During a specially-called executive session of the Texas Conference Executive Committee held Thursday, July 18, 2024, members met in person and online to interview three candidates to fill the executive secretary position originally held by David Montoya, who took an early retirement on June 30, 2024.*
When all three interviews were complete, there was a debriefing of the candidates and a season of prayer before the members anonymously voted.
Texas Conference President Elton DeMoraes then announced the name of the newly elected Texas Conference Executive Secretary, David Runnels.
“We appreciate the work the Texas Conference Executive Committee and sub-committee did to determine the best person to elect for the next Texas Conference executive secretary,” Texas Conference President Elton DeMoraes shared. “We look forward to working with Pastor Runnels in this new administrative role to further the work here in Texas.”
Feeling a call for ministry, Runnels served in various lay pastoral positions until he became a pastor in 2012 for the Philadelphia and Yancey Seventh-day Adventist churches in the San Antonio, Texas, area. In 2015, Texas Conference administrators re-districted the churches, so Runnels served the Philadelphia and Atascosa churches instead of the Philadelphia and Yancey churches. In 2019, he was elected as field secretary for the Texas Conference Secretariat’s office to assist in pastoral placements for non-Hispanic churches.
“It has been a pleasure to work with Pastor Runnels,” said Randy Terry, Texas Conference treasurer. “He embraced the new field secretary position assisting David Montoya, the previous Texas Conference executive secretary.”
Runnels has a Master of Social Work from The City University of New York (1997) and a bachelor’s degree in social work from Oakwood University, Huntsville, Ala. (1991).
He and his wife, Aleta, have four adult children: David, Kilah, Alani and Mical.
“Please join me in congratulating David Runnels on his new role for the Texas Conference effective today,” DeMoraes added. “As our theme says, Together As One, we are working together to further the work in the Texas Conference and beyond.”
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By Tamara Michalenko Terry, M.A., APR, associate director for Communication & Public Relations for the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
*You can view the article about David Montoya in English or Spanish by clicking the link of your choice.
