William Henry Branson became an evangelist, author, conference administrator and finally the General Conference president. He attended Battle Creek College from 1901-1903 and Emmanuel Missionary College 1903-1904. His denominational service of almost 50 years began in 1906. Like many talented laborers, he entered the colporteur work for several years.

This led him to evangelism in Florida and pastoral work in the South Carolina Conference. He was ordained to the gospel ministry in 1910 and was called to the presidency of the South Carolina Conference. For the next 43 years he held administrative posts. He was president of the Cumberland Conference from 1913-1915. Next it was the Southern Union Conference, 1915-1920.

There occurred an interesting change of work when he was appointed president of the African Division in 1920 and continued to administer that fast-growing field until 1930 when he became a vice-president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. 

In 1938 he was called to China. He arrived in China in 1939 and served as China Division president until 1940. We might state that a large unit of church organization functioned as a division of the General Conference from 1931-1951, comprising the churches in China and adjacent territories. Before 1919 these churches had been a part of the Asiatic Division and afterward of the Far Eastern Division.

The China Division was organized in 1930, retaining the former Far Eastern Division headquarters at Shanghai and comprising the territory of China, including Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, Sinkiang, along with Hong Kong and Macao, with an estimated area population of 480 million with 50 churches and 9,010 members.

The presidents of this new division were H. W. Miller, 1931-1936; Frederick Griggs, 1936-1939; W. H. Branson, 1939-1940, 1946-1949; N. F. Brewer, 1940-1942; E. L. Longway, 1942-1946. In 1951 the connections with the world-wide church organization were severed. The China Division became an autonomous Chinese church.

This China Division period was filled with wars all over the country and culminated in World War II. Missionary wives were sent to the Philippines and were later interned. In 1946 Elder Branson was asked to return to China during those days of great stress to direct the rehabilitation of the church. After he returned to the U.S. in 1949 great Chinese leaders like S. J. Lee, 1948-1951, Hsu Hwa, 1950-1951, and David Lin, 1950-51, carried on the work.

Elder Branson was a strong administrator. He served as president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 1950-1954, when he retired because of failing health. He wrote many articles for our church papers, also books, including The Way to Christ, Missionary Adventures in Africa, The Holy Spirit, In Defense of the Faith, How We Are Savedand The Drama of the Ages. He passed to his rest in 1961.

It is interesting to note that his son, Ernest Lloyd Branson, followed in his father’s footsteps. In 1938 when his father went to China, Ernest was called to be the director of the Egyptian Mission. He passed to his rest one year before his father.