By: Dan Childs

General André Cox has announced that Colonels Willis and Barbara Howell are appointed as territorial leaders for the USA Southern Territory, effective Nov. 1, 2017. The Howells will succeed Commissioners Don and Debi Bell, who will retire from active officership after leading the territory for four years.

The Howells will be promoted to the rank of commissioner upon taking up their appointment as the territory's executive officers.

Colonels Howell currently serve as chief secretary and territorial secretary for women's ministries in the New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory, appointments they have held since September 2014.

Commissioned with the Guardians of the Truth in June 1985, the Howells served in the Southern Territory prior to their current overseas appointment. In addition to serving as principal and assistant principal at Evangeline Booth College from 2007-2010, they were divisional leaders in the Kentucky-Tennessee and North-South Carolina divisions. They served on the Texas divisional staff for two years before their appointment to leadership of the K-T Division.

The Howells served in the Territorial Youth Department and were corps officers in the Georgia Division, commanding Atlanta Temple and Atlanta Peachcrest as well as Savannah and Augusta.