Arizona Conference
E
d Keyes is the newly-elected president of the Arizona Conference. He is transitioning from the Nevada-Utah Conference, where he was president for nearly two years. Keyes was hugely successful in his ministry in Arizona as executive secretary and ministerial director for 11 years prior to his move to Reno. When the presidency became available, his name topped the list of candidates, and the executive committee extended the call Jan. 5, 2016. After prayerful consideration, he accepted the call and began work Jan. 17. “I loved the challenges we faced in the Nevada-Utah Conference,” he said, “and I think some major achievements were accomplished. I know the team there will work hard to carry on. Lillian and I look forward to returning to Arizona to continue our ministry with a team we already know as family.” Keyes was born in Jersey City, N.J., where the street life of the inner city was his daily fare. Attending 5,000-student William L. Dickinson High School, he had experiences that would later translate into some pretty amazing sermon illustrations. God spared his life many times as he lived on the wrong side of the law and had numerous brushes with death. His mother, a Free Will Methodist, and his father, a Southern Baptist, taught him to believe in God. But he was more consumed with living a fast-paced life on the streets with his brother and two sisters. On April 24, 1981, Keyes gave his life to Christ. He began attending the Church of Bible Understanding, then made his way back to the Baptist church. A year later he attended a prophecy seminar held in a local firehouse near Atlantic City and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As a paramedic in Atlantic City working to save lives, he felt called to save souls. He began his college studies at Washington Adventist University and married his best friend, Lillian. They have served the church in team ministry for more than 30 years. The Keyes have two children. Andrew, a medical student at Loma Linda University,
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PHIL DRAPER
Ed Keyes Elected Arizona Conference President
Ed Keyes
is married to Rhina. Becky, studying to be a speech therapist in Birmingham, Ala., is married to dental student Harrison Filler. Keyes has served as pastor, evangelist, church planter, academy teacher, administrator, ministerial secretary, executive secretary and president while working in the Potomac, New Jersey, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada-Utah conferences. He has conducted evangelistic meetings, weeks of prayer, and training seminars in more than half the conferences in the North American Division. His foreign mission
trips include the Middle East, Cuba, Mexico, Russia and the Philippines. Keyes recently experienced a dramatic change in his health through exercise and following the principals of health as taught by the Adventist church. After losing nearly 120 pounds, he realized anything is possible through God’s grace. Now it is his passion to help others experience abundant life in Jesus as well as eternal life.
Phil Draper