1959 – 1963

During the General Conference session, 1959, an agreement was made that the General Conference Executive Committee would be responsible for appointing the missionaries to be sent to the new fields. Accordingly, Alex N. Macdonald accepted the call to go to Nigeria and Joao Devai volunteered to go to Portugal.

The call for a missionary to the Philippines became very urgent. So the General Conference Executive Committee asked I. W. Smith if he would be willing to go there for a period of time. He and his wife accepted the call. They made nearly all the preparations necessary for their journey. They sold their furniture and their car. Their passage was booked and paid for. And they were prepared to sail shortly after the conference in Sacramento, June 1960. At the conference, however, Brother Smith was asked to take charge of the American Field. He said he accepted that responsibility with great reluctance because his heart was in the Philippines.

Under those conditions, the sending of a missionary to the Philippines was delayed for one more year, until John Nicolici and his wife offered themselves to go there for two years.

To develop the work in Central America, the Executive Committee appointed a minister from Argentina, Carmelo Palazzolo. He settled down with his family in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in 1962. Before their arrival in Guatemala, colporteurs from Argentina and from Peru had already done a good deal of pioneering work in several Central American countries for three years.

Since the arrival of Brother Lavrik in the United States, in 1959, to assume his new responsibility, there was a tense atmosphere in Sacramento, California. The problem, which involved both the General Conference administration and the American Field Conference, had its origin in a decision made at the General Conference session of 1959, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, establishing the merger plan.

In 1960, the work in the United States was reorganized on an experimental basis, which at that time was called "the merger."

Soon after Brother Lavrik arrived in USA, the General Conference Executive Committee began working to formulate a plan for the merger of the American Union Conference with the General Conference. The hope of the brethren was that this plan would give greater force to the work in the United States and that our membership would be built up both to the benefit of the local interests and of the General Conference administration.

In their first efforts to carry the plan through, they saw good possibility of success, as all had given their agreement to the general idea of a merger, but it was in the implementation of this plan that differences began to take shape.

In the merger plan, one of the first decisions made for the development of the local work was to form an Education Department and to start missionary training classes, as well as an elementary school. This project was started at the beginning of 1960. Brother Smith was appointed to be one of the teachers in the missionary training course which lasted over six months.

To implement the merger plan, a combined form of organization and administration was adopted by the delegation at the conference in Sacramento (June 1960). It was agreed that this arrangement would be kept up until the next General Conference session, 1963, when a final decision would be taken on the matter. Under this temporary plan the General Conference was to take the responsibility for the state of California excepting two counties, while all the rest of the territory of the United States would form the American Field Conference. The experimental period proved that the merger plan was not viable.

In 1960, letters and reports received at the General Conference office showed that the worldwide interest in the message of reformation was growing continually, and our ministers, workers, as well as many lay members felt the burden of bringing the message to those who were hungering and thirsting for the truth.

The brethren at the General Conference office continued to keep in contact with the new fields, to maintain the work and interest that had been started; but, alas!, there were no missionaries available to locate in those places. Another handicap at that time was that of insufficient funds for the work in foreign missions. Our native pastors and evangelists, who were doing their best to carry on the work in their respective countries, were in great difficulty because they had very little means of support or transportation facilities. Some money was sent to them from the General Conference office, as well as clothing, Bibles, and other literature. Forty-five parcels were sent out in one of the shipments from Sacramento. But what the brethren had been able to do from the USA was almost like a drop in a bucket compared with what it would have taken to firmly establish the work in those countries.

Special mention should be made of the sacrifices of our brethren in Canada, Germany, and other Unions to support our new missionary fields. Considerable sums of money, as well as clothing, books, and tracts were sent to Africa, India, and the Philippines.

We came to the end of the administrative period 1959–1963 with thankful hearts, because we had new evidences that the merciful hand of God was with His people.

1963 – 1967

During the administrative period 1963–1967, closer contacts were established with our brethren in Romania and Bulgaria under severe political restrictions and great risks of imprisonment and increased persecution. In 1964 Brethren A. Lavrik and W. Volpp visited Romania and contacted some of our leaders. Several brethren, mostly ministers and workers, were still in communist prisons. The report that the two visiting brethren brought back told of many hardships and much oppression. Nevertheless, underground visits were carried on throughout the following years. And our Sabbath School quarterlies which were put into their hands were instrumental in keeping our people united.

In 1963, the General Conference delegation voted to dissolve the merger and restore the American Field Conference, which was done at a conference held in Sacramento, July 20–26, 1964. Concerning this administrative step, Brother Smith wrote in his circular letter of August 4, 1964:

"As most of you will recall, the work in the United States has existed, particularly since 1961, under an unusual form of organization, partly under the direct administration of the General Conference and the remaining portion under a Field Conference organization. This experiment, as we might call it, was entered into with the best interests of the work in view, but unforeseen and unwelcome difficulties arose which made it evident to all that it was impracticable; hence, after requests made from the membership here (i.e., from the United States), a resolution was made by the General Conference session of 1963 that the regular form of organization be restored. It was at this recent conference (held in Sacramento, California, USA, July 20–26, 1964) that the restoration was brought into effect."

Although the former and regular form of organization was restored, the tension between the two constituencies, or rather, between the Field leader and the General Conference president, continued to grow until the General Conference Executive Committee was forced to intervene. The result was that the American Field Conference was dissolved June 16, 1965.

Harmony between the Field and the General Conference administration was restored when the representatives of the Field, who refused to accept the decision of the General Conference Executive Committee, appealed to the General Conference delegation during the session held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1967. J. Nicolici, the Field president, was then given a hearing and, as far as past disagreements were concerned, the matter was settled.

During that same period (1963–1967) there was a crisis in South Africa. The leader of the brethren of European ethnicity, together with the majority of the members of that group, decided to return to the Adventist Church. When Brother Smith and his wife arrived there in 1964, it was too late to help them. They had left us. For a good number of years, however, the self-denying service rendered by Brother and Sister Smith in South Africa was a substantial help to the Trans-African Union. The little health food industry that they established, called "Mission Health Foods," proved to be an asset to the work at the beginning. Later on, when competition increased and threatened to stifle the project, it was deemed advisable to sell it.

1967 – 1971

Due to the fact that the area where the General Conference office was located (3031 Franklin Boulevard, Sacramento, California, USA) was becoming more and more deteriorated, the office was temporarily moved to Los Angeles (1969) and then to Blackwood, New Jersey (1970).

General Conference headquarters, Blackwood, New Jersey, USA (1970–1984).

A parcel of land (30 acres with several buildings on it, plus two more buildings added later) was purchased by the Eastern US Field in the area of Franklinville, New Jersey, about 20 miles from Blackwood. For a number of years, the offices of the General Conference operated from that property. It was thought, at first, that these two properties would satisfy the needs of our General Conference administration. But, after a few years, the increase in industrial pollution and the deterioration of the area showed the need to find a better place.

Workers transferred during the quadrennium 1967–1971: A. N. Macdonald moved from Nigeria to USA in 1967; F. Devai and family, from Argentina to USA in 1968; and A. C. Sas and family from Brazil to Australia in 1969. At first Brother Sas worked only for the Australasian Union; later his services were required in the new Fields which were opened in the Asian-Pacific Region.