Did you know that the North American Division was founded in 1913? For most of the twentieth century the work in North America was led by one of the vice presidents of the General Conference. Then in 1985, with growing missional needs, the North American Division was reformulated once again as one of the 13 divisions of the world church. Charles Edward Bradford (1925-2021) would serve as the first president of this newly reformulated North American Division, beginning in 1985. This is our story in a biography gleaned and condensed from an biographical article written by Douglas Morgan in the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists about Bradford’s life and contributions. This article also appears in the Adventist Journey magazine as a two-part series in the February and March 2025 editions.—Adventist Journey Editors.

Charles Edward Bradford was born in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 1925, to Etta and Robert Bradford. Charles’s parents were stalwarts from the founding generation of Black Adventism in America; his mother was converted after attending Bible studies on the mission boat Morning Star. His parents met at Oakwood and spent their lives as a ministry couple serving a wide variety of churches until his father’s poor health forced him to retire early. During Charles’s teenage years his gifts for ministry became evident as he assisted with tent meetings. The influence of his mother added to his resolve to go into ministry.

After completing his studies at Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), Bradford began pastoring in 1946 in the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference. W. W. Fordham, who became the first president of the Southwest Region Mission in December 1946 (then conference in 1950), early in his tenure called the young Bradford to serve as pastor/evangelist in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area. For Bradford it was the beginning of 24 years of ministry in the Black (regional) conferences, organized after General Conference approval in 1944. Bradford’s Louisiana district included Baton Rouge, Hammond, and Covington. Bradford conducted an evangelistic effort that led to the planting of an additional church in Monroe; then in 1947, in Baton Rouge, he brought close to 100 new members into the church.

On May 23, 1948, Charles married Ethel Lee McKenzie; the couple had met at Oakwood after they were assigned seats at the same cafeteria table. Charles and Ethel had three children: Sharon (Lewis), Charles, Jr., and Dwight. From the outset of their 73-year marriage, music was one of the most visible of the many ways Ethel collaborated with her husband in ministry.

A Natural Leader

In 1952 Bradford, at age 27, entered a new phase of ministry as conference evangelist and director of the Home Missionary Department for the Central States Conference. It was the beginning of a pattern that recurred over the ensuing decade in which Bradford was given relatively high levels of responsibility for his age while shuttling between conference positions and local pastorates. When his assignments as conference evangelist took him to St. Louis, Missouri, in the summer of 1953, the experience was so rewarding that, at his request, he remained there. Some of his colleagues in departmental work in the Central Union (a predecessor to Mid-America) wondered why he would want to return to a local church after attaining a position in “the office.” However, in Bradford’s estimation, despite his later election to the highest levels of denominational administration, the real center of vitality would always be the local congregation.

In 1957 Harold D. Singleton, another of Bradford’s primary mentors, called him to the Northeastern Conference to head the Home Missionary and Sabbath School departments, and to conduct public evangelism. Bradford did not recall doing anything particularly innovative in his conference departmental work. Yet he did try to begin a shift in the departmental director’s role from “supervisor” to “resource person.” When conference departmental leaders visited local churches in that era, it was typically to check to see if goals for various programs were being met and make the necessary exhortations if not. Bradford instead prioritized listening to the pastors and members of the churches he visited to ascertain how the conference could help their ministries thrive. As in Central States, Bradford left the Northeastern Conference office in the fall of 1959 to return to pastoral ministry, this time at City Tabernacle in Harlem, New York. “Some people would say that was a demotion, but it was one of the greatest things that happened to us,” Ethel later observed.

At 36 Elder Bradford was elected the fourth president of the Lake Region Conference (a position he would serve for nine years). Lake Region was the first regional conference to be organized (September 1, 1944), bringing together Black congregations from the Lake Union Conference states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, with office headquarters established in Chicago. By 1961 the number of congregations had more than doubled from 21 to 43, as had the membership from 2,300 to 5,187. As president, Bradford, who possessed what his daughter, Sharon, called a “forward-thinking mindset,” introduced changes, such as installing younger ministers from outside Lake Region in the pulpits of some of the conference’s largest churches. Though it was impossible to completely overcome the natural defensiveness of more experienced workers, Bradford sought to move with discretion, and in accordance with one of his main goals: a more participatory form of decision-making and collegial style of interaction between conference leaders and workers. By 1970 the Lake Region Conference membership had reached 8,800, a net increase of 70 percent since the beginning of Bradford’s administration in 1961.

Passion, Dedication, and Diplomacy

As conference president Bradford had greater opportunity for gaining a hearing among denominational leaders with regard to racial disparities. This opportunity also placed on him the delicate challenge of using his voice wisely as well as courageously in the enflamed atmosphere of the civil rights revolution and urban upheaval during the 1960s. Bradford also issued a forthright rebuke to the General Conference president, Reuben R. Figuhr, in response to Figuhr’s open letter to “Fellow Believers,” published in the Review and Herald of January 2, 1964. The General Conference president had seemed to ascribe equal validity to the positions of those who said that the race question is a “moral” issue and those who said it was not, but was instead a political controversy of the sort that Christ instructed His followers to avoid. 

In a letter of January 9, Bradford warned Elder Figuhr in no uncertain terms that he was “definitely out of harmony with the times in which we live, as well as the timeless counsels of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy.” Citing passages from these “timeless counsels,” Bradford insisted that the “issue IS moral,” and asked, “How can we be silent on the matter and present it as an ‘option’ or nonessential when great segments of our church membership do not understand that the frown of God is upon all who do not recognize and appreciate the dignity and intrinsic worth of every man?” Despite Figuhr’s reluctance, the General Conference, in April 1965, did issue a strongly worded call for a complete end to racial bias and segregation in all Seventh-day Adventist churches and institutions.

His bold insistence on sweeping action to advance racial justice in the denomination sheds light on Bradford’s self-description, often repeated during his later years, that he was a “company man.” Though some at General Conference headquarters might have been tempted to think otherwise, he was not a rebel. Yet his loyalty was not a craven subservience for the sake of higher position. Rather, it was a loyalty born of genuine love for the church—“a lifelong romance with the Seventh-day Adventist movement,” as he put it. That same loving loyalty compelled him to do all he could to hold the church accountable to its ideals regarding the equal dignity of all its members. His passion for rectifying the injustices that hampered the work among African Americans was part of a broader vision for the whole church that made him a “company man.”

Bradford’s election as an associate secretary of the General Conference in 1970 suggests that the predominantly White denominational leadership sensed the genuineness of his loyalty, and, more important, something of the value of his gifts for leadership. His winsome interpersonal manner helped gain their confidence. He was a skillful diplomat, combining affability with shrewdness in navigating the interplay of conflicting perspectives and competing agendas, without surrendering essential principle. That skill was one quality that made evident his potential for effective service to the church at large.

Bradford would eventually serve as the first president of the newly reformulated North American Division, but this was after several years of service at the General Conference. These experiences would help shape him into a man for the times when he came to the North American Division helm in 1985.

Church Leadership

Charles E. Bradford’s election as an associate secretary of the General Conference in 1970 suggests that the predominantly White denominational leadership sensed the genuineness of his loyalty, and, more important, something of the value of his gifts for leadership. 

Additionally, his skill and effectiveness as a preacher was incomparable. A folksy yet highly intellectual oratorical style became Bradford’s trademark. His speaking combined prophetic power with pastoral warmth, and he endeared himself to listeners by illustrating his points with a seemingly exhaustless supply of telling and often humorous anecdotes. His voracious reading and lively awareness of current issues and societal trends enabled him to speak with credibility and relevance to a wide range of audiences. In sum, Bradford, by the 1960s, had “established his reputation as one of the premier pulpiteers of the church.”

On January 11, 1979, Bradford was elected General Conference (GC) vice president for the North American Division (NAD), based on the recommendation of a nominating committee comprised of his leadership peers in the division. Bradford’s election in 1979 to the top leadership in the NAD, less than 15 years after the denomination decisively renounced segregation, was widely hailed as a milestone in denominational race relations not only within the church but also in the public media, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. A feature article in Ebony magazine reported that Bradford had been elected “president of all Adventists in North America, becoming the first Black to attain that position.”

Though frequently referred to as “president,” Bradford was in fact elected to the position of GC vice president for the NAD. The distinction is important because it was indicative of a long-standing “special relationship” that enmeshed the NAD with the GC in the denomination’s governance structure. It was a relationship that was causing considerable discontent in North America by the 1970s, and one of the top priorities of Bradford’s administration was to move the NAD toward becoming a full-fledged division comparable to the other divisions of the General Conference. 

At its April 1980 meeting in Dallas, Texas, the General Conference elected Bradford to continue as vice president for the NAD. Though his title was unchanged, leaving the NAD without a president, the session voted a seemingly minor change in policy that in fact represented a significant step forward for the division. It authorized the North American members of the GC nominating committee, rather than the committee as a whole, to nominate a slate of officers and departmental directors for assignment to the NAD. Going forward, this change meant that Bradford would be authorized to convene meetings with NAD personnel to develop plans and exercise leadership for the church in North America.

God’s Formula for Change

Bradford’s sermon on the first Sabbath (April 19) of the 10-day session, “Formula for Change,” drew on the biblical prophets in setting the tone and direction for his administration. “God’s formula for change,” Bradford declared, “is to break up the dull, tame monotony of our religious labor and to take on a deep, earnest, sanctified zeal.” He broadened the typical understanding of Adventist mission by invoking the prophetic mandates of justice and compassion: “The principles of justice and neighbor love must be worked out in the laboratory of human experience, in the here and now. And we are the ones to demonstrate these grand principles.” This would be a recurring theme in his sermons and articles. 

To chart a path forward for mission in the NAD, Bradford embraced an endeavor, stemming from an evangelism summit held at Glacier View Ranch in Colorado in April 1979, to formulate biblical leadership principles informed by up-to-date research on church growth and effective management models, and by listening to the perspectives of those on the ground in diverse ministry settings. The rubric adopted through this process, Faith Action Advance, called for empowering, and holding accountable, every unit of church organization for implementing plans best suited to reach their target populations. In all of this, attention was to be focused on the local church as the primary and most important unit of church organization. With the Caring Church model, voted in 1983, the NAD provided resources for renewal of dynamic local congregations in accordance with New Testament principles.

While the degree of receptivity varied from place to place, Faith Action Advance and the Caring Church helped give the NAD a distinct identity separate from the GC. Innovations introduced by the Bradford team to implement these formulas at the division level made a tangible impact on church life. The NAD affiliated with several “resource centers,” such as the NAD Evangelism Institute, the HART Research Center, and the Center for Creative Ministry, to make training and resources directly available to local ministries. Among the most enduring of these centers is AdventSource—a major publisher and distributor of local church leadership materials. The NAD also fostered development of a new Sabbath School resource, the Collegiate Quarterly, and organized an unprecedented division-wide Pathfinder camporee at Camp Hale, Colorado, in 1985. That event inaugurated the era of large-scale camporees every five years (international since 1994) that have become a prominent and highly valued feature of Adventist life.

The 1985 session voted that the head officer of the NAD be designated with the same title as those of all the other world divisions. Accordingly, on July 5, 1985, Charles E. Bradford was finally and officially elected the first president of the newly reconstituted North American Division. 

Advancing the church’s mission in North America, was, of course, the overriding purpose driving the protracted struggle over bureaucratic details. While Bradford was an astute administrator, organizational management was not his primary concern. He regarded the doctrinal and organizational structure of the church—the anatomy of the church body, as he often put it—as basically strong and well established. His real passion was for the vitality of its “physiology”—its dynamics as a thriving, growing community of faith. The preaching and writing that he directed toward that end during his years at the helm of the NAD made an impact beyond the strengthening of the division structure. 

Wit and Wisdom

Bradford retired from full-time denominational employment at the time of the 1990 GC Session, having completed 44 years of service, 11 as leader of the North American Division. Publication of The Wit and Wisdom of Charles E. Bradford (Review and Herald, 1990), a 136-page volume compiled by colleagues William G. Johnsson, then editor of the Adventist Review, and Noelene Johnsson, an associate director of the NAD Church Ministries Department, reflects the esteem and affection held for him at the time of his retirement. He and Ethel moved to Spring Hill, Florida, and lived there until 2008, when they moved to Madison, Alabama. In his retirement Bradford devoted himself to study and writing, producing a number of books.

Charles E. Bradford passed away on September 9, 2021, in Huntsville, Alabama, at age 96, survived by his wife, Ethel, their three children, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. He was laid to rest in the Oakwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Huntsville.

You can read more about Adventist history in the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists at encyclopedia.adventist.org.