astor Don Schneider, North America Division (NAD) president, opened the NAD Year-end Meeting October 28 with a call for church leaders and members to embrace a vision for evangelism. He highlighted different evangelism initiatives--around the world, across America, and in New York City--throughout his address to the more than 250 committee delegates.

Schneider challenged each conference and college in North America to send someone to work in New York City as part of the church's coordinated outreach effort there. He noted that Seventh-day Adventists are a smaller percentage of the population in New York City than they are in Papua New Guinea. "If you really want to be a missionary, go to New York," he said.

"I look around our division and I say, "We must do more for the Lord," said Schneider. "You want to have fun? Fun is leading people to the Lord Jesus Christ."

Schneider previewed the church's evangelism plans through 2005, a line-up of initiatives that includes public evangelism, youth-led outreach, and church planting projects. A calendar of these initiatives is featured in the Review=s November NAD edition.

The North American Division Executive Committee meets annually each autumn to vote policy and guideline changes, elect leaders, consider strategic changes in plans, and hear reports.

On Monday, October 29, the division treasurer, Juan Prestol, reported to committee members that gross North American tithe for 2000 reached $656,850,560, up 7.5 percent from the prior year. In the past five years the tithe has climbed 29.5 percent. For the first six months of 2001 tithe reported $470,213,533, an increase of 7.4 percent from the same period last year. Per capita tithe for last year was tallied at $730, an 11 percent increase over the previous year and a 20.8 percent increase over five years ago.

The NAD Executive Committee also approved a $70.5 million operating budget for 2002. --Adventist News Network