, Hope Channel, with Adventist Review staff
Derek Morris, editor of Ministry magazine, has been named president of Hope Channel, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s international television network with 43 affiliate channels.
Morris succeeds Brad Thorp, president of Hope Channel since its inception in 2003. Thorp will continue to serve as a field secretary of the Adventist world church and is on special assignment from church president Ted N.C. Wilson to facilitate special evangelism projects.
Morris, an associate secretary for the Adventist world church’s Ministerial Association since 2010, begins his new role with an already established relationship with Hope Channel. For more than six years he has served as host of Hope Channel’s most-watched program, “Hope Sabbath School,” a weekly, interactive Bible study program.
“I believe God has a great work to be done through television,” Morris said. “We need to tap into all media platforms to reach everyone we can for God’s kingdom. And Hope Channel has opportunities every moment of every day to reach searching hearts with the message of God’s redeeming love.”
Guillermo Biaggi, chair of the Hope Channel board and a general vice president of the Adventist world church, said he believed God’s hand was behind the board’s selection of Morris.
“The process of nomination and appointment of Hope Channel’s new president was done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit with seasons of prayer,” he said.
The board, which selected Morris on Monday, also reappointed two key executives: Gideon Mutero, vice president for finance; and Gabriel Begle, vice president for programming, production, and broadcast. Kandus Thorp, who is married to Brad Thorp, has also been appointed director for international development.
The position of director of marketing and fundraising will be filled at a later time.
Referring to Brad and Kandus Thorp’s contribution to Hope Channel, Biaggi said: “We thank the Thorps for their dedication, commitment, and faithful ministry. We pray that the Lord continues to bless Brad in his new function as field secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, focusing on urban centers in cities around the world and bringing hope to millions.”
Read: Brad Thorp, Hope Channel’s Visionary President, Steps Aside
Morris holds a doctorate in Ministry in Preaching from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a doctorate in Ministry in Practical Theology from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
As president, Morris is charged with working with the Hope Channel board to create and implement a strategy to effectively share God’s good news for a better life today and for eternity with the world.
“Pastor Morris has a very biblically focused approach to his work and to lifting up Christ, His righteousness, and His soon coming,” Wilson said. “God has blessed Hope Channel enormously over the last number of years, and it is now poised to expand its programming and donor participation. What an opportunity to reach the world with the three angels’ messages.”
Morris’s experience as host of “Hope Sabbath School,” as well as a pastor and author, will be an asset to the growth of Hope Channel, Biaggi said.
“We pray for the Holy Spirit to continue guiding his new ministry as leader of Hope Channel,” he said. “We are sure that our Lord will guide this important ministry for our Church, to reach new goals and especially to bring hope to billions of people in our world.”
Encouraging the staff at Hope Channel, Biaggi drew attention to the words of church co-founder Ellen G. White in Prophets and Kings, Page 263: “When God opens the way for the accomplishment of a certain work and gives assurance of success, the chosen instrumentality must do all in his power to bring about the promised result. In proportion to the enthusiasm and perseverance with which the work is carried forward will be the success given. God can work miracles for His people only as they act their part with untiring energy. He calls for men of devotion to His work, men of moral courage, with ardent love for souls, and with a zeal that never flags. Such workers will find no task too arduous, no prospect too hopeless; they will labor on, undaunted, until apparent defeat is turned into glorious victory.”
Wishing God’s blessings to Morris and the Hope Channel team, Wilson said, “I pray that they find ways through the Holy Spirit’s guidance to reach millions of new homes with the hope of Christ’s soon return.”
