RMCNews with Josh Long – Westminster, Colorado … The annual Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries (ASI) Mid-America (MA) convention was held in Westminster, Colorado, May 7-10. ASI is an official organization under the North American Division (NAD) that supports Adventist professional and business leaders to live out their faith, carry on the Church’s mission, and share God’s love in the marketplace.

The event’s theme was “Now is the Time.” “The inspiration for the theme came from a sense of urgency at our hour of Earth’s history that we need to reach the world with the everlasting gospel. The workshops under this theme were practical tools that any church could use to effectively revitalize their church and more effectively reach their communities for Jesus,” remarked Dr. Josh Long, ASI MA president.

The keynote speaker for the event was John Bradshaw, president of It is Written, who continued on the theme with his Sabbath worship service message. “Now is the time. We have got to be creative enough and bold to take the Gospel to the people,” he proclaimed. “And now is not the time hide our light. It is not easy, but that is because God knows we need difficult. He knows it is what we need to be real Christians: aggressive service.”

Bradshaw was joined as a featured speaker by Jamey Houghton, speaker director of 8thirty2 Ministry* and pastor of the McDonald Road Seventh-day Adventist Church in McDonald, Tennessee, who provided devotional thoughts.

Organizers of the convention hope that this event inspired attendees with a sense of evangelism and a desire to revitalize their home churches. ASI MA’s REVitalize, a transformative church and community program, was introduced as a structured way to implement the four strategic pillars of church revitalization: Transformational Prayer, the Gospel in Action, Fishers of Men, and Mission Reflex.

These four pillars were explored further through the convention’s workshops. Former ASI president Denzil, with his wife Donna, McNeilus, covered Transformative Prayer, walking attendees through a Scripture-rooted journey of prayer from personal to small group to church-wide intercession.

Phil Mills, lead pastor of the Franktown Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC), led the discussion on Gospel in Action with his talk on “Healing a Broken World Through Christ’s Method.” Mills provided practical steps for churches to pray and organize to become healing centers for communities, drawing people to Christ, rooted in Christ’s method of preaching, teaching, and mostly healing.

Long led out the discussion for the Fishers of Men pillar exploring how churches can break the cycle of spiritual stagnation and build a true discipleship culture. The pillar of Mission Reflex, and final workshop, covering the impact on local churches from foreign mission service was Daryl Hosford, ASAP Ministries* president, and Joy Kauffman, Farm Stew International* president.

Attendance at the convention surged for the Sabbath presentation to a couple of hundred with a significant number of first-time attendees. “There was a spirit of enthusiasm, and many remarked that they could sense the Holy Spirit present throughout,” reflected Long. “There were at least three attendees who had just become ASI members after also joining the [Seventh-day Adventist] Church in the past two years. They were especially excited to be attending their first convention and were very excited to see how lay members could get involved in ministry.”

Also in attendance were a few friends of the RMC including Rick Mautz, RMC Wellness Support director, Cara Greenfield, Campion Academy vice principal of Finance, former RMC pastor and Adventist World Radio (AWR) assistant to the president John Davidson, and Dine Adventist Radio* (DAR) network manager Steve Pester. Felicia Sanders, Union Adventist University’s “Soul-winning and Leadership Training” (SALT) program outreach coordinator, also had a few minutes to introduce the program to the audience.

Conventions of this scale require the help and dedication of many: “I would like to thank the outstanding contributions of the ASI MA board members and officers. I would also like to thank our very inspiring speakers including John Bradshaw, Jamey Houghton, Ken Norton, Denzil and Donna McNeilus, Phil Mills, Darryl Hosford, and Joy Kauffman,” praised Long.

Long continued, “I would also like to thank the music coordinator Lindsey Mills, wife of Phil Mills, and all of our outstanding music volunteers and AV assistants. I would also like to thank Micah Buller and Natalie Longkutoy for their incredible videography. And, finally, I would like to thank every attendee for forming a very engaged and relational tapestry of Spirit-inspired lay members.”

* These organizations are a supporting ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church but is not affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

—Josh Long is the ASI MA president. Photos by Liz Kirkland and captured from videos courtesy of ASI MA.