Council Member Profile: Leon Walker

Council of Elders member Leon Walker and his wife, Reba, have five children and eight grandchildren.

While studying at Ambassador College (1956 to 1960), Mr. Walker worked in the Spanish Department as a student assistant to the director, Benjamin L. Rea.

When Dr. Rea was named dean of faculty at the new Bricket Wood, England, campus in 1960, the Spanish Department was transferred to England. Mr. Walker, having graduated from the Pasadena campus that year, was also transferred to Bricket Wood to work full-time in the Spanish Department. At the time, he and Dr. Rea were the only two members of the department.

Mr. Walker also became a faculty member at Bricket Wood in 1960, and continued as such until the college closed in 1974. He taught a number of classes, including Old Testament Survey, Epistles of Paul, Harmony of the Gospels, Intermediate Speech, Advanced Public Speaking, International Relations and Spanish. He was also dean of students from 1972 to 1974.

While in the United Kingdom, Mr. Walker served as associate pastor in the Birmingham congregation from 1963 to 1965, pastor in Bristol from 1965 to 1968, pastor in Warrington from 1968 to 1971 and pastor in London from 1971 to 1974.

He was transferred to Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, after the Bricket Wood campus closed in 1974, and served as chairman of the Theology Department until the Big Sandy campus also closed (1977).

The Walkers then transferred to Pasadena where he was on the theology faculty from 1977 until 1979; he was also dean of faculty in 1979, and became regional director of the Spanish region that same year. When the Advisory Council of Elders was formed by Herbert W. Armstrong in 1981, Mr. Walker was named a member of the Council and served in that capacity until 1995.

When the Texas campus reopened as a junior college in 1981, he was named deputy chancellor and served one year in that capacity. He was still regional director of the Spanish region, wearing both hats. In 1982 he transferred back to Pasadena. In 1990 he and the Spanish Department were transferred to the Big Sandy campus of Ambassador University. Since 1995 Mr. Walker has been directing the Spanish work from his home in Big Sandy.

Mr. Walker was elected to the Council of Elders of UCG in December 1995 and has remained a member of the Council since then. He is one of the three Council members from the international region.

He is currently chairman of the Doctrine Committee and also served in that capacity from 1999 to 2002. Mr. Walker has also served on the Education Committee, the Ethics, Roles and Rules Committee, the Executive Committee, the Media and Communications Committee and the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee. UN