September 1, 2007
Articles
ADVENTIST NEWS Round up
Posted August 31st, 2007 by Anonymous
3ABN Announces New President!
By: Walter Thompson,
Chairman, 3ABN Board of Directors
On August 30, 2007, the 3ABN board invited Elder Jim Gilley to become the new president of the 3ABN world ministry. Jim joins Danny Shelton, founder and visionary of 3ABN, in a move designed to meet the challenge of rapidly expanding opportunities opening up to the ministry. Daily, signs in the world about us shout of the momentous times in which we live. We see a vast world of hurting people crying out to God for they know not what. The 3ABN board has seen this need and heard this cry.
Elder Jim Gilley brings with him a vast experience in administration and in both personal and public evangelism. As such, he is uniquely qualified for this special calling. Building upon the strong foundation already in place, Jim envisions even greater and more cooperative efforts among the many varied ministries of God's people as they seek to reach the honest in heart everywhere, calling them out of Babylon in preparation for the glorious return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Jim will be introduced to our viewing audience in his new role in an early upcoming live television appearance.
Adventist Today comment:
As noted above, Dr. Walter Thompson, the chairman of the 3ABN Board of Directors announced on August 30, 2007, that "Elder Jim Gilley [would] become the new president of the 3ABN ministry."
According to the web site of the Dallas First Church, Dallas, Texas, James W. "Jim" Gilley is currently its Senior Pastor. Prior to coming to this church, he served as Vice President of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. He is a native of Texas and "received his BA from Southwestern Adventist University, his MA from Andrews University, and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Kingsway Theological Seminary."
Adventist Church Relocates to Cut Operating Expenses, Focus on Ministry
June 30, 2007 was a defining moment for one of the largest progressive Adventist churches in North America - CrossWalk in Redlands, California (also the former home of pastor Samir Selmanovic who is now spearheading the Faith House Manhattan project in New York). In a sermon entitled “Difference Makers: Caleb-Finishing Well,” senior pastor Michael Knecht made the official announcement of a major life-change to his congregation: CrossWalk is relocating.
Crosswalk moved the first time because they outgrew their Azure Hills SDA church auditorium and became their own organization. This time, the decision isn’t about space. According to Knecht, Crosswalk’s annual operating/rental expense is $388,000 US (57% of their annual budget). In contrast, only $36,000 per year is spent on ministries for people, or what Knecht coins “producing fruit.” This is the budget especially dedicated to fulfilling the Crosswalk mission of “learning to love well,” which has translated over the years to a church with a passionate commitment to social justice, international involvement, urban mission and community development.
Toward the end of his sermon, Knecht said, “The numbers don’t make sense. We can do so much more in ministry and fruit production.....what if we increased the fruit production and cut down the fixed expenses?”
Knecht added that 98% of the people who come to Crosswalk only show up for 2 1/2 hours one morning per week (Sabbath service), while the rest of the week Crosswalk is a money pit. It will cost Crosswalk “only” $100,000 per year to rent space elsewhere for one morning per week instead of every day of the week at their current campus. If you do the math, they would save $324,000 per year. This is a no-brainer.
But the real inspiration for this cost-effective solution lies at the heart of why Crosswalk’s leadership team chose the move. What does a relocating church do with $324,000 in savings? Knecht committed that money toward fruit production - ministries like the Barnabus Fund to help the financially disadvantaged, Project Comfort, to provide Ethiopian children with clothing, medical care, and education plus many other unmentioned missional projects to serve the needy and marginalized.—Marcel Schwantes
15 Million Adventists, Who's Counting?
Adventist News Network (25 June 2007)
Phoenix Camelback Seventh-day Adventist Church's senior pastor , Charles White, admits the church's membership roster hasn't been updated for 15 years. "There's a lot of dead wood in the books," he says.
"Church officials cite that only 30 to 50 percent of a church’s membership regularly attends Sabbath services. Back in 2000, despite glowing reports of church growth worldwide, officials suspected the books might be padding the truth. The result was a major membership audit push. One official, G.T. Ng, associate secretary of the world church, recalls instances where conference officials would tell regional secretaries, 'Please don’t give us any more lies; give us honest, realistic figures.'
Hendrik Sumendap, secretary for the church’s Southern Asia-Pacific region, says audits there resulted in a 'very discouraging' loss of 300,000 people. Seven years later there have been reports that some regions still haven’t cooperated, tempering the recent rallying of church growth rates. Ng says that inaccurate records are deliberate. 'I can think of instances when local administration told a church, ‘Don’t you dare do a membership audit.' Ng says he can understand the motivation: when membership drops the pastor can look bad. And, he adds, because representation in elected church positions is based on membership, no pastor or conference worker wants to stymie his chances of election. Ng and other church officials have observed that when leaders take an honest look at membership, they help ensure the church’s credibility. " [Entire Story]
Blake: If I Were President . . . .
Last summer, Chris Blake, associate professor of English and communication at Union College and highly acclaimed author the best-selling book Searching for a God to Love and its sequel, Swimming Against the Current was asked the question on the Re-inventing the Adventist Wheel blog: “Let’s say you just got elected as General Conference President. What’s on your to-do list?” Here are excerpts of Blake’s response:
Well, I’d first bring back the intrepid New Zealander’s motion from the floor of the Toronto G.C. session to add three words to the ‘Remnant Church and Its Mission’ fundamental: “. . . a part of the remnant church has been called out. . .” This would help to unravel decades of denominational exclusivity and arrogance. Oh, and find some way to include Micah 6:8 in the “Christian Behavior” fundamental so that members would be less likely to be wading into caffeine, pork, and jewelry while skipping substantive Christian requirements.
I would make certain that every level of Adventist church structure—from the local church on down to the General Conference—featured an officer called “change facilitator” so people knew where to go with suggestions, and everyone understood that change is an essential and inherent part of the church. I’d speak the truth in love, holding myself and others accountable in an atmosphere of liberating grace.
Somehow I would enable the NAD to approve women’s ordination. I would help conferences re-evaluate their pastors based on interpersonal skills and valid psychological testing, and encourage pastors to give more freedom to creative people in the public sector to lead out in ministries. I’d reward risk-taking leaders for their creativity, excellence, and fortitude—perhaps with cases of FriChik.
The full interview can be found online at http://reinventingsdawheel.blogspot.com/2007/07/rap-session-chris-blake_09.html
News Commentary: Faith Alive or Dead?
By: Marcel Schwantes
It is quite natural for a teenager of any mainline protestant faith, when asked what their faith means to them, to respond with “Believing in Jesus Christ” or “Receiving Christ as my personal Savior.” A newspaper reporter for the Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, GA recently asked teenager Anastasia Collins of the New Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church “When people ask you about your faith tradition, what do you tell them?” Her response:
“Seventh-day means that I go to church on Saturday, and that I don’t eat pork. I believe that my body is a temple, and I should take care of it....You are just supposed to eat wheat and vegetables, which people say is from the Bible.”
Many of our teens struggle with perfection theology and according to studies like Valuegenesis will leave the church by the time they hit college. Some have a firm understanding of how their Christianity informs their Adventism and can easily distinguish between being followers of Christ versus followers of a religion. Others, like the teenager featured in the interview, cannot reconcile old Adventist customs with the call to model Christian behavior and share the Gospel message with others. The self-absorbed ethos is encapsulated in pork-abstinence and going to church on Saturdays. This exhausting sin management will eventually end as they spiritually mature and search for meaning and Truth elsewhere. Unfortunately, this Adventist portrayal of a child expressing what has been institutionally spoon- fed her is reinforced through the media and circulated in a newspaper covering West Central Georgia and East Alabama.
CURRENT RELIGIOUS NEWS
Posted August 31st, 2007 by Linda Greer
Circuit Preacher David Brown
Interview by: Lucky Severson (31 Aug.2007)
Religion and Ethics Newsweekly
"DEBORAH POTTER, guest anchor: They were once called circuit riders--itinerant preachers who went from town to town in 19th-century America to spread the Gospel. Since then they've gone from horseback to automobile, but they're still around. No one knows just how many there are, but they serve the same purpose they always have--to bring a religious message to people with no fulltime preacher of their own. Lucky Severson reports.
LUCKY SEVERSON: Sunday morning at the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Pastor David Brown had already driven 80 miles in his aging Chevy when he arrived in this old Civil War town, past the cannon, past the graves of the war dead. Bethlehem is a small but proud congregation founded by former slaves in 1866. This is the first stop of what for Pastor Brown will be a very long day.
Pastor David Brown
DAVID BROWN: Okay, I got three services today. I know I've got to go from nine o'clock until nine o'clock. That's 12 hours.
SEVERSON: The service, which began at 11, won't end until after 1:00. He's got two more before the day is done. In all, Brown is pastor of seven churches in Mississippi and Louisiana. On days when he's not there, they go to Sunday school. But he visits each church at least once month with all his heart and soul. ....
SEVERSON: The tradition of circuit riders, or pastors on horseback, began with Methodist preachers in the early 19th century. After the Civil War, former slaves were allowed to have churches on the plantations. But the congregations were too small and too poor to afford full-time preachers.
Hollywood portrayed the circuit rider as a tough guy who rode into town, took on the bad guys…and lo and behold, he turns out to be a preacher.
The reality was not so glamorous. In their lifetimes, the preachers often traveled thousands of miles on horseback from one small town to another. No one seems to know how many circuit preachers there are today.
After lunch at a fast food joint, Pastor Brown is on the road again--30 miles to his next stop across the Mississippi River, back into Louisiana. He was one of 12 children, with preachers and deacons on both sides of the family. He says it's in his blood.
Pastor BROWN: You think about it sometimes. You get real worn out, and you think about what I could do better. This is what the Lord has given you. That keeps you going." [More of the Story]
A Tale of God's Will
Religion and News Weekly (31 Aug. 2007)
" Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard spoke August 17th with Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly about his recent CD, A TALE OF GOD'S WILL: A REQUIEM FOR KATRINA, when he was playing in Washington at Blues Alley:
TERENCE BLANCHARD: In the aftermath of Katrina, when you're faced with that level of devastation, you know, and you're frustrated beyond belief, you're hurt beyond anything you can imagine, I mean it causes you to dig deep and try to find some answers.
And after I went through the whole thing of blaming man for his neglect in servicing the levees, and blaming man for their neglect in rescuing and helping people, you know, I had to look at the bigger picture.
And people were asking me immediately in all of my interviews, you know, are you going to write music, you know, based on the hurricane? And I kept telling them, I said man, this thing is so vast it's hard to kind of assimilate everything, and I don't hear anything right now.
I stood in front of my mother's house, and it was amazing, because the only thing I heard was silence. I mean--and it was very bizarre--I didn't hear any insects, no birds, no dogs barking, nobody cutting the grass, no cars moving, nobody moving around. Nothing. Only air. Only the wind.
In the Christian faith, you know, we have a saying, you know: God acts in strange ways. So for me, I think this is a way for God to get our attention, basically. You know, we haven't been paying attention to a lot of things, you know. And we've been letting a lot of things slide. So maybe this is a way for us to kind of stop and take a hard look at what we're doing as a community.
When I saw the large numbers of people who were struggling to survive in New Orleans in the aftermath of the hurricane--that broke my heart. Then it also broke my heart to see how vast numbers of Americans came together to support and try to help people in need, you know, and that goes to the core of what I believe about human compassion.
With this album, you know, I mean, a lot of people have been talking to me and they've been saying the music has a lot of deep spiritual roots and it does. I mean, I grew up in a church. And that music has never--it's always been a part of me, always, you know, and this album gave me a chance to kind of dig deep in that direction, you know. It gave me a chance to kind of not shy away from those issues but deal with them directly and just express how I feel based on my beliefs.
Recording it in a church--the thing I kept thinking about was, you know, I have to let my feelings go. I have to be honest. I'm not making an album for a certain demographic, you know what I mean? This is a project about human tragedy and the endurance of the human spirit, and I have to be true to that.
When we were listening to the playbacks, the thing that I kept thinking about with this music is that not only is it hopeful music but it embodies a number of other emotions: hopelessness, helplessness, anger, and frustration. You know, the piece itself, "Levees"--the strings represent the water that's just everywhere, and the trumpet represents the cries for help that just went unheard.
What I hope for in New Orleans is the same thing I hope for the country, really. I mean, I really hope that, you know, as a society we really just ought to become more active, and I'm seeing it in New Orleans. The beautiful thing about being in New Orleans right now is that, despite all of the lack of support, you know, from the federal government there are a lot of people who are moving home, and a lot of people, a lot are doing it on their own. And granted we still have a very, very long way to go. There's decades of work to be done to rebuild the city. But it's really beautiful to see that pioneering spirit that we've always equated with being truly American. " [More of the Interview]
Faith Fuels Affordable Housing
religionlink.org
"There is a critical shortage of affordable housing in America, and religious groups have emerged as a pivotal player in the urgent quest to increase the supply.
How bad is the shortage? A new Harvard University study found that one in seven households pays more than half its income on rent or house payments, and that number is quickly growing. Housing is considered affordable when it costs 30 percent or less of a household’s income, but one in four spends more than that. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a person working full time at minimum wage can no longer afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country.
What are congregations and faith-based organizations doing? They are building and renovating housing, lobbying government officials to create or require housing for low-income families, and partnering with government and secular organizations that build housing. They are the largest provider of housing for seniors in the nation, and they frequently target housing for other special-needs populations, such as disabled people.
The affordable housing crisis is blamed on rising land costs, diminished federal housing supports, high occupancy rates for apartments and the fact that there is little money to be made building housing for extremely low-income families – all factors that discourage builders from planning lower-income housing despite the dire need. The faith community can’t solve the shortage of affordable housing, but most observers say congregations and religious organizations are having a significant impact in some areas and that they are poised to play an even larger role. " [More on this Topic]