New leadership has been chosen for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans Pacific region, or the Trans Pacific Union Mission (TPUM).

Pastor Waisea Vuniwa

Pastor Waisea Vuniwa has been appointed the new president and Pastor Paul Cavanagh, the new general secretary for the region. They will begin their term early next year.

Pastor Vuniwa is a Fijian by birth and is currently the general secretary for TPUM. He is also director for the region's Public Affairs and Religious Liberty program.

He has served the church for 25 years and during that time has served as a pastor, Theology lecturer and in various administrative positions.

Pastor Vuniwa holds a Masters in Family Life Ministries and has extensive experience in the area. He has been involved in numerous workshops and has visited the most prestigious overseas centres of excellence in this field.

Pastor Vuniwa will be taking over from Pastor Lawrence Tanabose, who will be serving as general secretary for the Adventist Church in the South Pacific next year. 

Pastor Paul Cavanagh

Pastor Paul Cavanagh was appointed Ministerial Associate and Field Secretary, Adventist Volunteers Coordinator and Institute of Intercultural Understanding Director in 2002.

Born in New Zealand, Pastor Caganagh has served the Adventist Church in the Pacific  for more than 30 years. He has been deputy and acting principal at Kukudu High School, Solomon Islands and lecturer at Fulton College, Fiji. He also taught at Pacific Adventist University (PAU), Papua New Guinea for 16 years.

He has a Science degree from Otago University and a BA Theology from Avondale College, Australia. He also has a Masters from Andrews University, USA in Missiology and a Masters in Public Health from Loma Linda University.

The administrative office of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans Pacific, or the TPUM, is located in Fiji.

The Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Malaita, Samoas-Tokelau, Tonga, Vanuatu form the area served by the TPUM. There are close to 90,000 Adventists in the region, with more than 1000 churches and church groups.

Find out more about the TPUM.