General Board members on Monday approved the formation of a new denominational region.

The Mesoamerica Region, which includes the former Caribbean and Mexico and Central America (MAC) regions, was part of a recommendation from a commission formed at the 2010 General Board meetings to study the issue.

In the Board of General Superintendents report to the General Board on Sunday, February 27, in Louisville, Kentucky, General Superintendent Eugénio R. Duarte said that since the 2010 General Board session, the commission, composed of representatives from those regions, had analyzed different aspects of creating a new region.

"Based on missional, financial, historical, and geographical facts, and attentive to concerns expressed by various entities, the Global Mission director and the regional director for Caribbean and MAC submitted the work of the commission to the Board of General Superintendents," Duarte said.

The commission's work also included recommendations for establishing a regional center in a new location and reorganizing existing fields.

The General Board approved the proposal on Monday and announced the new region will be called the Mesoamerica Region (MAR).

In June 2010, Carlos Saenz, regional director for MAC, was appointed to additionally serve as interim director of the Caribbean Region. This action was taken after the resignation of John Smee, who had served as regional director of the Caribbean since April 1994.

Saenz will now serve as regional director of the Mesoamerica Region after being elected by the Board of General Superintendents. The election was approved by the General Board.

Realigning Caribbean and MAC eliminates the expense of operating one of the regional offices, Duarte said. It also allows the chairman of the Board of General Superintendents to function in single jurisdiction over the Global Ministry Center and Nazarene Publishing House without a jurisdictional assignment outside the U.S. during most of his or her two years in that role.

The Board of General Superintendents completed arrangements for transfer of jurisdiction for the Caribbean Region from Board Chairman J. K. Warrick to Duarte after the 2010 General Board session.

Current representation of the former Caribbean ad MAC regions at General Board will remain in place until the end of the quadrennium.