RMCNews – The final Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) ministerial meeting of the year was held for 17 new-to-ministry, or unordained, pastors, September 28-30. While the two-day sessions are usually held at the Conference office, this event was held at Glacier View Ranch (GVR) in Ward, Colorado.
The pastors spent devotional and worship time together the first evening of the session. The following day’s agenda was dedicated to exploring the relationship between calling, purpose, and identity and to person and missional fulfillment. The final day of the session focused on pastoral spirituality, health, and evangelism.
During this retreat, the pastors dialoged with Conference leadership on the North American Division’s ordination framework—how pastors are formally recognized and authorized for ministry. Dave VandeVere, the new RMC president, also took time to meet individually with each of the pastors.
For Charles Hong, one of the newest pastors to join the Conference, this was his first time attending one of these sessions: “[GVR] is a wonderful place. You can learn and grow as a pastor, and you can come to know one another, pray together, and share ministry challenges. We have also learned many things to prepare for our future ministries. I was touched by Elder Inglish’s message this morning’s devotional reminding us that we can learn from our mistakes with God on our side.”
Joining the pastors at GVR for the duration of the retreat was VandeVere, Hugo Guillén, RMC Ministerial associate director and lead for Multicultural Ministries, and Nathaniel Gamble, RMC Religious Liberties director and lead pastor for the Grand Junction District. Other Conference officials led or joined the session for a day including Doug Inglish, vice president for Administration, Darin Gottfried, vice president for Finance, Diane Harris, director of Education, Paul Negrete, associate superintendent of Education, and Rick Mautz, director of Wellness Support.
Logan Earles, associate pastor of Littleton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Littleton, Colorado, has attended at least five sessions during his time in the Conference. “I really enjoy the community. It’s really fun to connect with pastors that are all over the Conference in similar situations; I get to learn from their scenarios before they hit me. It’s just cool to hear their stories and to be a part of that whole experience.”
When asked how this session has differed from others, Earles commented, “We’re spending a lot more downtime together than in past meetings. We had one that was out in Lincoln, Nebraska, that we had some downtime as a group. But, with this one, almost all of our downtime is together, so we get to connect at a different level; not just learning something, but learning each other.”
—RMCNews. Photos by Jose Briones and Liz Kirkland.
