FROM
THE
EDITOR
25
Years
of
Leadership
t
any
25th
Anniversary
Spectrum
awards
cer-
emony,
the
first
name
mentioned
would
have
to
be
that
of
Molleurus
Couperus,
the
first
editor.
(See
the
initial
selection
in
the
excerpt
section
and
the
short
profile
introducing
Molleurus’
own
piece.)
When
Charles
Scriven
and
1,
as
co-editors,
succeeded
Couperus,
Spectrum's
reputation
was
well
established.
We
could
afford
to
experiment
with
more
popular
features.
Attentive
readers
will
notice
from
the
initial
excerpt
that
Spectrum
is
published
by
the
Association
of
Advent-
ist
Forums.
The
leaders
of
the
Association
are
the
invisible
heroes
of
Spectrum's
25-year
story.
They
made
certain
the
journal
was
staffed,
funded,
and
promoted.
The
key
office
of
executive-secretary
has
included
such
outstanding
incumbents
as
Ronald
Numbers,
Alice
Gregg,
Richard
Osbom,
Viveca
Black,
Claire
Hosten,
Virginia
Murray
Mendoza,
and
Mary
Haloviak.
Many
have
served
briefly
as
president—Tom
L.
Walters,
Roy
Branson,
Lawrence
T.
Geraty,
Emest
J.
Plata—but
the
four
presidents
who
served
the
longest
established
a
consistent
ideal
of
leadership.
From
their
school
days
on,
these
were
people
used
to
being
leaders
at
the
center.
Alvin
Kwiram,
now
the
senior
vice
provost
of
the
University
of
Washington,
even
as
a
young
professor
at
Harvard,
was
a
serious,
carefully
considered
leader.
He
had
been
president
of
the
student
association
at
Walla
Walla
College
before
receiving
his
doctorate
in
physical
chemistry
from
the
California
Institute
of
Technology.
For
the
first
three
years
of
AAF’s
existence,
he
had
the
kind
of
gravitas
as
president
that
George
Washington
himself
would
have
approved.
He
subsequently
served
as
chair
of
the
Spectrum
Board
of
Editors.
He
has
also
remained
a
pillar
of
the
Green
Lake
congregation
in
Seattle.
Lyndrey
A.
Niles,
professor
of
communications
and
presently
associate
dean
of
the
graduate
school
at
Howard
University,
served
in
all
three
of
the
top
officer’s
positions—executive
secretary,
vice
president,
and,
for
four
years,
president.
Niles’
commitment
to
collegiality
with
the
church
never
wore
thin,
even
when
Spectrum
was
publicly
chastised
at
an
Annual
Council
Session.
Niles,
originally
from
Barbados,
with
a
Ph.D.
from
Temple
University,
helped
create
the
Brotherhood
Seventh-day
Adventist
Church,
with
the
mission
of
bringing
races
together.
Glenn
E.
Coe,
a
partner
in
a
Hartford,
Connecticut
law
firm,
served
by
far
the
longest
period
as
president
of
the
association.
His
two
stints
covered
12
years.
Coe
was
skillful
in
negotiations,
particularly
when
R.
H.
Pierson,
the
president
of
the
General
Conference,
was
outraged
over
Spectrum's
coverage
of
Ronald
Numbers’
book
on
Ellen
White:
Prophetess
of
Health.
He
stood
steadfastly
for
the
independence
of
Spectrum's
editor
and
editorial
board,
not
only
within
the
church,
but
within
AAF.
He
revealed
his
passionately
caring
side
in
Spectrum,
with
a
moving
account
of
his
brother
dying
of
AIDS.
A
president
of
the
student
association
at
his
alma
mater,
Andrews
University,
Coe
went
on
to
serve
on
conference
and
union
committees,
and
continues
to
teach
a
Sabbath
school
class
that
has
led
to
baptisms
into
the
Hartford,
Connecticut
congregation.
es
Pitton,
who
served
in
several
positions
on
the
AAF
Board,
has
been
its
president
for
the
past
five
years.
Part
of
his
time
on
the
board,
Pitton
was
also
in
the
General
Conference,
as
director
of
North
American
Youth
Ministries.
As
president
of
AAF,
he
has
both
sought
young
talent
for
board
positions
and
carefully
reviewed
Spectrum's
financial
position.
Pitton,
a
recipient
of
an
M.Div.
from
the
SDA
Theological
Seminary,
and
now
vice-president
of
Adventist
Healthcare
Mid-Atlantic,
is
a
rare
combination
of
daring
entrepreneur,
detailed
manager,
and
nurturing
minister.
After
Sligo
Church’s
11
o’clock
service,
Pitton
is
one
of
the
last
members
deep
in
conversation.
It
is
not
an
accident
that
these
presidents
embody
qualities
Spectrum
has
endeavored
to
exemplify.
The
leaders
of
AAF
have
led
by
nurturing
others.
They
have
acted
to
embolden
the
Adventist
community
of
talent
to
express
its
God-given
creativity.
This
issue
is
largely
a
record
of
how
Spectrum,
for
25
years,
has
attempted
to
fulfill
a
pastoral
form
of
leadership—a
kind
of
leader-
ship
in
which
we
all
energize
and
encourage
one
another
within
a
community
of
faith.
—Roy
Branson
Vorume
24,
NuMBER
3