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Adventist News Network Released by:   Ray Dabrowski
Phone: +31-30-955-324 (June 29-July 8) or +301-680-6300
Written by: Max Torkelsen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 30, 1995


SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST'S RE-ELECT WORLD CHURCH PRESIDENT

Utrecht, The Netherlands... Robert S. Folkenberg, 54, Silver Spring,
Maryland, U.S.A.,  has been re-elected to a second five-year term as
the world president of the 8.5 million member Seventh-day Adventist
Church. The election took place at the 56th World Session of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church being held at Jaarbeurs Convention Center
in Utrecht, the Netherlands, June 29-July 8.


In an unusually expeditious process, the 212-member nominating
committee brought their recommendation to the general assembly of
delegates in less than two hours.

Born in Puerto Rico, Folkenberg  is a United States citizen who spent
the majority of his ministry working for the Church in Latin America.

From 1970-1973, he designed and built, staffed and operated an
eighty-bed acute-care hospital in Valley of the Angels, Honduras.

A fifth-generation Adventist, Folkenberg arranged funding and built
radio station and production facilities in Guatemala City. He also
secured funding for the construction of AM and FM radio stations in the
Dominican Republic, Haiti and Costa Rica, and the expansion of stations
in Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe and Martinique, in addition to establishing
a computerized radio program production facility in Miami, Florida,
U.S.A.

Following a devastating earthquake in Guatemala in 1976, Folkenberg
supervised relief activities including securing financial assistance
from Seventh-day Adventist Welfare Service (SAWS), several western
European governments, the United States, and European private
corporations and foundations.  He built warehousing facilities,
distributed hundreds of tons of relief supplies and participated in the
rebuilding of thousands of houses.

Working with International Children's Care, Folkenberg established a
series of orphanages in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Dominican
Republic.

Folkenberg served as chairman of the board of Montemorelos University,
a liberal arts institution with 2,000 students, hospital and school of
medicine in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, during the time of a 600 percent
currency devaluation and 100 percent annual inflation.  During this
time the hospital construction was completed; the school of medicine
curriculum was substantially modified; administrative organization
restructured, and operating finances stabilized.

Folkenberg married Anita Emmerson on July 29, 1962. They have two
children, Robert S., 31, and Kathi Lynne, 28. Collectively the
Folkenberg and Emmerson families have given over 121 years of mission
service to the Adventist Church. Eleven of the last 15 generations of
the two families  have produced ministers.

Folkenberg was elected to his first term as president of the General
Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at it's World Session in
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A., in 1990.

The nominating committee represents each of the Church's 11 divisions
based on percentage of  membership. The report was presented by
nominating committee chair Benjamin Reaves, president of Oakwood
College, Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. and secretary, B. Lynn
Behrens-Basaraba, president of Loma Linda University, Loma Linda,
California, U.S.A. -end-