WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

BY MARTIN BUTLER, Associate Communication Director of the Florida Conference

onference leaders and lay members in the Southern Union are reaching across racial and ethnic borders to unite in their mission to advance God's kingdom within the Southern Union Conference territory. The South Atlantic and Georgia-Cumberland conferences, and the Florida and Southeastern conferences are collaborating to organize thousands of joint evangelistic meetings before 2010.

South Atlantic/Georgia-Cumberland
"Our initial focus is the greater Atlanta area in preparation for the 2010 General Conference session, which, if the Lord doesn't come, will be hosted by our state's capital city," says Stan Patterson, Georgia-Cumberland vice president for ministerial/evangelism. "Our expanded hope is to inspire 10,000 public outreach meetings in the Southern Union by June 2010."

SOUTH ATLANTIC/GEORGIA-CUMBERLAND GROUP: Pastors, presenters, guests, and others gathered at the South Atlantic Conference Berean church in Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss strategies for the united effort to evangelize the greater Atlanta area.             [Photo credit: Martin Knopper]

This goal moved one step closer to reality on April 10, 2005, when pastors and leaders from both conferences gathered at South Atlantic's Berean, Atlanta, church to discuss their plans. The meeting was arranged by a joint coordinating committee chaired by Southern Union Conference evangelism director Dennis Ross.

Strategies for developing lay evangelists in both conferences who will work side-by-side in small neighborhood meetings were outlined during the joint convention. Lay evangelists from around the world will be invited during the next five years to preach in these meetings, and the conferences are partnering with Carolina Conference Global Evangelism for technical and logistical support.

"I am astounded how God has brought our two conferences together in a resolve to do something of this magnitude for Him," says South Atlantic Conference president Vanard Mendinghall. "I believe the grass-roots people will join in this exciting endeavor and become involved so God can use them in a mighty way."

With more than 4 million people living in greater Atlanta, the goal is to invite every person to get to know Jesus, follow His teachings, and receive an invitation to become a member of the Adventist Church.

COLLABORATION: Georgia-Cumberland Conference President Ed Wright (left) shakes hands with South Atlantic Conference President Vanard Mendinghall at the joint evangelism planning session on April 10.                                     [Photo credit: Martin Knopper]

"I'm thrilled that both conferences are working together to reach this large metropolitan area," says Gordon Retzer, Southern Union Conference president. "As we are about the mission of reaching people, I believe that God will give us fruit for our efforts as we claim the Holy Spirit's power. It's a big idea, and God will work through lay evangelists to expand His Church as we approach the soon-coming of our Savior."

Mendinghall added, "We're looking at big things together, so we have declared, 'Give us this mountain. We claim Atlanta for God!' "

Florida/Southeastern
Meanwhile, the Florida and Southeastern conferences are uniting forces in a joint effort to reach a goal of 100,000 members. As of March 1, Florida Conference had 55,501 members, and Southeastern Conference had 32,202; leaving them 12,297 new members short of their goal.

The idea for the venture surfaced late in 2004 when Southeastern Conference president W. L. Taylor approached Florida Conference president Mike Cauley and said, "How would you like to collaborate in a joint evangelism initiative to help finish God's work in Florida?" Cauley responded with enthusiasm.

The two presidents met soon afterward to discuss and pray for direction toward a united vision. Born out of this setting was the "United for 100,000" theme, which was unanimously voted by both conference administrative committees.

FLORIDA/SOUTHEASTERN GROUP: Workers from the Florida and Southeastern Conferences gathered for a photo at the close of their "United for 100,000" meeting at the Forest Lake church in Apopka, Florida.                                                                                           [Photo credit: Lee Bennett]

Next, a joint workers' meeting was scheduled for March 1 in the Forest Lake Church in Apopka, where Charles Bradford, former North American Division (NAD) president, presented the keynote address. "The planning committee wanted a motivator who knows the significance of last-day evangelism for the church," said Taylor. "Dr. Bradford certainly fit that description, and the committee also knew that he would appreciate the diversified collaborative efforts of the two multicultural conferences."

The historical significance of the March 1 session was felt by Rosa Banks, NAD associate secretary and director of human relations, who presented a charge during the program. "The evangelism plans of these conferences represent a giant leap for the Southern Union Conference, in that it is the largest and perhaps most diverse union in the North American Division," said Banks. "These joint efforts to work together in harmony are what the church needs to set an example of what it will take for us to truly become one people in Christ."

Presidents Cauley and Taylor expressed appreciation for the creative ideas that came from the pastors, who broke into small groups to discuss how they could collaborate for mission through joint evangelism efforts in their geographic regions.

"The spirit of brotherhood and community that emerged was truly refreshing," said Cauley. "It was as though we were fulfilling the prayer of Christ: I ask 'that they all may be one . . . as We are one . . . that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me' " (John 17:21-23, NRSV).

NEWS COMMENTARY

Flying the Wrong Flag
in the Right Place

BY JAMES COFFIN, Copastor of Markham Woods Advantist Church in Longwood, Florida, and Director of Global Mission's Center for Secular/Postmodern Mission

outhern Baptist pastor Chan Chandler of Waynesville, North Carolina, stirred up a hornet's nest nationwide when he recently ousted nine members whose political views didn't mesh with his-and thus, presumably, not with God's.

Chandler, a pastor with no compunction about using the pulpit to promote politics, told his congregation before the 2004 presidential election that any member who voted for John Kerry should leave. Some did. Others waited for a push.

What Chandler seems not to understand is that Republican versus Democrat isn't the issue. At times-much of the time, to be more precise-both parties have been guilty of failing to follow major teachings of Jesus.

The church should be the promoter of eternal moral principles but not the battleground of partisan politics. The Bible is replete with sad-ending stories about ill-advised alliances between God's people and earthly kingdoms.

The church should rise above party affiliations. In fact, the church should rise above nationalistic affiliations. It should be "a house of prayer for all people."

Israelite and Samaritan, Pharisee and Sadducee, educated and uneducated, socialist and capitalist, Iraqi and American, Republican and Democrat-all should see the church as a demilitarized zone, a safe house, a place where we collectively seek the will of our heavenly Father, not the goals of the multitude of earthly organizations to which we belong by choice or by birth.

How does the apostle Paul envision this working? He says that in the church there should be "neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 2:28).

Paul understood that Christians are dual nationals. We're part of an earthly kingdom, yes. But more important, we're citizens of a heavenly kingdom. Churches are embassies of that kingdom. Let's be careful whose flag we're flying over God's embassy.

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