WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

BY STACI OSTERMAN, General Youth Conference Vice President for Public Relations*

"I'll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, o'er mountain, or plain, or sea."**

he chorus of this nineteenth-century hymn was sung by the 1,200 youth and young adults in attendance at the five-day General Youth Conference (GYC) held in Sacramento, California, the week before Christmas 2004. They came from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Norway, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Africa, Austria, and the United Kingdom. By Sabbath the crowd had increased to about 1,600.

ANSWERING THE CALL: Hundreds of youth responded to God's call to share with others the Three Angels' Messages. [Photos by: Alden Ho]

Amazing Facts College of Evangelism hosted the conference, and it was supported by the Northern California Conference. This year's theme, "Carry the Light," spoke of the young adults' belief that they are the generation to proclaim the Three Angels' Messages to the entire world.

While officially sponsored by the Michigan Conference Public Campus Ministries Department and Adventist-Laymen's Services and Industries (ASI), this annual conference is organized totally by young adults, most in their twenties. They plan the program, communicate with the convention center and hotels, prepare advertising materials, raise funds, and register the attendees when they arrive.

"I'm very impressed and excited to see so many young Seventh-day Adventists on fire, spiritual, mature, and focused," said North England Conference youth director Alan Hush, who came with other youth leaders from Britain. "It's impressive to see youth organizing and leading in GYC."

This year Three Angels' Broadcasting Network (3ABN) televised the conference live. Both of the organization's trucks that were transporting needed equipment broke down on the drive to Sacramento, and it looked doubtful that the second one would arrive in time. GYC leadership and the 3ABN crew prayed for a miracle. When the truck finally pulled in a short time before the opening night program was to begin, the crew and convention center staff scrambled to quickly set up in an hour what normally takes a day and a half to do. Only seconds before going live, the last wires were connected.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?: GYC secretary Andrea Oliver asks General Conference president Jan Paulsen questions about Adventist Church policies and beliefs.

Kyle Allen, a senior at Columbia Union College (CUC) in Takoma Park, Maryland, experienced his own miracle. After attending GYC 2003 he was so inspired by the quality of the young people and their enthusiasm for sharing Christ he decided more CUC students needed to attend. But money was a problem. Refusing to get discouraged, Allen prayed, approached possible donors, and did a presentation during a worship service at Sligo Adventist Church, located on CUC's campus. Two weeks before the 2004 conference was to begin, Allen raised $7,000 to sponsor 29 students and their college chaplain to attend the event.

Charity Adams was one of those students. She came to GYC feeling unprepared to share her faith with others, but after attending a seminar on how to give Bible studies, her fears went away. "Now I have a stirring inside of me to tell people about the end times and God's message of salvation," Adams said. "All excuses are gone."

A highlight of the conference was a question-and-answer period with Jan Paulsen, president of the General Conference. The questions ranged from Paulsen's favorite type of "veggie" meat to the church's position on bearing arms in wartime. When asked what he believed the single greatest need of the church was, he responded: "How are you attending to your spiritual life? Nobody else can take care of it."

Other speakers such as Shawn Boonstra, speaker/director of It Is Written; and Mark Finley, General Conference field secretary for world evangelism, encouraged attendees to become involved in ministry. "If you want to grow spiritually, get involved with service for Jesus," Finley told the youth. He then recounted miracles in his own life that were the result of having made a commitment to Christ at an early age.

OUTREACH: More than 700 youth loaded up buses that transported them to the streets of Sacramento for outreach.

On Sabbath afternoon during the conference, Amazing Facts staff led the young adults in a community outreach. Tour buses and cars transported 700 youth to the streets of Sacramento, where they went door-to-door inviting people to enroll in Bible-study courses. In less than two hours, GYC youth knocked on the doors of more than 5,000 homes, prayed with nearly 300 people, and enrolled 800 in Bible studies. One woman said she had prayed that morning that God would lead her to a church. When two GYC youth knocked on her door a few hours later, she recognized it as the answer to her prayer and signed up for personal Bible studies. Bible workers and the ASI Youth for Jesus team will follow up on the Bible-study requests throughout 2005.

On Sunday morning David Asscherick, director of ARISE, a resource institute for soul winning and evangelism in Troy, Michigan, made a specific appeal for youth willing to carry the gospel message to the 10,000 unreached people groups in the world by giving six to eight years of their life as a career missionary. Almost 200 youth responded.

Miguel Serrano, a Southwestern Adventist University sophomore biology major, summarized the GYC experience when he said, "We have never been so close to the Second Coming. The Bible prophesies that young people will dream dreams and see visions. GYC is helping us to see the vision and fulfill the dream."

GYC 2005 will be held December 28-January 1. The location has yet to be determined.

To learn more about the General Youth Conference, visit www.generalyouthconference.org.

______________________
*Joelle Damsteegt, A. J. Church, and Norman McNulty also contributed to this article.
**Mary Brown, "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go," The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, no. 573.

GCA's Assistant Chaplain Dies in Automobile Accident
Brandon Moor, the volunteer assistant chaplain for Georgia-Cumberland Academy (GCA) in Calhoun, was killed instantly on January 31, 2005, when he hit a logging truck that had broken down and was at a standstill in the middle lane of southbound I-75, just south of Dalton, Georgia. Apparently he did not have time to react, and the 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan he was driving struck the stalled truck.

Moor, a 21-year-old junior theology major from Walla Walla College in College Place, Washington, was returning that afternoon to the GCA campus from Chattanooga, Tennessee, when the accident occurred. Moor's family lives in Battle Ground, Washington.

According to GCA campus chaplain Greg Hudson, Moor had just returned from a prayer conference at Camp Kulaqua, an Adventist Church-operated facility in High Springs, Florida. Moor and Hudson had gone there with a number of students from GCA to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus, said Hudson.

GCA principal Greg Gerard broke the news to the student body the evening after the accident occurred. The school's faculty and a number of professionals from the community were on hand to pray and counsel with the students.

"The Adventist community in Calhoun and the Georgia-Cumberland Conference are still reeling with grief over the loss of five members of the Adventist Church in early December," said Phil White, senior pastor of the Calhoun Adventist Church. "Now they're dealing with this tragedy too."

On December 2, 2004, four officials of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference and the pilot were killed when their Cessna 421 crashed shortly after takeoff from Collegedale, Tennessee.

Two memorial services are planned for Moor: Friday, February 4, at 7:30 pm at the Calhoun, Georgia, Adventist Church; and Saturday, February 5 at 3:00 pm at the Meadow Glade Adventist Church in Battle Ground, Washington.

NAD Vice President Manuel Vásquez Dies
After a long battle with cancer, Manuel Vasquez, a vice president of the North American Division and director of the Multilingual Ministries Department, died at home in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on January 29, 2005. He was 67.

Vásquez was born in Keenesburg, Colorado, and was a convert to the Adventist faith. Before coming to the NAD in 1990, he had served as a pastor for the Rocky Mountain Conference Spanish district, personal ministries and ADRA director for the Ecuador Union Mission, assistant to the president for Hispanic Ministries for the Arizona Conference, and associate director for Church Ministries and then vice president for the Pacific Union Conference.

Vásquez also authored several books, including The Subtle New Age Invasion and Unsuspecting Christians and La Historia aun no Contada (The Untold Story).

He is survived by his wife, Nancy, who is the North American volunteers coordinator for the NAD Adventist Volunteer Ministries Network, and three daughters.                                                                    --AR.

More than 2,000 "Sing a New Song"
at South England Youth Rally
On Sabbath, January 8, more than 2,000 young adults joined in praise and worship at the Wembley Conference and Exhibition Centre in Middlesex for the South England Conference Youth Rally. The theme for the day, which included morning and afternoon worship services and an evening concert, was "Sing a New Song." Guest speaker for the event was evangelist Ron Halverson.

Two awards were also presented by the conference's youth department: Adrian Blake and Kitron Satney from the Hackney church were the winners of the 2004 Film Competition for Evangelism; and Rebecca Lindo from the Walthamstow church won the Teen of Excellence 2004 Award.

A collection was also taken during the concert for the ADRA/UK tsunami disaster appeal.

To view pictures of the rally, go to the British Union Conference Web site at www.adventistpictures.org.uk/gallery.              --BUC News/AR.


Let's Talk . . . Again to Be Distributed Worldwide
A DVD of Let's Talk . . . Again-an hour-long unscripted conversation between General Conference president Jan Paulsen and Adventist young adults originally broadcast from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, in September 2004-has recently been released. Copies are being sent to Adventist colleges and universities worldwide, as well as to division and union youth directors. The DVD is also available directly from the General Conference president's office for a nominal charge of US$6.00 (postage included).

During the original Let's Talk . . . Again broadcast, Paulsen answered wide-ranging questions from students, and launched a new initiative from his office-a Web site called "Let's Talk," which can be found at www.letstalk.adventist.org. The Web site allows young adults to go online and send questions and comments directly to the office of the president, and participate in discussions. Young adults are also invited to submit their artwork, short stories, photographs, and poems to be viewed by the Let's Talk community.

To purchase a Let's Talk . . . Again DVD, contact Jennifer Stymiest at stymiestj@gc.adventist.org. The full one-hour Let's Talk . . . Again program can also be viewed online at www.letstalk.org.