BY CARLOS MEDLEY, Adventist Review News and Online Editor

s nearly 200 Adventist administrators from around the world gather for the General Conference Executive Committee's Spring Meeting, April 16-17, the topics of world evangelism and employee remuneration will take center stage. The main purpose of the Spring Meeting, one of two regular business session of the committee, is to review the church's audited financial statements.

Committee members will hear major presentations on several evangelistic initiatives. In 2000, church leaders voted 2004 the Year of Public Evangelism and will encourage all church members to participate in some form of witnessing activity.

To gear up for the initiative, 62 administrators are coming together on April 14-15 for a special prayer and revival session. The Council on Evangelism and Witness will culminate with a satellite uplink 2-5 p.m. (EDT) April 15, that will the introduce the project to pastors and administrators. During the broadcast, presidents of the Adventist Church=s 13 world division will give examples and testimonies of how evangelism is being carried out in their fields. You can see a video stream of the uplink on the Adventist Review website starting around 2:05 p.m. (EDT)

Remuneration Issues
GC Committee members will also vote on a new salary scale for employees of the General Conference and its institutions. The new wage scale comes in the wake of the church's new philosophy on remuneration that was voted at the 2002 Annual Council last October, and the new wage scale for pastors, teachers, and local and union conference personnel voted by the North American Division last November.

Scheduled to go into effect in July, the new wage scale covers all in-house department and service centers within the General Conference, publishing houses, and colleges and universities.

What will the Adventist Church look like in the year 2020? That question is the focus of a new document to be presented to church leaders at Spring Meeting. According to the document, Adventist Church membership is expected to reach 50 million. The diversity of the church will be reflected in everything from culture to liturgy.

The Positioning The Church for 2020 document calls for a wide range of initiatives aimed at developing resources to improve the church's three core values: unity, growth, and quality of life.

Other agenda items include:

Restructuring of the Karnataka-Goa, Kerala, and Western India fields into union missions.