Pastor Lawrence Tanabose holds the distinction of being the first Pacific Islander to be appointed as a senior officer of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.

Pastor Tanabose and his wife, Rosina, have served the Adventist Church for more than 33 years. He was elected as president of the Adventist Church in the Trans-Pacific region in 2005. There are close to 90,000 church members in the region, covering countries such as Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

In his first year as president, Pastor Tanabose oversaw the formation of a single administrative structure for the church in the Solomon Islands. Previously, three missions—Eastern Solomon Islands Mission, Malaita Mission and Western Solomon Islands Mission—cared for the 34,387 church members in 417 organised churches and companies in the Solomons.

Pastor Tanabose was born in Papua New Guinea to Solomon Islander missionaries. He has served the church as a Bible lecturer, pastor, field evangelist, departmental director and administrator. As a representative for the Adventist Church, he has also worked closely with governments in Vanuatu, Solomons Islands and Fiji.

He holds a diploma in Administration and a Masters Degree in Theology. He and his wife have a daughter and three sons. With a passion for evangelism and a desire to bring people to Christ, Pastor Tanabose still runs evangelistic campaigns regularly.