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SECRETARY'S REPORT by G RALPH THOMPSON, SECRETARY WELCOME
Some of you have been asking how early can you plan to leave before the scheduled closing time of October 7. I would like to repeat that we expect that the discussion of the various items will take us to the end of the allotted time and you should plan to stay until the end of Annual Council. We owe it to ourselves and to our church organizations to stay by the stuff until the work is done. I don't have to remind you that a lot of church money is expended in the bringing together of all the members of the General Conference Committee from all over the world to plan for and participate in those global issues that will move the Church forward as we close out the 20th century and move into the challenge of the 21st.
THEME Our theme for this Annual Council is "Experience the Certainty of His Coming." We Seventh-day Adventists as an organization have never set a time for Jesus to return. October 22, 1844 was not a date set by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This date was set by our predecessors, the Millerites, which led to what we know in church history as The Great Disappointment. These were sincere, earnest, dedicated men and women who, as they studied the prophecies of the book of Daniel, felt indeed that the coming of the Lord was near and associated the cleansing of the sanctuary on October 22, 1844 with the actual return of Jesus Christ the second time. We know that they were wrong on the actual interpretation of the meaning of the event of the cleansing of the sanctuary. They believed that the sanctuary was this earth and that its cleansing would be brought about by the actual return of Jesus Christ. The thought of Jesus coming was sweet in their mouth, but bitter in their belly. No, Jesus did not return on October 22, 1844, but that little flock that came out of the shattering disappointment which resulted in the falling away of the majority of those who had taken part in the Millerite movement continued to study their Bibles searching diligently for additional truth, which finally led to their understanding of the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven and the beginning of the investigative, or pre-advent judgement, which ushered in the second phase of Christ's high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The judgement was set and the books were open, and thus began the solemn work of judgement beginning with those who have died in Christ and finally moving to the living, and determining the fate of all mankind from Adam to the last human being on earth. The little flock struggled through the agonies of organization. Shall we or shall we not organize? What shall we call ourselves? There were the pros and the cons of organization and the pros and the cons of what kind of name shall we go by. Finally, after a long series of debates which set the standard for subsequent Adventist committee meetings, we did organize although they were conscious of the truth that we were not just another church, we were the Advent Movement on the way from spiritual Egypt to heavenly Canaan and there was to be no stopping ground. You see, believe it or not, our pioneers had watched the rise of other religious movements and had noticed three things about them. First, they all began under great spiritual revival and outreach after studying the Word of God and coming together on what they believed to be present truth for that day and fearlessly going out to proclaim it--there was the spirit of evangelization. So the first phase of this religious movement was to evangelize; to proclaim the truth unapologetically and unashamedly. They would witness to everyone with whom they would come in contact. Then, as they began to grow and the second generation came along, that movement began to be respectable, and the second phase was to institutionalize. First it was to evangelize, the second phase was to institutionalize. So, they built their churches, their schools, their institutions, and they became respectable, educated, and moved up the social ladder. But something strange, almost imperceptible at first, happened to that movement. As they grew stronger, more respectable, more educated, the fires on the hearth of evangelism began to grow dim and the greater the institutionalization, the less the fervor of evangelization. What the pioneers and the parents of the former generation could do unashamedly, their sons and daughters, now more aristocratic, more educated, were ashamed of doing. It wasn't long before the religious movement moved from the first phase, evangelization, to the second phase, institutionalization, and into the third phase, fossilization. Our pioneers had seen it, these three steps--evangelize, institutionalize, then fossilize. Our pioneers vowed that that shall never happen to the good old Advent movement. And so, after a big discussion we called ourselves Seventh-day Adventists on October 1, 1860 incorporating two of the great truths of the Advent movement, the seventh-day Sabbath and the second coming of Christ. The Michigan Conference was the first to organize in 1861, and then the General Conference was organized in 1863 with just about 3,500 members in all the world. But we kept foremost in our thinking, in our preaching, Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath and this same Sabbath-keeping Savior would indeed come again because it was in our name--Seventh-day Adventists. Jesus is coming again and He is Lord of the Sabbath. So we do believe even today with even more fervor than we have in the recent past, that Jesus is coming again! As you will hear during this week of devotions the emphasis will be on that fact. We are Adventists, there is a Christmas yet to come! This is the blessed hope--Jesus will return and His coming is near, even at the doors. We don't know the day or the hour, but He's coming and we must be ready and stay ready. So I hope that all of us will plan to be here at 8:00 every morning to take part in the worship and listen to the stirring messages on the theme on the certainty of His coming to set the mood for all we do and say during these meeting.
A YEAR OF CHANGE AND CHALLENGE As all of us here are aware, this year of 1999 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been a year of change and challenge of historic proportions. We began the year with one General Conference president who had served outstandingly for eight years, but who found it necessary under an unfortunate set of circumstances to step aside for the good of the work and March 1, for the first time in our history, under such circumstances, the world membership of this General Conference Committee came together to choose a successor. By the end of the day the mantle of leadership fell upon our new leader who brought us a stirring message last night as we opened this historic Annual Council. This great fact should be impressed upon every single one of us today that God is the leader and head of this Seventh-day Adventist Church. Leaders come and go but the work goes on under the direction of Jesus Christ our Lord and His representative, the Holy Spirit. We pay tribute to Elder Robert Folkenberg for his dynamic and visionary leadership during the past eight years. Many things have been accomplished throughout the world field, especially in the area of evangelism and communication and outreach, and the Church can and will benefit from his tremendous ability and dedication. Now, I appeal to all of us to hold up through prayer and support and cooperation our new General Conference president, Dr. Jan Paulsen. He needs our prayers, our support. There are some things we learn as we serve in various avenues of leadership in the work of God. And to put it bluntly, we have discovered that leadership, in many ways, is hardship. The challenge is tough, and believe me, some of the saints are rough. But, in spite of it all, it is a great privilege to be a member of this great Church and to serve on its various committees. What a privilege! We are fortunate to have among our church membership some of the best people in all the world. As I have reminded us before, I do so again today, the Seventh-day Adventist family worldwide is a marvelous, wonderful family. We are multi-national, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, multi-cultural of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and we are also multi-generational. What a body of saints from around the world with whom we have the privilege of associating and fellowshipping and working together! So let's take a look at how the Lord is blessing His church around the world.
Global Mission--Reaching the Unreached With Hope
Here in North America Metro '99 New York is the largest, most aggressive impact upon the world's commercial and political capital to date. During the months of September, October and November, there will be 70 live evangelistic crusades, 130 church satellite meetings featuring La Red '99 with Alejandro Bullon of South America, and NET New York '99 with Doug Batchelor of Amazing Facts. In addition, there will be 800 home satellite events where our members invite their friends and neighbors to join them for La Red '99 or NET New York '99. This makes a total of 1000 Points of Light where the Church will make public contact during Metro '99 Evangelism. Metro '99 Evangelism has a baptismal objective of 5,000, and hopefully raise up 50 new congregations that are not pastor dependent as a follow up.
Festivals of the Laity in Inter America Every five years the Inter-American Division conducts Festivals of the Laity at which outstanding lay preachers and pastors are brought together in various parts of the division to tell what God has been doing through them in their outreach and soul-winning work. To do this costs several thousands of dollars, but the division, unions and local fields look upon this as an investment for the future. The lay people of Inter-America are alive and well! One can only understand what is going on by attending one of these Festivals of the Laity. The Inter-American Division began this program 20 years ago, and it has been my privilege to attend at least one of them each time during the past 20 years and they seem to be getting better, more dynamic, more involved than ever before. If you want to see real, exhilarating joy expressed by lay preachers and lay members in soul-winning outreach, in all the various community outreaches, in Ingathering and Community Services one must attend one of these Festivals to understand what is going on. There is "a sound of a going in the top of the Mulberry trees". There is a witnessing explosion in Inter-America which, by the way, is being caught by some of the other divisions. I was happy to see in attendance at the Festival of the Laity held in Barbados representatives from several world divisions and also at the one is Guatemala City which was the largest of all, with 7,500 delegates from Mexico and Central America in attendance. You have to see it and experience it to believe it! And when these lay people talk about being involved in the Church's program they really are not talking about getting membership on various committees of the conference or the union or the division or even the General Conference, even though many of them serve at those levels, but they are interested in getting the Church to go out and do the work that has been given to us to share our faith. They are challenging the pastors to loose them and let them go. They witness in public crusades and various outreaches. Yes, and in business meetings and in conference sessions they let their voice be heard what they think about various programs, but they are part and parcel of the conference's program. Almost 50 percent of all the soul winning results in the conference and unions are the result of lay participation. And, let me tell you, over 30 percent of those lay preachers and witnessing groups are made up of women. You talk about the power of women being given an opportunity to witness, they have it! I have listened to some powerful preaching and presentations by the women of the Church. We spend a lot of time and energy in some parts of the world discussing this issue of women involvement and ordination, etc.. Well, these are interesting topics. Let me tell you, I was thrilled to see how the women and men, the laity, join hands with the ministry as a cooperative team to get the work done! There are also a number of divisions that are harnessing the power, the vibrancy, the dedication of the laity in helping the mission of the church, and I applaud this kind of enlightened leadership. I would encourage every division to plan some sort of Festival of the Laity to show our lay people that they are appreciated and valued and indeed part and parcel of the Church's program, because the work will never be finished until the laity and the ministry join hands together in proclaiming the everlasting gospel. By the way, NAD has one planned for the year 2002 in April. Adventist Global Communication Network Adventist Global Communication Network (AGCN) is one of the most exciting developments in the ministry of the Adventist Church today. AGCN satellite broadcasts began in April 1998 with the "Pentecost 98" series from Soweto South Africa. This was followed by Net '98, our first global evangelistic series. ACTS 2000 events with Mark Finley have been uplinked from Manila, Ghana, Brazil and Romania. It is a thrilling new day in Adventist evangelism when over a half million people simultaneously participate in an evangelistic series, as they have in several of these events. In June we began monthly "Mission Edition" uplinks, sharing news and inspiration for the world Church. AGCN and It Is Written plan to uplink a number of events from Chile, India, Los Angeles and Asia. The ACTS 2000 events with Mark Finley represent a significant new development in Satellite Evangelism. Working closely with the churches in the sponsoring division with strong lay evangelistic programs, Pastor Finley has worked carefully to culturally contextualize his presentations. God has used unusual means to insure the broadcasts. In Ghana in the middle of a tropical downpour, the Ghana Army soldiers used their rifle butts to hold up the tent which shielded the broadcasting equipment. In Papua New Guinea, stadiums with seating capacity of 50,000 have been filled to capacity--even in the rain. In Bucharest, Romania, the ACTS 2000 event became the occasion of setting a new world record for copying the entire Bible. Over 600 Pathfinders, each of whom had memorized several verses of Scripture, gathered in Bucharest. With Elders Paulsen and Finley participating, at the specified time each person wrote their verses. In just 28 minutes the entire Bible was copied, making this a world record for copying the Bible from memory. The event was broadcast by AGCN and was featured in the public media. One major benefit of AGCN services is the tremendous motivation to our members for greater involvement in mission. Ray Zeeman, Ministerial Secretary of the South African Union, says, "In the SAU, satellite evangelism is almost entirely driven by lay persons. There is a new spirit of evangelism throughout the Union. Satellite evangelism has recovered what had long since been lost in our Union. Evangelism has once again become the watch word of our members." Raymond Coombe, Communication Director for the SPD, reports that "Union Presidents requested the division to make satellite evangelism an ongoing strategy for the future; a Satellite Ministry Committee was established to promote and coordinate more opportunities for satellite ministry." Participation in satellite evangelism has also encouraged greater unity and support for the worldwide Church, with reports such as, "Members feel they are truly a part of the global Church." "A new spirit of comradery grew as our two Conferences worked together on planning, advertising, and follow-up." "Feeling a part of the newest methods creates enthusiasm, increased participation and support for the whole church organization." Dalbert Elias of the British Union observes that "Satellite churches discover a sense of belonging. Equipping the churches with satellite facilities created a sense of belonging to the sisterhood of Seventh-day Adventist Churches on a scale unknown before." An additional benefit is renewed zeal and growth, as evidenced by results such as: over 4,400 baptisms from one satellite series, in a union with an annual average of 1,800; baptism increases of 7% per participating church, more than double the previous growth rate; estimates that over 100,000 people were reached in one division from one series; attendance in one union topping 26,000--with over 5,000 visitors; rural churches with baptisms for the first time in years. And comments such as, "Over 1,100 sets of tapes were ordered for private witnessing and sharing" in our division. "Our churches are overflowing with visitors." Today over 6,000 churches world-wide are linked together. The AGCN network can reach over 20% of the active church membership, often in our largest and most influential churches. The potential of this new tool of communication is just beginning to be realized. Ben Maxson, Director of the GC Stewardship Department, just concluded a Stewardship Training Seminar by satellite for pastors and members in the Euro-Africa Division. The Ministerial Association is now uplinking PREACH Seminars from a number of international locations. In coming months more evangelistic series will be broadcast. Doug Batchelor of Amazing Facts will present the Net New York 99 series. Dr Hans Gerhardt, a Theologian from Friedensau University in Germany, will present a series from Marienhohe Seminary. The Italian Union plans a series of evangelistic meetings from Rome featuring the Jubilee theme. The South Pacific Division has extensive plans for the year 2000. The Personal Ministries and Sabbath School Department will begin uplinking regular Sabbath School teacher training. AGCN will broadcast highlights from the Toronto General Conference Session in 2000 daily. Let me quote this "thank you" received by AGCN: "Our Conference has bought into the satellite evangelism program of the world Church. We are eager to use the equipment over and over to hasten the Coming of Our Precious Savior.... The General Conference and AGCN have birthed the most world-reaching method of evangelism. We believe this is only the beginning. Thanks to AGCN for Keeping the Dream Alive."
Adventist World Radio Adventist World Radio is in the midst of the most aggressive growth in its history. New satellite coverage of the Americas has enabled partnering with local, Church-owned stations and has opened up a potential new audience of more than 30,000,000. A recent survey done by the BBC has reported that our daily programs into mainland China have a listening audience of more than a million. Reports continue to come from the Islamic nations of the Middle East of groups of individuals who have accepted Christ and this message and are worshiping regularly on the Sabbath. From Indonesia comes a report that AWR has more than half a million regular listeners, more than any other Christian broadcaster. A recent visitor to Vietnam brought out news of an area in the central highlands where an estimated 10,000 people have accepted Christ and the Sabbath and are waiting for pastors to come and baptize them. For the first time, AWR now has coverage of almost the entire continent of Africa from leased transmitters near Johannesburg. AWR broadcasts 1,200 hours each week in nearly 60 languages, using short wave, AM & FM, satellite, and the InterNet. When the new station in Italy is completed the Adventist Church will have the most thorough coverage of the challenging 10/40 window of any Christian denomination in the world.
Mission Institutes, Family and Teen Welcome Home Seminars The training opportunities for new missionaries by the Institute of World Mission leaders was completely reorganized during 1998. Now every interdivision missionary, regardless of where his or her homeland may be, is expected to have the advantage of receiving training prior to serving the Church in a cross-cultural setting. Pat Gustin and her staff are conducting six regular Mission Institutes during 1999. These are being held in France, North America, and Zimbabwe. During this year 134 interdivision employees were or will be trained for service. In addition to this, two Family Welcome Home Seminars were conducted, one in Australia and one in California. These are designed to assist families who have been abroad for six years or more and are returning home permanently. The purpose is to help the returnees understand the reality of reverse culture shock and how to deal with it. So far, we have heard only appreciative comments by those who have attended. The Institute of World Mission leadership is also experimenting with a special Teen Welcome Home Seminar. This program is specifically for young people who are returning to their homeland to study. This year two seminars were held in North America, one in the west and another in the east. This will be meaningful for the children of our missionaries who return to the base division alone to study. One other new area for our Institute of World Mission leadership is to provide cross-cultural training for the student missionaries and those who volunteer for service. Two of these training sessions were conducted this past year. The Institute of World Mission leaders have taken some bold steps to help ensure that each interdivision missionary is equipped for the sacred responsibilities assigned. We appreciate the contribution the Institute makes to the world Church.
General Conference Adventist Volunteer Center The General Conference Adventist Volunteer Center has seen remarkable growth over the last two years. We are seeing more volunteers than ever going overseas to serve but we are also seeing a large army of volunteers serving within their home divisions. "It is not sufficient to lay money alone upon the altar. God calls for....volunteers, to carry the truth to other nations and tongues and people." 3T404 A number of changes have taken place that will allow for the program to grow even further. A web page has been designed and created which leads the prospective volunteer through the steps to service. More than one thousand positions are listed on the web site for church members to select from, according to their talents and qualifications. Volunteerism is more than language schools. While there is a great need for volunteers to fill the numerous vacancies in these schools there is also a great need for individuals to fill a variety of needs. On the other hand there are individuals who are willing to serve but we do not have vacancies for them. There are retired pastors and accountants and other church members with special qualifications who want to serve but we have no where to place them. It is recognized that a number of divisions do not list their requests with the Adventist Volunteer Center because they do not have the funds to support a volunteer. We need to change the perspective so that it is understood that a volunteer raises all of his/her expenses from his/her own resources or from his/her home church and is then able to serve as a true volunteer. It is possible that this might open up the way for many more church members to serve in places where now there are very few. The Adventist Volunteer Center is very excited about it's new magazine, "Mission Post," which will roll off the presses in the next few days. This is history in the making. It is hoped that you will receive your copy of this magazine before you go home from these meetings. It tells numerous stories of God's blessing in so many ways and will become a tool for recruiting future volunteers. In addition to this a video has been commissioned together with new brochures and cards inviting church members to give at least one year of service overseas. A further video and workbook have been produced for the training of volunteers by the Institute of World Mission entitled Passport to Mission. We are reminded of the fact that the work on earth will be finished quickly when the laity link hands with the ministry in spreading the good news to the world. The Adventist Volunteer Center is committed to mobilizing the laity for the completion of this task. We would therefore encourage every division to appoint a director who has time to devote to this work which will inevitably grow.
SOME INTERESTING WORLD CHURCH STATISTICS Let me share some interesting world Church statistics with you. A full report will be coming to you from the office of Archives and Statistics. Churches, Companies, and Membership At the end of 1998 we had 44,888 churches in the world field, followed by 44,298 companies. Our world Church membership at the end of 1998 was 10,163,414, and our total accessions for the year 1998 were 818,754. Mission to the World The number of countries and areas of the world as recognized by the United Nations equal 230. Countries and areas of the world in which Seventh-day Adventist work is established, 205. Languages used in Seventh-day Adventist publications and oral work, 748. We have 12 world divisions, 90 union conferences and missions, and 483 local conferences and missions. Education Program In the world field we have a total number of schools equaling 5,590 on the tertiary, secondary and primary levels with a total enrollment of 996,249. Food Industries and Healthcare Ministry We operate 27 food industries worldwide, and in our Healthcare Ministry we have a total of 162 hospitals and sanitariums, 102 nursing homes and retirement centers, and 361 clinics and dispensaries. There are 25 orphanages and children's homes, and we operate with 5 airplanes and medical launches. Media Centers and Publishing Work We have 10 media centers operating around the world, 57 publishing houses and branches. In these days when it is so difficult to recruit literature evangelists in many places it is interesting to note that worldwide we still have 7,584 credentialed and licensed literature evangelists, and our publications are published in 272 languages. Sabbath Schools Around the world we have 107,224 Sabbath Schools with a Sabbath School membership of 11,785,918. Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) which is a non-sectarian arm of the Church is involved in 121 countries and areas of the world, funding 2,450 projects from which over 18 and a quarter million people have benefitted, with a total value of $134,623,423 US dollars. Membership Growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church by Millions World, 1848 to 1998
The membership growth of the Church by half millions is also available for those of you who would like to have that. I would simply say that the first half million took 92 years to accomplish, and the twentieth half million, 1.1 years, August 23, 1998. Rate of Accessions Let's take a look at our yearly accessions--baptisms plus profession of faith. Total Accessions
Accessions per day:
New members added to the Church every day. Accessions per hour:
Accessions per minute:
Baptisms every minute of every day! Accessions per second: Let's break that down to seconds--
Accession rate percentage wise:
The number of hours it takes to organize a new church: So, around the world we organized a new church--
What was the percentage of our growth rate:
Are we keeping up with the world population?
I think God is blessing us marvelously and we are keeping up with the population explosion. Our figures for the second quarter of 1999 show that our world membership to date is now 10,492,456 in spite of the fact that we must sadly report that there were 26,227 members dropped plus 17,986 missing, reported as such. I must once again appeal to all of us as leaders, pastors, and church members to do all we can to close that back door and to make our members feel at home and want to stay in the Church. For those numbers dropped does not include those who died, that is a separate number. So, we need to go after those dropped and missing. This includes all of the world divisions and unions. Seek them out, find them, and bring them back home to God and to His Church.
SUMMARY OF MISSIONARY DEPARTURES In your program agenda book you will find attached the statistics to which I now refer regarding our interdivision employees and mission appointees as well as our volunteers.
CURRENT CALLS In our Current Calls as of September 1, 1998 you will notice the various sections under Conference and Mission Organizations, Educational Organization, Medical, and Publishing Organizations. Beside each division in these various categories listed you will see the number of current calls, adding up to the totals, and then you will see the list for Volunteer Requests. We have a TOTAL for the world field of 118 Current Calls, and for Volunteers, 225.
DEPARTURES FOR INTERDIVISION SERVICE Let's take a look at the Departures for Interdivision Service around the world for 1998. This also includes intradivision employees except in the case of the North American Division. We have included the Adventist World Radio figures included in their respective divisions, AIIAS figures are included in the SSD, and GC figures included in NAD. Out of a total of 492, you will notice that 186 are New, and 306 are returning. At your leisure you can check out the numbers of each of the divisions, see where they went, and where they are serving.
SUMMARY OF INTERDIVISION PERSONNEL DEPARTURES Next, let's then look at the Summary of Interdivision Personnel Departures, which includes both Inter- and Intra-division, as well as Adventist Youth Service, Adventist Volunteer Service, with the Appointees and Furloughees. On the former sheet we saw that 186 were new appointees going out and 306 were returnees who are furloughees going back. And, in addition to these we have the 176 for Adventist Youth Service and under the Adventist Volunteer Service 1,033, giving us a grand total of 1,701 departures.
DIVISION SOURCE FOR INTERDIVISION PERSONNEL Next we have the Division Source for Interdivision Personnel as of December 31, 1998. This tells us from which division they have come, or from which division they have gone to other divisions. Take a look, for instance, at the North American Division. They have the highest figure with a total of 539 which is 50.33% of the total number which is 1,071. In this total are included 16 who are assigned to the Adventist World Radio locations in world divisions. Also, a total of 92 from other divisions who are serving at the General Conference office or General Conference institutions who come from other divisions, on call, that is, as interdivision workers. And the total for SSD includes 28 interdivision workers (IDEs) who are serving at AIIAS, and 19 assigned to GCAS locations in world Divisions. Note that the second largest number is from the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, 111, serving in other Divisions of the world field. The third largest number is from the South American Division--92 missionaries from the South American Division that are serving in other Divisions. Then we have 62 from EUD; 55 from TED; and 54 from SPD; and the next highest would be 52 from IAD, and down the line as you can see. (Note, we do have 4 who have been sent from ESD). So, we do have missionaries from everywhere to everywhere and this is as it should be.
CURRENT INTERDIVISION EMPLOYEES FROM NAD AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1998 As we take a look at the Current Interdivision Employees From North America as of December 31, 1998 you can see that the total there is 564. You will also see that the sheet that follows the specific assignment that they are attached to, that both sheets add up to 564.
INTERDIVISION EMPLOYEES FROM NAD WORKING IN OTHER DIVISIONS The largest number is located in the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, 179 followed by 108 in the Inter-American Division; and that is followed by 61 in the Eastern Africa Division; and then follows, of course, 57 in the Northern Asia-Pacific Division; with 43 in the Trans-European Division; 32 in the African-Indian Ocean Division; and other smaller numbers down the line.
CURRENT INTERDIVISION EMPLOYEES FROM DIVISIONS OTHER THAN NORTH AMERICA, DECEMBER 31, 1998 These also are comprised of two sheets, #1 and #2 with the same figure of 543. They do the same thing as was done for North America. It gives you the total at first in a lump sum under Conference and Mission and Educational Institutions and so forth, but then the second one is more specific as to what particular area of work that they had been assigned to whether in Administration, Departmental, Pastoral/Evangelistic, Faculty, Vocational, Health Related, etc. As we look at this we see those interdivision employees working in that particular division listed who come from some other place. You will notice that EAD leads other divisions with 115 , except NAD with 126, which means there are 126 interdivision employees working in North America who have been officially called there. You can look down the list and see that the total comes to 543 as of December 31, 1998 who are working within those divisions listed who come from a division outside of North America. As I said, you can now look at the other sheet with the same thing and see the specific detail of the work they are doing under the headings of Conference/Mission Organizations, Educational, Medical, Publishing Organizations, and so forth. This comes to the same total of 543.
DIVISION SOURCE OF AYS VOLUNTEERS You will notice a total of 176 under this category, with once again, the largest source coming from the North American Division with 151 in 1998.
DIVISION SOURCE OF AVS VOLUNTEERS In 1998, this amounted to 1,033. You have been given a spread from 1981 to 1998 for your comparisons.
THE SUMMARY OF DEFERRED MEDICAL/DENTAL APPOINTEES You will see the spread there from 1945 to 1998. On the second page you will note that the grand total of Deferred Medical and Dental Appointees is 42. We're certainly grateful to our medical, dental, and health-related personnel for the work they have done and continue to do in helping to bring health and healing to thousands of people in other lands. It is not easy to recruit these workers, and when they leave their homelands the recipient divisions, of course, are very happy to have them, and we would solicit the best kind of care and reception and treatment that we can give these special workers.
CONCLUSION And so, as we get under way with this historic Annual Council we pray that the Lord will be preciously near to us as we discuss the various items of the agenda. We do so with grateful hearts that God has been blessing His Church. In spite of many challenges around the world we know that He is in control. We see evidences of His leadership and we are as confident of the future and God will continue to bless. For, indeed, "We have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget the way the Lord has led us and His teachings in our past history," says the Servant of the Lord. Seventh-day Adventists are incurable optimists. We do not have time for pessimism. As a matter of fact I like the definition given by Robert Parr in one of the old South Pacific Division Records in which he says, "A pessimist is one who feels bad when he feels good for fear that he'll feel worse when he feels better." Seventh-day Adventists are not pessimists. We know where we came from, we know where we are going. We know that the Great Controversy will end with victory for Christ and His Church, and this message that we believe and share is not going to peter out on the rocks of oblivion, but under the outpouring of the latter rain is destined to end in a fantastic blaze of apocalyptic glory. So, the best days of the Advent movement are just ahead, and our hearts are cheered by the certainly of His coming. Let's do everything we can by rededication of life and consecration of time and talent and treasure to hasten on the finishing of God's work in all the world. On that glorious, climactic day may each one of us hear the "well done" from the lips of our Master welcoming us to that land where all of our fondest dreams will come true. God bless you everyone. |
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It
is my privilege to welcome each of you to this the last Annual Council of the
General Conference Executive Committee for this quinquennium. In our letter
of call and again in our agenda letter we alerted you that this Annual Council
is the one at which we discuss many of the agenda items that will go to make
up the agenda for the forthcoming General Conference Session in Toronto, Canada
slated for June 28 to July 8 next year. So, naturally, we consider this Annual
Council extremely important.
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