Kimberly Dunker, on behalf of the Journal of Applied Christian Leadership: Hello, Dr. Roberts! Thanks for talking with me today. Could you please tell me a little bit about your current role and what steps you’ve taken to be in that role?
Sandy Roberts: Currently, I’m the executive secretary for the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. I was elected in August 2021 for a five-year term. On top of that, I wear the hat of the ministerial director and chair the Pacific Union College Board. It’s interesting how the Adventist church organization functions; most of the leadership positions in the church are not on the academic education side of things but tend to be more on the ministerial and pastoral side. Thus, I was a pastor and went through my education process at Andrews University, did a Doctor of Ministry degree at Claremont, and prepared myself educationally. When I was a pastor, I primarily worked in youth ministry as a camp director. Additionally, I was a Bible teacher in a classroom for a few years and campus chaplain at Loma Linda Academy. So, you can see the path to my position was kind of “zigzaggy.” Much of my journey has been taking advantage of any doors that open in front of me. In my life, I felt convicted by God that I was called to ministry, and so when any opportunity presented itself, I would take advantage of it. Often, I reflect on the fact that God has a way of weaving our lives together, and while it doesn’t always make sense in the moment, in time, we understand that God has a plan for us.
JACL: Can you tell me more about your journey to your current leadership position?
SR: I was the executive secretary of the Southeastern California Conference for nine years when the president that I’d been working under (who was very supportive) decided not to continue in his role. At that time, I felt that I was aging out of youth ministry. I went to a large youth convention with our youth pastors and leaders from local churches. One night, there was a concert, and I remember thinking that it was really wild, like a mosh pit, and the kids, these young youth pastors, were so excited. I was like, “I’m too old for this.” And I thought, “God, you must have another plan for me.” In my mind, I always thought I’d go back to pastoring a local church because that’s such a fun job. I love pastoring local churches, but God had something else in mind. This shift in my perception took place just as the former president was stepping down; it was at that time that I was elected as president of the conference. It took me by surprise that I ended up in administration because it wasn’t really something to which I aspired.
JACL: Do you believe that you naturally had the tools to be a leader?
SR: I do believe that God formed and shaped me with the administrative skills that are needed. However, I just love working with people, which helped me greatly. In our denomination, people perceive that youth leaders are not youth directors, and they are not really good with finances. We just have a lot of fun, and we don’t follow policies. We kind of stretch things, as far as the governance of the church, and in some ways, it’s kind of true. I think it’s typical, when you’re working with youth, that you feel very misunderstood by church leadership. I myself had kind of had that attitude—I looked at all the people that were elected into leadership positions (that were my bosses), and I thought I would never want to do that. I would never want to be one of the people who has to wear the suit, wear the uniform, and don’t know what they’re doing. But God has a sense of humor because, while I never aspired to leadership, once I was elected, I actually found that I enjoyed working as an executive secretary, working with local churches and local church boards, handling conflict resolution, working with the pastors and pouring into them.
JACL: What would you say are the tough parts about being a woman in leadership?
SR: In 2013, I became the first female president ever elected by the constituency in an Adventist conference. There were a lot of things going on in our church at that time; the Adventist church has a working policy that stated that a conference president could not be a woman. There was this anticipation that I might become the conference president because that has been a typical path to the presidency. Executive secretaries then become the president because you are the person that’s right there by the president, kind of the second in command. There was some trepidation about a woman assuming the role. In some ways, it was a painful journey for me; in the end, I ended up serving as the president for eight years.
JACL: Can you tell me how you came to be ordained?
SR: I was ordained while I was the executive secretary at the Southeastern Conference. We decided in the Pacific Union to allow local conferences to ordain women; the Southeastern Conference did it right away for me. I had the privilege of being ordained, along with one of my friends; we had an intimate little ordination with family and friends over at La Sierra University. We did it at the chapel in the girls’ dorm at La Sierra University and invited people who had been our mentors and those close to us. We had a beautiful Friday night ordination service.
JACL: Who would you say are your biggest mentors, and were they chosen by you?
SR: I’ve been fortunate throughout my life to have a lot of people who have poured into me, starting back with my parents. My dad worked for the church his whole life. He was in education and was a boys’ dean when I was little. I have two sisters, and the three of us grew up in a boys’ dormitory. As we grew older, my dad decided that the three girls shouldn’t be living in a boys’ dorm. Then he became a hospital administrator and ultimately became the hospital president. Both my parents really poured into me spiritually and believed in me. They believed us girls could do whatever we wanted to do. In addition, I had teachers who spoke to me and helped create a spiritual kind of awareness in my life. Also, I was very involved in campus leadership and was elected to leadership positions. There was a history teacher who was the sponsor for the yearbook, and he asked me to be the yearbook editor. I told him no, but he told me, “You can do it.” And so, I did.
When I was in college, the campus chaplain at Pacific Union College, Ted Wick, poured into me and got me very involved in campus ministries. I have had youth directors who I worked for at a summer camp who poured into me and spoke into my life. Even now, I have people that speak into my life. I think as long as you’re open to people guiding and coaching you and you stay curious about life, you can continue to improve and be all that God has created you to be. People are there to pour into you, and I have loved that.
JACL: What have been some of the most challenging times in your career, and have any of these phases dictated some of your success?
SR: I think challenges always strengthen you if you deal with them in a healthy way. I believe that God can use those to strengthen you. I’m a very sensitive person by nature, and so the challenges of especially the last years leading up to me being elected in the Southeastern California Conference were hard. Those years were really tough years for me—sitting in meetings and having people talk about you without saying your name all over the room. I sat there and told myself, “These people don’t know me, so they’re not really talking about me. They’re talking about their fears of a woman being in this position.” I just had to look at it that way. Many of those people had never had a conversation with me and still, all these years later, have never had a conversation with me—so it’s not about me as a person. All of these experiences have strengthened me, and I have pretty thick skin now, to be honest with you. In fact, I have started praying that God will keep me sensitive because I don’t want to have a hardened heart. I want to have a caring, soft spirit heart.
JACL: Developing that thick skin and finding a way to reframe the situation is important as a leader in the church. What advice do you have for young women who want to break down barriers, want to be heard, and want to be taken seriously?
SR: I believe that we need to bring excellence to what we do and be committed to excellence in all we do. I do think that there are things that we can learn and things with which we can help each other. I wish we had more networking of women in leadership. We need to really talk openly about the challenges of what it’s like to be a woman in leadership—down to matters of how to dress or how to talk. I’ve always encouraged people to be themselves, just as God created them, because then they can be their very best self. I also believe it’s important to treat people respectfully and treat everyone like a son or daughter of God. That doesn’t mean we don’t do the hard stuff when we have to deal with people, but we must do it with kindness and respect and be a person that people can trust.
JACL: As a leader, is there a Bible verse that you believe is the core of your value belief system?
SR: People ask me this question all the time. I have so many, and I love Scripture. I love the Old Testament; I love the Psalms. I read the Psalms every morning. But as far as guiding me, I think, Micah 6:8 is a guiding principle of life for me. Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God—this is in my core of who I am and who I want to be. I love the Gospels. I love the hope that we find in what God has prepared for us. I love Scripture and reading the Spirit of Prophecy where Ellen White says, and I’m paraphrasing, “God has a thousand ways to handle what we’re dealing with, of which we know nothing.” You know, over the last 19 years of leadership, I have had to deal with complex, challenging, painful situations to which I didn’t have the answers—and most often, there were simply no easy answers. I would say, “Okay, God, You have a thousand ways. Give me just one.” I’ve seen Him provide over and over again. God goes before us; He is present with us. God comes behind us and cleans up our messes. There’s nothing impossible for Him.
JACL: If we keep our focus on our outcomes and align with that, then we stay focused. We don’t get distracted by all the nonsense. But the stuff that isn’t going to make us happy is just putting up roadblocks for us all in the future. There are positive and negative things going on all the time, but I appreciate you being willing to reflect and talk to me more about the subject of women, leadership, and being chosen by God.
SR: I think that as woman leaders, instead of roadblocks, we need to be empowering people. Empower people and create space for them to both fail and succeed at what they’re doing and be protective of that space so that they don’t get crucified. We must put our arms around them and support them in their journey toward leadership.
Dr. Sandy Roberts is the executive secretary and ministerial director for the Pacific Union Conference. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Claremont School of Theology and a master’s degree from Andrews University. She has years of leadership experience in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was the first female president ever elected by the constituency in an Adventist conference. She has worked as a teacher, chaplain, youth director, and pastor. Additionally, Dr. Roberts is the chair of the Pacific Union College board.
Dr. Kimberly Dunker is currently the dean of nursing and health science at Pacific Union College, overseeing many programs and facets within the school. She is enthusiastic about exploring innovative approaches to nursing leadership education and development, aspiring to design and implement effective leadership programs that empower healthcare workers to lead with confidence, resilience, and integrity. By leveraging interdisciplinary perspectives and incorporating elements of transformative leadership, emotional intelligence, and ethical decision-making, she aims to cultivate a new generation of nurse leaders who are equipped to navigate the complexities of the academic environment and drive positive change. She has experience and knowledge as a faculty member and leader in many organizations and is passionate about nursing education and faculty.