The Lake Union Conference welcomes Carmelo Mercado, the newest member of its administrative team. As vice president, Carmelo will coordinate Hispanic ministries, Adventist-Laymen's Services and Industries (ASI), and human relations. Coming to the union from Indiana, Carmelo has demonstrated successful ministerial, evangelistic, and leadership skills for the past 25 years.

A graduate of Andrews University with a B.S. in biology and a M.Div. from the Adventist Theological Seminary, Carmelo has experienced God’s leading throughout his life.

Upon completing his junior year, Carmelo became a student missionary in South America, where he was a pastor in the Beni province of Bolivia. He returned from this experience with a determination to dedicate his life to ministry, abandoning earlier plans to practice medicine.

After graduating from the seminary, Carmelo joined the Indiana Conference ministerial team in the Hammond Church, where he stayed for eight years.

Carmelo responded to an It Is Written interest card returned by a family replying to a free book offer. He visited Matt and Amparo Prieto in their home and began Bible studies with this family and their special daughter—Rosanne. After two years, they were baptized.

Rosanne kept busy helping with the church's health-screening program and volunteered her typing skills to help her young pastor keep up with his work. After a quiet courtship, Carmelo and Rosanne were married in 1986 and have been ministry partners ever since.

After pastoring in several Indiana districts, Carmelo began to realize God leading him to strengthen Hispanic ministries. Under the direction of Reuben Rivera, the Indianapolis Hispanic Company was organized. Carmelo gave strong support to this endeavor and was later asked by the conference to assume responsibility for the growing Hispanic work in Indiana. He coordinated the growth of Hispanic ministries in the Indianapolis, South Bend, and Fort Wayne communities for five years.

In 1996, Carmelo and Rosanne moved to Fort Wayne, where they have lived for the past seven years. While in Fort Wayne the North American Division (NAD) asked Carmelo to facilitate Hispanic involvement in NET ’98. He provided support for several hundred churches here and abroad, assisting with uplink coordination, equipment purchasing, translation of evangelistic materials, and arranging translators for the series.

In addition to providing strong leadership in the many congregations he has pastored, Carmelo also served on the Indiana Conference Executive Committee, the Lake Union Conference Executive Committee, the NAD Hispanic Coordinators Advisory, and the NAD Hispanic Evangelism Council. He also coordinated the production and distribution of the Hope for the Homeland video that was used in conjunction with evangelistic series in the Lake Union and North Pacific Union conferences in the fall of 2002.

As Carmelo contemplated the invitation to serve as Lake Union vice president, he felt impressed the Lord was calling Him to help support Lake Union Hispanic ministries. Realizing Hispanics are now the largest minority sector in North America, it is his desire to maximize our church’s outreach in this population group.

Carmelo has always had a strong interest in evangelism and is passionate about sharing Jesus with others and motivating them to lead others to Him also.

Diane Thurber is the Indiana Conference communication director.