On August 9, 2019, an open letter from General Conference President Ted Wilson was published to the Adventist News Network and East-Central Africa Division website to the church members in Burundi. The letter appears in full below:
I wonder when the President will write a letter of encouragement to all women in the church around the world… 
Should that also include the SDA church?
Not going to happen.
It seems that Elder Wilson places EGW on an equal level with Scripture promises. I wonder if EGW promises us something, God is obligated to honor that promise? Elevating EGW to a higher status then was ever intended, are we guilty of creating a Saint (except we don’t pray to her)? Or at least we are guilty of diverting attention from the life and teaching of Jesus to the life and books of EGW? I thought she was a “lesser” influence?
Almost as political as missive from certain potus to his base.
No doubt, despite the church being comprised of greater percentage men than women, Mr Wilson views the African vote base as more important in his upcoming “election”.
I’m drawn to suggest that this form of stumping is a sort of “inverse” from the usual “elect me and i promise you” variety we are accustomed to. In this case he is campaigning to make sure the hundreds of (male)GC secretaries who vote for him do not vote him OUT! Its sort of humorous, in a dark way, in that the headline here says “open letter” (about a foreclosed “election”)!
Frank,
It is more than obvious that under Ted Wilson the momentum has been geared toward cultism. He has been elevating Ellen White throughout his whole tenure, apparently relying on her much more than on the Word. This is not going to end well.
Someone should write an essay that chronicles all of the inter-church lawsuits, misadventures in stewardship, fistfights among church members, and the numerous other scandals in Seventh-day Adventism on the continent of Africa that have occurred during Ted Wilson’s presidency. And that essay should be read in public during the GC Session in Indianapolis next year. The African delegates deserve to be shamed in public. And we need a GC president who is not beholden to a political base of support that is comprised of third-world criminals and grifters.
this is such a wonderful text, and i’m glad TW picked it to share in this dire situation…the government of burundi has no business picking winners and losers in our church elections…i only hope president barishinga isn’t being tortured while he’s being held in custody…
i think we tend to think of last day events only in terms of sunday laws and the mark of the beast…but there are adventists all over the world who are getting into trouble along other lines, as well…this must be a very trying time for burundi adventism…
tho some REJECT EGW
you accept it or not ?
“IT?”… As far as I know EGW was a person, a human being, not an “it”… 
Please clarify your question.
Thanks.
"The Church I Want to Belong to is… Terrible"
Ted Wilson should read this challenging article published in his own Adventist Review on August 5, 2019:
https://www.adventistreview.org/1908-18?fbclid=IwAR0LQ4eacHcUnwrWt2RFBbg1MeAPdX7EISoRllUZnSNO0A9ZZSrI_KvdzMs
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Those SDAs who are aware of all the facts mentioned by the author (and many more issues), and choose to stay in this church (like myself) need to re-program their concept of “membership.” Forty years ago I decided that I would be a member of a local SDA church of my choice, but would no longer have any emotional ties to the SDA system.
Some people may claim that this is not possible. Well, in my experience it’s been working pretty well so far. This because the “church of my choice” (La Sierra University) is a “possible” church. Though I realize that many SDA churches are so terrible that they become “impossible” churches; and one has to go down the road to, maybe, a Methodist or Presbyterian pr Baptist church for spiritual practice.
I read the Review article, George. It begins and ends with the premise that the Adventist church is the center of the universe, and with God’s prophetic time clock hinging on it. IOW, the destiny of the entire world and humanity depends upon the denomination getting its act together.
What’s wrong with this picture? Oy!
Frank
Yeah Frank, we just have to be patient and wait for the cosmic change to happen. Will it happen during TW’s 3rd mandate? …
If I were a church administrator, I’d copy this letter and use it for all my “letters of encouragement.” It’s a real classic. Now, it reads a little like a form letter that has been adapted (minimally) to the Burundi situation. I suspect, however, it is intentionally over the top in conveying empathy, support, and the stroking of good will, to lower the heart rate and soothe the emotions. Of course, after you peel that away, you’re left with one sentence and message–you need to follow your duly appointed (elected?) leader. The glove is so beautiful, you hardly notice the hand.
Everything. All the things that were wrong from the very beginning…nothing has changed, in any meaningful way, nor will it. The dye was cast from the get-go. There is no room for backing down from the foundations/claims that were the raison d’etre for the SDA church. It is what it is, Frank.