JOSEPH W. TKACH
PASTOR GENERAL

January 1988

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your recent inquiry about Mr. Tkach. It is our pleasure to be of service.

Joseph W. Tkach, born in 1926, is pastor general of the Worldwide Church of God and publisher of The PLAIN TRUTH magazine.

Mr. Tkach, an experienced administrator, succeeded the late Herbert W. Armstrong in January 1986 as leader of the Church and its related organizations.

A member of the Worldwide Church of God since 1957 and an ordained minister since 1963, Mr. Tkach was named director of the Ministerial Services Department by Mr. Armstrong in July 1979. He was ordained an evangelist -- the second highest ministerial rank in the Church -- that same year. Mr. Armstrong named Mr. Tkach to serve on his personal advisory board in 1981.

In addition to his duties as temporal head of the Church, Mr. Tkach serves as Chancellor of the Ambassador College campuses in Pasadena, California, and Big Sandy, Texas. He is also chairman and president of the Ambassador Foundation.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Tkach served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following his military service, he took part in a government-sponsored educational program for veterans, where he studied industrial management, industrial safety, and human factors in industry. In 1946, he was employed by a midwestern manufacturing corporation, where he began his management experience. Before Mr. Tkach resigned to assume a full-time role in the ministry, he supervised several hundred employees.

After helping establish and pastor several midwestern congregations of the Worldwide Church of God, Mr. Tkach attended Ambassador College in Pasadena for three years.

Married since 1951, Mr. Tkach and his wife Elaine have one son, two daughters, and several grandchildren.

Thank you for your interest. Whenever we may be of additional service, please feel welcome to let us know.

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE DEPARTMENT