A New President for the Cayman Islands Conference
Members of the Cayman Islands Conference of Seventh-day Adventists selected new officers, including a president, to look after the church and its community outreach program for the next four years.
Pastor Eric D. Clarke, from the Bahamas SDA Conference, was elected president. Pastor Reinaldo Dracket and Mrs. Sheila Woods were elected as executive secretary and treasurer, respectively.
Also elected were:
- Personal Ministries - Pastor Al Powell
- Youth - Pastor S. Dixon
- Family Ministries - Pastor S. O’Connor
- Sabbath School - Pastor C. Thompson
- Ministerial Director - Pastor W. McDonald
- Women Ministries - Sis. Shirlene Henriques
- Education - Pastor E. Clarke
- Children Ministries - Sis. Cereta McDonald
- Community Services - Pastor W. Nyack
- Health Ministries - Sis. Abigail Parchment
- ADRA - Bro. Benny Moore
The elections took place during the conference’s Second Quadrennial Session, held at the George Town Seventh-Day Adventist Church from June 18 – 20. The session also included an ordination service for Pastor Sweeny Sethres Dixon, the George Town church’s pastor.
Several Cayman Islands Government officials, including the Leader of Government Business, the Hon. Kurt Tibbetts; and also a Member of the Opposition, Mr. Cline A. Glidden, Jr., attended segments of the three-day session.
Church officers from the Caribbean region, including Inter-American Division Vice-President; Dr. Patrick Allen, West Indies Union President; Pastor Derek Bignall, Secretary and Carmeletha Findlay. Treasurer; Northern Caribbean University President Dr Herbert Thompson, and other conference/mission presidents and officers, supported the session with their attendance and participation.
Cayman’s church members chose the new officers in accordance with church guidelines and bylaws. The conference consists of 15 churches (two Spanish churches, one Filipino church, and 12 English-speaking churches), and has a membership of 3,558.
For the session, each church selected delegates based on a percentage of the membership. Committees were then formed and from these committees, nominations for positions were taken and voted on. These names were then brought to the floor for discussion, and a general vote.
The new president, Pastor Clarke, was born on Exuma, Bahamas. He attended the All Age Public School in Mount Thompson and the Government High School in Nassau. He then completed a bachelor’s degree in theology, with minors in Greek and history, in 1981 at West Indies College in Jamaica.
He has been a full-time minister with the Bahamas SDA Conference since 1981, doing extensive youth work as a member of the Youth Advisory Committee and the National Youth Service, both under the Ministry of Youth; and as the SDA conference’s national youth director.
Pastor Clarke also was a volunteer member of the National Drug Council and the National Scholarships Committee, both under the Ministry of Education. He served ten years as the conference’s communications director, and became executive secretary in January 2003. He is a marriage officer and a justice of the peace for the Bahamas Commonwealth.
Pastor Clarke is married to Patrice, a registered midwife and nursing officer with the Bahamas Government. They have three children: Daran, Dannia, and Danesha.
Pastor Clarke’s predecessor as Cayman conference president, Pastor Wilton McDonald, began his work in Cayman in 1979, building churches in West Bay, East End, North Side and Savannah.
Pastor McDonald also is an executive committee member of the West Indies Union, headquartered in Jamaica; and a member of the Northern Caribbean University (Mandeville, Jamaica) Board of Governors.
The quadrennial session concluded with an ordination service for the Cayman conference’s newest pastor, Pastor Sweeny Sethres Dixon. Pastor Dixon was born in Honduras to the late Sweeny and Melida Dixon, who were faithful members of the SDA Church there.
He grew up in the Bay Islands, where he completed his primary and secondary education. In 1998 he received the call from the Lord for the ministry and enrolled in the University of Costa Rica, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in theology.
In 2001 he returned to the Bay Islands as a district pastor and chairman of the school board. In 2002, he was also asked to serve as field secretary. In 2003, Pastor Dixon became the district pastor and field secretary in the Belize Conference. He then served in the Central SDA Mission of Honduras in February 2005, before accepting the call to serve as the George Town church’s pastor in January 2007.
As a part of his preparation for the challenges of modern ministry, Pastor Dixon is enrolled in the MBA program, with an emphasis in leadership, at Montemorelos University in Mexico.
He has been married for 14 years to Teresa I. Dixon (née Vasques), a trained teacher. They have three children: Travis, age 12; Brithey, 8; and Brad, 5 months. Over the period of his ministry, Pastor Dixon has baptized more than 600 souls and planted five new churches, to the honour and glory of God.
