PA Educator's Spiritual Retreat

PRESIDENT’S BLOG
November 22, 2009

This weekend I spent with a group of our PA Conference Educators at Laurel Lake Camp and Retreat center conducting a Spiritual Retreat. What a great group of people! We are privileged to have them caring for our young people’s Christian Education.

We practiced focused Bible study, prayer, journaling and a discipline of silence for 14 hours each day, in order to come apart from the press of the world, and listen for the leading of God through prayer and meditation. (See chapter 38 in Desire of Ages, “Come Rest Awhile”)

There is something profound about stopping all the routine activities, all the motions and actions, all the sounds and duties. Something freeing about letting go of anxieties, cares and concerns, and just being still in the presence of God. Jesus invited His disciples to do that, and He encourages us to do the same.

While at the retreat, we read the entire Chapter 38 from Desire of Ages, as a group, each person reading a paragraph out loud to the rest of the group, and then meditating and/or commenting on it.

We also focused our attention over the 3 day span on John 15:1-17, going over and over that passage, seeking new insights, or listening carefully to catch each message and meaning.

We had the delight of having Missi with us, who is a young lady from the Church Plant in Carnegie, PA She accompanied Mayda Clark, who is planting with her husband, Andres. Missi is not a Seventh-day Adventist. Her home has not included attending church more than just once in a while. Yet she has a heart for God and a desire to share what she is learning about Jesus. You might think that a teenager would find this kind of retreat boring. But she participated fully and gave some wonderful spiritual insights during our group times with the Bible.

Several teacher spouses attended, and they found the time just as enriching and fulfilling.
I myself, found the blessing of walking quietly in nature, sitting still to pray and reflect, and reading the scriptures followed by journaling the thoughts God brought to mind to be a watering of my soul.

Next year, we are planning another Spiritual Retreat. One for pastors on a Sunday-Tuesday schedule, and another for educators on a Friday-Sunday time.

NAD Meetings -- November 2009

PRESIDENT’S BLOG
November 11, 2009

Over this past week I attended the North American Division Year End meetings. They began with 2 days of meetings conducting by Adventist Risk Management. We received reports on employee health insurance and property casualty and prevention. During the employee health insurance, it looks like the NAD health insurance is moving to an employee wellness plan, much like the one pioneered by the Pennsylvania Conference.

Over the weekend we met at the General Conference Building and heard reports from the various departments of the NAD, and discussed and voted different policies. From the NAD Ministerial Department, we heard that the growth rate for the NAD is 15% growth rate for this time ending in 2009. The year of pastoral evangelism has greatly assisted that.

We also considered the cost of living issue, and voted to have no cost of living for the 2010-2011 year. This is totally appropriate, considering the tithe increase or rather decrease for most conferences, and the condition of the national economy. Also the employment and financial issues of many of our church members.

One of the thrilling stories to come from the NAD meetings involves HOPE TV. Just recently HOPE TV approached the satellite TV company, DIRECT TV with an application to be added to their TV channel offerings. DIRECT TV already had 250 non-profit agencies requesting to be added to DIRECT TV ahead of our request. The Board of DIRECT TV had Brad Thorpe, Candice Thorpe, Mark Finley and Fred Kinsey visit with them to present our proposal. While they were presenting, one of the top officials came into the meeting, sat down, listened for a while and then said, you are what we want and need on this satellite. So they approved the placement of HOPE TV on one of the largest TV Satellite companies with millions of subscribers. HOPE TV is now on Channel 368 on DIRECT TV. There is a special subscription rate for new subscribers who mention HOPE TV. Our pastors will be receiving this information in January.
I am dropping my subscription to Comcast Cable and have already had DIRECT TV installed so I can get HOPE TV at the house.

I had the opportunity to share lunch and an extended conversation with Bill Knott, editor of the Adventist Review and a long-time personal friend. I am really impressed with the changes and the quality of the Adventist Review.

Church Plant and Community Fair

President’s Blog, September 8, 2009

Over Labor Day weekend I had a variety of experiences.
Early on Friday morning, the family of Don Gulig, who has been an elder and a head elder in the Fairview Village church for a number of years, called with the news that Don had suffered a stroke and was being transported to a Philadelphia hospital Once he was situated in the Jefferson Hospital in downtown Philadelphia, I joined the family in the afternoon for an anointing service for Don. Their church was in-between pastors, so I sat with them for nearly 1 ½ hours until Don was stabilized in his ICU room, then we shared in a beautiful anointing service.

On Sabbath, I joined the Immanual Place Church Plant in Reading, to officially organize them as a Church in the Pennsylvania Conference. This is a lay-lead church plant that started with Spanish members working alongside of Amocetia Tabinar with her ministry to inner city children in the downtown Reading area. Before long there were enough Hispanic people attending, that they began a Hispanic church plant. Miriam Vargas is the lay leader for Immanuel Place. She has been a Literature Evangelist for many years and has much experience in soul-winning and sharing the Adventist Message. The members are very diligent in continuing to reach out to others in the Reading area. Jeff McAuliffe, our Pennsylvania Conference Church Planter Coordinator was also able to attend.









Sunday, Jeanne and I traveled to Philadelphia to join the Community Day organized by the Adventist Humanitarian Resource Center (AHRC), which is a ministry that is formed across the Pennsylvania and Alleghany East Conferences, and supported by several churches in the Philadelphia area that are from both Conferences. This ministry resulted from the Metro Ministry initiative sponsored by the Columbia Union.




The 2nd annual Community Day was held on the property of the Boulevard SDA Church, as it has an ideal location fronting Roosevelt Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in Philadelphia.




Darrel Stovall (at left with Vernon Bramble) is one of the prime movers behind this event and is the Chair of the AHRC.

Among the ministries featured at the Community Day were:




Lillian Torres’ booth registering Bible Study interests





Gary Davis at the Huntington Valley Christian Academy booth.




Face painting done by prospective Church members of Chestnut Hill Church





Chestnut Hill Church




Blue Mountain Academy





Fun for neighborhood kids.





A Prayer Ministry tent A Prayer Ministry tent led by Herman and Gretchen Valez.






Havertown Church ministry seminar registrations.

Bucks County Bible Study offers
Local Fire Departments
Washington Adventist University
PA Conference Adventist Book Center
Pine Forge Academy
A local Adventist Book store and health food store
Havertown Church Health Seminars
Various food booths
And a number of other ministries and community agencies.

This has been a wonderful way the different churches in Philadelphia from both Conferences have come together to connect with the community.

August 20, 2009

Gary Moran, Pathfinder Director for the Pennsylvania Conference shared with me that 15 clubs and approximately 300 Pennsylvania Pathfinders were in attendance at the “Courage to Stand” International Camporee in Oshkosh, WI.

Currently there are over 2 million SDA Pathfinders in 170 countries around the world.

Pennsylvania had a number of young people who were directly involved in this year’s camporee. In addition to the pictures of Emily Carlson who was a stage manager, and James and Jonathan Goff who were stage security, which I posted last week, there are others.

John Mall and Matt Masters were part of the music team that lead the music each evening

Will Reichert portrayed different characters in the featured presentation story of Esther most evenings, and also served as one of the guards at the entrance to the amphitheater / program arena.

Conrad Reichert, Jr. also had parts in the Esther story.

Approximately 550 Pathfinders and some adult leaders and staff were baptized on Sabbath afternoon. Another 1,000 – 1,500 indicated a desire for baptism and were referred to their home church and pastor upon their return from Oshkosh. Pennsylvania Pastors Bob Williams, Gabriel Montalvo and Preston Monterrey participated in baptizing PA campers. Pastor Conrad Reichert assisted those campers taking part in the baptism.

Some of our PA educators were also in support of clubs at Oshkosh. I saw Karen Lebo, Steve Laubach and Frank Stahl. Many of the AWHN staff were also assisting. Cheryl Goff, Karen Borton, and Sandy Ringer were there with their club.

Our PA Clubs seemed to have a wonderful time. The Gettysburg club marched in the Friday parade of clubs.

The Washington club worked on the rock and mineral honor while they were there.

On Friday afternoon, from 1 p.m. until about 11:30 p.m. I was a volunteer chaplain. Our specific duties as chaplains were to offer to pray with people, and to drive campers back to their campsite who had some type of medical condition or had been treated by the doctors or nurses at the medical building. Three of us as Conference Presidents were on call for transporting people, and were almost constantly in motion.

I would like to affirm Mark Sorensen, Homer Strong, Pam Scheib and all the members of the PA Pathfinder Executive Council who alongside of Gary Moran provide strong leadership for our Pathfinder clubs. Also each of the local club directors and staff who constantly work with the clubs each week and seek to guide and influence our young people. Some of our clubs have several young people who are from non-SDA Church families, and in this way, our clubs have a part in the mission of the Pennsylvania Conference churches.

Tuesday our Conference Executive Committee elected Ron Christman as our Conference Treasurer.

Ron and his wife Joyce, who is a RN, a hospital Chaplain and a trained bereavement chaplain both grew up in the mission field. You will find more information regarding Ron on the Conference website. Ron brings a wealth of experience and a mission attitude to his role. I believe God has answered our prayers as we have conducted a wide search for the right person to follow Mo Pelley in this vital role.

August 12, 2009

Today Jeanne, Abby and I arrived in Oshkosh, WI, for the NAD/World Pathfinder Camporee. We attended the evening program, which is featuring the story of Esther with the theme, Courage to Stand. Over 36,000 Pathfinders are in attendance, making this the largest SDA gathering in the world. At tonight’s program, opening prayer was conducted by 4 Pathfinders, one from Columbia Union Conference, one from Pau Pau New Guinea, one from the country of Columbia, and one from the North Pacific Union. At the end of the program and the spiritual message, the stage was filled with the Pathfinders who came forward for prayer, to commit their life to Christ, or to request baptism. I saw just a few friends of PA Conference, and have included their pictures below.
James and Jonathan Goff
Emily Carlson
Elder Don Schneider
Ed and Wendy Eberhart

Tomorrow I will be serving as a volunteer Chaplain on call, and I will see more of our PA Pathfinders and post a few pictures on the next blog.

June 30, 2009

This week I had the privilege of visiting with the 20 student Literature Evangelists that are earnestly working in the Philadelphia area. The Chestnut Hill Church is their base of operations. By this date, they had knocked on 15,000 doors and were on schedule to reach at least 40,000 doors by the end of the summer. As they go, they are signing people up for bible studies. Lillian Torres, our PA Conference Bible Instructor is training Chestnut Hill Church members to directly follow up with those people who sign up. Pastor Tara VinCross and her husband Caleb are working diligently with these student LE’s and the Church members.

On another note, the Chestnut Hill Church is conducting a pilot evangelism method of connecting with people of the community, using holistic approaches, involving church members in a number of significant ministries, and having an evangelistic meeting that Tara VinCross will preach. In order the coordinate this unique holistic evangelistic approach, Caleb VinCross is being provided a small stipend, with accountability factors that must be reached. The goal of this evangelistic approach, is to have a 75% increase in church attendance at the end of two years.

A Day in the Life

Although every day has unique schedules, mission and routine items to deal with, I thought you might like to look at my schedule for one day this last week. Not every day is like this, but several are.

First action of the morning is to walk 2 miles with my wife for our Conference Personal Wellness Plan, getting approximately 4,000 steps to start the day.

Sit on our small back patio area for prayer, scripture reading and reflection, surrounded by shrubs, flowering plants, song birds at the feeder and gentle sunlight.

Drive to the Conference office and return a phone call or two in route.

Meet with a Conference employee and the Conference Executive Secretary to share with the employee significant professional growth areas that must show improvement to remain in employment. Affirm the employee of some specific area where they have strengths.

Spend 10 minutes with Executive Secretary, debriefing the above interview and discussing future options.

Spend 15 minutes on phone call with lay pastor in a local church, discussing current and future issues for ministry in their setting.

Spend 1 hour on my monthly phone conference with a professional coach who guides those in leadership positions, including several SDA Conference Presidents. Discuss with the Coach issues in chairing the Blue Mountain Academy Board.

Some items….
Initiate phone calls to a Department Director in another Conference to reference the name of a potential Conference Treasurer for Pennsylvania, since the recent candidate we called declined the call.

Initiate a phone call to a Union Conference Treasurer to reference the name of a potential Conference Treasurer for Pennsylvania.

Print off some e-mail documents needing later attention. Answer the e-mail of a potential pastor candidate for Harrisburg Church. Print off the e-mailed resume of a potential Conference Treasurer candidate.

Meet briefly with Kris Eckenroth, Conference Youth Director to discuss significant mission accomplishments of our current COOL Camp youth mission team.

Lunch, brought from home, eaten in the Conference office basement kitchen with my wife, Jeanne.

Speak with the Departmental Director in another Conference to reference the name of a potential Conference Treasurer for Pennsylvania. Receive an enthusiastic recommendation for a second potential candidate while on this phone call.

Receive a phone call back from a Union Conference Treasurer, with reference comments regarding the two individuals I was calling him to reference. Receive from him a recommendation for a 3rd individual currently serving as a treasurer in another Conference that he knows. Receive from him a 4th name of a widely experienced, bi-lingual individual, who is quietly open to considering a different position. Get transferred to another individual in his department who knows the contact information for this 4th individual.

Speak briefly by phone with the Business Consultant hired by the Pennsylvania Conference to help Laurel Lake Camp reach a solid footing financially, to enable us to continue the ministry at LLC.

Call 6 separate individuals, most of whom are lay people, to request they serve on a short term Ad Hoc Committee established by the Conference Executive Committee, to set up a strategically focused Advisory Committee to provide support for Laurel Lake Camp. Received a positive response from all 6. E-mailed to each one the 6 page draft document for them to review, and also provided a Conference Call phone number and code number so that we may have an Ad Hoc meeting by phone on the evening of July 21.

Speak briefly by phone with a member of the Blue Mountain Academy Personnel Committee regarding a couple of positions needing to be filled at BMA.

Filmed an appeal for the PA Conference Arise and Build promotional DVD with Tami Horst, the Conference Communications Director.

Filmed at a second location a segment for a PA Conference DVD regarding our PA Equipping University and our training and empowering lay people for evangelistic meetings in 2010, along with every church and every Conference in the North American Division.

Received a phone call from the North American Division Director of Stewardship asking me to be the Conference president to serve on the NAD Stewardship Committee, which will meet for a full day in late September. Since I sincerely believe our pastors and churches can benefit from a better selection of basic, easy to use stewardship teaching materials, and since I have initiated several requests to the Columbia Union, the NAD and the Pacific Press for such materials, I believe that this is something I ought to accept.

Meet with 4 of our Conference Office Staff for separate 30 minute each, employee feedback and personal review interviews.

Coach an Office Staff member on leading and directing the work of an assistant who works under the direction of this staff member.

At 5 p.m., just as I must walk out the door and drive to Laurel Lake Camp, I have an unannounced walk-in appointment for an additional 40 minutes with an employee who has learned that their marriage is seriously in jeopardy of falling apart.

Start driving to Laurel Lake Camp at 5:45 p.m. to review summer ministry operations and discuss with our hired Business Consultant the detailed findings and outcomes to date. GPS says we will arrive around 10:20 p.m.
Continue driving west along the PA Turnpike. Return a couple of phone calls while traveling.

Initiate a phone call to the 4th individual as noted above, that a Union Treasurer spoke off.

A few minutes later, receive a phone call from this individual. Speak by phone with them for approximately one hour, including stopping at a Turnpike service center, so I can safely speak further. Person indicates that wife just had a very positive interview for a significant job offer for her, and at this time of life, they may wish to remain where she can find her fulfillment. Continue conversation with some specifics about the financial position of the Conference, and the working relationship between me as Conference President and any potential Treasurer candidate. At end of conversation, treasurer candidate offers to send resume, which I encourage we would like to have.

Resume traveling to Laurel Lake, with GPS now indicating we will arrive around 10:45 p.m.

Arrive Laurel Lake Camp at 10:30 p.m. Visit with my daughter for a few minutes.
Meet with our LLC Business Consultant who has decided to stay over and meet with me. We review progress to date, areas of needed continued improvement, forecast for likely costs as LLC finishes the year, and areas to continue to address in order to help LLC have a positive future. Finish our review of LLC approximately 12:50 a.m.

End of day!

Not every day is quite this full, or goes this late. Yet often, I will have a full day of office activities, and then need to either go to a local church for an evening appointment, or take part in a Conference meeting or committee, either in person or by conference call with a toll-free call in line for participants. Earlier this week, I chaired the AWHN Board meeting from 6:30 – 8 p.m. after a full day at the office.

Next week, I meet one evening with the elders from 3 churches one night; the next night an Ad Hoc committee referenced above, will meet by phone conference; and the 3rd night, I will meet with the elders of a different set of 3 churches.