As we look around the world today, it seems there isn’t much to get excited about. In fact, watching the news can be downright depressing. Daily we see the strife of social turmoil, economic stress and natural disasters. And the church itself is far from perfect—facing challenges of its own.
Despite these factors I believe there is much for which to be thankful. A good place to start is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is the core of our faith as individuals, the core of our denomination and the core of our evangelistic thrust as people.
I have the privilege of seeing our ministries carry this message forward.
As I write this article, Camp Heritage is in full swing with 60 staff members focusing on sharing Jesus with campers and calling them to follow Him. Along those same lines we have volunteers, college students and academy students leading out in Vacation Bible School right in the center of apartment complexes and city parks in Kansas City and Des Moines. Other groups of academy students are going door to door through the hot summer days canvassing.
I had the privilege of being in St Louis recently for the grand opening of their donated Community Service Center to help meet the needs of the city, as well has housing classes for the IM Called School of Evangelism.
In addition, I also get to see and hear the reports of our pastors, Bible workers and lay people leading individuals to make decisions for Jesus and to be baptized. Yes, in a world that seems to be eroding rapidly God is still moving, impacting the lives of young and old, and working in His church.
Focusing forward
As we think about what God has done and is still doing, we must also look to the future. The leadership team of the Iowa-Missouri Conference sees the following as a focus moving forward:
Spiritual Revival – I think most would agree that within the Seventh-day Adventist Church we are not all rowing together in the same direction. There are serious differences—from the local church to the General Conference—over theology, ideology and worldview. This is hindering us from fully carrying the message of John 3:16 to a dying world. We need to be humbling praying for God’s Spirit to bring us into unity as a people.
Grow and Development of Ministries – It is exciting to see how our women’s and men’s ministries teams are impacting people’s lives in our conference. It is important that we expand our range of ministries and identify family and health ministry team leaders and team members to reignite those ministries in our territory.
Evangelism – Through God’s blessings we have two pastors, Jeremy Clark and Rob Alfalah, leading the charge in evangelism. Each will continue to develop the School of Evangelism while carrying out other evangelism work. Rob will continue holding evangelistic meetings throughout Iowa-Missouri while Jeremy is training churches and Bible workers to carry the work forward through individual Bible studies.
Equipping Local Elders – This is an area I see God moving in quite a bit. More and more local elders are taking on their biblical pastoral role in local churches. We as a conference need to focus more on supporting and equipping them to continue to grow in their local communities.
Camp Heritage and Sunnydale Academy – Both of these properties have long played important roles in the spiritual development of young people in the Iowa-Missouri Conference. Plans are being development to make sure they continue to serve God’s youth.
While it can be easy to see the negative both in the world and the church, my prayer is that we in the Iowa-Missouri Conference would remember that God is still on His throne.
He is still working in the lives of His people and in the ministries of the Iowa-Missouri Conference.
Lee Rochholz is president of the Iowa-Missouri Conference.
