During the 2025 North American Division Year-End Meeting (NAD YEM), held October 30 to November 4, the NAD executive committee received several names for new appointments recommended by the NAD’s standing committee, with strong support. 

Willie E. Hucks II was elected director of the NAD Ministerial association; Denny Rengifo was elected associate director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM); and Pablo Gaitán was elected executive secretary for the Guam-Micronesia Mission. Ruth Horton was also elected vice president for education.

[A separate article on her appointment is available here. Also, click here for an article on the incumbent vice presidents and here for a list of the NAD’s returning directors.]

Willie E. Hucks II was elected director of the NAD Ministerial Association, replacing Ivan L. Williams Sr., who, since his 2023 election at the NADYEM, has also served as vice president for strategic planning and leadership.

Since 1985, Hucks has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in various pastoral, academic, and editorial roles, including as a local church pastor; religion professor at Southwestern Adventist University; associate editor of Ministry magazine; and associate ministerial secretary for the General Conference Ministerial Association, focusing on theological education and ministerial preparation. He has also served as associate professor and chair of Christian ministry at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. 

Hucks’ most recent roles were as the assistant to the president for mission and culture at Andrews University and as associate professor of pastoral theology and homiletics.

A Dallas, Texas, native, Hucks earned an undergraduate ministerial degree from Oakwood University and Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Andrews University.  

Outside of work, his greatest joy is his family: Kathleen (née Alexander), his wife, their two adult children, and their grandson. 

“I’m excited about the election of Dr. Willie Hucks because he brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the role,” said Williams. “He has a rich academic and practical ministry experience that will bless the ministerial office. I’m confident that, with the Lord, the team, and [the strengths he brings], he will do very well.”

For his part, Hucks expressed excitement for his new call: “I’m looking forward to working alongside my NAD Ministerial colleagues and all the union and local conference ministerial secretaries throughout the division to build upon the solid foundation laid by Dr. Ivan Williams and his predecessors. The time is now to finish the mission God has given us.”

Denny Rengifo was elected associate director for Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries at the NAD Year-End Meeting. 

“It is our privilege to welcome Chaplain Denny Rengifo to the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM) team! She brings a strong Christian character, deep knowledge, and valuable experience that will greatly enrich our ministry. Her passion for service will be a blessing to the ACM department and to the more than 900 endorsed Seventh-day Adventist chaplains serving in various disciplines across the division,” said ACM director Washington Johnson II. 

Rengifo is a board-certified chaplain who served as chaplain manager at White Oak Medical Center, Adventist HealthCare, a role she held for nearly nine years prior to her appointment. Over the years, she has developed expertise in grief, ethics, and palliative care. She also serves as a military chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves at the 633rd Air Base Wing in Virginia. 

Rengifo, who has been in ministry for 17 years, received her bachelor’s in theology from Southern Adventist University in 2006 and her master’s in theology from Andrews University in 2009. She is happily married to John Rengifo, Ministerial director at Chesapeake Conference, and they have three children — Sophia, Jasmine, and Benjamin.

“I’m looking forward to using my passion and gifts towards building God’s kingdom through the NAD and supporting Adventist chaplains in the field,” said Rengifo. “ACM had a key role in my journey into chaplaincy. It is a great blessing for me to have the opportunity to help and support other chaplains.”

During the NADYEM, Pablo Gaitán was elected as executive secretary for the Guam-Micronesia Mission (GMM), filling a position that had been open for a few years. 

Gaitán most recently served as lead pastor of the Washington Spanish Bilingual Seventh-day Adventist Church. A native of Argentina, he has served in pastoral ministry for nearly 20 years within the North American Division (California, Florida, and Maryland). He is currently completing a doctorate in leadership at Andrews University.

He will work alongside Matthew Kirk, president, and Marcey LaChance, both of whom were re-elected. Together, they will oversee church operations, education entities, and healthcare in the vast Micronesian region — across the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and Guam.

“We are thrilled to have someone join our team who has a deep commitment to, and many years of experience in, cross-cultural and multicultural ministry contexts,” said Kirk. “Pastor Gaitán’s passion for the advancement of the gospel combined with how God has prepared him for this new role excite us when we think about how God is going to use him in the next chapter of his ministry.”

Gaitán also expressed assurance of God’s leading. “I’ve worked my entire ministry in the NAD and never knew we had a missionary field all the way over there. The more I learned about the place, the more I liked it, the more I fell in love with the people … and the more I wanted to be there,” he said. 

“When you see God’s hand showing the way, you just have to follow Him,” Gaitán said, asking for prayers for his family, including his wife, Vanessa, and their three kids — ages 16, 13, and 6 — as they transition to serve in this critical field.