There was no business to address or votes taken. The delegates received multiple reports and an inspiring sermon by Dwain Esmond (worth the listen at 2:43 on Wednesday morning’s livestream) about our personal walk with God. Then the nearly 2,000 delegates were divided up into small groups of 6-8 and asked to discuss the following topics.
Communion with God
- Share with your group something that has enriched your devotional life. What has made your devotional life meaningful?
- Please share a practical example of how your church is emphasizing revival. What more can leadership do to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in initiating revival in your conference, union, division, or at the General Conference?
The responses were submitted electronically. I am eager to see the compiled results. How would you reply? We may bring these same questions to our pastors’ meetings in a few weeks.
The afternoon session was much the same. After local reports, Keldie Paroschi from Brazil shared an excellent message on our identity in Christ. Again, worth the listen (44:00 on Wednesday afternoon’s livestream. We were then divided into small groups again to consider these two questions.
Identity in Christ
- If someone asked you, “What is a Seventh-day Adventist?” how would you respond?
- The Seventh-day Adventist church is a God-ordained movement with a prophetic identity. How can the uniqueness of Adventism be nurtured in a local congregation? Give a specific example of what your local church is doing to foster Adventist identity?
It was an interesting discussion, and I would love to hear your thoughts sometime. The observations and insights were not as clear-cut or automatic as one might expect.
The evening meeting highlighted the Trans-European Division, Euro-Asia Division, and West-Central Africa Division. A group of us decided to take a break from the meetings and watched the St. Louis Cardinals lose to the Washington Nationals. It was a lovely evening for a ballgame! I plan to watch it later as I’m sure they were amazing reports.
Tomorrow morning we get back into some of the Church Manual items that were sent back to the committee. It will be interesting to see what they have come up with based on the suggestions given them.
Written by Elder Ron Carlson, president of the Kansas-Nebraska Conference.
Click on the picture below to view pictures from the North American Division Flickr website.
