Assemblies of God elects Wood as new leader

INDIANAPOLIS — The Assemblies of God has elected a veteran church executive as the new leader of the Pentecostal denomination. George O. Wood, general secretary of the Assemblies of God since 1993, was elected general superintendent Aug. 10 during the denomination’s biennial General Council in Indianapolis.
Wood, 65, succeeds Thomas Trask, who announced in July that he would leave the position two years into what was to be a four-year term. Trask had served as general superintendent since 1993. The son of missionaries, Wood served as a pastor and assistant superintendent of the denomination’s Southern California District before moving to the national headquarters in Springfield, Mo. Wood also is an attorney and the author of seven books.
The denomination, which has 2.8 million members in the United States, has seen its worldwide membership grow from 25 million in 1993 — the year both Trask and Wood became executives — to a current total of about 57 million.