Adventist Heritage Center

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1 Adventist Heritage Center From: Sent: To: Subject: Center for Adventist Research Monday, December 12, :13 AM Adventist Heritage Center FW: When the Holy Spirit Interrupts in Real Life From: Adventist Review On Behalf Of Adventist Review Sent: Friday, December 9, :03 PM To: Center for Adventist Research Subject: When the Holy Spirit Interrupts in Real Life 1

2 Login Search Subscribe Menu Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting Accepting Trump Appointment, Ben Carson On Track as First Adventist U.S. Cabinet Secretary Heather Knight Resigns as Pacific Union College President, Effective January 2017 Make America Rake Again? The Nearly Empty Cradle Make America Rake Again? Is the secret to making America and the character of its men and women great...beneath us? Traditional Evan Methods Still M in Secular Finla SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

3 The Nearly Empty Cradle Is Northern New England the most extreme mission field in North America? POSTED DECEMBER 9, 2016 n mid-2015, the leaders of the Northern New England Conference (NECC) came to a conclusion that raised eyebrows: their conference was probably the most extreme I mission field in the North American Division. The Northern New England Conference consists of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and all the major population centers in these states appeared on lists of the top 10 most secular or post- Christian cities in the United States.[1] Overall, a stunning portion of the population exceeding 60 percent rejects Christ, rejects the authority of the Bible, and lead lives that simply did not involve faith. This means that Northern New England, where the Adventist movement was born, is approaching a level of post-christianity now seen only in Western Europe. This realization had a galvanizing effect on the leadership team. Their response, in essence, was, OK, so we re the most post-christian. That doesn t change our mission. If anything, it makes it more important. Let s come up with a powerful and effective response to this challenge. "OK, so we re the most post-christian" Work began in earnest on a response that would reach individuals with the transforming message of salvation through Christ. The first step in this process was to determine where people were in the conference, and whether existing churches could effectively be used as platforms to reach the population. The conference looked at getting a custom Geographic Information System study done, and considered accessing census data from the U.S. Census Bureau. But in the end they decided to piggyback their efforts onto accessible corporate data: they compared the size and location of their churches with the size and location of Walmart stores and looked for gaps in coverage. The results were not only crystal clear, they were also jawdropping. In a conference with 59 churches, 16 significant communities in Maine and New Hampshire had no Adventist church nearby, and several of those communities are large enough to justify multiple churches. Conference leaders looked at a number of responses that would bring light to these communities, and ultimately decided to design and launch an aggressive, long-term church-planting program. Part of the reason is that church planting made sense in communities removed from established churches. Another part of the reason was that, with church planting, the work was done through a spiritually-focused team of people who did not look or act like a church, an important distinction when dealing with a population that has rejected church. But the primary reason for choosing church planting is that, done right, it is a successful way to bring people to Christ. "We re looking for people who are called of God and who are willing to make this their ministry" For the leadership team in NNEC, church planting done right means that volunteers tent-making missionaries who move into target areas and become part of the community are formed into teams and raise up a company of believers over a period of years. We re looking for people who are called of God and who are willing to make this their ministry for as long as it takes to raise up a healthy church, said Ted Huskins, executive secretary of the Conference and leader of the church planting project. We ll be working with tent-making planters to form cohesive teams of between three and six people who among them have the array of spiritual gifts needed for success. Then we ll be putting in place training and other systems to make sure they are robustly supported in their efforts, including some financial support.

4 Fundamentally, said Huskins, we re looking for modern missionaries who are dedicated to bringing people to Christ and who are willing to work in a difficult and challenging field. Those people are hard to find, and we may end up looking for almost 100 such people or couples over the coming decade; but we are confident that God will guide them to His work here. When asked what type of people would fit the project, Huskins smiles and spreads his arms wide. All kinds. People who work with their hands; people who work with their minds. Artists, craftsmen, healthcare workers, office workers. Our target is young people, so we are looking for young leaders in their 20s and 30s who are called by God, and who want to dedicate their lives to something that matters. A good example of the gap planters will be working in is Littleton, New Hampshire. This town, a tourist destination set in the foothills of the White Mountains, is a commercial and healthcare hub for Northern New Hampshire. Littleton has a regional hospital and robust "What we re undertaking is a huge effort, but this is exactly the type of thing Christ s servants should be doing." business and outdoor-adventure sectors. But it has only four Adventists, who drive to churches more than 20 miles away. Other target communities include growing areas of southern New Hampshire, which serve as bedroom communities for Boston; and some central and southern Maine towns as well. What we re undertaking is a huge effort, said Huskins. But this is exactly the type of thing Christ s servants should be doing. We know what we should be doing; we know where we should be doing it; now we need to find the missionaries God is calling to this most extreme domestic mission field. For more information about the Planting Project, contact Ted Huskins at thuskins@nnec.org. PULL-QUOTE:Northern New England, where the Adventist movement was born, is approaching a level of post-christianity seen only in Western Europe. [1] In the Barna Group 2015 listing of most post-christian cities in the US, Burlington, Vermont held the #2 spot, while Portland, Maine held the #3 spot.in the January 22, 2014 Time report on the Most Godless Cities in the US, Manchester NH held the #3 spot (and was combined with Boston in that position). As the oldest publishing platform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Adventist Review (est. 1849) provides inspiration and information to the global church through a variety of media, including print, websites, apps, and audio and video platforms.content appearing on any of the Adventist Review platforms has been selected because it is deemed useful to the purposes and mission of the journal to inform, educate, and inspire the denomination it serves.unless identified as created by Adventist Review or a designated member of the Adventist Review staff, content is assumed to express the viewpoints of the author or creator of the content. News & Features Current Adventist News Download The Adventist World Week of Prayer Edition Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriber Access Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address About Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Kit Adventist World Departments Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Resources Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Advertising Questions Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

5 Login Search Subscribe Menu Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting Accepting Trump Appointment, Ben Carson On Track as First Adventist U.S. Cabinet Secretary Heather Knight Resigns as Pacific Union College President, Effective January 2017 Make America Rake Again? The Nearly Empty Cradle Make America Rake Again? Is the secret to making America and the character of its men and women great...beneath us? Traditional Evan Methods Still M in Secular Finla SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

6 Solomon Islands Widows Brave Bad Weather for Uplifting Camp Abandoned women, widows, share experiences and encourage others POSTED DECEMBER 8, 2016 A weekend retreat for widows and deserted wives saw 35 women brave extreme weather conditions in the Solomon Islands to be encouraged and uplifted, despite life circumstances. The women camped at Doma, west of Honiara, in late November. Guest speaker Helen Miller, known as Sister Hay when she served at Atoifi Adventist Hospital in the 1970s, shared her experiences in somewhat fractured Pidgin on the theme Broken to be Beautiful. The stories the women shared moved us all and highlighted the blessing that this group is, not just to its own members but to the community, Miller said. Some live alone, others with family members. Time and again the message came through: We trust God. He is faithful and never lets us down. A group of friends with Atoifi connections - Elma, Jenny, Helen Miiller, Halifu and Tina. Credit: Adventist Record Even though tarpaulins ripped and tents blew down during a storm Friday night, the women refused to go home until Sunday. These women have gone through far worse times, as widows (oru) and deserted wives (taloa), Miller said. They rejoice at the encouragement and support they share at the Oru/Taloa Camp each year. Lynteko, one of the attendees, shared about seeing a sad young woman, going to talk with her, and discovering that she was about to commit suicide after her husband deserted her and left her with two small children and no means of support. Lynteko s own life story gave her wisdom and love to help this distressed taloa, while sharing food from her own garden. A personal testimony is a powerful witness to God s goodness in impossibly difficult situations, Miller said. A personal testimony is a powerful witness to God s goodness in impossibly difficult situations

7 Another attendee, Pamela, trains ministers wives in various churches. She shared how God has been with her for 25 years since her husband died. The theme song Something beautiful, something good is shining in the lives of these women, who plan to keep reaching out to others who are broken and share their beautiful Jesus, Miller said. The impact this group is having is expanding throughout the Pacific as a group of women on Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, have been inspired to set up a Bougainville Foundation for widows and deserted wives. They invited the Solomons group to meet with them in As the oldest publishing platform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Adventist Review (est. 1849) provides inspiration and information to the global church through a variety of media, including print, websites, apps, and audio and video platforms.content appearing on any of the Adventist Review platforms has been selected because it is deemed useful to the purposes and mission of the journal to inform, educate, and inspire the denomination it serves.unless identified as created by Adventist Review or a designated member of the Adventist Review staff, content is assumed to express the viewpoints of the author or creator of the content. News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Download The Adventist World Week of Prayer Edition Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Kit Adventist World Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Advertising Questions Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

8 Login Search Subscribe Menu Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting Accepting Trump Appointment, Ben Carson On Track as First Adventist U.S. Cabinet Secretary Heather Knight Resigns as Pacific Union College President, Effective January 2017 Make America Rake Again? The Nearly Empty Cradle In Grace We Hope When you have grace, you have it all. Make America R Is the secret to m and the character women great...be SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

9 Marcos Paseggi is married to Cintia and is the proud father of two energetic sons. He is a translator, Bible researcher, and author from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Of Marathon Runners and Run-Down Marriages Annual training for pastors is a hands-on experience at Oakwood University POSTED DECEMBER 7, 2016 ngage. Empower. Get involved. Watching from the sidelines is not an option. E This is the message heard time and again at the Pastoral Evangelism and Leadership Council (PELC) 2016 at the church-owned Oakwood University, the historically African-American school in Huntsville, Alabama. Under the motto Contend Together: We re in this Fight Together, the December 4-7 edition of this annual training and devotional event looks to equip and empower Seventh-day Adventist pastors for tackling some of the challenges of ministering in the changing church culture of the 21 st century. From a candid testimony of a pastoral couple s marital struggles, to timely advice on taking on a sport to look cool to the youth of your church, to practical suggestions for engaging with your Muslim neighbors, PELC is no so much about theoretical definitions as about being furnished with easy-to-implement tools for the nitty-gritty of ministry. Seminars are extremely practical, said Pastor Allan Chichester, from the Ontario Conference in Canada. I found them very useful for the minister on the ground. Plenary and seminar presentations are interspersed with powerful biblical preaching and lively worship services, making the PELC event an out-and-out spiritual experience. Practical ministry training includes multiple boot camp options intensive training sessions on topics ranging from The Keys to Powerful Preaching, to How to Handle Church Conflict, and How to Plant and Grow New Churches. A concurrent Spanish language track for Hispanic pastors, which had its fledgling start several years ago, has become an important empowering event in its own right with about 60 registrants this year. Here below, there are three samples of the training offers at PELC A Long Way to Marital Bliss Monday morning, Pastor Baldwin Barnes and his wife Elder Pollyana, from the Northeastern Conference based in Jamaica, New York, whetted audience appetite for their seminar entitled An Honest Conversation About Marriage, scheduled for later that day. Relationship experts say that in marriage, there are usually three areas of conflict: sex, finances, and communication, Pastor Barnes said. Well, there was a time when Pollyana and I were doing really bad in the three of them! The Barnes then shared how they reached a stage when they were not even on speaking terms on their long drive to church on Sabbath mornings. He would rise to preach a sermon on conflict resolution, Pollyana candidly shared, and I would say to myself, What if he practiced at home a little of what he is preaching at church!. But the good news is, the Barnes said, that there is hope for pastoral couples floundering through marriage. In their case, it was a matter of first acknowledging they were both unhappy with their current situation, and then committing to an arduous process for making the relationship of their dreams a reality. We would like to share with you a couple of secrets that can assist you in this rewarding journey, Pastor Barnes said before mischievously concluding, but for that you ll have to attend our seminar! A Marathon Runner Pastor? For years, I made great efforts to preach better and better, said Pastor Manuel Moral, who ministers to Spanish congregations in Kansas City, Missouri, and one of the keynote speakers for the Spanish track. But I was not making the impact I wanted, especially in young people.

10 Pastors rarely look cool to Millennials, he said. But it is essential that pastors find ways of looking more appealing to their younger folks. The light dawned for Moral, originally from Cuba, the day he understood that connecting with young people is more about living better than about preaching better. It occurred to me that practicing a sport would help me to look attractive to the youth, he said. But with no idea what sport to take on, he just started running. Two decades and several marathons down the road, Moral now testifies to the effectiveness of this simple method: you may think the youth of your church are hard to please and difficult to engage, he said. But believe me, they get really excited to watch their pastor running. And the day of my races, they are usually there on the sidelines, cheering me all the way to the finish line! Loving Your Muslim Neighbor Under the catchy title Is President Trump Right About Islam: 7 Things Your Church Needs to Know, Dr. Keith Burton, Coordinator of The Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations at Oakwood University, provided a brief but compelling biblical rationale for befriending Muslims before unambiguously stating: God is already working through Muslims, and we cannot afford to just stand idly by. Burton went on to provide several down-to-earth ideas on how to relate to some of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, especially to the ones living in your neighborhood. This is a call for contemporary Good Samaritans, Burton said, in a nod to one of Jesus parables in the Gospels, in which an assaulted and badly beaten man left for dead by the side of the road was assisted by the least likely of passersby. Church members can launch a Refugees Ministries department at their local church, he said. Or you can look for ways of partnering with mosques, as you try to build bridges, focusing on common understandings and beliefs. Burton s practice of the principles he teaches has even allowed him to pray with some of his Muslim acquaintances: the key is to remember that in our dealings with Muslims, neutrality or lack of action is never an option, Burton concluded. Solidarity and engagement: this is to be the proper Christian response. The Power of Synergy From preaching to talks to seminars, PELC 2016 showcases in a variety of ways how important synergy is to make ministry effective in a contemporary setting. We are facing challenges that are too complex, too daunting for us to face alone, conceded Dr. Jesse Wilson, PELC Chair and Associate Professor of Religion at Oakwood. At times, the church seems to be caught like a deer in the headlights, with few real answers, he said. So we must work together, acknowledging and respecting our various strengths and weaknesses, Wilson concluded. We need each other. As the oldest publishing platform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Adventist Review (est. 1849) provides inspiration and information to the global church through a variety of media, including print, websites, apps, and audio and video platforms.content appearing on any of the Adventist Review platforms has been selected because it is deemed useful to the purposes and mission of the journal to inform, educate, and inspire the denomination it serves.unless identified as created by Adventist Review or a designated member of the Adventist Review staff, content is assumed to express the viewpoints of the author or creator of the content. News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Download The Adventist World Week of Prayer Edition Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Kit Adventist World Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Advertising Questions Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

11 Login Search Subscribe Menu Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting Accepting Trump Appointment, Ben Carson On Track as First Adventist U.S. Cabinet Secretary Heather Knight Resigns as Pacific Union College President, Effective January 2017 Make America Rake Again? The Nearly Empty Cradle entist Hospital Heather Knight Resigns as Foundation for Pacific Union College us President, Effective January 2017 Was first black woman to lead an ' P R B S r SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

12 Lael Caesar is an associate editor of Adventist Review. Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting Organizers forced to change ministerial training program at Oakwood University POSTED DECEMBER 8, 2016 God opportunity that I have hungered after for 40 years, said Ben Jones, president of the South Central Conference, and chair of the Tuesday morning, A December 6, devotional session where Pastor Tricia Wynn-Payne of Indiana had challenged her congregation to Wait for It. As many as 1,000 attendees heard Pastor Wynn-Payne speak from Acts 1:4, where the resurrected Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father. Powerful, said Anthony Medley, pastor of the Emmanuel Brinklow congregation in Ashton, Maryland. And Pastor Lola Moore said, It was obvious that spiritual warfare took place before. We become overwhelmed by the enormity of the assignment and turn inward to focus on our skills set. But it was evident to me that the preacher took her own words seriously: she waited for it. She waited for the Holy Spirit to do His work in her. Her ministry gave unmistakable evidence of God s handiwork, said Jesse Wilson, director of the Pastoral Evangelism and Leadership Council [PELC], a ministerial training program that meets annually at Oakwood University. The results were spiritually stunning. Pastor Tricia disrupted everything, one attendee said; The Holy Spirit showed up and took us by surprise. Pastor Wynne-Payne herself, a trained physical therapist who left her nets in response to God s call to pastoral ministry, says that she is still processing what happened yesterday. The message and worship experience so disrupted the proceedings that organizers The Holy Spirit showed up and took us by surprise. spontaneously invited those who were interested to gather in one of the meeting rooms to pray. The next meeting scheduled for that room was long delayed as the prayer session continued for more than an hour. One after another, with no pause between prayers, pastors, administrators, and lay people lifted their voices and hearts to God in confession of sin, surrender to the Spirit s will, and pleas for His anointing in their lives as well as His church s program here on earth at the end of time. As Elder Jones made final remarks and the solemn yet thrilling spiritual experience drew to its close, someone offered a comment that was pregnant with allusion to the historical experience that inspired Pastor Wynn-Payne s sermon [see Acts 1:15]: he had counted the number of people in the room not a straightforward task, since people were crowded in against the walls and squeezed into corners. Nevertheless, he wanted it to be known that about 120 individuals had been praying in the room. As the oldest publishing platform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Adventist Review (est. 1849) provides inspiration and information to the global church through a variety of media, including print, websites, apps, and audio and video platforms.content appearing on any of the Adventist Review platforms has been selected because it is deemed useful to the purposes and mission of the journal to inform, educate, and inspire the denomination it serves.unless identified as created by Adventist Review or a designated member of the Adventist Review staff, content is assumed to express the viewpoints of the author or creator of the content. News & Features Current Adventist News Download The Adventist World Week of Prayer Edition Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriber Access Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address About Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Kit Adventist World Departments Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Resources Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator

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14 Login Search Subscribe Menu Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting Accepting Trump Appointment, Ben Carson On Track as First Adventist U.S. Cabinet Secretary Heather Knight Resigns as Pacific Union College President, Effective January 2017 Make America Rake Again? The Nearly Empty Cradle In Grace We Hope When you have grace, you have it all. Make America R Is the secret to m and the character women great...be SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

15 Children in Moldova, Latvia, and Albania to Receive ADRA Christmas Parcels Seventh-day Adventists work to bring cheer, help alleviate poverty S POSTED DECEMBER 5, 2016 By APD Switzerland and Adventist Review staff eventh-day Adventists in Switzerland and Austria are working to bring holiday cheer and alleviate poverty for some of the least-fortunate in the European nations of Moldova, Latvia, and Albania. ADRA volunteers with children during a collection in the center of Neuenburg, Switzerland. Credit: ADRA Switzerland Working through national branches of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, ADRA, church members have prepared gift parcels for underprivileged children in both nations. Children in 50 Seventh-day Adventist congregations in Switzerland helped prepare 3,213 parcels, which left the Alpine nation on November 23 via train as Christmas gifts for Moldova's children. The effort, titled Children Help Children, is now in its fifth year, according to Sibylle Schuppli, ADRA Switzerland's communication director. ADRA Moldova distributes the parcels when they arrive in the eastern European nation, which is one of the continent's poorest lands. Recipients of the parcels include children in orphanages, disabled children, and those in underprivileged families. ADRA Moldavia receives requests for parcels from government entities, local schools, and its own network of contacts. Children in 50 Seventh-day Adventist congregations in Switzerland helped prepare 3,213 parcels Although the parcels recently left Switzerland, it will be a few weeks before the children get to open them. Orthodox Christianity is the majority religion in Moldova, and this branch of Christianity will celebrate Christmas on January 6 and 7, 2017, following the "old calendar" also known as the Gregorian calendar. Separately, Seventh-day Adventists in Austria sent 3,528 parcels to Albania at the end of November, according to Corinna Wagner, ADRA Austria communication director. Another 2,500 parcels are expected to go to Latvia on December 6.

16 Globally, ADRA has helped alleviate human suffering for 60 years Working with a number of local schools, the Deutschlandsberg Seventh-day Adventist Church, prepared 1,046 parcels, working closely with a number of local schools. The city of Deutschlandsberg is located in southern Austria, near the border with Slovenia, and is approximately 22 miles (35 km) south of Graz, Austria. Globally, ADRA has helped alleviate human suffering for 60 years. The organization was initially established in 1956 as the Seventh-day Adventist Welfare Service or SAWS, the name was changed to Seventh-day Adventist World Service in In 1984, the organization was renamed Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and in 1997, it was granted General Consultative Status by the United Nations, the highest status given to nongovernmental organizations. Today, 6,000 ADRA staff and volunteers help meet human need in 130 countries. As the oldest publishing platform of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Adventist Review (est. 1849) provides inspiration and information to the global church through a variety of media, including print, websites, apps, and audio and video platforms.content appearing on any of the Adventist Review platforms has been selected because it is deemed useful to the purposes and mission of the journal to inform, educate, and inspire the denomination it serves.unless identified as created by Adventist Review or a designated member of the Adventist Review staff, content is assumed to express the viewpoints of the author or creator of the content. News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Download The Adventist World Week of Prayer Edition Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Kit Adventist World Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Advertising Questions Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

17 Holy Spirit Disrupts Adventist Pastors Meeting A God opportunity that I have hungered after for 40 years, said Ben Jones, president of the South Central Conference, and chair of the Tuesday morning, December 6, devotional session where Pastor Tricia Wynn-Payne of Indiana had challenged her congregation to Wait for It. As many as 1,000 attendees heard Pastor Wynn-Payne speak from Acts 1:4, where the resurrected Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the promise of the Father. Powerful, said Anthony Medley, pastor of the Emmanuel Brinklow congregation in Ashton, Maryland. And Pastor Lola Moore said, It was obvious that spiritual warfare took place before. We become overwhelmed by 2

18 the enormity of the assignment and turn inward to focus on our skills set. But it was evident to me that the preacher took her own words seriously: she waited for it. She waited for the Holy Spirit to do His work in her. Her ministry gave unmistakable evidence of God s handiwork, said Jesse Wilson, director of the Pastoral Evangelism and Leadership Council [PELC], a ministerial training program that meets annually at Oakwood University... Read Now A weekly GraceNote from Adventist Review editor Bill Knott If you have hope, it's just because you've come to trust God's grace. No Christian 3

19 ever truly hopes for happiness, salvation, and eternity unless he admits the futility of self-rescue--and the all-sufficiency of Christ. We know the sordid facts of pain and brokenness, and there is nothing hopeful in them. But Jesus lifts our hearts and clears our eyes with visions of a future He alone can offer us. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. When you have grace, you have it all. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott The Nearly Empty Cradle Is Northern New England the most extreme mission field in North America? Overall, a stunning portion of the population exceeding 60 percent rejects Christ... Read more 4

20 Solomon Islands Widows Brave Bad Weather for Uplifting Camp A weekend retreat for widows and deserted wives saw 35 women brave extreme weather conditions in the... Read more Of Marathon Runners and Run-Down Marriages Engage. Empower. Get involved. Watching from the sidelines is not an option. This is the message heard time and again at the Pastoral... Read more 5

21 Children in Moldova, Latvia, and Albania to Receive ADRA Christmas Parcels Seventh-day Adventists work to bring cheer, help alleviate poverty... Read more 6

22 Brownie Bites Ingredients 1 cup low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed ⅓ cup pumpkin puree ¼ cup maple syrup 3 tablespoons canola oil 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter 1 tablespoon vanilla extract ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder ½ cup + 1½ tablespoons whole wheat flour 7

23 1 tablespoon baking powder ½ cup vegan dark chocolate chips Instructions Preheat your oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a mini muffin tin and set aside. Blend black beans, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, oil, peanut butter, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract in a blender or food processor. In a separate bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour and baking powder. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Fold in the chocolate chips without over-mixing. Scoop 1 tablespoon portions of batter in each tin slot. Then with slightly moistened fingertips, press the tops to flatten. Bake for minutes, cool, and serve. Remember to enjoy just one portion! Ready in about 25 minutes Makes 36 servings 8

24 This Wild Idea! - Camping Watch Now 9

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