MV Spring 2018 Page 2

By Mickey Mallory

First, a personal story. How did I get to where I am today? As I backtrace the steps on my life road, I must admit there have been people along the way that God has used to help me. First and foremost would be my parents. They helped me get off to a tremendous start in life. After that would be my local Seventh-day Adventist pastor during a time when I was a rebellious teenager. Through his friendship and Christ-centered preaching, he helped me get on track spiritually. He helped me to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

The day of my baptism was the greatest day of my life. It was such a life-changing experience that an intense passion arose in my heart to serve in full-time ministry. Believing that passion was the calling of God, I enrolled in college to study to become a pastor. My goal was to learn to influence people for God just like my local pastor influenced me.

After graduating from Union College and then serving as a pastor for a few years, I began to realize that if I was going to really influence people for God, I needed to learn how to become a better leader. Because of this, I set out on a quest to learn as much as I could about the subject of leadership. I read numerous books on leadership. I was especially blessed by the books and tapes produced by leadership coach John C. Maxwell. His quote, “Everything rises and falls on leadership,” was a real eye opener to me. It challenged me to not only grow myself as a leader, but to help those around me grow as well.

Initially, this meant developing the leaders in my church. But after a while, I became heavily convicted that I should expand my context and use my knowledge base of leadership to help pastoral leaders grow. Because I was already serving as a district superintendent for a group of conference pastors, I began sharing with them what I was learning and the response was so positive, I decided that for the rest of my ministry, I was going to take advantage of any opportunity that God made possible to invest in growing leaders.

One of the opportunities that God opened up for me was to train student pastors from Southern Adventist University while I pastored a church nearby. For the last five years, I poured myself into each one of them with the hope that when they graduated, they would be better prepared to lead the churches they would serve.

After nearly three decades of full-time pastoral ministry, I can truly see how God has led in my journey. He has helped me influence many people for God, including those in leader- ship. It is my hope as I move forward that God will continue to allow me to have opportunities to make an impact for Him.

Win in Min

In my role at the Rocky Mountain Conference, I see myself as being the pastors’ coach. My job is to assist each pastor to be a winner in ministry (Win in Min). Based on my personal 28 years of experience as a pastor, I believe that in order for pastors to win in ministry, they need to win in the following four areas:

Winning in Health

Spiritual—The most important appointment of each day for pastors is the time they spend with God. They must be “thick with the Almighty” in order to accomplish much for God.

Emotional—In order to be successful, pastors need what science journalist Daniel Goleman calls emotional intelligence (EQ). When the pastor is emotionally healthy, he or she can deal with the stress of ministry better and help their churches also become more emotionally healthy.

Physical—For energy and mental sharpness, the pastor needs to take care of his or her body. This would include sticking to a healthy diet, exercising on a regular basis, and making sure they are getting enough rest.

Winning in Relationships

Family and Friends—Those closest to a pastor determine his or her level of success. Because of this, the pastor must take time to invest in these relationships. The pastor’s most important mission field is his or her family.

Church and Community—Members do not care how much a pastor knows until they know how much he or she cares. When members know their shepherd loves them, they are more apt to follow him or her.

Winning in Leadership

Developing the Leader Within—Since everything rises and falls on leadership, it is important for the pastor to grow in his or her leadership skills.

Developing the Leaders Around Them—Pastors can accomplish more when they build a team of leaders around them. When the pastor takes time to develop his or her team, it helps the team get better, which in turn helps the church get better. Growing leaders = a growing church.

Winning in Communication

Written—The pastor must take advantage of various forms of written communication in order to keep his or her church inspired and informed.

Oral—Teaching and preaching the Word in a relevant and practical manner gives the church and community the opportunity to connect with God and understand His plan for their life.

In order to make winning in ministry (Win in Min) not just a set of theories on paper, the following model for leadership development (created by the Center for Creative Leadership) can be used:

Assessment: Question—How are you doing? Using a periodic evaluation process, attempt to get an accurate picture of how things are going. Take time to celebrate the wins and then identify areas of growth.

Challenge: Question—How can you change? Develop a practical, strategic plan that can be followed in order to grow.

Support: Question—How can others help you? Once a plan of action is developed, find a small team of people who can provide accountability, encouragement, and prayer.

–Mickey Mallory is RMC ministerial director. Email him at: [email protected].

By Kiefer Dooley

In the book of Exodus, just before he became one of God’s greatest leaders, Moses had an identity crisis. Meeting face to face with the Spirit of God at the burning bush, Moses threw a pity party . . . questioning who he was and who God is. Now, roughly 3,400 years later, we continue to struggle with the same central questions.

We are unsure of our identity both collectively and as individuals. Divisive issues seem to plague our church from the local level to the global organization. The separation is draining our church of energy, motivation, and mission. At some point, we need to face our own fiery shrub. We have a burden to move beyond division in order to further the work of God.

Let me be clear—this is a burden that falls on all of God’s children, regardless of age. This is our church, it is our community, and it is our obligation and duty to see the Good News of the message of God spread throughout our communities. Too often we pass the responsibility from one generation to the other. In the past, I’ve written articles that delineate the young people from the older generation while trying to maintain that my points are applicable to the church as a whole. This article is for everyone, young, old, and in-between.

We should not be surprised at our struggle to unite under a common cause. Jesus knew that we would struggle to maintain unity and pled God on our behalf, saying, “[I ask] that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (Jn. 17:21-23).

Jesus’ prayer seems to be increasingly relevant as social and political troubles tear at the fabric of our country and our church. In 2018, it seems as difficult as ever to maintain unity as our world walks in darkness. Young people shoot down their peers in the hallways of high schools across the country. Eighteen percent of the U.S. population aged 18 and older suffers from depression or a related mental illness.1 So it rightly follows that suicide continues to fall between the eighth and tenth leading cause of death, having maintained that status since 2010.2 Furthermore, despite average growth in the economy, more than 2 million people in the U.S. live on $2.00 or less per day, which amounts to less than $1,000 per year.3 And hitting close to home for those of us in the Rocky Mountain Conference, the under- ground sex trade in Denver, Colorado, is estimated to be generating an annual economy of $39.9 million dollars. This market contributes heavily to the over 4,000 cases of sex trafficking that are reported in the U.S. every year with estimates of total trafficking in the U.S. putting the annual number in the hundreds of thousands.

It’s evident that people are divided, hurting and in desperate need.

In the meantime, we often concern ourselves with struggling, fighting, bickering, and having our feelings hurt over generational preferences, selfish desires, and a fair share of trivial matters. I could spend time producing a list of divisive issues that are holding us back instead of propelling us forward, but I’m sure that several issues, whether close to home or far away, will spring to mind for the reader with this simple prompting. As it relates to youth specifically, we tend to do a great deal of talking and listening but can never seem to come around to taking any action. We may pat ourselves on the back for “hearing the youth” or “listening to the church of now,” but it seems that all that ever happens is that we set up another session of talking about change while we wonder, “Is this thing on?”

This year, the Youth Department is choosing to focus on identity. It is our belief that if we could become secure in who we are as children of the living God, the generational differences would melt away and the bickering over politics, doctrine, and equality would cease. Again, this call is to the young and to the old as well as to the progressive or conservative—sacrifice self in exchange for the identity God has for each of us. If we would only be able to make the challenging leap to give up pride and self in order to live by God’s view of our identity, then truth, standards, ideals, love, and unity will follow.

Here are the simple facts of the Gospel regarding our identity:

We are God’s children and our identity is established by His love.

We are valuable because God says so.
Jesus became sin and died on the cross to cut lose Satan’s hold on our world.
We are free from the power of sin.
We are called, above all other things, to love one another.

As a faith community, our purpose is to embrace our identity, and live by connecting people with Jesus, the world’s One true source of light. It is to inspire our communities to recognize the reality of the lives of darkness that people are living and respond with empathy, understanding, love, and guidance. Our purpose is to make it easy for people to know God. To make sure that they have the opportunity to surrender their broken “I am” for Jesus’s perfect “I am.” And to get about the work of loving our hurting and suffering world.

Our calling is to be a community of God, continually dying to self and filled with love. Our world says: “I am hungry.” Jesus says: “I am the bread of life” (Jn. 6:35). The people cry out from the darkness and Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12).

So let’s not wait for another church or another person to make a difference. Let’s not talk about our issues and fail to follow through with action. Instead, let us follow the call of Col. 3:10, setting our minds on heavenly things while throwing off the old self in proclamation that we are new men and new women in Christ. With confidence, we can claim our identity, internalize our value, sacrifice our selfish desires and live for the betterment of others. We may have all of the truth in the world, but it will be for nothing without love. This truly is the central force of our calling, that we love the Lord God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds and that we love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:37 and 38).

–Kiefer Dooley is assistant youth director and Glacier View Ranch summer camp director. Email him at: [email protected].

By Jessyka Albert

When I first arrived at Boulder Church as a bright-eyed intern, I was given the title of “young adult pastor.” This, I thought, would be great for many reasons. First of all, I am a young adult! Secondly, I had just spent three years of my life working at Campus Ministries at Union College. Young adult ministry in Boulder would be a walk in the park.

It didn’t take long before I came to terms with the fact that young adult ministry on an Adventist campus and young adult ministry in the “real world” are drastically different. Life’s challenges complicate young adult community in the real world.

At Union College, everyone is roughly the same age, faces the same basic life struggles (for example, trying to avoid buying overpriced textbooks and dreading a big final next Tuesday), lives within a ten-minute walk of one another, and receives worship credit for attending spiritual programs like Friday night vespers.

At Boulder, and likely at your church as well, many of the factors that make young adult ministry on a college campus work well are nonexistent. I realized that my ideas of how to connect people my own age to church and to Jesus would needed to be reevaluated.

To begin my journey of reconstructing my definition of “young adult ministry,” I posed a question to a few of the eighteen to twenty-somethings at church. “What do you guys want out of church?” I asked. The answer I received seemed too simple. “We would love to have potluck every week,” someone said, almost jokingly. Everyone laughed, but when I immediately agreed, the joke became a plan. Starting with the following Sabbath, the young adult group began to have lunch together every single week. Lunch together became a springboard into deeper community; leading to afternoon hikes, rock climbing trips, and days spent flying kites at the park, throwing frisbees, and drinking La Croix. On some Sabbaths, the afternoons together led to dinner. Dinners led to evenings spent playing board games and discussing life—its joys, sorrows, troubles, and triumphs.

Before we knew it, the young adult group not only began spending nearly all of every Saturday with each other, but began to grow. We began to connect on a deep level, getting to know about each others’ jobs, classes, families, friends, and hobbies. Time spent together outside of the physical church building connected us more than just two or three hours in the worship service and Sabbath classes ever could. Some of our deepest conversations about life and about God were had over lunch, during a board game, or while on a hike. Furthermore, anytime someone new visited our church, there was no doubt that we would have a way to connect. Lunch would be planned and ready. It was a given.

As the framework for this new definition of young adult ministry began to develop, I noticed that we weren’t cornering the market on an exclusive “young adult ministry;” we were just doing plain old ministry. At Union College, “ministry” almost exclusively meant programing. Relying on programming alone works well in the collegiate environment because socioeconomically similar people are already connected to one another. Students eat in the same cafeteria, attend the same classes, and live in the same dorms.

Unfortunately, all too often our tendency is to simply pack up the collegiate model and roll it out at the local church or in the conference while disregarding the reality that it may not be the best model for reaching young people in the “real world.” We plan event after event for twenty- something-year-olds and are shocked when these events are not well attended, or when people come and go but never really connect. I am not against good programming. In fact, in February 2018, a group of young adults from Boulder Church attended the final One project gathering in San Diego. However, I want to be clear that it was more than the stand-alone event that made the experience incredible. While the event included time to connect with Jesus and with each other, the young adults also traveled with one another, ate meals with new people in new places, and explored San Diego while experiencing life with one another. If you take away one thing at this juncture, take this: programs can be wonderful, but they are not effective on their own.

Chances are you’ve heard someone say, “There are no young people in our church. They’re all leaving!” Or, maybe you’ve said it yourself. The harsh reality is this: if all church is giving a young person is programming, they’re not miss- ing out if they just livestream the service or vespers from home while in their PJs flipping pancakes and drinking coffee (take it from a young person who may or may not have done this a few times). We have more to offer as a church, young and old, than just a service or an evangelistic series. We have more to offer as a church than “young adult” or “youth” events. We have more and we can be more. By no means does this mean we stop any of these things, but it does mean that they don’t deserve 100 percent of our time, energy, and finances.

Recently, a popular rap artist by the name of Drake took his music video budget for “God’s Plan” (nearly one million dollars), and gave it all away. What if our church organization took Drake’s lead and used our finances to invest in people instead of in events? For Drake, what would have been just another good music video instead changed dozens of lives. For us, what would be just another decent event could instead be an investment into connections with dozens of our young adults. It’s time to reevaluate our method of ministry and revisit our budgets. We talk about the exodus of young people enough; let’s do something instead. I’ll say it one more time: our church shouldn’t cut programming or stop hosting events all together. We must simply understand that these things are only a small portion of a bigger picture.

Our young people are not dead, disappearing, or on Mars. Our young people are not giving up on Jesus or on church. The simple truth is that our young people have graduated from college and are finding themselves in a new phase of the journey, that’s all. They’re juggling work, relationships, families, and taxes. The simple truth is that we are not adapting our ministry to their needs.

Let’s not continue to give them only program after program to juggle and fit into their calendars. Let’s give them churches that are warm, empathetic, and meaningful wherein they feel welcomed and know that they can connect on a weekly basis. Let’s give them friendships that flood into their day-to-day lives. Let’s give them Sabbath classes that look deeply into Scripture and are relevant to their lives. Let’s give them challenges to live their faith every day and in every situation. Let’s give them Jesus. Remember Him? The guy who who walked, traveled, ate, and celebrated with people. Let’s give them the Jesus who lived life and was life.

It’s been almost three years now that I’ve been at Boulder Church. My job description has changed from young adults to kids and teens. I haven’t organized a single “young adult” event in ages, but I have seen measurable growth in my church. One recent Saturday, I spent all day with a group of young adults from Boulder processing the Sabbath’s sermon over enchiladas, dreaming up ministry ideas over board games, and discussing current events after a movie. We need to remind ourselves that young adult ministry, or any ministry for that matter, can sometimes be, quite literally, a walk in the park.

–Jessyka Albert is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church. Email her at: [email protected].

By Dany Hernandez

It is obvious that there more questions than answers.

As you read on, the thoughts and ideas will likely spark a conversation and hopefully make an impact in each of our communities. During the last decade at LifeSource, we have learned, mostly through trial and error, what is necessary for a church to really make an impact in its local community. It is my intention to share this information with the hopes of creating a larger dialogue.

Is anyone paying attention? “If your church burned down, would anyone notice?” We’ve heard that question for years and, for the most part, the answer to the question is, “Yes.” Your members, who faithfully attend your church, would miss it. But would anyone else? This is a question that, as old as it is, should keep us awake at night and haunt us on a daily basis. Does anyone in your community really care whether your church survives, thrives, or dies?

If you were to take a poll of the immediate community surrounding your church, what would they say about you? What can the neighbors of your church tell us about your faith community? If you’re having a hard time trying to figure out what your immediate community thinks about you or if they even know anything about you, then it’s time you begin to change the way you relate to that community.

But relating to your immediate community is not as easy as you would think. Our church has now been on this journey for about a decade, and I can honestly tell you that it gets more challenging to find ways of connecting with our neighbors with every passing year. LifeSource Adventist Fellowship began this journey to become an externally focused church years ago, and through that process, we’ve had the opportunity to make connections with our immediate community in ways we never imagined. However, this has not come without challenges and without questioning our approach.

What follows is an example of what we have done and currently do in our efforts to connect with our neighbors.

1. Wednesday Workout Night: We’ve hired a personal trainer to come in every Wednesday evening and teach a Boot Camp-style workout for anyone wanting to participate.
2. We’ve opened our campus for 9Health, a partnership with Denver Channel 9 television to bring affordable health screenings to the community.
3. We provide a Financial Peace University seminar every year for our church members as well as our community.
4. We are starting a Celebrate Recovery support group.
5. We are in the process of teaching an English as a Second Language (ESL) class for the Lakewood community.
6. We partner with the YMCA in providing a class and support group for people with diabetes.
7. Every summer, we throw a thank-you party for our neighborhood.
8. We are opening our campus this year for Community Conversations about mental health, suicide, racial reconciliation, and infant and child loss.
9. Every October, we provide a family-friendly trick or treat alternative for our neighbors.
10. We open our facility every morning for an organization called Camp Gladiator to hold their workouts in our reception hall.
11. We will be hiring photographers in November so that our neighbors can have family photos taken for Christmas.
12. We have a community garden where 20-30 of our neighbors are actively involved.
13. We partner with Colorado Feeding Kids and pack 30-50 thousand meals yearly, inviting our neighbors to join us.
14. We have an ongoing partnership with Urban Peak, a shelter for homeless teens.
15. We have a community event on Easter weekend.
16. Our facility is also used by the local HOA to hold their monthly meetings.
17. We hope to start a monthly cooking class so that neighbors can learn how to make a variety of meals from different parts of the world.

A pretty exhausting list isn’t it? But here’s the reality— even that is not enough to really make the type of impact we need to make in our communities.

Practice vs. Presence

One of the challenges that our churches face when connecting to their communities is a geographic problem. Many of our members commute a long distance to attend church. This means that many are not as enthusiastic about investing a lot of time and energy in a community that is not “their” community. So a church can plan and execute a dozen contact points with their neighbors, but as long as there’s a lack of “presence” from members of the faith community, the local impact will be minimal.

Before we started plotting our approach for connecting with the neighborhood, we spent considerable time studying the demographics of those who lived within a one-mile radius of the church. During this process, we found that our church members were not like our neighbors. Our neighbors were of a lower income bracket, immigrants with less education. So, how do you bridge the gap and create an environment where both of these groups can engage in meaningful interaction? That question is still an elusive one.

As Adventists, we share a great tradition and history that provides immediate context and familiarity with one another. It’s a beautiful thing when we can go into any Adventist church and talk about haystacks without needing an explanation, but it can also be a curse. Our language can also be confusing, since a haystack is simply . . . a taco salad.

A recent conversation with one of our attendees who lives in the neighborhood shed incredible light on how difficult it can be to break through in an Adventist church. After attending for more than a year, she suddenly stopped coming to church and this was her explanation for her absence: “I realized I would never truly be a part of this [faith] community because I didn’t attend their schools, their colleges/universities, I don’t live in their neighbor- hood, or work at their hospital.” These are harsh words for an organization trying to reach a community so vastly different than its own members.

I’m not blaming anyone for her decision to stop attending, but I’m also not excusing the fact that reaching out to the community around us will cause tension when and if those individuals begin to visit our churches. If the members of our faith community are hesitant to spend a considerable amount of time with people unlike us, then all of our efforts to reach our community might be in vain.

Real relationships are developed when we step out of our own comfort zone and step into someone else’s. Traditionally, churches have not been very good at putting this into practice. Think about it! Almost everything we do at church revolves around a two-and-a-half-hour period. We are asking people who don’t know anything about Adventism to come to our place, at a specific time, for a specific purpose without any knowledge of what to expect.

Years ago when I lived in Florida, I became part of a fly-fishing club and was soon invited to its monthly Happy Hour at a local bar. The first couple of months I declined, mostly because I was afraid of hanging out at a bar with people I didn’t know very well. After a few months, I decided I would embrace the challenge and go to the next Happy Hour. Thursday evening approached and I got in my car and drove to Happy Hour. I pulled into the parking lot and just sat in my car. I could not find the courage to get out of my car and walk in. Why? I had questions. I’d grown up a good Adventist. I never drank, smoked, or gambled. I’d never gone to Happy Hour before. What would it be like in there? What will I talk about? Where do I do once I’m inside? Will I know anyone there? How should I act? What should I say? While I sat in the car, I realized it was no different than a visitor driving to our church and having to find the courage to get out of the car and walk into a place they’ve never been before.

You’ll be happy to know that I went in and had a great time drinking—cranberry juice! I met people who were so different and yet so similar to me. People who care about the world, who care about others, who love their families and want to see their communities prosper. That Happy Hour encounter led to doing weddings and funerals for people who never stepped foot in our church, but got a glimpse of Jesus. One of the greatest gifts Jesus gave to those around Him was the gift of “presence.” Is your presence in your community?

In vs. Out

One of the greatest challenge our churches face is striking a balance between keeping those we have versus reaching those we don’t. If we spend most of our time and energy trying to reach out to the margins of society and community, the insiders will have a tendency to disconnect and feel as if they are being ignored. But if we spend too much time with those on the inside, you’ll never be able to really make an impact in the lives of those on the outside. And when those on the inside grumble and stop giving of their time and resources, then our ability to reach the out- siders is minimized. What’s the answer? I don’t know that I have one that many people will like, but I do have one. This one comes straight from Jesus.

Jesus says, “Be irresponsible!” Well, actually, He didn’t say those exact words, but he alluded to that fact in Lk. 15:4: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” Did you catch it? He left ninety-nine in the open country to fend for them- selves while He went out after just one. That doesn’t seem very responsible. If you’re playing the numbers game, logic would tell you to protect the ninety-nine to make sure you didn’t lose any more. Someone would be very angry if you left ninety-nine in the open country to chase after just one. The ninety-nine would stop grazing and look around and wonder, “Where did our shepherd go? How dare he leave us here and risk our safety? Does he not know it’s only one that he lost? Does he not realize the sheep is most likely lost due to its own failures and behavior?”

So how do we keep the ninety-nine happy and healthy while still going after the one? You trust the ninety-nine will watch for one another and help each other stay safe and grow because the ninety-nine know, without a doubt, that it’s not about them; it’s about the lost. Or do they?

Cold and Hot vs. Safe

Most of us know the words spoken to the church of Laodicea: “I wish you were either hot or cold . . .” but instead you played it safe. As churches, what are we afraid of when we reach out to our neighbors and community? Are we more interested in not making a mistake than we are in making a difference? We can keep playing it safe and bury what our Master has given is, and when He returns, we can give it back to Him exactly as it was given to us and be proud that we didn’t mess it up or lose it. We can be proud that we locked it up and protected it. What will you tell Jesus? “I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!” (Matt. 25:25-26).

A long time ago, I made the decision that when I get to heaven, I want to look Jesus in the eyes and say, “I tried everything!”

–Dany Hernandez is lead pastor of LifeSource Adventist Fellowship in Denver. Email him at: [email protected].

By Mike Ryan

“To show a liberal, self-denying spirit for the success of foreign missions is a sure way to advance home missionary work; for the prosperity of the home work depends largely, under God, upon the reflex influence of the evangelical work done in countries afar off” (Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, pp. 465, 466).

Mission is the bridge between God’s plans and my plans. However, mission is often confused with activities in far-away countries filled with pagans or only at my local church. Wrong answers! Mission works interdependently and involves every person in the world in every location of the world. Jumping off the bridge can be hazardous to your health!

The operation of a world church is a complex process. Church happens in all but 17 of the world’s 206 countries, with more than 150,000 groups/churches, nearly 8,000 schools, nearly 1,000 hospitals/clinics and health care facilities, 62 publishing houses, 22 food factories, and scores of programs and methods—the tasks and parts of governance are nearly beyond comprehension. From leadership training through the critical steps of strategic planning and organizational governance, there is only one purpose for the church. The church has been organized for the purpose of mission.

Every church leader, and particularly pastors and members, is largely concerned with mission as defined by the Lord Himself–giving hope to the world through Christ and making disciples in Christ (Matt. 28: 19, 20). I have often heard the question, “How can growth take place in my church?” Jumping off the bridge can be hazardous to your health!

At the conclusion of a mission conference, an elderly lady from the eastern United States handed me $2,500 to start a new church in northwest India. When she handed me the money, she said, “Take the money; our church of seven members is dead.” We talked for about 30 minutes. I told her that her sacrificial gift could very possibly be their church’s first plank on the great mission bridge of hope. Shortly there- after, seven members, inspired by the Holy Spirit and claiming the “reflex influence,” employed the most simple, humble methods, and watched for the “reflex.” Two years later, I spoke at the new church in India—42 grace-filled members all chiseled from the bedrock of a hopeless world religion. A few weeks after that, I spoke at the seven-member church. Seventy-one people present—all chiseled from the bedrock of faith.

Jumping off the bridge can be hazardous to your health! Shrinking pains begin with the narrowing of a church’s vision and mission. The voices begin in the hallways and progress to the boardroom. “Foreign mission? Who needs it? It has nothing to do with us. Cancel the mission report. We have no time to show Mission 360. Global Mission’s church planting? We have other uses for our money.” We have all seen it. The talk goes on and on until finally mission is defined as internal entertainment and the critically important human, time and financial sacrifice required to operate a church school, Pathfinders, Center of Influence—Community Services, evangelism, etc., is considered an outrageous intrusion to church life and the budget. Children’s story– “Where have all the children gone?” Jumping off the bridge can be hazardous to your health!

Is the mission of the church going forward? Absolutely! Globally, 2016 and 2017 were both record-setting years for church planting. The church’s Global Mission Initiative, empowered by the Holy Spirit, continues to dynamically deliver hope in Christ to the non-Christian world. Church growth is alive and thriving in the North American Division, Mid-America Union, and the Rocky Mountain Conference. Look at the data! However, only changed people, not changed data, register in heaven. Every day, people without hope find Christ. I have met them—business executives, plumbers, refugees, abused children, prostitutes, Animists, murderers, the homeless, the wealthy, the poor—all finding eternal hope in Christ, from desperate to being cuddled in God’s grace.

It is easy to comfort myself saying, “The bruised, sick and destitute of the world live somewhere else, not in my city.” True, these people do live somewhere else, but it’s a sure bet that when I help them, God will open my eyes and use me as an instrument of hope to heal the bruised, the sick and the destitute not only in my city but in my home. While global church growth is on my list of concerns, it is not the first question that should rock my world. If faith and sacrifice are to walk hand in hand, I must hear the roaring question, “What’s the condition of my mission bridge? Is my mission bridge robust or sporting just one thin plank? Am I bold enough, responsible enough, to shake and rattle my priorities until my mission bridge repeatedly transports the “reflex influence”—Christ to the world?”

Many years ago when my father was a colporteur, had five children in church school, and was part of a new church plant, I watched as Mom and Dad pledged $500 for the purchase of a property on which now stands the Gladstone, Missouri, church. I was old enough to know that Dad needed a newer car, paint and shingles for our old house, and all of us could use a few new clothes. On the way home, I asked Dad where he was going to get the money for the church. Driving home in the dim of the evening, I could just make out the look of peace on Dad’s face. With one hand on the steering wheel, he put his other hand on my shoulder and said, “The work of the church will be finished in the spirit of sacrifice, but never forget, faith and sacrifice walk hand in hand.” I knew intuitively that he was paraphrasing from Ellen White.

Over the next two years, I watched Mom and Dad, little by little, pay that $500. I also helped paint the old house and put shingles on the roof, and that year I got socks, a sweater, and a new shirt for Christmas. The next generation is watching. Jumping off the bridge can be hazardous to your health!

–Mike Ryan is a former vice president of the General Conference and coordinated the church’s Global Mission initiative. He and his wife Jeanie live near Montrose, Colorado.

By Rajmund Dabrowski

The year 1996 was historic as the unified church’s public identity was adopted for a worldwide church. This included a church logo symbol and a branding approach based on the global church communication strategy referred to as the Hope Strategy.

As a global church body, we had no logo before 1996. A variety of symbols were used in different administrative areas of the church with varied identification logos.

Creativity in entity identifiers, which you could see on the church office stationery, the signage of local churches and administrative offices, as well names of church institutions, was confusing and did not reflect a unified organization—not to mention adding to confusion about how the church’s name was expressed.

There is a history for how the Seventh-day Adventist Corporate Identity (CI) was developed and voted by the General Conference Executive Committee. I recall a conversation with Pastor R. S. Folkenberg, then the world church president, where I passionately expressed the view that it was high time we supported our interests in the unity of the global church and protected our church from abuses of the independent use of the church’s name. “The logos used by the various church entities are all over the place,” I argued. “Do we care enough about our own brand and ethos as a faith community to make our identity visible in a consistent manner?”

The issue of a corporate identity and its graphic expression was not new to either of us. “Others have tried to get this done and they failed,” Folkenberg responded. “But if you want to have a go at it, go ahead.”

“If I were to get a crack at it, would you have my back?” I asked. His affirmative response meant that we would achieve change in the church’s public presence.

After establishing a committee to oversee design parameters of the church’s logo, its applications and graphics standards, a proposal was ready for a policy route through appropriate channels. Placed with the Communication Department, the group was composed of public relations professionals, a designer, and representatives of the administration. Known in church circles as a designer and graphic artist, Bryan Gray was invited to present a proposal for a design and work also on branding applications and a graphic standards manual.

In consultation with the Office of the General Conference President, one critical approach was undertaken—a recommendation to include the full name of our church–the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It aimed at establishing a trademark and legal right for the use of the church’s full name, thus preventing unauthorized use of the church’s identity and protecting the proprietary interests of the church’s name.

Also, in order to expedite the process to have the corporate identity established, it was recommended that, after the General Conference’s top three officers approved the design proposal and application, it would be directly presented to the Executive Committee of the world church.

It was in October of 1996 that the Annual Council met in San Juan, Costa Rica, and a two-thirds majority of the Executive Committee voted to establish a unified, global church logo–a graphic and the church’s full name–the denomination’s first. Prior to 1996, the church never had a global church logo used by church entities in all World Divisions, unions, conferences, local churches and institutions owned or licensed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

It is important to note that when we established a graphic standards manual, “the ultimate goal [was] to ensure that the Church is identified consistently and clearly in a positive manner that will communicate our mission and spirit for many years to come,” wrote Bryan Gray. Naturally, communicators and most of the church leaders in nearly all unions welcomed establishing a unified CI. As one church leader from Central America put it, we “feel that we are one, no matter where you see our logo.” Now, over twenty years later, wherever you see the logo, you know you can feel at home as part of a global family of Seventh-day Adventists.

My early months and years as a “logo cop,” after rolling out the usage and signage of the logo, saw a change of heart by those who initially were not so sure about dropping their attachment to logos developed by their Unions and became the CI’s biggest supporters. Such was the case with South America in particular. Rolling out the logo throughout the region, the CI was merged with the Communication Strategy, known as the Communication of Hope.

Logo—What Is Its Meaning?

The logo reflects the core values of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its foundation is the Bible, the Word of God, shown open because its message should be read and put into practice. Central to that biblical message is the cross, which is also a central feature of the logo. Above the cross and the open Bible is a burning flame that represents the Holy Spirit, the messenger of truth.

The Second Coming. The lines at the top of the design suggest upward momentum symbolizing the resurrection and ascension to heaven at Christ’s Second Coming, the ultimate focus of our faith.

The Flame. This is the shape formed by three lines encircling an implied sphere. The lines represent the three angels of Rev. 14 circling the globe and our commission to take the Gospel to the entire world. The overall shape forms a flame symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

The Cross. The symbol of the cross, representing the Gospel of salvation, is positioned in the center of the design to emphasize Christ’s sacrifice, which is the central theme of the Adventist faith.

The Open Bible. The Bible forms the base of the design and represents the biblical foundation of our beliefs. It is portrayed in a fully open position suggesting a full acceptance of God’s word.

Some people have complained that the abandonment of the “old” logo represents a departure from what we believe in, among other accusations. Nothing could be further from the truth. We don’t reflect our logo; our logo reflects us, and if we are true to what we believe, that is what the logo will come to stand for.

As a matter of fact, the new logo more fully symbolizes the breadth of what we believe, as stated above, but is worth repeating. It starts with the foundation of the Word, centered on the Cross, the path to our salvation; it shows three flames encircling an implied globe, representing both the Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and also the Three Angels’ Message to all the world. And all of this is shown in a simple, yet elegant and contemporary style, all the things you ask for in a great logo.

What’s in the Name?

There is only one correct usage of the name “Seventh- day Adventist.” The correct spelling of the church name includes a hyphen between “Seventh” and “day” with the “d” for “day” being lower case. There are two identifying beliefs in our name. We are believers in the second advent of Jesus Christ and keep the seventh-day (Saturday) as Sabbath, the biblical day of worship.

Alongside the CI meaning and application, it was also established that the official abbreviation for the full name of the church is “Adventist.” This establishes the use the full name or the abbreviation “Adventist” when referring to the church. Many local churches, leaders and members got accustomed to the abbreviation “SDA.”* In practice, this actually hides the meaning of who we, as Seventh-day Adventist members, are. It is also important to note that besides the legal application of our corporate identity, there is a public relations aspect of the way we identify ourselves. Though there will be those who would wish to debate it, in my public relations view, the use of the initials “SDA” is incorrect, as those letters can stand for a variety of organizations.

Besides, the names “Seventh-day Adventist” and “Adventist” are the registered trademarks of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists), which is recognized as the legal entity controlling the use of that name. The term “Adventist” is a generic term, which can be used and applied by any group professing belief in the second advent of Christ. When used in the context of the full name of the church, the term “Adventist” is generally understood to mean Seventh-day Adventist.

Twenty years after the church took a step to establish a unified church logo, the General Conference reviewed the more contemporary needs of how we apply the logo in the era of changing technology and media. The logo received a graphic refresher without changing its graphic, but making the logotype easier to use across the globe and in different languages. A new web page application is being given a new look. Making it more in line with local cultures and design needs, each world division is working on their versions.

It is our intent to release a new “web face” in the Rocky Mountain Conference in sync with the North American Division.

–Rajmund Dabrowski is RMC communication director and editor of Mountain Views. Email him at: [email protected].