By Rachel Williams – Grand Junction, Colorado… “This last lay pastor training session was a very rich experience,” Patrick Williams, lay pastor training attendee said.
Evangelism and the Sabbath were the main topics at the Western Slope lay pastor training held in May.
Twenty-two individuals, including a new attendee, gathered at the Grand Junction Adventist Church to continue their training to become lay pastors.
The weekend of training began with Matt Hasty, RMC literature ministries director, and Robert Koorenny, associate director of public relations at the Voice of Prophecy, leading out in discussions on how to conduct successful literature evangelism.
Hasty’s presentation was on how literature evangelism was a huge part of the rapid growth in the early Seventh-day Adventist Church, and how it is still being used today. The group also learned that literature would be a big factor in finishing the end-time work.
Following Hasty’s presentation, Koorenny talked about GLOW Ministries and shared several inspiring stories of people who had been led to Jesus and given hope after reading a Glow tract.
The training on literature evangelism ended with Hasty and Koorenny sharing practical ways to be non-intrusive and friendly while handing out literature.
The gathering continued on Sabbath and Sunday morning with Nate Skaife, pastor of the Grand Junction church, leading an in-depth study and discussion on the Sabbath, which began with reviewing the creation account and how the Sabbath was instituted.
The discussion continued by discussing how different churches view the Sabbath and how those views either do or do not match the Bible view.
The group concluded their study on the Sabbath examining how the Bible shows the Sabbath to be a day of relationship and the importance of keeping the Sabbath the way it was meant to be kept.
Recalling the weekend, Williams commented “We were blessed with the enthusiastic presentation on the potential for the literature ministry to play a significant part in the closing work; emphasis was placed especially on the Glow tract ministry. We then dove very, very deeply into the Sabbath and we learned that the Lord’s Day is far more beautiful and special than we realize. It really got us thinking about and sharing how we can keep it truly holy.”
The Denver cohort training was held earlier in June where 17 individuals were trained on the same topics. The next session will be held in September.
–Rachel Williams is member of the Cedaredge Adventist Church; photos supplied
