4 July 2015 | San Antonio, Texas, USA [Katie Allen, tedNEWS] The North American Division report, on Saturday evening, 4 July, coincided with American Independence Day celebrations. While fireworks began on the peripherals of the San Antonio skyline, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, an Adventist and representative for Texas’ 18th congressional district, welcomed everyone to the General Conference Session.
The report, led by President Daniel R Jackson and Secretary G Alexander Bryant, focused on how the 1.1million Adventists in the territory are using the six building blocks that were established after the newly elected leadership created a new strategic plan, in 2010.
The blocks are made up of: Transformational Evangelism; Retention of Young Adults; Women in Ministry; Education for Everyone-Online; Emerging Immigrant Populations; and Media.
Through a video report, delegates learnt about how the initiatives overlap and work simultaneously to ensure that the Division is moving ahead in the vein of their number one purpose, which is to reach North America, and the world, with hope and wholeness.
James Nix, Director of the Ellen G White Estate, continued the evening programme with a lively presentation. He began with interesting facts about Ellen G White to help get to know her better as a person, such as mentioning her height of 5″2′, that her favourite food was tomatoes and her favourite colour was pink.
Nix introduced a short trailer for a film in the works on the life of Ellen White, titled, ‘Tell the World’, currently being produced by the Australian Union Conference.
The programme moved on to the Middle East and North Africa Union (MENA) report, presented by Homer Trecartin, MENA President.
He explained how the territory was reformed, officially from 1 January, 2012, to give more resources to the Middle East and create a focus on the area. A preliminary video displayed the streets and cities of the Middle East, with the sounds of the Islamic call to prayer in the background.
“Those calls haunt me day and night as I agonise over where we can find people who can share the gospel with them”, said Trecartin. “MENA has a problem, people – too many and too few. MENA has 20 countries and 500million people… If one Adventist visited one person a day, it would take 450 years to reach everyone that currently lives there.”
He concluded with MENA’s mission, which is to get more dedicated Adventists on the ground, “living in the communities, meeting needs, winning confidences and inviting new friends to baptism”. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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