriage has come 4 sons, Joel II, Auldwin and Erik and Kyel.
May the Lord look with favor upon the leadership of these 2 men as they assume the weighty and sacred responsibility of leading God’s people in Allegheny West in these last days.