Salvation Army Elects L.A.-Area Chief to Top Post : Aid: Paul A. Rader, 60, a regional commander, is the first American to head the worldwide evangelistic and social service organization.

For the first time in its 129-year history, the Salvation Army has elected an American as its international leader--Paul A. Rader, 60, a regional commander based in the Los Angeles area.

The evangelistic church body organized along quasi-military lines is best known for its social service and disaster relief efforts. After its 1865 beginnings in London under founder William Booth, the denomination that is active in 100 nations has had a succession of British, Scandinavian, Australian and Canadian generals.

Rader was elected the 15th general in London on Saturday after six days of deliberations by the army’s High Council. The new general will return to Los Angeles on Friday and move to London, where the army is headquartered, Aug. 28, said Robert Bearchell, spokesman for the army’s 13-state Western Territory headquarters in Rancho Palos Verdes, where Rader has been commissioner since 1989.

With 450,000 officers, cadets and members, the U.S. branch founded in 1880 is the largest national component of the worldwide organization of 3 million Salvationists, as the denomination’s adherents call themselves.

Why has it taken so long for an American to be elected? “That’s a good question. We’ve always wondered why,” Bearchell said.

Rader came within one vote of being elected general last year, Bearchell said. However, the Canadian who won, Gen. Bramwell H. Tillsley, resigned this spring for health reasons, making another election necessary.

Rader is the best-educated general in the army’s history: His four degrees include a doctorate in missiology from Pasadena’s Fuller Theological Seminary in 1973. Born in New York City to prominent Salvation Army officers, Rader also earned degrees at Asbury College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, both in Kentucky.

In remarks released Tuesday, Rader said the army’s High Council sought to choose a leader who is adept in strategic use of its worldwide, yet limited, resources.

“Quite frankly, it is what I brought to the table. (A strategic approach) means having a clarified awareness of what our task is, where our resources ought to be invested in order to accomplish God’s purpose for the army at this moment in history,” he said. “We live in a world of crisis. . . . The world is on fire and bursting with opportunity at the same time.”

While serving as western territorial leader, Rader oversaw efforts to alleviate the misery that has come with California earthquakes and brush fires and a Hawaiian hurricane, as well as ongoing programs for runaways in Hollywood and alcohol and drug rehabilitation, among other projects. He was credited with expanding Salvation Army support for 7,800 employees and about 50,000 volunteers in the region.

Rader, who is fluent in Korean, spent 22 years on Salvation Army assignments in South Korea, interrupted only by studies at Fuller Seminary. He rose to the second-highest Salvation Army post in South Korea before returning to the United States in 1984 and assuming command of several Eastern U.S. posts.

Rader and his officer wife, Kay, who will serve as president of the army’s Women’s Organizations, have three adult children, all of whom have remained in South Korea.

Rader’s term of office will be five years, although he could be reelected and serve until age 67, Bearchell said.