2005 General Conference Session in St. Louis

Adventist Today Report 1

PLAIN VANILLA?

“What should we expect at this General Conference?” I asked a friend who lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

“Plain vanilla.”

“What?”

“Plain vanilla. That’s what you’re going to get at this General Conference. Plain vanilla. No contentious issues. No contested elections.”

That comes close to what I heard from everyone from North America I talked to. They simply don’t see the prospects of much controversy. But this vision of a “plain vanilla” General Conference may say more about the North American provincialism of the people offering opinions than it does about what will actually happen.

When I talked with a couple of people from Asia, I heard a very different story. He thought there was a real possibility of change in the presidency of his division. I asked where that leadership would come from. What about the union presidents and conference presidents in his division? He replied that none of them had the kind of personal strength and administrative competence needed to represent the division among his peers in the General Conference and to provide leadership for the diverse people of the division. He painted a picture of a very complicated election situation.

As we continue our interviews, we will bring you reports about leadership issues in the African, Latin American and Asian divisions. While we do not yet have much concrete data, it appears these complicated and growing areas of the world church may provide the most interesting news out of this session.

According to the rumors there may be a change at the Adventist Review. However, there has not been any hint of a change from the editors themselves. Everyone we have talked to expects that the current General Conference, Jan Paulsen, will be reelected. While not expecting dramatic changes in the General Conference or North America, e should remember that surprises happen. The election of Robert Folkenberg as GC President in Indiana and the passage of a revision of the marriage section of the church manual in Toronto were startling events. So stay tuned.

Today, we set up the Adventist Today booth—number 1437—in the exhibit hall. The array of exhibits is amazing. Walking the hall I spotted booths for Holbrook Indian Mission School and Universidad Adventista de las Antilles, for It Is Written and Amazing Facts, for the Hope Channel (the denominational satellite television service) and 3ABN, for Adventist Peace Ministries and Adventist Frontier Missions. The French Adventist Book Center was near a booth for the Maryland Korean Central SDA Church. The booths for Beyihan 3-D Black Art and Vision Screening by the Association of SDA Optometrists were across from each other. I noticed booths for the Melashenko Music Ministries, Project Motherland, and Remnant Publications.

The largest booth in the hall was for Loma Linda University. Other large booths represented Andrews University and ADRA. Amazing Facts, Southern Adventist University, Union College and Faith For Today occupied highly visible end units. Samuel Bacchiocchi was there selling books and video projectors. There were booths offering all kinds of products and services for churches.

In the Adventist Today booth we will, of course, display the magazine, meet people and invite them to subscribe to the journal. In addition, we will have available two new books: Truth Decay by Alber Koppel and AT executive director Edwin Schwisow and Fifth Generation by yours truly. We will offer a free copy of one of these books to any one who pays for a subscription at our booth.

From the moment we entered the Convention Center we began running into old friends. This has to be one of the greatest fringe benefits of attending a General Conference. In the few hours I was in the hall on Tuesday I met Jack Mentges from Atlantic Union College, Leslie Bumgartner from Walla Walla College, Gaspar Colon from Columbia Union College, Tito Arattukulam whom I first met at Spicer College. I talked with Stephen Chavez of the Adventist Review and Jan Judd, Lance Liebelt and Lynn Liers whom I worked with at the Voice of Prophecy and Linda, Chauncy and Kurt from Faith for Today. I was introduced to Don Clark the head of Maranatha International and Joseph McCoy of Regional Ministries. I talked with an old friend, Jose McLaughlin, now with Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries. I met others from different continents and different ministries. I met kids who had worked with my son last year at Advent Source on the campus of Union College.

Some of the conversations were brief. A hug, a smile, a promise to see each other again during the ten days of the GC. Other conversations probed significant issues. One friend talked of his deep concern for urban ministry. The people of this millennium live in cities. If we are going to reach them for Christ we have to become a church of the cities. We can’t hide in the countryside or suburbs. Another friend talked of the frustrations he experiences as he works to make a place in the church for people who care about the world they live in. He enjoys his work, but sometimes he nearly despairs. Aggressive conservatives are constantly pushing to shrink the church to their own size. My friend says he aims to work for God and simply hope the saints will some day get it.

Adventism is a way of interpreting the Bible. It is a way of life and system of institutions. It is a distinctive theology. But it is also a wonderful, crazy network of friendships. This afternoon’s visits in the Convention Center reminded me of that.

If this General Conference does indeed turn out to be “plain vanilla” as far as issues and elections go, the friendships renewed will remind us again of the incredible variety and the rich flavors of the Adventist community.