PRESIDENT’S BLOG GENERAL CONFERENCE SESSION DAY 1
June 24, 2010

We arrived in Atlanta Wednesday evening. Our hotel room was 31 floors above the city streets of Atlanta and faced West, toward the Georgia Dome, where the GC session meets every day.

In the morning, as we ate breakfast, we meet Dennis Austin and his family. Dennis is serving as a delegate from the Columbia Union Committee and the Pennsylvania Conference.


As you enter the Georgia World Conference Center adjacent to the Georgia Dome where the Atlanta Falcons football team plays, there were a long row of registration booths for the delegates from all across the world to sign in and receive their badges and materials.


The Georgia Dome has seating on the floor for all the delegates from across the world. Each Division of the World Field, sits in a section marked out for the delegates from that Division.
At lunch, Jeanne and I enjoy sitting down at a table with perfect strangers and getting acquainted. Thursday’s lunch, we met the Union President and his wife from the Northern region of the Republic of the Congo. Often you see delegates from foreign countries wearing colorful dress from their home country.


In the afternoon, all the Divisions of the World field went to separate meetings rooms to caucus and nominate delegates to serve on the General Conference Nominating Committee. The North American Division is able to select 24 members of the Nominating Committee and the General Conference another 4, with a total of 28 of the Nominating Committee members. Over 200 individuals serve on the General Conference Session Nominating Committee. Our Columbia Union members met during the NAD Caucus and selected 3 individuals to join the 24 from the NAD. Bill Oblity of the Indiana, Pennsylvania Church is in the top center.


Our official church membership is now over 16,000,000 with about 25,000.000 attending or connected to the Seventh-day Adventist Church when you include children and those not yet baptized.

Adventist Perspective on Women in Ministry

ADVENTIST PERSPECTIVE ON WOMEN IN MINISTRY
Pennsylvania Conference Pastor’s Meeting conducted May 3, 2010.

Dr. Richard Davidson from Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theology seminary presented.
Also, Elder Preston Monterrey, pastor in Erie, PA
And Elder Jim Wibberding, pastor at Lansdale, PA

Here are some succinct notes of my opening presentation.

What this day was NOT:
• A debate on whether women should be in ministry in the Adventist Church. The World Church has included women in ministry.
• The issue of ordination of women in ministry. That is a decision for the World Church meeting in GC session. The PA Conference fully follows the principles voted and followed by the World Church
• A referendum on whether there will be women in ministry in the PA Conference. The Conference Executive Committee has already made that determination – in full cooperation with the General Conference policy and Adventist Church history.

The approach used at this meeting included:
• Biblical study of God’s original approach
• Hermeneutical approach that gives bearing on the topic
• Continuation of the Biblical study, including the Old Testament, Jesus and Paul’s position
• Over-view, historical, practical and current considerations.
•

I shared a brief over-view of The Adventist History in regards to women in ministry.

Our Adventist Church was born out of mission,
and born for mission.

Communicating the message of the soon return of Jesus in the context of the 3 angel’s messages and the high priestly mediatorial work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary was and is the priority for our Church. Leading people to be disciples of Jesus is the natural outgrowth of this mission and is obedience to the Great Commission given to all Christians.

As the Adventist work went forth, there was no hesitation to accept and encourage any to take up the work, including women.

With the prophetic gift exercised through the ministry of Ellen White, our early leaders spent considerable study and effort demonstrating at the least, 2 premises,
1. The role of spiritual gifts.
2. That God was fully capable of calling a women to the prophetic ministry role, and that the spiritual gift given by God through her as a woman, was to be fully accepted and recognized and it was authoritative.

Foundational principles that guide and lead Adventists in this topic of study:
• The Protestant Biblical belief in the priesthood of all believers.
• Jesus Christ is our only High Priest and as such serves as the true priest in the heavenly sanctuary.
• Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and as such is the one who fulfills headship over every part of His church.
• God calls whom He will to ministry, and the church observes those who claim to have been called by God, and affirms that evidence of the calling has been demonstrated.
• Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit, to whom the Holy Spirit chooses.

Over 20 SDA women were licensed as ministers during the period from the 1870s to the ending of the 19th century -- roughly through the end of Ellen White’s lifetime.

1878 ANNA FULTON MINNESOTA
ELLEN S. LANE MICHIGAN
JULIA OWEN KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE
1879 LIBBIE COLLINS MINNESOTA
HATTIE ENOCH KANSAS
LIBBIE FULTON MINNESOTA
LIZZIE POST MINNESOTA
1880 ANNA JOHNSON MINNESOTA
1881 IDA W. BALLENGER ILLINOIS
HELEN L. MORSE ILLINOIS
1884 RUIE HILL KANSAS
1886 IDA W. HIBBEN ILLINOIS
1887 MRS. S. E. PIERCE VERMONT
1893 FLORA PLUMMER IOWA
1894 MARGARET CARO NEW ZEALAND
1895 MRS. S. A. LINDSAY NEW YORK
1898 SAREPTA IRISH HENRY GEN. CONF.
LULU WIGHTMAN NEW YORK
1899 EDITH BARTLETT BRITISH CONF.
1900 HETTY HASKELL GEN. CONF.
MINA ROBINSON BRITISH CONF.
1901 CARRIE V. HANSEN UTAH
EMMA HAWKINS IOWA
MRS. E. R. WILLIAMS MICHIGAN
1902 MRS. S. N. HASKELL GREATER NY
MINNIE SYPE OKLAHOMA
1904 ALMA BJDIGG FINLAND MISSION
MRS. J. E. BOND ARIZONA
BERTHA E. JORGENSEN SOUTH DAKOTA
1910 PEARL FIELD NEBRASKA
MRS. URA SPRING NEBRASKA

--GENERAL CONFERENCE ARCHIVES AND SDA YEARBOOKS

More were licensed after that, right down to this present day. The above list illustrates that our early Adventist church incorporated women in ministry.

The role of all ministers, during this time period, was essentially the same. Evangelism, teaching, discipling, establishing new converts.
Settled pastors, occupying a church or district in a stationary style, was rare and not encouraged. Thus, the women who served during this time period were fully leading the work as well as the men of the time.

Some have erroneously thought that women in Adventist ministry is a fairly recent occurrence, probably as a result of the influence of the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970’s in the United States.
However, that view totally misses our Adventist heritage and history. To include women in ministry in the Adventist Church, including the pastoral ministry, is actually to re-capture our Adventist Heritage!

Our Pennsylvania Adventist Heritage is quite indebted to women in ministry.

Evangelist and Teacher of Ministers:
Jessie Weiss Curtis
1881 to 1972
A newspaper reported concerning Mrs. Curtis:
“Stirred with the desire to give the gospel to the people,
Miss Weiss secured a tent, and with the aid of two men
pitched it on the C. A. Straw farm, and people are
flocking by the hundreds to hear her.”
—Hazleton, Pennsylvania, newspaper article, 1927

At the conclusion of her first evangelistic series, Jessie Weiss presented 80 converts ready for baptism. The Drums, Pennsylvania, Seventh-day Adventist Church was born. In Beaumont, Tunkhannock, and Montrose in northeastern Pennsylvania, Jessie Weiss Curtis was the Holy Spirit's instrument to raise up congregations. She preached in tents, at the same time conducting countless Bible studies. After groups were formed, she raised money for and supervised the building of houses of worship.

Mrs. Curtis officiated at the first quarterly meeting and communion service held in the Tunkhannock Seventh-day Adventist Church on April 10, 1943. After the effort in Drums with its outstanding results, Jessie Weiss was recognized as a member of the evangelistic and ministerial staff of the East Pennsylvania Conference. She conducted many evangelistic series, usually in tents, and founded one church after another in northeastern Pennsylvania.

There is no indication that the people served by Jessie Weiss Curtis thought it was inappropriate to have a woman minister. In fact, as the years went on, they practically reverenced her.

The more we learn, the more it becomes understandable that the East Pennsylvania Conference presidents sent their interns for training to this experienced, effective minister. Elder N. R. Dower, formerly ministerial director of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, recalls that he started his work under evangelist Curtis.

In addition, conference administrators made a practice of sending ministers to work with Mrs. Curtis when they appeared to be drifting away on some point of doctrine or church authority. Sometimes a rehabilitation was effected, and the worker found his footing again as he associated and counseled with this wise and godly woman minister.

So today, we re-visit this topic of the Adventist perspective of women in ministry. For some, it may be a first visit, a discovery of what God is able and eager to do.

Just a couple of Ellen White statements, among many that are available:

“It is the accompaniment of the Holy Spirit of God that prepares workers, both men and women, to become pastors to the flock of God.”
Testimonies for the Church. 9 vols. (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855-1909, 1948

“There are women who should labor in the gospel ministry.”
Manuscript 43a, 1898.

Not a hand should be bound, not a soul discouraged, not a voice should be hushed; let every individual labor, privately or publicly, to help forward this grand work. Place the burden upon men and women of the church, that they may grow by reason of the exercise, and thus become effective agents in the hand of the Lord for the enlightenment of those who sit in darkness.
“The Duty of the Minister and the People,” Review and Herald, 9 July 1895, 25.

Finally, let us remember God’s prophetic vision for the last days as found in Joel 2:
“And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Joel 2:28, 29

Student Center and Bathroom progress at BMA

Blue Mountain Academy is putting students first, by re-modeling the current library space, into a multi-faceted student center.

This student center will include space for students to congregate, computer centers where they can plug in their lap-tops or use stationary desk top computers to do school work and access electronic educational resource materials, offices for the BMA learning specialist and campus chaplain, and access to the guidance counselor’s office.

Students are excited about these changes, which were made possible through a generous gift from a matured will.

Right now, the project is on schedule for completion before camp meeting 2010. If God makes it possible, we would love to have this section also air-conditioned. Floyd Dare and the Trust Services Department operate out of this area during camp meeting, so I am sure Floyd would appreciate the A/C, and it might encourage more folks to drop by!

For a number of years, educators and even the evaluation teams have pointed to the value of having a student center for the benefit of our student body. Craig Ziesmer immediately rolled up his sleeves and studied ways to make this happen in the current location after arriving on campus.
I would especially like to affirm Craig Ziesmer,

Diana Engen,
Dave Halbrook

and Chris Kramer for donating many hours of volunteer construction work to bring this student center into existence and save on construction costs.

While at BMA, Tami Horst filmed me making the closing appeal for an upcoming PA Advance Offering, which features the work at BMA and the Capital Campaign for the bathroom renovations.

Work is finishing on the Girl’s Dorm bathroom. Thus far, through offerings, major donations, grants and volunteer work, ½ of the Boy’s dorm bathroom project has been completed and ½ of the girl’s dorm bathroom project is nearing completion.

This year during camp meeting, come and see the progress!

Western Pennsylvania Church Board Dialogues

April 17 and 18 I had the privilege of meeting with several Church Boards in Western Pennsylvania to dialogue and listen on 2 major topics. 1.) Mission. 2.) Youth and Young Adults. I asked what each church was finding effective in Mission, what the church might like to dream about doing, if God made it possible, and what the Conference might do in support, training and resources for mission. Then I asked what the current status was for Youth and Young Adults in each church, what the church might like to do, if God made it possible in a Youth or Young Adult ministry and what the Conference might do in support, training and resources for mission to Youth and Young Adults.

This weekend, I met with the Boards of:
Pittsburgh and New Brighton

East Suburban and Greensburg
Derrick City, Mt. Jewett and Warren

I also met with the leadership of the Adventist Community Services—Greater Pittsburgh

While at Pittsburgh, I was drawn to a picture on the wall of the Church hallway, depicting various aspects of the Pathfinder law as lived out by the Pathfinders. Pittsburgh Church has a good Adventurer and Pathfinder program.


On April 24,25 I repeated the dialogue with additional Western Pennsylvania Churches, by meeting with Church Board members of:
Erie, Lowville and Seneca

New Castle, Shenango Valley and Meridian Road (Butler)
Washington, Uniontown, Mon Valley
Indian, Johnstown, Distant, Laurel Lake

Quite a few good ideas and dreams for mission came through from listening to these Church Boards. At each location I took extensive notes of what was shared, by typing each comment into my computer. At the same time, I projected up on a screen with a video projector for all the Board members to see, just what notes I was typing.

If you would like a copy of the notes from any of these dialogues, just let me know which ones you would like to see.

Washington Adventist University

Washington Adventist University broke ground, Friday, April 9, 2010 for a new Music Arts instructional building.

This will house the instructional space and practice rooms for the New England Youth Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse Rittenhouse

and the voice and choral groups under,). direction of Dr. James Bingham, Music Department Chair.

Jeanne and I attended the ground breaking and then enjoyed a reception/lunch with Blue Mountain Academy alumni Margaret McFarland and Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Haas.

Following the lunch, I attended the Washington Adventist University Board of Trustees meeting.

Non-functional Jewelry and the Adventist Christian

Non-functional jewelry and the Adventist Christian
(Something other than a watch, cuff links, wedding band, tie tac/bar, health
bracelet.)

What wearing non-functional jewelry is NOT:

• It is not necessarily a barometer of a person’s commitment or deep
spirituality.
• It is not a moral equivalent to the 10 commandments.
• It is not a test of fellowship or church membership.
• It is not just what women and men wear on their person.
(It can also include expensive cars, a 4 wheel drive truck with a gun rack, a
house larger than necessary, a Rolex instead of a Timex, a “trophy wife” or
husband, or anything thought to make a statement or show a status in life.)
• It is not able to fill the sense of inadequacy—which only Jesus Christ can fill.
• It is not able to make us more attractive – as compared to being a loving and
loveable Christian.
• It is not able to provide us a true source of well-being.
• It is not to keep us from seeing a cherished, loved and sought-for Child of Jesus
Christ.

What not wearing non-functional jewelry IS:

• It is a principal taught in the Holy Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy.
• It is a way for a Christian to express with their own person—that Jesus supplies
all of my personal self-image needs.
• It is a way for a Christian to live by a principle of asking, “Do I really need
this as a steward of God’s goods?”
• It is a way to express that a Christian has priorities that are higher than
fitting in to current cultural expectations.
• It is a way of demonstrating the freedom a Christian has in Christ from secular
influences and orientations that are not necessary.
• It is a reminder to live a simple lifestyle in all things. (Live simply – so
others may simply life.)

Not wearing non-functional jewelry -- It is a principle I am glad to live by!

Stroudsburg Church is on the Move, and so is Easton

The Stroudsburg Church is on the Move and so is Easton!










The Stroudsburg Church is on the move. They have the highest attendance in the Conference and the second highest tithe. Recently they have remodeled the bathrooms used both by the Church School during the week and by the Church family on Sabbath. For years an overhaul in the bathrooms was needed. The walls and the drains have now been re-done.


Soon, it is contemplated, energy efficient windows will be installed in the school classrooms. The bulletin board just off the foyer of the Church, had a good promotional though for the church school.

I had the privilege of sitting in Jim Yansen’s Sabbath School class. Jim has encouraged his class to work toward several local mission projects. One of those, was to pray for young adults to be invited to the Sabbath School class and attend church. Right now this class has 2 young adults taking baptismal lessons. Jim has also challenged a young adult Caucasian member to specifically invite his friends and other Caucasians, since the Stroudsburg Church family, which used to be mostly Caucasian, is now 80-90 percent made up of those of British West Indian descent.

On this Sabbath, there were 2 young adult Caucasians present in class, one young man had been invited by this initiative, and it was his first Sabbath in attendance!
Although I had only planned to sit in the congregation, I was invited to join the worship leaders and provide the welcome, the call to worship and the benediction.
During the announcement time, I shared with the congregation about our commitment to lead youth and young adults into Share Him evangelism. One family already inquired if their daughter could participate, and one adult lady agreed to pray about coming alone on the Guatemala trip Share Him evangelism trip this summer, as both a speaker and a chaperone for the young ladies.
Pastor James Clark, who is normally present, had committed to attend the youth Sabbath worship service in Easton, which were entirely presented by the youth.
After church, I joined with Thomas Pitts, the head elder and Pastor Bernard Charles, who is the building committee chairman, and reviewed the artist’s conception for a possible new church and activity center.


The steel buildings being considered are estimated to cost near $4.5 million. The building committee chairman, who had led out on building a similar project, shared with me that he believed it could be finished for $3.7 million, utilizing the many craftsman in the church who are involved in the construction business as a living.

Following several conversations with church members after the Stroudsburg Church service, I made my way to the Easton SDA Church.


Here a complete Sabbath Youth Day was being led out by Javier Mendez, the local youth leader. 3 other youth groups from other Conferences had been invited and come for the day. In the morning, the youth provided the entire worship service, including the preaching. I arrived a little before the 3 p.m. afternoon service. The church was full-packed all day!



Kris Eckenroth, PA Conference Youth Director was able to join the youth at Easton in the afternoon also, and he has been working with the Easton church in its youth ministry.

Kris and Javier have also developed a close working relationship with the PA Conference COOL camp summer ministry. Javier leads one of the summer teams which goes to PA Conference Churches or Schools and conducts a summer day camp for at least 1 week. Many, if not most of the kids coming to the summer day camp are non-Adventist and quite a few of those are un-churched. Javier works with our Adventist COOL Camp youth workers, and provides intentional leadership and spiritual development each day for the youth who are leading out, in addition to giving them direction in reaching summer day campers for Christ.

Afterwards I spoke at length with Paul Richards and his wife Kesha.
They both work in sales for Verizon and are in the top 10% of their 1,300 employees for sales. However, they are being pressured to work on Sabbath. We spoke for some time about possible actions they could take. I pointed them to Walter Carson at the Columbia Union and also offered to go to Scranton to meet personally with upper management on their behalf.

Please keep these fine Adventist members in your prayers.