December 2007: International Journal For Pastors I J

I NT E R NAT I ONA L
J OUR NA L F OR PA S T OR S
D E C E MB E R 2 0 0 7
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2 M I N I S T R Y D e c e mb e r 2 0 0 7
F I R S T
GLANCE
IN
EVERY
ISSUE
Letters
3
Editorial
4
Book Reviews
27
Dateline
28
Pastors Pastor
30
5
Ministering in the wake of
disaster
Its not a matter whether disaster will strike, but when.
What resources are at the pastors disposal to assist in
meeting such a crisis in the community?
Willie E. Hucks II
9
The Church in the face of a crisis
Patients with HIV/AIDS are stigmatized. Does the church
contribute to, or work to defeat, this stigma?
Allan Handysides
12
Called to be a church
administrator
I remember the time when I became aware that my
calling was to church administration. In that moment
I realized at the core of my being that I was where God
wanted me to be.
Randy Robinson
16
But where is the Lamb?: An
ancient question for modern
pulpits
A pertinent question that should be answered in every sermon
the preacher delivers.
Mervyn A. Warren
21
Was Ellen White a plagiarist?
(part 3 of 3)
The nal installment of a series that addresses issues of
revelation, inspiration, and plagiarism.
Research by David J. Conklin
Article by Kevin L. Morgan
25
Serving His servants: The
Christian Leadership Center
responds to the churchs call for
leadership development
The editor of Ministry interviews Skip Bell and Mike
Ryan, two men on a mission to produce servant leaders in
the church.
Nikolaus Satelmajer
Ministry
is the international journal of the

Seventh-day Adventist
Ministerial Association
and has been published since 1928.
Association Secretary James A. Cress
Editor Nikolaus Satelmajer
Associate Editor Willie E. Hucks II
Consultant to Editor Myrna Tetz
Editorial Assistant Sheryl Beck
Database Assistant John Feezer IV
Professional Growth Anthony Kent
Contributing Editors Jonas Arrais, Sharon Cress,
John M. Fowler, Clifford Goldstein, Anthony Kent,
Peter Prime, Kit Watts
International Editors
Chinese Robert Wong
Indonesian Edwin T. Pandjaitan
Japanese Yukio Ebihara
Korean Sung Sun Hong
Portuguese Zinaldo Santos
Russian Ilie Leahu
Spanish Marcos Blanco (South America)
Spanish Fernando Zabala (Central America)
International Advisors Alejandro Bulln, Ron
Clouzet, Daniel Duda, R. Danforth Francis, Passmore
Hachalinga, John Kakembo, Ilie Leahu, Miguel Luna,
Hector Sanchez, Houtman Sinaga, Bruno Vertallier,
Gary Webster, Measapogu Wilson
Consulting Editors Leslie Baumgarter, S. Peter
Campbell, Ben Clausen, John C. Cress, Raoul Dederen,
Ron Flowers, Jeanne Hartwell, Michael Hasel, Roland
Hegstad, Mitchell Henson, Gerry Karst, Kathleen
Kuntaraf, Ekkehardt Mueller, Norma Osborn, Jan
Paulsen, Robert Peach, Leslie Pollard, ngel Manuel
Rodrguez, Fredrick Russell, Maylan Schurch, Loren
Seibold, William Shea, Penny Shell, Dan Smith, Russell
Staples, Richard Tibbits, Steve Willsey, Edward Zinke
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Ministry
(ISSN 0026-5314) is a journal of the

Ministerial Association, 2007, published monthly by
the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
and
printed by Pacic Press
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PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
Vol. 79 Number 12
Bible credits Scripture taken from The New American Standard
Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated NET are
from the NET Bible copyright 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies
Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984
by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan
Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked
NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright
1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
D e c e mb e r 2 0 0 7 M I N I S T R Y 3
L e t t e r s
Dangerous communalism
W
OW! How refreshing to read
that an Adventist church leader
is getting the message that we all need
to learn how to be disciples and be like
Jesus (Dangerous Communalism
October 2007).
My husband and I were born in
Adventist homes and attended Adventist
schools. It has taken us years to learn how
to relate to people outside the Adventist
culture. Might we say that is a lifetime
experience? How spiritually refreshing it
has been for us to be real and get out of
the box of communalism. We are learning
how to make friends of our neighbors and
others in our community.
We are studying and practicing
ways to actually be disciples in our
community through servant ministry
and volunteering in the community.
Jesus was often involved with people
outside the Jewish culture, sometimes to
the dismay of His disciples. We believe
this should be our life study of how to
actually be like Jesus.
David and Elaine Phillips, Grand Junction,
Colorado, United States
K
udos for Dangerous Communalism
in the October issue. Dr. Cresss column
challenged and frustrated me, a senior
(retiree) who has lived in the ghetto
of two large Adventist fortresses in
Southern California for 25 years!
Gottfried Oosterwal, in Mission
Possi bl e, predi cted some of these
dangers of which Cress speaks. The
heavy concentration of funds, people,
and facilities in metropolitan cities or
rural areas attracts believers who have
imbibed the fortress mentality
disobeying the command of Jesus to be
salt and light to seekers who are confused
and confounded by the unbelief and
disobedience they experience daily.
Will we continue to stubbornly
stick to our visions of theological
correctnessto the detri ment of
building consensus, unity, love, and
forgiveness? Will we carelessly misuse
or abuse as evangelists or Bible teachers
the truth to offend non-Adventists
(Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.) who
are searching for the truth? Are we ready
to have leaders in these religions and
their followers visit our congregations
when they testify that an angel spoke
to them to attend one of our churches?
Can we integrate new believers of tribal/
ethnic roots and nurture and disciple
them to walk with God?
Keith R. Mundt, Riverside, California, United
States
The African worldview
I
found the article by Zacchaeus A.
Mathema, The African Worldview:
A Seri ous Chal l enge to Chri sti an
Discipleship (October 2007) to be very
interestingone of critical importance
for our church as a whole.
Dr. Mathema points out the customs
and worldview of Africans generally.
These are much more sophisticated than
we realize, and very deep-rooted. It is
difcult even for converts to Christianity
to entirely get away from these things.
On the other hand, missionaries
going to Africa from America tend to
Americanize the Africans as much as
to Christianize them.
I went to Ethiopia in 1953. I was
young and total l y unprepared to
understand the Ethiopian culture. I tried.
I bought every book on Ethiopia I could
ndwhich were very few at that time.
As a physician I started immediately
seeing patients in the clinics, with no
dedicated time for language study.
Attempts were made to learn the
language in my spare time, but how
much spare time does a physician have
in a mission hospital?
When we returned to the United
States in 1958 we found a number of
other mission doctors with very similar
stories and very similar frustrations, and
a general reluctance to return to mission
service. I understand that new missionaries
are much better prepared now.
Those evangelists and pastors who
are successful are usually ones that
know and understand the people they
are working forregardless of where
they live. Can we bring this approach
to all our pastors and evangelists?
To all interested laymen? This would
require serious effort and planning. The
article by Dr. Mathema is an excellent
beginning.
Hubert F. Sturges, MD, e-mail
The nances of the church
l
real l y enj oyed the arti cl e ti tl ed,
Caring for the Finances of the Global
Church (August 2007). I think every
church leader needs to know the things
discussed in that piece.
I know many have doubts about
where the funds go and how they are
used. This article paints a correct picture
of our churchs operations and how it
disburses funds. I am glad to know that
the Lord is in control of the affairs of
this church.
Kwadwo Owusu-Ansah, e-mail
Equip the church members!
I
was happy to read Felix Vecchiarellis
article Moses and the Wilderness District:
Six Guidelines of District Pastoring as Seen
in the Exodus (August 2007). It is good
material especially in our context here
where there are not enough pastors.
Having said that, the time has come
for us to train and equip members for
their ministry. That is our jobnothing
more, nothing less.
Buhire Elie Brown, director of youth and
chaplaincy ministries, North Ghana Mission,
Tamale, Ghana, West Africa
Our Readers Respond...
A
fter World War II there were
some very difcult years for our
family. In addition to living in a
country governed by a dictator, daily
life was challenging. The daily needs of
lifeshelter, clothing, and foodwere
almost impossible to obtain. We were
more fortunate than many others because
we grew most of our food. However,
there was little variety in the food that
we ateespecially during winter when
nothing grew in the garden.
Then one day something unexpected
happened. Somehow a can of food
found its way to us. The fact that the
food made it to our home was itself a
miracle, since the government managed
to keep most food for its favored people,
and we were not among the favored.
We were told that the food came from
the United States, and since we did not
read English we really did not know what
it was. The language was strange, and
the picture of the food did not help us
understand what was in the can.
Even after we opened the can, we
still did not know what it was. We could
tell it was red and rm. But when Mother
touched it, it wiggled; and when she
took it out of the can, it stayed together
in a cylinder shape. She then tasted it
and pronounced it edible. It was a can of
jellied cranberries
*
something we had
never seen or tasted. Since we didnt
know how it was to be eaten, Mother
decided to slice it and place the slices on
pieces of bread. What a feast we had!
Millions of peoplemany in your
areahave numerous needs. Because
of war, disaster, and other crises, people
experience great needsshelter, food,
clothing, health care, and lots of other
necessities. What are we doing for
those in need? Its a question both for
congregations and organizations. Listed
here are some realistic possibilities.
Recognize those who help those
in need. You might be surprised that
individuals, often behind the scenes, are
involved in a ministry of helping those
in need. In one of my congregations I
found that a man was an active member
of the board of an organization that
provided temporary housing for women
and children who experienced abuse.
Additionally, he volunteered to make
repairs at the shelter. Very few members
in our church knew of his important
ministry. We honored him publicly in
the congregation, and after that others
joined him as he ministered to others.
Look in your neighborhood. Where are
the needs? Large disasters often receive
publicityat least for a short time. But
what about daily needs that exist in
our communities? I teach a Sabbath
School class at the Sligo Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Takoma Park,
Maryland, United States. Our class
participates enthusiastically in the world
mission offering and local expenses. But
additionally, our class chooses special
projects each year, one outside the
country and one locally. Right now,
another class teacher, Ron DeClerck is
purchasing supplies for a homeless family
who plans to move into an apartment
with funds provided by special donations
from class members. What about your
neighborhood? Is there someone who
has experienced a crisis or has a need
that you could meet?
Do what you are able to do. We minister
in a world bombarded by disasters, and
the challenges seem overwhelming.
What can one congregation do? If the
crisis happens in your area, your church
can help in many specific ways. In
order to do that, congregations need
to prepare for disaster situationsand
many congregations, to their credit,
are prepared. If the need does not
happen to be in your area, I suggest
contacting legitimate organizations
and partnering with them. A number of
good organizations exist, and Seventh-
day Adventist churches have access to
both Adventist Community Services
(www.communityservices.org) and
the Adventist Development and Relief
Agency (www.adra.org). Dont ignore
the needdo what you are able to do.
Many countri es have a day of
thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day in the
United States is on the fourth Thursday of
November. Our congregationas many
others docollects food to meet the
needs of others. We often bring food to
the church so that it can be distributed.
More than fty years ago someone who
did not know me donated a can of jellied
cranberries, and this brought a smile to
my family. My wife and I take food to
our church, and now I make certain that
I include a can of jellied cranberries. Its
an experience of joy to give it because
of the memories it brings, and I know
that someone somewhere will enjoy the
berries as much as we did.
When the righteous say, Lord,
when did we see You hungry, and feed
You, or thirsty and give You something
to drink? (Matt. 25: 37, NASB), Jesus
might say, When you brought that can
of jellied cranberries.
* Cranberries are native to North America and
were used by Native Americans long before other
settlers populated the continent.
E d i t o r i a l
Its red, its tasty, and it makes you smile
Tell us what you think about this editorial. Email us
at [email protected] or write to us
at 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904.
nikolaus satelmajer
Willie E. Hucks II
I
t was Sunday morning, August 28, 2005; my
wife and I were sitting at an airport waiting
to catch our ight home. Our conversation
about the events of our whirlwind four days
in the Washington, DC, area was occasionally
interrupted by my cell phone. I had spent much
time calling friends in New Orleans, asking them
what they were going to do because a hurricane
was heading in their direction.
Under normal circumstances, New Orleanians
ride out storms. That means they purchase enough
nonperishable items to sustain them for several
daysthen allow the wrath of the storm to pass
before they return to life as normal. But I was
pleased to hear from each person with whom I
spoke that they were either already on a highway
leaving New Orleans or were soon to leave.
Why was I so concerned? They were more
than friends; they were my church members for
seven and a half years (19911999).
The last time a major hurricane posed
a si gni fi cant threat to New Orl eans was
1998Hurricane Georges. The residents of the
city and its surrounding areas (known as parishes)
were so alarmed that they created gridlock on the
highways. It took my family and me six hours to
travel 90 miles to Baton Rouge, and twelve hours
to make what would normally be a six-hour drive
to Houston. The good news for New Orleans was
that Georges turned in another direction, sparing
the city. The bad news for New Orleans was that
its residents thought they could take lightly the
threat of future potential hurricanes.
Little did many of those who evacuated
New Orleans in August of 2005 realize that they
would have nothing to return to or that the
leveesearthen barriers designed to protect
the city from the lakes, river, and canals that
surround itwould be breached. The impact
on the city and surrounding areas would be
immense: more than 1,800 dead, in excess of
US$80 billion in damages, buildings attened,
churches uninhabitable, memberships scattered
(with those who were left behind unable to do
much to help themselves rebuild), and thousands
psychologically scarred.
Responses from the nearby region
But this isnt the story of a hurricane. This is
the story of a response, of how a region rebuilds
after a catastrophe, and of how they do so with
the help of many people unknown to them.
This wasnt the rst time the Gulf Coast
of the United States had been impacted by a
hurricane. I recall the outpouring of national and
international support in the wake of Hurricane
Andrew in 1992. The Adventist Development
and Relief Agency (ADRA), along with other
relief agencies, was pivotal in helping the
residents of southern Louisiana put their lives
back together.
In regards to Hurricane Katrina, Levita
Whitson, the disaster response coordinator and
Community Services director for the Seventh-day
Adventist churches in Arkansas and Louisiana, told
about the activities she oversaw, which included
setting up nine distribution sites throughout
southern Louisiana and Arkansas. There were
also mobile distribution units, small-scale feeding
programs, collection sites for donations, and
temporary shelters as far away as Camp Yorktown
Bay in Arkansas.
Under Whitsons efforts, about US$10 million
in goods were donated, and the 624 volunteers
who came throughout the United States and
beyond logged more than 1.5 million hours
helping victims of this disaster.
Billy E. Wright, the president of the Southwest
Region Conference (SWRC) of Seventh-day
Adventiststhe territory that includes the
states of Louisiana and Texassaid that two
of their Louisiana churches (Baton Rouge and
Alexandria) served both as distribution centers
and shelters for evacuees. As those in Arkansas
came to the rescue, so did those in Texas. As a
large number of people headed for Texas after
the storm, many churches in Houston, under the
direction of Linda Walker, Community Services
director for the SWRC, became feeding centers.
Ministering in
the wake of
disaster
Willie E. Hucks II,
DMin, is associate
editor of Ministry
magazine.
Many church members cooperated
with other agencies in assisting at the
Astrodome where many evacuees were
living. The same can be said for church
members in Dallas, Fort Worth, and
other municipalities.
In addition to these efforts, the
Lone Star Camp, a church-owned and
operated camp in Athens, Texas, became
a home away from home for both
Adventists and non-Adventists alike.
All in all, the SWRC provided assistance
totaling more than US$1 million.
The spirit of volunteerism can best be
seen in people like Phyllis Littleeld, who
came from California. She cooked and
trained people as to how to do inventory
as well as how to shrink-wrap a pallet
of goods. She even oversaw a facility
clean-up crew. Littleeld, by the way, is
deaf. Her spirit shows that nothing need
keep anyone from helping others if they
have that desire.
Impact upon and recovery of
the churches
Some of the greatest damage took
place in the section of New Orleans
known as the Lower Ninth Ward. The
Adventist church on Cafn Avenue, the
closest to the epicenter of one of the
levee breaks, was inundated under eight
feet of water and had to be gutted. The
Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church
was severely damaged but has been
restored and is now fully operational.
Before the hurri cane, there were
thousands of Adventists worshiping in
the city; the number now stands around
three hundred.
1
The SWRC churches
numbered seven church structures there;
now only two churches are functioning.
Before, there were two church schools in
operation; now, there is only one: New
Orleans Adventist Academy.
Glenn Farinola pastors the New
Orleans First Seventh-day Adventist
Church in Metairie, Louisiana. He and
his family were forced to go to Texas as
a result of the mandatory evacuation.
Upon returning, he discovered that
hi s church sustai ned US$500,000
in damages. Not only were repairs
to the physical plant in order, but
restori ng membershi p was al so a
priority because half of the attending
members relocated.
After much investment
2
and physical
labor, the New Orleans First Seventh-day
Adventist Church reopened in 2006
and is on its way to re-establishing its
strong presence in the community.
But they could not have done it on
their own. We have learned that it is
virtually impossible for those living in a
disaster-struck community to reach out
and help others in that same community.
This is where we needed help from the
surrounding communities that were not
impacted, Farinola said.
S
ince the average membership
of a church, regardless of reli-
gious afliation, is less than one
hundred members, it may seem that
there is little that can be done when
disaster strikes. But that is not the
case. Often your church can partner
with other churches that are nearby,
regardless of denomination, and thus
make a significant impact on the
communityfor tragedies have no
denominational afliation.
The following is a sampling of
what churches did as a response to
Hurricane Katrina:
Al though the New Orl eans
Spanish Seventh-day Adventist
church was inundated as a result
of Katrinas ood waters, that
didnt stop them from ministering
to their community. They have
repaired their facilities and made
their church available for groups
to stay there while working to
rebuild New Orleans.
The South Central Conference
of Seventh- day Adventi sts,
whi ch covers the terri tor y
stretching north to Kentucky, is
collaborating with the United
Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR)actively working to
rebuild homes in the affected
areas. They are conducti ng
Sheetrock and Shingles drives
to create revenue to assist with
the rebuilding efforts.
The Adventist churches in Texas
are partnering with the Lutheran
Disaster Services to provide
housing for groups coming to
Texas to assist in rebuilding efforts
in the aftermath of Hurricane
Rita, a powerful storm that made
landfall near the Texas-Louisiana
border on September 24, 2005.
And if these efforts seem larger than
your church feels able to accomplish,
always remember that progress is
made one family at a time. If there
is something that can be done, little
by little, for those in your immediate
congregation, then do that. And
as each group does its partbe it
great or smallthe overall impact is
magnied.
As for what individuals in your
congregations can do, please visit
ADRAs Web site at www.adra.org, and
the Adventist Community Services Web
site at www.communityservices.org.
Information courtesy of Adventist
Community Services
What can your church do in
times of disaster?
What does the future hold?
Efforts to restore normalcy for the
residents of south Louisiana and the
Mississippi Gulf Coast will resemble
a marathon rather than a sprint. The
progress in repairing the damage in the
affected communities has been slow.
Of importance also are the efforts to
rebuild church life and ministry in the
churches and affected communities.
The Southwest Region Conference,
Adventist Community Services, the
National Association of Katrina Evacuees,
and the Allegheny East Conference
3

Community Services are partnering in a
project called Operation Restoration,
Restoring Communities One House at
a Time. So far they have effected the
restoration of more than ten homes. And
in a show of missionary spirit, their labors
have principally focused on the neediest
within the community, as opposed to
church members.
Amidst the media coverage of
the devastation in New Orleans and
the surrounding communities, we
often forget that residents along the
Mississippi coast bore the brunt of the
storm. Other Adventist entities have
also been involved in the rebuilding
efforts in those areas. Adventist churches
throughout other parts of Mississippi,
Alabama, Tennessee, and neighboring
states have pooled their resources and
energies and rebuilt more than one
hundred homes.
However, they do not limit themselves
to a here-and-now focus, as critical as
that may be. We are also aggressively
evangelizing the area, bringing hope
to the hopeless and directing the
disheartened to a God who is able to
raise their spirits and give them peace
in the aftermath of the storm, Billy E.
Wright said.
When disaster strikes your
community
This story features just one disaster
and the response to it; other communities
throughout the world also face major
disasters. Indonesia has tsunamis, Peru
has earthquakes, European countries
have massive ooding, African countries
have drought, and the list goes on. What
can you do when disaster strikes your
community?
Pastors need to know that there are
resources at their disposal, for often
they may feel overwhelmed with the
magnitude of issues when disaster
strikes.
One resource is Adventist Community
Services (ACS).
4
Their mission reads: To
serve the poor and hurting in Christs
name. ACS has existed in various forms
since 1879 and has managed to broaden
its focus as the Adventist Church grew in
developing countries. In 1972, ACS was
ofcially titled as the Adventist Churchs
domestic (U.S.A.) humanitarian church
agency; and in 1973 the international
program of ACS became what we now
know as the Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA).
ADRAs work has become broader
and more comprehensive than can be
addressed here.
5
According to ADRAs
Web site, the basis for its existence,
its reason for being, is to follow Christs
example by being a voice for, serving,
and partnering with those in need.
A part of their nine-fold mission is to
provide assistance in situations of crisis
or chronic distress, and work toward the
development of long-term solutions with
those affected.
6
The bad news for pastors, churches,
and their communities: There will always
be calamities. The good news is that the
Adventist Church has agencies to help
when a calamity strikes. Pastors and
churches need not feel alone when they
face debilitating disasters.
1 The two churches of which I was the senior
pastor, located in Kenner and New Orleans East,
are not operational at this time. Many of their
members have moved away to cities such as Baton
Rouge, Louisiana; Houston, Texas; and Atlanta,
Georgia.
2 Adventist Risk Management (ARM) is the
insurance arm of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church. Much credit can be given to this
ministry, which will receive extensive coverage in
an interview appearing in the February 2008 issue
of Ministry.
3 The Allegheny East Conference is composed of
the states of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, New Jersey, and the city of
Washington, DC.
4 For more information, visit their Web site at
www.communityservices.org.
5 For more information, visit their Web site at
www.adra.org.
6 An example of this can be seen in the article
written by Hearly G. Mayr and Mike Negerie,
Africa: A Land at the Crossroads, Ministry,
October 2007, 2326.
Tell us what you think about this article. Email us at
[email protected] or write to us
Workers at a distribution site in Athens, Texas, United States. Photo: Billy E. Wright
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A
s silent as a fall in temperature,
an epidemic began its incubation.
Unrecognized for some thirty years,
the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) was spreading like the
sunriseyet undetected.
On June 5, 1981, the weekly report of the
Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta published
a report of ve young homosexual men who had
a disorder characterized by a loss of immunologic
competency. They had Acquired Immune Deciency
Syndrome (AIDS).
Within three to four years, the virus had been
identied as the Human Immunodeciency Virus,
a retrovirus, which destroys the human immune
system. An individual with this virus, over the
course of a few years, will become the target of
infections that, in normal situations, would be
easily coped with by a healthy body.
Scientists calculate that this infection began
in the 1950s with a key mutationprobably in
a monkey immunovirus (simian immunovirus
[SIV])that permitted it to attack human cells.
Since the recognition of the syndrome and
the identication of the infectious agent, the
disease has spread exponentially. Initially, it was
thought to be limited to homosexuals and, thus,
was met by many Christians with an attitude of
pious immunity. However, before long it became
apparent that this was an infection spread not
only by homosexual behavior but heterosexual
activity as well, through bodily uids such as
blood and plasma.
Indeed, the explosive nature of this epidemic
has been documented in statistics of the preva-
lence of HIV infection among young, pregnant
women attending prenatal clinics in South Africa.
In 1990, less than 2 percent were infected; by
1994, some 7.9 percent were infected; by 1998,
more than 20 percent were infected. Today,
gures in countries such as Botswana and Swa-
ziland total over 40 percent, and in sub-Saharan
Africa, these gures range from 15 to 40 percent.
Globally, the epidemic continues to strengthen
its hold, especially among women; and in many
countries, it hovers just below the 2 percent level.
This level, believed to be the tipping point,
indicates that beyond this an explosive outbreak
can be anticipated.
How should we respond to this crisis? As
Adventists, we recognize the physical, emotional,
mental, and spiritual needs of people. As church
pastors, we often minister to those who have
been confronted with physical and nancial pain.
Our response to their need does not require an
appropriate reason as to why a person lives with
an illness or as a homeless person or without
money. Instead, we recognize their need and
seek to meet it.
We must do the same for those infected with
HIV and AIDS.
Stigma
We attach the stigma label to others, which
implies that they are guilty, defective, less worthy,
and less valuable than we believe ourselves to be.
Even though we may offer them assistance, when
we stigmatize people, our benecence becomes
paternalistic.
As pastors, we may nd it easy to distribute
food, clothing, money, or any other kind of assis-
tance, but probably nd it more difcult to enter
a relationship with the recipients. Could it be that
we are stigmatizing these folks? The accusation
brought against Jesus by the Pharisees was that
He ate and drank with publicans and sinners. That
means Christ eyeballed the publicans across
the table, sharing their food, their circumstances,
and their hopes and confronting their despair.
We as church leaders need to be aware of our
own conicts and prejudices. If we demean or
judge those infected by HIV, how can we teach
the members to do differently? How can we teach
them to care?
Care
More than forty million have died from
AIDS; approximately the same number live
with the infection now. Hence, the need has
The Church in
the face of a crisis
Allan Handysides
Allan Handysides,
MB, ChB, is
director of the
Health Ministries
department,
General Conference
of Seventh-day
Adventists,
Silver Spring,
Maryland,
United States.
become enormous, and the costs of
care can be overwhelming. Not only
the cost of medication and professional
care, but the loss of income as well
leads millions into poverty, which in
many cases deprives the whole family
of housing, food, clothing, education,
and other necessities. The emotional
costs to orphans, widows, and family
are incalculable.
We dont consider it difcult to care
for our immediate family, our church
members, and our local community.
As we get further from interacting with
individuals, it becomes increasingly
difcult to sustain interest, compassion,
and care. The insulation from the needs
of those removed from us by time and
space leads to a decline in the sense of
mission. However, the HIV and AIDS
epidemic has emphasized the common
vulnerability of us all.
As ministers, we have a responsibility
to keep well-honed to global needs
the sensibilities and sensitivities of our
members. In fact, a church involved in
mission, engaged in collaborative effort,
and guided by the Holy Spirit will share
from its human and nancial resources.
The Holy Spirit produces an attitude of
caring and compassion.
Church ministries
Wi th the AIDS epi demi c over-
whelming, its scope has gone beyond
the resources of many nations. What
can a pastor do before something as
big as this? What can the church do?
Clearly, the church can play only a part
in dealing with this epidemic, but that
part can be crucial.
Prevention should be identied as
one essential place for the pastor to be
involved. Education has been used, but as
a stand-alone strategy it has failed to stem
this epidemic. Education and transmis-
sion of values occur only through the
conduit of relationships and connection.
The pastor, then, must foster and develop
within the church mentoring relation-
ships with the youth. Initiatives such as
Youth ALIVE! (www.youthalive.org) and
a new mentoring program developed in
Australia seek to build such relationships
in an effort to help young people make
healthful lifestyle choices.
In addi ti on to the bui l di ng of
relationships, the church has sought
through its HIV and AIDS ministries to
introduce into our educational institu-
tions curricula regarding the disease and
its prevention.
Within the role of a pastor lies the
obligation to encourage families to teach
appropriate attitudes toward human
sexuality. Following a Commission on
Human Sexuality, the Family Ministries
department of the General Conference
produced a manual that is a curriculum
framework on sexuality from infancy
to maturity.
1
Pastors could bless the
parents within their congregation(s) by
promoting this curriculum.
The goal of several ministries of
the ChurchYouth Ministries, Family
Ministries, Health Ministries, Womens
Ministries, and Childrens Ministries
includes helping prevent the spread of
this disease, with each one fostering the
empowering relationships. Yet pastors,
in their pivotal roles, act as gatekeepers
of the ow of information.
Mission clinics and hospitals
Like many other faith-based institu-
tions, Adventist mission hospitals care
for people infected by HIV. Many nd
up to 75 percent of their patients are
HIV-positive; they also care for many HIV
patients in the communities in which
they operate. An example would be
Maluti Adventist Hospital in Lesotho
the leading hospital in the country. One
among some 13 hospitals, it renders HIV
care for some 20 percent of the total
care given to those with HIV infection
in Lesotho.
Seventh-day Adventists have over 29
such hospitals in Africa, but they are often
underfunded and have seen cutbacks in
their support since mission giving from
the developed world has become more
project-driven. HIV has become a major
problem in the Caribbean, second only
to Africa. In Eastern Europe, we have
seen some of its most rapid acceleration.
Places like India, China, and Southeast
Asia have large populations with HIV.
Our hospitals are involved with HIV care
wherever their location, but this problem
can be described as much too massive
for them alone.
Actions speak louder
than words
An army chaplain was crossing
a battleeld one day when he saw
a wounded soldier lying on the
ground. Bending over him, the
chaplain asked the soldier if he
might read to him from the Bible.
I am so thirsty, the wounded
man replied. I would much rather
have a drink of water.
The chaplain hurried away, and
shortly he returned with a ask of
water.
Now could you put something
under my head? the soldier asked.
The chaplain rolled his light
overcoat into a pillow. Carefully he
lifted the soldiers head and placed
the improvised pillow under it.
I am so cold, the soldier told
him. If I could only have something
over me.
The chaplain took off his coat
and covered the man with it.
Then the soldier said, If there is
a word in the Bible that makes one
do for another all you have done for
me, I want to hear it.
Inez Brasier, Signs of the Times
, June
2007, p. 64.
Every church a community
health center
As a part of the integrated mission of
the church to Tell the World, Adventists
seek to utilize each church congregation
as a center of health and healing. This
concept finds an outreach in many
health-related programs; in Africa this
focus has increasingly become an HIV
and AIDS one. The concept of each
congregation as a community health
center casts the pastor as a director of
community health care.
The churchs humanitarian agency,
the Adventist Development and Relief
Agency, has worked extensively at
national levels in the arena of HIV.
However, because the church recognized
the need for individual involvement in the
healing ministry of Jesus, it established a
coordinating HIV and AIDS ofce in Africa.
Since 2002, this ofce has existed for the
purpose of stimulating and integrating
Adventist Church involvement at a grass-
roots level in the mission of care for those
affected by HIV and AIDS.
The director of the continental min-
istry in Africa, Dr. Oscar Giordano,
assisted by his wife, Eugenia, who is also
a physician, leads a resurgence in care for
those affected.
2
They work closely with the
Health Ministries directors of the divisions,
and also with our health-care institutions
and union HIV and AIDS coordinators, in
fostering congregational involvement in
HIV and AIDS support and care.
Orphaned children often become
heads of their families. With churches in
Africa organized to assist such families
by offering support, training, and
opportunities, we have seen churches
transformed into centers where sewing,
baking, and training takes place. Small
income-generating projects such as
poultry or goat raising have provided
an income to persons not gainfully
employed but affected by HIV. Educating
trainers and leaders in this work has been
methodically implemented in an ever-
widening number of countries. Some
three years ago, four men gathered as
a group to study the HIV program; a
few months ago, a similar gathering of
leaders mustered more than 25 country
coordinators, each engaged in making
their respective churches a community
health center.
With South Africa as a country where
about 20 percent of the population are
diagnosed as HIV-positive, the need has
become enormous. Pastors can be leaders
of change to help address this need.
One example
For instance, upon retiring, Pastor
Paul Mawela returned to his homeland
among his Venda people. With no
Adventist church in the area, he visited
the pastors of several other denomina-
tions. He became aware of the massive
numbers of people laid low by HIV
and collaborativelyalong with these
pastorsstarted a home-based care
program. Simply by visiting the homes
of the sick, they saw the great need and
began to address it.
With Pastor Mawelas wife Martha
as a nurse, the home visitation program
was soon augmented with a feeding
program for orphaned children. When
the work began, they visited 20 homes
per week. Today the team visits in excess
of 600 homes each week, and each
lunchtime scores of children are fed
and given help with their homework.
Assisted with support by the North
American Divisions program Hope for
Humanity, (formerly the Ingathering
program) this project has grown so
vigorously that a new church has been
built and continues to thrive.
Pastor Mawela was invited to preach
at another denominations church. He
replied, You know I am a Seventh-day
Adventist and will preach from my Adven-
tist perspective. The other pastor replied
to the effect that if an Adventist perspec-
tive led to such caring individuals, perhaps
they all needed that perspective.
This dreadful disease has opened
a window that lets the light shine on
our commitment as Christians; it opens
doorways for us to become engaged
in compassionate care. Though not a
welcomed disease, it has focused the
attention of the faith-based community
on service. It calls for pastors to assume
new responsibilities in organizing and
training our members. It re-emphasizes
the concepts involved in mission.
Service binds us close to others and
to our Lord. A challenge to the church
today includes equipping pastors who
will lead the membership to become
involved in caring for those in need,
whether the need is next door or across
an ocean.
1 This manual can be purchased at
www.ministerialassociation.com.
2 See A Ministry of Compassion to the HIV/AIDS
Community, Ministry, October 2007, 1719.
Our response to their need does not require
an appropriate reason as to why a person
lives with an illness or as a homeless person
or without money. Instead, we recognize
their need and seek to meet it.
Randy Robinson
C
alling encompasses a concept
normally associated with ministry. As
Ken Crawford argued so persuasively
in his article Descending Into
Administration,* pastoral ministry
is indeed a high calling. The biblical prophets
conceived their work as a direct call from God;
their messages often began with the powerful
phrase, The word of the Lord came to . . .
Throughout church history, pastors, evangelists,
and missionaries thought of their work not as
just a job but as a special calling to accomplish a
special mission for God, who called them.
Without in any way disagreeing with such
a position, my ten-year experience as a church
employee has led me to conclude that God also
calls many to the supportive ministry of church
administration. God has placed that calling in
my heart.
After graduating from Pacic Union College in
California, United States, in 1983 with a Bachelor
of Business Administration degree and no plan to
work for the church, I did accept a position as a
business intern for the Nevada-Utah Conference
of Seventh-day Adventists. I gured that I would
work out my internship and then get a real
job. When the two-year internship concluded, I
was asked to continue as the accountant. Having
nowhere else to go at the time, I accepted. After
two more years I became the assistant treasurer,
and before I knew it, nearly ten years had passed.
Through the latter portion of those ten years,
I was unhappy, bored, unsupportive, and on
several occasions, insubordinate. I would openly
bring employment ads to work, searching for
another position. At one point, I was offered a job
at a local hospital. I considered it but decided not
to take it for the sole reason that the pay was the
same as I was currently receiving, and I did not
want to make a nancially lateral move.
A pivotal point in my life, this decision literally
determined where I ended up. I strongly believe
that only through Gods providence working in
my mind at that time, and His working through
a very patient administrator, am I now happily
in church employment as a vice president for
nance while feeling the full calling of God. My
heavenly Father used people and circumstances
over nearly a decade, especially during that
important employment decision, to bring me to
the realization that His place for me was church
administration.
Over the years as a church administrator,
many experiences have given me opportunities
for Christian growth and occasions to benet
those I serve.
Recognizing my need of God
I remember the time when I became aware
my calling was to church administration. In
that moment I realized at the core of my being
I was where God wanted me to be. Yet at the
same time, I knew I would have to rely on Him
entirely.
If ever there was a job that drove me to my
knees, being a church administrator did just
that. I quickly found the decisions that have to
be made and the enormity of the responsibility
was far bigger than I was able to handle on my
own. The biblical admonition, Not by might
nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord
Almighty (Zech. 4:6, NIV) became my steady
companion. The reality that I affect lives by the
decisions I make and how the resources are used
or not used based on my opinion has become
a staggering responsibility, and one I dare not
attempt to manage without daily contact with
God in prayer.
Times do come when difcult decisions must
be made. A great deal of time must be taken to
discuss the matter with the parties involved. Then,
in the appropriate committee comprised of quali-
ed individuals, including many not employed
by the church, a decision becomes nal. In the
wake of such decisions, some individuals may
not agree with the outcome and may make
accusations of mismanagement or ineptitude.
Yet, we must stand on the knowledge that a
good process was followed, including petitions
Called to
be a church
administrator
Randy Robinson
is the treasurer
of the Southern
Union Conference
of Seventh-day
Adventists, Decatur,
Georgia, United
States. At the time
he wrote this article,
he was vice president
for nances,
Oregon Conference
of Seventh-day
Adventists,
Gladstone, Oregon,
United States.
to God for wisdom and discernment as
the matter was discussed and a decision
reached. At these times in particular I
feel my need of Gods abiding presence
most intensely.
One ever present temptation: to
make decisions solely on experience or
innate ability. I have found this to be
extremely dangerous ground. Not that
we shouldnt recognize the talents God
has given and use them, but an attempt
to do so without a submissive spirit leads
to an attitude of self-importance and a
desire for status. I am reminded that even
Lucifer succumbed to the enticement of
status and self-importance, and this led
to the origin of sin. Therefore I must
know that I am in constant submission
to God and His will.
The opportunity to preach
I have a business degree. I am not a
trained preacher. Yet I have the privilege
of joining many churches in the Oregon
Conference in worship through preach-
ing. While I am not challenged with
the task of preparing a sermon every
week, I do have the opportunity on an
ongoing basis to dig deeply into the
Word as I prepare sermons to bring to
the churches in our territory. This process
enriches my spiritual experience and
goes beyond a daily devotion.
In addition to adding richness to my
own soul, it offers one way to keep our
churches connected to the larger body
of believers, particularly in our smaller,
more remote churches. In Portland,
Oregon, where I live, there are many
churches in close proximity that tend to
be more self-sufcient. But in the farther
reaches of the conference territory not
as many options for Sabbath fellowship
exist. My presence on Sabbath morn-
ing offers a link from the larger body
of believers to the church where I am
speaking and becomes a wonderful
experience to worship with them and
let them know of the happenings around
the conference territory.
Offering a third-party view
As you might expect, I spend a large
amount of my time in meetings, some
having to do with the internal running
of the organization. But often I am called
to be a part of a local school or church-
board meeting. In those cases, the issue
may be a difficult financial situation
that has the local board stymied. I may
be able to offer solutions from other
churches or schools that faced similar
challenges. In addition, the situation
might allow me to commit funds that
the conference has available.
Sometimes policy or legal questions
are asked that I can either answer on
the spot or can research and return an
answer. In the end, I can be a third-party
resource to the local church or school
as needed.
Positive organizational
representative
I cannot tell you how many times
I have had the opportunity to be the
face, hands, and feet of the church
organization. Anyone acting as a church
administrator has noticed that many
see the formal church organization as a
faceless, somewhat distant entity, maybe
even adverse or unnecessary. Yet, I
consider it a privilege to put a face to the
organization with those opportunities
taking many different forms. I will
sometimes meet individuals who have
been hurt by the church in the past. I can
offer a listening ear and, on behalf of the
organization, apologize to them for what
happened. Some have been brought to
tears because the organization has
never acknowledged their pain.
I have many opportunities to meet
with different groups such as young
adults, local church treasurers, or
Sabbath School classes. It is energizing
to listen to their observations and share
my perspectives, encourage them,
and often share resources with them.
I remember one camp meeting several
years ago where I had the chance to
talk to the youth about the church
organization. As I was talking about the
resources we provide to churches for
evangelism, I asked myself why I should
not offer the same help to the youth of
the church. So I challenged them to go
to their school chaplain and come up
with ways they could share Jesus in their
community. I considered it a privilege to
pledge nancial support to the school
toward that effort and let them know
that their church organization was
willing to help them.
Casting a vision
For the past several months, my
administrative colleagues and I have
been on a renewed journey asking what
God wants of us and of His church. That
search has led us to the book of Acts.
As you recall, this book, particularly
in the rst few chapters, recounts the
blossoming of the early church. We
see that there was an embracing of
the gospel message to such an extent
that the Holy Spirit fell powerfully on
this group of early believers, who were
fearless in sharing the good news of Jesus
with everyone they met. People accepted
the message by the thousands.
What was it that allowed the Spirit
to move in such a way? We have asked
ourselves that question and have come
to the conclusion that they were a
people of the Great Commission. God
calls us to share this good news of the
gospel with others. Jesus commanded:
Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you
(Matt. 28:19, 20, NIV).
As we have continued our study
of the early church and its success,
Don Livesay, president of the Oregon
Conference, coined the term commission
culture. This is where we, as believers,
so immerse ourselves in Gods calling
to share His gospel with others that it
becomes part of us, part of who we are
and how we livepart of our individual
culture.
We, as administrators, want to share
ideas with our constituents. We want to
cast this vision before all our employees
and those whom we serve. I believe
that part of my calling as a church
administrator involves casting a vision
and living that vision while the Spirit
works in the lives of those who embrace
that vision. Administration then comes
alongside to support them as they relate
it to their own calling.
Supporting the ministry
I love the way the apostle Paul
describes the body of Christ in Romans
12its an amazing concept. We are one
body with many parts, each working
together toward a common goal.
He says, We have different gifts,
according to the grace given us (Rom.
12:6, NIV). He then lists prophesying,
serving, teaching, encouraging, giving
to others, and more. I pay attention to
the one called leadership. Paul says if you
recognize your gift as leadership, then
govern diligently.
In 1993, after working for the
church for almost ten years, my calling
to administration became clear. My
hearts desire is to support Gods cause
until He comes. He has called me to
govern diligently as an administrator
in charge of the nancial well-being
of my conference territory. He has
called me to serve the constituents, the
churches, and the schools to the best
of my ability.
I believe the premise that a pastors
calling is the highest and best calling.
But I also believe that God calls men
and women to the high calling of
administration to support His work. My
prayer for you: regardless of the call
God has placed on your heart, that you
will discharge your duty with a passion
worthy of that calling.
Paul said it well: As a prisoner for
the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life
worthy of the calling you have received
(Eph. 4:1, NIV).
* Ken Crawford, Descending Into Administration,
Ministry, February 2007, 911.
my ten-year experience as a church
employee has led me to conclude that God
also calls many to the supportive ministry of
church administration.
Companion book to the rst
quarter 200B "EVMU#JCMF4UVEZ(VJEF
1he greatest hindrance to discipIeship is seIf in aII its aspects.
|aperback. |SBl 1: 97B-0-B16-2224-4.
|SBl 10: 0-B16-2224-4. LS$10.99
when we hear the word
EJTDJQMFTIJQwe think ot the rst
disciples. we think ot them as
they were atter |entecost and
gure we could never be like
them. But we, too, are called to
be disciples.
Uisciples are human. Lven
the rst tollowers ot Christ
tried, tailed, and sometimes
succeeded. Bertram
L. Nelbourne, |hU, associate pro-
tessor ot biblical language and
literature in the School ot Uivinity
at uoward Lniversity, has written
a clear introductory volume to
the ways ot discipleship and the
necessity ot sitting at the teet ot
Jesus and learning ot uim.
2007 |LLASL C0lJACJ 0L ABC |0 ||C|lO |l CAlAUA. 75590,510
Mervyn A. Warren
This article was adapted from a discourse of
Christ-centered preaching delivered during the
H. M. S. Richards Lectureship on Preaching at
the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary,
Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan,
United States.
T
he pastor must have mentioned it,
though I do not remember it. As a
matter of fact, I cannot imagine that
type of sermon not having it, especially
that sermon. What I do remember
quite vividly about my boyhood worship that
Sabbath is the dramatic style in which the young
intern pastor of my home church in Dallas raised
his hand above the pulpit, clenching a butcher
knife in expectant readiness and then exclaiming,
Abraham, Abraham: . . . Lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for
now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from
me (Gen. 22:11, 12). From there the minister
recited the usual Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will
providewhatever your needs, God will step in
right on time.
That sermon comes to my mind today as
vividly as when I rst heard it more than four
decades ago. Although it satised a felt need at
the time; nevertheless, in my reection, something
was missing or at least something special did
not occupy center stage. I remember Isaac, the
planned offering. I recollect a thicket-trapped
ram, the prepared offering. But I do not recall
Jesus Christ, the prophetic Offering. As the biblical
story of Genesis 22 unfolds to me now, the high
point, the apex, the zenith of the Abraham-Isaac
narrative is not so much that God will provide for
our daily earthly needs (as true as that may be)
but rather that God will provide for us a lambthe
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
even Christ our Lord! Ellen White climaxes this
touching narrative by applying it to the mystery
of redemption and the wonderful provision that
God had made for [our] salvation.
1

Ancient question asked
Bearing on his young obedient shoulders the
wood fuel for the offering, Isaac spots in his father
Abrahams hands the knife and the re while seeing
no animal and knowing not the critical part his own
body is to play in the sacricial offering. So Isaac
speaks tenderly some tough words as if reminding
a forgetful dad of something he failed to pack for
the journey: Father, behold the re and the wood;
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
A poignant question also for the pulpit; indeed,
a veritable thorn in the side of our preaching today.
Your sermons may have the reand thats quite
commendable. What would preaching be without
the feeling and emotional involvement of the
speaker? Where would preaching be without the
warmth of audience participation and response
as well as some rapport with the speaker? If you
have the re, dont put it out! There is a sense
in which The science of salvation cannot be
explained; but [only] known by experience.
2
Ellen
White further states that Earnestness and energy
are essential in presenting Bible truth, the gospel,
which is the power of God unto salvation. . . .
3
and raises the challenge: Shall we not show that
we have some enthusiasm in His service?
4
Keep
the re burning!
I trust your preaching also has the wood, for
that is quite vital toothe hard timber of thought,
reason, and cognitive strength. When Dwight L.
Moody was preaching in Britain, a woman suppos-
edly said to him sarcastically, Mr. Moody, the Lord
can do without your learning. To this Moody
replied, Yes, Madam, and without your igno-
rance also. Our prophetic messenger encourages
us to seek to become intelligent Christians,
5
that
we need an intelligent faith,
6
that Gods service
needs intelligent piety,
7
and God is best gloried
by serving Him intelligently.
8
I am aware of a summons to avoid overshoot-
ing our target or preaching above the people, for
Jesus did say: Feed My lambs. But thats the ip
side of our challenge. The nature of the human
condition seems to keep us faced with dualisms
But where is
the Lamb?:
An ancient question
for modern pulpits
Mervyn A. Warren,
PhD, DMin, is
provost and professor
of preaching,
Oakwood College,
Huntsville, Alabama,
United States.
and two sides to every question, so
lets talk about intelligent preaching.
George Buttrick, we are told, used to
say that church doors ought to be high
enough for people to bring their heads
in with them. Have you the wood? This
wood of which I now speak transcends
eggheadiness that idolizes or even blocks
headiness that barricades against intel-
lectual inquiry. If you have the wood of
converted intellect, by all means plane it,
treat it, preserve it, and build with it!
The fact remains, moreover, that
although your preaching may possess
re and wood, the central question prick-
ing and needling your pulpit, haunting
its homiletical psyche remains: Where is
the lamb? What place does Jesus Christ
occupy in your sermons?
According to some theologians and
homileticians, the ideal pattern has
already been set by God Himself, the
rst Preacher of the very rst sermon
as recorded in Genesis 3:15. Speaking
directly to the serpent Satan, within ear-
shot of Adam and Eve, God declares,
I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and
hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel (NIV).
This invective against Satan contained
at its core the promise of salvation, the
Protevangelium or rst gospel, and
for our Eden parents and their progeny,
a promise of the seed or offspring
of the woman culminating in the atone-
ment of our Lord at Calvary.
A key word bantered about in
theological circles for decades now
is kerygma, the central core message
of Scripture heralded by the herald,
proclaimed by the proclaimer, declared by
the declarer. Someone has suggested that
if you would feed the Bible into a computer
programmed to summarize the one single
message or golden thread running
throughout Scripture, the computer
would spit out the kerygma or the central
golden thread of the gospel. Martin
Kahler, German theologian, who had
much to say about Jesus and the kerygma,
understood that A kerygma without Jesus
is a verbal vacuum, and Jesus without the
kerygma is a meaningless surd.
9
How
does the kerygma sound? What does it
look like? How is the kerygma expressed?
Among early and popular expressions of
kerygmatic content in Scripture is the
following by Archibald Hunter:
Gods promises made to His people in
the Old Testament are now fullled.
The Long-expected Messiah, born of
Davids line, has come. He is Jesus of
Nazareth, who went about doing good
and wrought mighty works by Gods
power; was crucied according to the
purpose of God; was raised by God
from the dead and exalted to His right
hand. He will come again in glory for
judgment. Therefore let all who hear
this message repent and be baptized
for the forgiveness of their sins.
10
Understandably some preachers,
perhaps prone toward being more
doctrinaire in Bible interpretation, would
probably want to expand Hunters gospel
statement summary or kerygma to
include more of your churchs particular
fundamental beliefs. At any rate, our point
here is that the theme of the kerygma,
regardless of particular doctrinal threads,
is Jesus Christ the hope of salvation.
Ministerial Student Writing Contest
Ministry, International Journal for Pastors, announces its rst Ministerial Student
Writing Contest. All students enrolled in a full-time ministerial preparation program
on the undergraduate or graduate level may participate.
Submission requirements
1. Writers must choose a category from the list below for their submission and state this information on the rst page.
a. Biblical studies b. Historical studies c. Theological studies (including ethics)
d. Ministry (preaching, leadership, counseling, etc.) e. Mission studies
2. For the Writers Guidelines and other submission requirements, please see www.ministrymagazine.org.
Prizes
GRAND PRIZE:
$750
FIRST PRIZE:
$500
SECOND PRIZE (ve possible):
$400
THIRD PRIZE (ve possible):
$300
The evaluation panel will determine if all prizes will be awarded. The decisions of this panel are nal.
Submission deadline Must be received by the editors no later than January 2, 2008.
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Historical answer given
Probably no less today than earlier
in our own church history, we have had
no small problems with Christ-centered
preaching and teaching. Go back to
1888, and you nd lines drawn in the
sand between righteousness by faith in
Christ and righteousness by faithfulness
to the law, trusting in Jesus or trusting
in your obedience. You may recall that
sanctied tempers rose to such a fever
pitch until Ellen White commented that
if Jesus Christ Himself had appeared on
the 1888 scene, they would have literally
crucied Him.
11
She remained constant,
nevertheless, in appealing for the central-
ity of Christ in pulpit and practical life as
when she asserted that Faith in Christ as
the sinners only hope has been largely
left out, not only of the discourses given
but of the religious experience of very
many who claim to believe the third
angels message
12
and, consequently,
much of the preaching of that era was
Christless. Later she would set forth this
imperative: Let the law take care of itself.
We have been at work on the law until we
get as dry as the hills of Gilboa. . . . Let us
trust in the merits of Jesus. . . . May God
help us that our eyes may be anointed
with eyesalve, that we may see.
13

She received criticism for her article
entitled, Christ the Center of the
Message. She wrote,
The third angels message calls for
the presentation of the Sabbath
of the fourth commandment, and
this truth must be brought before
the world; but the great center of
attraction, Jesus Christ, must not be
left out of the third angels message.
By many who have been engaged in
the work for this time, Christ has been
made secondary, and theories and
arguments have had the rst place.
The glory of God that was revealed to
Moses in regard to the divine charac-
ter has not been prominent. . . .
A veil has seemed to be before the
eyes of many who have labored in the
cause, so that when they presented
the law, they have not had views of
Jesus, and have not proclaimed the
fact that, where sin abounded, grace
doth much more abound. It is at the
cross of Calvary that mercy and truth
meet together, where righteousness
and peace kiss each other. The sinner
must ever look toward Calvary; and
with the simple faith of a little child,
he must rest in the merits of Christ,
accepting His righteousness and
believing in His mercy.
14
Another inspired observation depicted
a homiletic allegory in the worship offer-
ings of Abel and his brother Cain:
Many of our ministers have merely
sermonized, presenting subjects in
an argumentative way, and scarcely
mentioning the saving power of
the Redeemer. Their testimony
was destitute of the saving blood of
Christ. Their offering resembled the
offering of Cain. He brought to the
Lord the fruit of the ground, which in
itself was acceptable in Gods sight.
Very good indeed was the fruit; but
the virtue of the offeringthe blood
of the slain lamb, representing the
blood of Christwas lacking. So it
is with Christless sermons. By them
men are not pricked to the heart;
they are not led to inquire, What
must I do to be saved?
15
Some historians see a connection
between the decided stance of Mrs.
White for Christ-centered preaching and
teaching and that she was commissioned
away from the American scene to
Australia in 1891. She considered this a
missionary assignment that she reputedly
admitted to not having received denite
signals from God but was simply trusting
in and cooperating with the decision of
the leadership. Further thinking along
the line of her possibly paying a price
for her Christ-centered stance surfaces
when in 1892 her book, Steps to Christ,
was published by F. H. Revell Company
rather than by the publisher of most
of her previous works. Albeit that our
church has done much in recent years
to focus on righteousness by faith, the
battle still rages on several fronts.
Modern response declared
Quite noticeable in some of our
churches these days is the liturgical
practice of having the congregation recite
a profession of faith. In the dozens
of worship services I have witnessed
that follow such a procedure, all but
a very few limit themselves to the oral
reciting of the fourth commandment:
Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. . . Understandably, time limits
during a worship service would not permit
a rehearsal of all our cardinal beliefs;
however, if there is time only for a line,
why not For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life (John
3:16)? If there is time only for a line, why
not There is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved (Acts 4:12)? Conning
your expression of profession of faith
to reciting the fourth commandment
might raise the optical problem of what
(or whom) do you see as your Saviorthe
Sabbath or the Christ? Jesus longs to
occupy center stage in our worship and
as well as our preaching.
What do we mean by preaching
Christ? Certainly it is more, innitely more
than merely mouthing His name, glibly
bearing it on the tip of our tongue, or arbi-
trarily connecting His name to whatever
our personal convictions happen to be.
One extreme example of preaching Christ,
if not misusing and misapplying Christ,
is a statement I heard a minister make
in a sermon recently when he asked the
question: Why do we not wear lipstick?
Why do we not go to the movies? Why do
we not wear jewelry? Then he followed
with his point-blank answer like the crack
of a whip: Because Jesus said so, and
thats all I need to know! He offered no
biblical grounding, no quote from Christ,
no logical reasoning, no persuasion but
only an authoritarian pronouncement.
Of a surety, preaching Christ runs
deeper than convenient name-dropping,
merely attaching His name to give
scaffolding to what you otherwise lack in
cause to affect thinking or your inability
to interpret Scripture responsibly. In such
a case, you are merely bully-pulpiting.
I often think you and I as preachers
of the three angels messages would
benefit from doing what I call some
zero-based theologizingstarting all
over at ground zero with nothing, so
to speak, but Jesus Christ, then working
ourselves out from Him and adding only
what is absolutely necessary for a saving
relationship with our Lord in the context
of our time. Engaging in this kind of
practical theological reflection might
prove not only refreshing but also help
move us closer to determining what is
authentically Christian and what may be
excess baggage. I am here challenging
our traditional approach of confronting
prospective converts and each other
right off with things to be believed, a
constellation of dos and donts, rather
than beginning with Christ in whom to
believe, a saving relationship with God.
Oh, yes, we will discover a way whereby
He can be made the theme of a Christian
lifestyle without just inadvertently and
loosely attaching His name.
I would dene or describe Christ-
centered preaching as proclaiming the
Old Testament summarily as promise of
the Messiah rst prophesied in Genesis,
while proclaiming the New Testament
as fulllment with a consciousness of the
claims Jesus Christ continues to make in
our personal lives.
An experience from John Killinger,
my former faculty colleague in homilet-
ics at Vanderbilt Divinity School, might
be of help. Subsequent to more than a
decade as professor of preaching in the
raried environment of a seminary, he
decided to resign and serve a church
pastorate. After ministering to several
congregations over time, Killinger
describes one of them as,
never in their lives having been
confronted by the Spirit of Christ
and made to choose whether they
would give their hearts and souls to
Him or go for the remainder of their
earthly lives centered upon their own
selsh aims and desires. Spiritual
temperature of the congregation had
been kept resolutely at only a little
above freezing, cool enough to retard
spoilage but warm enough to suggest
that religion was about to become a
hot issue in their lives. Even those
who had experienced a meeting
with Christ and begun their Christian
pilgrimage with some excitement had
generally lost their ardor in this damp
and chilly climate.
16
Killingers solution? In his own words,
I eventually came to the realization
that almost every sermon I would
preach must center on Christ and that
it must be aimed at the raw conversion
of their lives. I did not cease to preach
sermons on prayer and the devotional
life and life situation and social needs,
but I would drive each sermon to a
more basic level so that my hearers
would be compelled (before anything
else) to address Christ Himself. If I
preached on Prayer, it would be
Christs Call to Prayer. If I preached
on living sanely in an insane world,
it would be on Christs Power to
Live Sanely. The bottom line is that
something happened to me and my
congregation. My church and I began
to sense an extra Presence in our
worship and in our relationships. The
Presence was almost tangible.
17
When I thi nk of thi s pastoral
preaching experience of Dr. Killinger
and the general parallel between him
and those of us who also have traced
a professional itinerary that includes
classroom and pastoring, I must include
no small number of us who often claim
to know the last word about everything
while people in our pews want to know
the rst thing about Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder, then, that the apostle
Paul declared to the Corinthians, We
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord (2 Cor. 4:5) and We preach Christ
crucied, unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness (1 Cor.
1:23)? Charles Spurgeon often remarked
to his students, Wherever you begin in
your sermon, make tracks as fast as you
can to Calvary. Karl Barth was asked
to summarize his half century of vast
theological thought, and without any
hesitancy he replied: Jesus loves me, this
I know, for the Bible tells me so.
I often recall the words of James
Stewart (the famous Scottish preacher)
who said, Preach Christ today [and
everyday] in the total challenge of His
imperial claim. Some will be scared, some
will be offended, and some will bow in
homage at His feet. Yes, Christ is the
answer, declares Gardner C. Taylor in one
of his nal sermons concluding a brilliant
pastoral preaching tenure at the Concord
Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.
Where is the lamb? God will provide
for Himself the lambthe Lamb slain,
offered for your sins and mine from the
foundation of the world.
Where is the Lamb? I can imagine
a ram, as it were, caught in the thicket
of your sermon preparation, begging
to point to Gods eternal Lamb. And
Abraham called that place Yahweh yireh,
the Lord will see in the sense that the
Lord will provide. And to this day,
says Genesis 22:14, in the mount of the
Lord it shall be seen.
God indeed provided for Himself a
Lamb in the temple, mount of Jerusalem,
and on Calvarys mount. Today, in our
pulpit mounts of New York and Miami,
London and Johannesburg, Sydney and
Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Chicago, and
everywhere that Gods Word is being
preached by the power of the Holy Spirit,
let the Lamb be seen!
1 Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Nampa,
ID: Pacic Press Pub. Assn., 1890), 155.
2 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Nampa, ID:
Pacic Press Pub. Assn., 1898), 495.
3 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2 (Wash-
ington, DC: Review and Herald Pub., 1958), 59.
4 Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and
Students (Mountain View, CA: Pacic Press Pub.
Assn., 1913), 371.
5 Ibid., 504; emphasis added.
6 Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers (Washington,
DC: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1915), 162;
emphasis added.
7 Ellen G. White, Messages to Young People (Hag-
erstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub. Assn.,
1930), 42; emphasis added.
8 Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and
Students, 361; emphasis added.
9 Carl E. Braaten, New Directions in Theology Today,
vol. 2 (Westminster Press, 1966), 62.
10 Archibald Hunter, Introducing the New Testament,
(Westminster Press), 30.
11 Ellen G. White, Special Testimonies, series A, no.
6: 19, 20.
12 Ellen G. White, Manuscript 24, 1888; The Ellen
G. White 1888 Materials (Washington, DC: E. G.
White Estate, 1988), vol. 1: 203229; and Review
and Herald, Sept. 4, 1888.
13 Ellen G. White, Manuscript 10, Feb. 6, 1890.
14 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1
(Washington, DC; Review and Herald Pub. Assn.,
1958), 383, 384.
15 Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, 156.
16 John Killinger, What It Means to Preach
Christ, sermon delivered to Baptist Pastors
School, University of Richmond (Virginia), July
10, 1985.
17 Ibid.
I
t has been 25 years since the Los Angeles
Times published a story under the headline,
Plagiarism Found in Prophet Books, and
since Walter Rea published The White Lie.
Its been nearly 20 years since Dr. Fred
Veltman published the report for the Life of Christ
Research Project. Since that time, Dr. Veltmans re-
search has been largely forgotten or re-interpreted
by cyberspace critics to support Walter Reas alle-
gation that Ellen White plagiarized as much as 90
percent of the wording of The Desire of Ages.
After eight years of study, Dr. Veltman calcu-
lated that only 31 percent of the sentences in The
Desire of Ages contained any verbal similarity to
other works and that the average level of literary
dependency of these was slightly above loose
paraphrase.
1
His considered opinion was that
Ellen White had not plagiarized. He wrote the
following: A writer can only be legitimately
charged with plagiarism when that writers literary
methods contravene the established practices of
the general community of writers producing works
of the same literary genre within a comparable
cultural context. In the process of doing our
research we found that Ellen Whites sources had
previously used each other in the same way that
she later used them. At times the parallels between
the sources were so strong that we had difculty
deciding which one Ellen White was using.
2
If it was so difcult to decide which source
she was using, could there not have been another
mechanism for the verbal similarity besides Ellen
Whites intentional lifting of a word here and
there from over 30 different works? And what
was the general practice of the community of
writers at the time Ellen White composed her
book? While co-writing a book on this very issue
with Dr. Veltmans research assistant, Marcella
Anderson, I encountered research that has helped
answer these questions.
3
Starting with the listings in Reas book and then
those delineated in the Veltman report, researcher
David J. Conklin embarked on a systematic analysis
of all the instances of alleged copying in The
Desire of Ages. He quickly discovered that Rea had
employed various techniques to support his con-
clusions. Rea included common biblical passages as
part of the copied material, clipped material from
the beginnings, middles, and ends of sentences,
and inserted ellipses and changed capitalization
and punctuation to hide nonparallel text.
As the study progressed, Conklin took on
another task that had been suggested by Dr. Velt-
man. He determined to nd a way of measuring
how much language the alleged literary sources
borrowed from one another. The task would have
been daunting had it not been for a breakthrough
in computerized information technology.
Over the past two decades, the Internet
has made it increasingly easy for students to
engage in cut and paste plagiarism of the
works of others. Thankfully, the Internet has also
furnished tools to detect such plagiarism. One
of these tools, distributed by the University of
VirginiaWCopyndcompares two or more
text documents and highlights their similarities.
Since cut and paste plagiarists usually lift entire
phrases from other works with only modest
cosmetic changes in wording, the designers of the
program have recommended that it be set to look
for strings of six or more words with allowance for
two variants in each string.
Having the means and standard for compar-
ing Ellen Whites sources with one another and
with The Desire of Ages, Conklin began gathering
the necessary sources in text format. A number
of these were available online. Others had to
be painstakingly keyed in from books acquired
through interlibrary loan.
Prior to his study, Conklin had assumed that,
besides matching Bible verses, he would discover
a large number of other overlapping wordings.
After all, as one contributor to a discussion on
plagiarism had remarked, How many ways are
there to tell a Bible story without using words or
phrases from the Bible story? Surprisingly, this
assumption proved false.
The results of his comparison are given
below. Readers should be aware that the analysis
Was Ellen White
a plagiarist?
The three-part series
concludes with a survey
of the historical analysis
of her writings
Research by
David J. Conklin
Article by
Kevin L. Morgan
Kevin L. Morgan
pastors the
Warrensville and
Wilkesboro
Seventh-day
Adventist Churches in
North Carolina,
United States.
of one chapter cannot make a denite
determination of Ellen Whites general
practice, nor of the practice of all writers
of this time. Yet, it does provide evidence
of whether major authors, linked to Ellen
Whites writing, borrowed as she did.
List of signicant matching
phrases
Matching phrases from the major
works of The Life of Christ Research
Project and Ellen Whites The Desire of Ages
(1898) are listed below by order of earliest
publication. Phrases used in a different
context or that resulted from identical use
of biblical material have been eliminated
(45 different verses). Phrases that are
similar to biblical texts (such as sent Him
back to Pilatea phrase similar to Luke
23:11) are distinguished by parenthetical
scriptural references, allowing readers to
judge for themselves whether they were
borrowed from the earlier work.
John Flavel. The Fountain of Life (1691) . . .
and Fleetwood have sentence that it
should be as
and Desire of Ages have (blush/wonder) O
heavens! and be astonished, O earth!
John Fleetwood. Life of Our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ (1767) . . .
and Kitto have no power to put any
one to death (see John 18:31).
and Hanna have wearing (-/still) the
purple robe and (-/the) crown of
thorns (see John 19:5).
and Adams have Pilate marveled
(greatly/-) at his (-/patient) silence,
(see Matt. 27:14; Mark 15:5).
and Geikie have what accusation they
had (to bring/-) against the prisoner
and the passover, to release (a/any)
prisoner.
and Andrews have to Herod, who was
(also/-) then at Jerusalem; have no
power to put (any one/Him) to death
(see John 18:31); an insurrection in
the city, and (-/had) committed
murder; and Jesus (called/made)
himself the Son of God.
Augustus Neander. The Life of Jesus
Christ (1848) . . .
and Kitto have (summons/appeal) to
the conscience of Pilate himself; The
procurator(-/,) a type of the educated
Roman world, especially of its higher
classes, lost in worldly-mindedness,
and conscious of no higher wants
than those of this life(-/,) had no such
sense for truth; was his mocking
question; Truth is (-/but) an empty
name. he meant to say; Jesus (-/
was) simply (as/-) a (-/well-meaning)
religious enthusiast, innocent of (all/
any) political (crimes/offence); But
it was no part of (the Saviours/our
Lords) calling to (satisfy/gratify) an idle
curiosity; so utterly worldly; and
soldiers, sent Him back to (see Luke
23:11). [Kittos parallels to Neander are
found in two consecutive paragraphs
without quotation marks. Only after
the rst paragraph does Kitto note his
source by the footnote Neander.]
and Farrar and Geikie have sent him
back to the procurator (see Luke
23:11).
and Edersheim have Herod had (for/-)
long wished to see Jesus.
Joseph Angus. Christ Our Life: in its
Origin, Law and End (1853) . . .
and Kitto have they had no power to
(see John 18:31).
and Abbott have they had no (-/legal)
power to (see John 18:31) and
without the (consent/sanction) of
the Roman governor.
and Adams have under Herods
jurisdiction, and (that Herod/he) was
then in Jerusalem.
John Kitto. Daily Bible Illustrations (1859). . .
and Abbott have without the (consent/
sanction) of the Roman governor.
and Farrar have Pilate caught (-/at)
the name of (/-)Galilee,(/-).
and Geikie have that it was (one/-)
not of this world.
and Deems have tessellated pavement
in front of the; he went (-/back) into
the (interior/-) judgment-hall(,/-) and
(calling/sent for) Jesus; had come
(-/up) to Jerusalem (at/to celebrate)
the Passover.
and Ellen White have one prisoner
whom the people might (see Mark
15:6) and took his place on the
judgment seat (see Matt. 27:19).
William Hanna. The Life of Christ (1863). . .
and Abbott have report (of anything
like/that he was) (unfaithfulness/
unfaithful) to Csar (would/might)
cost him his ofce.
and Geikie have of whom he had
heard so much.
and Andrews have (given/gives) (him/
Jesus) up to be crucied (see John
19:16).
and Didon have from (all/-) par-
ticipation in the (holy rite/sacred
festival); and (he/-) delivered Jesus
to their will.
and Ellen White have he had sent Jesus
(off/-) to Herod (Luke 23:7) and
Pilates wife was not a Jew.
Charles John Ellicott. Historical Lectures on
the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1863) . . .
and Abbott have as usual, (-/had) come
to Jerusalem(-/-nominally) to.
and Andrews have long desired to see
Him, and.
and Didon have the (meek/-) prisoner
who stood before him was.
George Jones. Life-Scenes from the Four
Gospels (1865) . . .
has Barabbas by name, put there for
robbery and murder, while Abbott
has robber and murder by the name
of Barabbas (see Mark 15:7 and
John 18:40).
and Ellen White have He did not wait
for an answer.
Lyman Abbott. A Life of Christ (1872) . . .
and Andrews have Pilate presented
Jesus to the (Jews/people).
and Ellen White have he had (already/-)
declared (-/that) Jesus (to be/was)
innocent; [Andrews has he himself
knew Jesus to be innocent and Hanna
has Believing Jesus to be innocent;
innocent comes from Matt. 27:24.]
Frederick Farrar. Life of Christ (1874) . . .
and Adams have went (out/-) again
to the Jews, and
and Geikie have Felt how awful
Goodness is, and and for the sins
of the world.
and Ellen White have questioned
(Him/Christ) in many words, but
(see Luke 23:9); told them that
they had brought and he had
(then/-) sent (Him/Jesus) to Herod
(see Luke 23:7).
Charles Adams. The Life of Our Lord Jesus
Christ (1878) . . .
and Andrews have to see Him, and
hoped (to witness/that He would
now work) some miracle.
and Edersheim (Adams is not listed by
Edersheim as a source) have had
longed wished to see (Him/Jesus).
Cunningham Geikie. The Life and Words
of Christ (1879) . . .
and Deems have it would be a graceful
(courtesy/recognition) and to make
one more effort to save.
James Stalker. Life of Jesus Christ (1880) . . .
and Andrews have they had con-
demned him for blasphemy.
and Edersheim have the magnicent
palace of Herod the.
and Didon have Jesus answered him
not (a/one) word. (John 19:9).
Charles F. Deems. Who Was Jesus?
(1880) . . .
and Andrews have he had blasphemed
in the presence of the and (took
Jesus away/Jesus be taken) into
the common hall, (called the/or)
Prtorium.
and Ellen White have there was
something in (this/the) prisoner [cf.
Hanna, there was something in the
very rst impression that our Lords
appearance made upon Pilate and
Abbott, There was something in his
address and bearing].
Alfred Edersheim. The Life and Times of
Jesus the Messiah (1883) . . .
Edersheim has from century to cen-
tury, and from land to land and
Ellen White has From land to land
throughout the world, from century
to century.
Samuel J. Andrews. Life of Our Lord
(1891) . . .
and Edersheim have nor (-/yet) Herod
had found any (fault/crime) in Him.
Tabular analysis of matching
phrases
The table below provides a summary
of the counts of phrases listed. Authors
are listed horizontally and vertically in
chronological order. The box in which the
horizontal and vertical names intersect
contains the number of phrases that
are literarily similar between the two.
Each authors column is totaled at the
bottom.
Observations and analysis
In looking across the table, we note
that the majority of authors used the
authors before them. The increase of
matching phrases, as we go toward the
right, becomes predictable since each
subsequent author has more material
from which to derive wording. But
just because two writers use similar
language, this cannot be used as proof
that one stole material from the other.
As we noted in our last article, it is
altogether possible that similar word-
ing has resulted from one authors
unconscious assimilation of words and
vocabulary from ones reading in what
may be called unconscious plagiarism
or cryptomnesiathe inadvertent use of
an apt expression previously read.
One of the interesting results of this
study was the large number of matches
for The Desire of Ages that had to be
discarded because they were matches
of verbatim or paraphrased Scripture.
(Other matches that were discarded
were identical phrases that were used
in different contexts.) Only ve parallel
phrases in The Desire of Ages were not
directly related to Scriptureand two of
these came from works not catalogued
in Ellen Whites libraries (though similar
expressions were found in other works
that were).
Comparing columns, we see that
Ellen Whites borrowing of language
from sources was well within the
accepted practice of her peers and
that she was not the only writer on the
life of Christ to inadvertently use the
expressions of other writers. Moreover,
her writing demonstrates independence
and interaction of thought, rather than
mere duplication.
1 Fred Veltman, The Desire of Ages Project: The
Data, Ministry, (Oct. 1990), 6. It should be noted
that the rating of loose dependency means that
one word or more in a sentence has a parallel.
2 Veltman, The Desire of Ages Project: The Conclu-
sion, Ministry, (Dec. 1990), 14.
3 See http://www.dedication.www3.50megs.com.
AUTHORS JF AN JA JK WH CJE GJ LA FF CA CG JS CFD AE SA HD EGW
Flavel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fleetwood (JF) - 0 0 (1) (1) 0 0 0 0 (1) 2 0 0 0 3/(1) 0 0
Neander (AN) - - 0 7/(1) 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 (1) 0 0 1 0 0 0
Angus (JA)* - - - (1) 0 0 0 1/(1) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kitto (JK) - - - - 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 (2)
Hanna (WH) - - - - - 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 (1) 2 1(1)
Ellicott (CJE)* - - - - - - 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Jones (GJ) - - - - - - - (1) 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 0 1
Abbott (LA)* - - - - - - - - 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Farrar (FF) - - - - - - - - - 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1/(2)
Adams (CA)* - - - - - - - - - - 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Geikie (CG) - - - - - - - - - - - 0 2 0 0 0 0
Stalker (JS)* - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 1 1 1 0
Deems (CFD)* - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 2 0 1
Edersheim (AE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 0 0
Andrews (SA) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0 0
Didon (HD)* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0
TOTALS 1 0 0 7/(3) (1) 0 0 4/(2) 2/(1) 2/(1) 7/(1) 4 7 4/(1) 11(2) 4 5/(5)
LEGEND: * Not in catalogue of Ellen White libraries. (#) Number of matches from Scriptural allusions.
Nikolaus Satelmajer (NS): During the past
year I have heard of a new center for leadership
development. Can you share some news about
this initiative?
Skip Bell (SB): The Christian Leadership
Center (CLC) is an interdisciplinary organization
established by Andrews University. This center
provides inspiration, ongoing leadership
development, leadership coaching, consultation,
a journal, and research for a network of church and
community leadership throughout the world.
Our vision is people. People transformed and
empowered by Christian principles and who form
a network of Christian leaders providing outstand-
ing leadership for the local church, for church
and educational organizations throughout the
world, as well as for local community or business
organizations. The Center provides these leaders
with ongoing leadership development based on
the servant leadership model of Christ.
Our mission is: To accompany and develop
people in their journey as servant leaders in the
church and as Christian-marketplace ambas-
sadors in a changing world.
NS: How did the initiative for a leadership center
evolve?
SB: It began with values. We might describe
these values as deep-seated beliefs from which
principles and behaviors take root. Words like
faithfulness, Christlikeness, love, integrity, fairness,
and service communicate those values. We in the
Christian Leadership Center become passionate
when we talk about the biblically grounded
nature of these values.
We understand, of course, that these values
create a tension when they come up against
realities; this is certainly true in the arena of
leadership. The contrast between these values and
the spectrum of leadership behaviors in all of the
communities we experience, including the church,
creates energy. That energy can be negative or it
can be directed to something positive.
About four years ago I asked a small group
to dialogue with me about leadership, and out
of that emerged the idea of a leadership center.
In dialogue with an expanded group, a vision
took shape and a proposal was created. Then
the Christian Leadership Center was born. It was
not an institutional initiative. CLC ows out of
a grass roots movement, continues to be given
energy from people engaged in the frontier
of leadership communities, and is afrmed by
Andrews University and General Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists involvement.
NS: I understand the people committing time
to the Christian Leadership Center are doing
it voluntarily. CLC charges only for actual costs
and not for personnel. This approach makes it
more affordable. Other organizations are offering
leadership development. Is there a unique role
for CLC?
SB: Absolutely. I have intentionally searched and
can nd no other organization positioned to join
the vision, biblical foundation, philosophy, and
style of leadership development delivery of the
Christian Leadership Center. Here is what I mean.
We seek transformation of persons and transforma-
tion in the context of leadership development. We
see the development of leaders on three distinct
Serving His
servants:
The Christian Leadership
Center responds to
the churchs call for
leadership development
Nikolaus Satelmajer
Ministry editor
Nikolaus Satelmajer
interviews Skip
Bell, director of the
Christian Leadership
Center, and Mike
Ryan, director
of leadership
development for the
General Conference
of Seventh-day
Adventists.
levels: the rst being transformation of the
person, the second being development
of essential leadership practices that ow
from the transformation of character and
worldview, and the third being formation
of administrative skills.
Further, we provide a place for
academicians and eld practitioners to
link in a process of theological reection
that shapes the Seventh-day Adventist
Churchs understanding of leadership and
that claries transformational leadership
development across cultures. The biblically
based model of servant leadership
promoted by the Christian Leadership
Center grows from that reection.
Finally, we serve from the biblical
model. We come alongside people for
ongoing leadership development over a
period of years. We do not believe leader-
ship development can be accomplished
by workshops or seminars. We apply an
ongoing and comprehensive strategy of
self-leadership, spiritual formation, litera-
ture, group work, reection, workshops,
leadership coaching, and assessment.
NS: Mike Ryan, you direct the leadership
development services of the General
Conference. And you invest time with
the Christian Leadership Center. What
do you see as the goals of the Center
and what programs does it offer to meet
these goals?
Mike Ryan (MR): The first goal is
dynamic understanding. We foster a
shared and dynamic understanding of a
biblical model of servant leadership that
W
e believe that Christian lead-
ership is ultimately expressed
through the life and words of
Jesus. We take the radical view, pre-
sented in Philippians 2:68, that Jesus
came to this world in order to, among
other things, demonstrate the character
of God. In doing so, He demonstrated the
highest form of leadership, the leadership
provided by a bondservant, one who
presents himself to another in servitude.
Jesus was the One who, Though he was
God, he did not demand and cling to his
rights as God. He made himself nothing;
he took the humble position of a slave
and appeared in human form. And in hu-
man form he obediently humbled himself
even further by dying a criminals death
on a cross (NLT).
Recent exegetes suggest that a
better translation of verse 6 is precisely
because He was God, He became a
servant. It is the essential nature of God
to be a servant and not an exception to
that nature.
We believe that one of the fundamental
characteristics of God is to become such
a servant. We believe that God, in Christ,
demonstrates this aspect of His character
by sending Jesus to be our Guide and
Model, as well as our Savior.
This concept is expanded by the
words of Jesus Himself in Matthew
20:2628 and Matthew 23:11, 12.
It must not be this way among
you! Instead whoever wants to be great
among you must be your servant, and
whoever wants to be rst among you
must be your slavejust as the Son of
Man did not come to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many (Matt. 20:2628, NET).
The greatest among you will be your
servant. And whoever exalts himself will
be humbled, and whoever humbles
himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:11,
12, NET).
Again, the word translated slave is
more accurately interpreted as a bondser-
vant, one who, because of personal debt,
pledges himself or herself in servitude.
Christian leadership is not based
in any inherent or acquired authority.
Rather, Christian leaders are mere instru-
ments of Christ; what we do we do in His
name (Matt. 28:1820; John 20:2123;
Matt. 16:18, 19; 18:1820). This means
that only when we act according to
the mind of Christ do we act with
His authority. This attitude precludes
doing anything merely to enhance
our own position or prestige. Christs
Spirit will always be reminding us, You
are a servant of servants; you can do
enormous good if you dont care about
getting credit for it. Servant leadership,
as thus described, is not about power or
position, although it can be present in
one who has power as well as position.
Rather, it is about a life modeled after
the life of Jesus Christ, who lived for the
express purpose of serving others.
Servant leaders are one with their
community. They listen, honor, trust,
help, and encourage otherstreating
them with dignity and respect.
This model of leadership is radical
because it not only represents a dramatic
return to what we believe is the original
heaven-dened concept of leadership,
but it is also a departure from the
egocentric concept that pervades secular
thinking. By the grace of God, and to His
glory, it is the purpose of the Christian
Leadership Center to promote and
assist in the development of this kind of
leadership throughout the world.
A Biblical Model of Servant Leadership:
Position Paper of the Christian Leadership Center at Andrews University
informs the global practice of church and
community leaders. The second goal is
transformed leaders; that is, Christian
leaders transformed by a biblical model
of servant leadership. The third goal is
a leadership network. By that we mean
a pool of people growing in leadership
skills who, in turn, can provide global
leadership development to others.
CLC offers specic program options:
a four-year leadership development
program delivered to those in a particular
organization like a college, denominational
organization, medical institution, business,
or community organization, as well as a
one-year leadership certicate program
and leadership coaching. We also
engage in activity to promote biblically
informed leadership, enrich leadership
understanding through The Journal of
Applied Christian Leadership, and foster
leadership research.
For the church that means CLC
can deliver leadership development
programs for specic church entities
wi l l i ng to make commi tments to
accountability over a period of years.
NS: How does the Christian Leadership
Center dene leadership?
SB: We have adopted the following
denition with the hope it will clarify our
beliefs and mission:
Christian leadership is a dynamic
relational process in which people, under
the inuence of the Holy Spirit, partner to
achieve a common goalit is serving others
by leading and leading others by serving.
MR: It is helpful, indeed important, to
distinguish between administration and
leadership. Both to support and bring
credibility to the leadership process.
Thus we distinguish between them
but do not separate them. This means
that in our development activity we
also give attention to administrative
skill development. In fact, that is
part of the present conversation and
growth of CLC; we are nding ways to
integrate administrative skills through
endorsements into our programs.
That will offer persons the opportunity
to form specific administrative skill
expertise while engaged in leadership
development.
NS: How would someone interested
in leadership development for their
organization contact the Christian
Leadership Center?
MR: To contact the center, e-mail us at
[email protected], call 269-471-8332, or
visit www.andrews.edu/clc/.
Relationships: A Mess Worth
Making By Tim Lane and Paul
Tripp, Greensboro, NC: New
Growth Press, 2006.
T
he world in which we live is charac-
terized by tension and terrorism, ter-
ritorial and tribal conictssystematic of
the mess humanity has made across the
spectrum of human relationships. In their
book, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making,
Tim Lane and Paul Tripp have made an
invaluable contribution to our knowledge
on how to clean up the mess.
According to the coauthors, the
task of achieving healthy relationships
cannot be considered an easy and
entrancing exercise but rather a difcult
and painstaking lifelong struggle that,
with Gods help, can transform the
chaos of our lives.
Writing from the background of their
own struggles, they drew from their
varied experiences and a multiplicity
of sources to corroborate and correctly
interpret the Word of God. They came
to the conclusion that people, broken
by sin and living in a broken society, can
experience true reconciliation.
What is refreshing about this book
and sets it apart from most others on
the subject includes the fact that it
does not give simple rules of how to
resolve problems. Rather, it deals with
the fundamental issue of sin called
selshnesswhich deceives a person.
Selfish people will hide themselves
behind masks and as a result they will
not understand the true nature of the
problem and will ultimately hide the
real solution. The chapter on agendas is
crucial to an understanding of this, for
in it the authors paint, in vivid terms,
the contrast of the human agenda
as diametrically opposed to Gods
agenda. How much better can it be
said than this? We want low personal
cost and high self-dened returns. But
God wants high personal cost and high
God-dened returns. . . . Beneath all our
conict with others lies a deeper conict
between these two agendas (49).
The book suggests a currency that
all, in any type of relationship, should
use to buy peace and tranquillity
especially those who are in counseling
and crisis management. The book is
well-written and easy to read, but less
easy to implementthrough no fault of
the writers; rather, through the inherent
imperfections of those who attempt to
implement it.

Reviewed by R. Danforth Francis, ministerial
secretary of the West-Central Africa Division
of Seventh-day Adventists, Abidjan, Cote
dIvoire.
R E S O U R C E S
Book Review
continued on page 29
Dateline
Sabbath in Africa
project2000 years of
Christianity in Africa
A
tlanta, Georgia, United States
The Berean Seventh-day Adventist
Church hosted a seminar titled, 2000
Years of Christianity in Africa and the
Diaspora, September 21, 22, 2007.
The series of lecturespresented
by scholars that included Charles E.
Bradford, Ganoune Diop, Joan
Francis, Bertram Melbourne, Ko
Owusu-Mensa, Doug Morgan, and
Emory Tolbertemphasized that
while it appears the light of Christianity
grew dim for more than a thousand
years leading up to the time of the
Reformation, that light never grew dim
on the African continent.
A highlight of the weekend was a
special tribute paid to Dr. Lawrence
Edward Carter Sr., dean of the Martin
Luther King Chapel at Morehouse Col-
lege in Atlanta, Georgia, and a friend of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church for
many years.
The role of reconciliation in
sustaining religious freedom
R
ichmond, Virginia, United
StatesMy concern i s that
religion is too often seen as the problem,
and never as the solution, stated
ambassador Robert Seiple, chairing
the Board of Experts of the International
Religious Liberty Association during
its meetings held September 913,
2007.
Reconciliation and the principles
that emerge from all the major faiths
suggest an enduring solution that comes
from religion, and is needed as never
before, Seiple continued. Its hard
work, rarely done well by governments,
and we will be breaking new ground that
takes us out of our comfort zones.
Through papers and intense discus-
sion, the Board of Experts examined the
vital role of reconciliation in supporting
the work of religious freedom. Under the
four main themes of truth, mercy, justice,
and peace, the experts examined how
different perspectives were absolutely
necessary to build a lasting relationship
between previously hostile groups. The
three Abrahamic faith traditions (Juda-
ism, Islam, and Christianity) and their
contributions both to confrontation and
reconciliation were dealt with by various
experts, and a synthesis developed.
Such a meeting continues the
vital and engaged work of the IRLA,
commented John Graz, IRLA secretary
general. Reconciliation is an essential
part of true and lasting religious free-
dom. Simply having laws to prevent
religious persecution and discrimination
is not sufcient. There needs to be heart-
change within the various communities,
and peace based on mutual respect.
The Board of Experts represents a wide
variety of communions and academic
backgrounds. They are acknowledged
experts in the area of religious freedom.
Presenters were Jeremy Gunn, Natan
Lerner, Imad Damaj, Hui Chen, Jose
Cardoso, Chris Rice, Rosa Maria
Martinez de Codes, Cole Durham,
Jack Spiro, and Chris Seiple. The
meeting was hosted by the Council for
Americas First Freedom. [IRLA News]
New dormitory, new
friendships, new horizons
N
akuro, KenyaIn cooperation
with Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA) Kenya, 17 young
people from the Seventh-day Adven-
tist church in Sweden embarked on a
mission to Kenya during the month of
August. Their main goal was to assist in
building a new girls dormitory at the
Adventist Rift Valley Secondary School in
Nakuro. While connecting with people
from a culture very different to their
own, it was also hoped that this trip
would expand their personal horizons
and increase their desire to reach out
to others.
Traveling with the group, Marianne
Kolkmann, youth director for the
Adventist church in Sweden, said,
When we reached the school, we were
met with singing, and we were given
a wonderful lunch at the school. We
were all touched by their giving spirit
of warmth and hospitality.
As we started the building project,
we realized that we might not see the
building completed during our stay
due to weather conditions, as well as
communication and transport problems;
but as we stamped dirt for the basement,
lifted heavy stones for the base and
poured cement, we slowly saw progress.
As we worked together with the local
workers and volunteers, friendships
were made, and we even took on a
friendly competition in who could work
the hardest.
When the day for our departure
came, we left with many memories, new
friendships, changed hearts and minds,
and a hope to see our new friends, if
not before, then some day in heaven.
[Marianne Kolkmann/TED News staff/
TED News]
Ko Owusu Mensa
Participants at the IRLA meeting
Frontline mental health
G
ettysburg, Pennsylvania, United
StatesThe Wyndham Gettysburg
hotel will be the site for Frontline Mental
Health: Resources for Congregations
and Clergy, January 2729, 2008.
This conference will equip clergy with
information and tools needed to better
serve their congregations as the frontline
for identifying mental health issues among
their members, improve their access to
resources, feel adequate in dealing with
persons with mental health challenges,
enhance linkages between clergy and
mental health professionals, and provide
a safe and discreet forum where clergy
can seek personal assistance in meeting
and handling their own mental health
needs.
Clergy and other church leaders
of all faiths are invited to attend. No
registrations will be taken on-site so plan
to register early with PlusLine.
To guarantee your place, please
register as soon as possible. Register
online at www.plusline.org/registration3
.php?event=1011or call PlusLine at
(800) 732-7587. PlusLine will process
registrations for this event through
January 22, 2008. All major credit cards
accepted. Checks and money orders
should be made payable to AdventSource
and mailed to AdventSource/PlusLine,
5040 Prescott Avenue, Lincoln, NE
68506-5431. All registrations by mail
must be received by noon Tuesday,
January 22, 2008.
In Granite or Ingrained? by
Skip MacCarty, Berrien Springs, MI:
Andrews University Press, 2007
A
nyone who preaches the gospel of
Jesus Christ must read In Granite
or Ingrained? This study of the various
covenants presented in Scripture begins
with an important truth: The Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit live in covenant relation-
ship with One Another. This Trinitarian
covenant has a basis in self-renouncing
love, and this covenant relationship ex-
tends to all intelligent beings throughout
the universe in the everlasting covenant.
They, in turn, respond in this covenant
relationship with love and obedience.
The major emphasis of this study
claries both the old covenant and new
covenant historically and experientially.
On the basis of a proper understanding
of the differences between the historical
and the experiential, the New Testament
passages dealing with the covenants
make sense. Without the clear distinction
between the historical and experiential
old covenant and between the historical
and experiential new covenant, the
study of the covenants leads to confu-
sion and wrong conclusions.
The new covenant experience has
its identication in four DNA markers:
sanctification, reconciliation, mission,
and justication. A careful examination of
the covenants presented in Scripture will
discover these DNA markers even in the
old covenant. This, in turn, shows that God
worked the substance of the new covenant
into every other covenant that He made
with human beingsAdam, Noah, Abra-
ham, Israel, David, etc. The seventh-day
Sabbath contains DNA markers as a sign
that the Lord sancties His people.
Two things could have been made
clearer. First, the term, old covenant
appears only once in the Greek New
Testament (2 Cor. 3:14). In this verse,
old covenant refers to a body of
literaturethe Old Testamentand
not to a covenant relationship between
God and man. The author notes this
fact briey in passing. However, the use
of the term old covenant for the Sinai
covenant, which Paul calls the first
covenant (Heb. 9:1, 7), is necessary
in this study. Without question, almost
all, if not all, readers of this study will
identify the Sinai/rst covenant and the
Old Testament sanctuary services with
the old covenant in their thinking.
Therefore, by the use of the term old
covenant, created by biblical scholars
for the Sinai/rst covenant, the readers
of this work can follow the arguments
of its author without confusion. In
Appendix A, the author repeatedly uses
the terms old covenant and first
covenant interchangeably. It might
have been helpful if the use of the term
old covenant as a scholarly construct
when Hebrews actually uses the term
rst covenant, had been claried.
One other point might have been
helpful. The author uses the term
everlasting covenant to identify the
love-obedience relationship between
God and His created, intelligent beings.
Adam lived under this covenant in Eden.
Although all creation lives as a result
of Gods gracious love, when the new
covenant was introduced to Adam at his
fall, Gods grace took on a new aspect
not present in His covenant relation-
ship with unfallen beings. This new
aspect, saving grace, was not known
nor introduced until Adam sinned. A
covenant designed for sinners only,
the new covenant is offered only to the
inhabitants of planet Earth.
Reviewed by George E. Rice, PhD, pastor of
the Triadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church,
Clarksville, Maryland, United States.
R E S O U R C E S
Book Review
continued from page 27
James A. Cress
P a s t o r s P a s t o r
Planning an ordination
C
harles Spurgeon once asked a
ministerial student to preach an
impromptu sermon, the result
of which deserved entry in the Guinness
World Records for the shortest sermon ever
preached. The student preacher proclaimed
the entire sermon in three sentences.
Appropriately, the topic was Zacchaeus:
First, Zacchaeus was a man of small
stature; so am I. Second, Zacchaeus was
very much up a tree; so am I. Third,
Zacchaeus made haste and came down;
so will I.
With that, the student sat down
to shouts of More, more! from his
fellows. No, said Spurgeon. He could
not improve upon that if he tried.
1
Several years ago, after enduring an
extremely long ordination service that
had entered its fourth hour, I was given
the pulpit. The host introduced me by
saying, We are asking Pastor Cress to
take all the time he needs. (I concluded
that surely there must be a better way.)
So when our Ministerial Association
was recentl y assi gned to pl an an
ordination at the headquarters for our
world church, we purposed to provide
an example of accomplishing the
complete program in just one hour.
While we hoped to embrace our
self-imposed time limit, we wanted to
avoid appearing rushed. We also wanted
the two candidates to feel afrmed and
to provide ample opportunity for their
sponsors to introduce and welcome
them. The 60-minute service that we
implemented follows:

Prelude
Processional
Call to Worship (1 minute)
Invocation (1)
Welcome (1)
Scripture Meditation, no. 842On the
Incarnation
2
(2)
Hymn of Praise, no. 21Immortal,
Invisible, God Only Wise (3)
Introduction of Candidate (3)
Introduction of Candidate (3)
Hearing the Word of God (audience stand-
ing)1 Timothy 1:1217, NKJV (2)
Worship in Music (4)
Sermon (9)
Ordination Prayer (8)
Charge
3
(3)
Welcome to Ministry (4)
Personal Welcome (4)
Personal Welcome (4)
Presentation of Certicates (4)
Hymn of Thanksgiving, no. 377Go
Forth, Go Forth With Christ (3)
Benediction (1)
Postlude
For the short sermon, I selected the
following in 1 Timothy chapter 1 from
the apostle Paul:
You are gifted by Jesus. And I thank
Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me
(v. 12, emphasis added). The Holy Spirit
personally endows those whom He calls
to ministry. Beyond your natural capabili-
ties and talents, your work must be fully
freighted with the Holy Spirits gifts.
You are justified by Jesus. Because
He counted me faithful (v. 12, emphasis
added). Gods grace, through faith in Jesus,
counts our efforts as His perfect will.
You are called by Jesus. Putting me
into the ministry (v. 12). Our Lords
mercy places us in service to His cause.
With His call to our individual lives, He
equips us to accomplish His work.
Your potential is in Jesus. Although I
was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor,
and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy
because I did it ignorantly in unbelief
(v. 13, emphasis added). Heaven is more
interested in your potential than in your
pedigree. Where you have been in your
past life is less important than where God
will take you in the future. The Holy Spirit
repeatedly demonstrates what good can
be accomplished by a life surrendered
to His power.
Your message is from Jesus. And
the grace of our Lord was exceedingly
abundant, with faith and love which are
in Christ Jesus (v. 14, emphasis added).
Never wonder what topics you should
preach. Consistently proclaim Scriptures
message of grace, faith, and love in Jesus
and your preaching will both ourish
and transform.
Your mission is from Jesus. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief
(v. 15, emphasis added). Your mission
must match Gods message. The churchs
purposeas well as Christs goal for your
own ministryis to save the lost. Preach
the Word! Call for decisions. Build newly
baptized believers into disciples. This is soul
winning. Heaven has no other priority.
Your example is for Jesus. However,
for this reason I obtained mercy, that
in me rst Jesus Christ might show all
longsuffering, as a pattern to those who
are going to believe on Him for everlasting
life (v. 16, emphasis added). Beyond
eloquence, education, or erudition,
the world needs to see the Holy Spirits
impact on your daily life. The same
apostle says, Follow me as I follow
Christ. You will be successful in ministry
to the extent that you live your individual
life following Jesus closely and inviting
others to join you in that journey.
Doxology. Now to the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, to God who alone
is wise, be honor and glory forever
and ever. Amen (v. 17). When Gods
ministers actualize these realities, their
lives join Jesus own ministry in a
doxology of glorious praise.
To see the entire ordination service,
view it online at www.ministerialassociation
.com or order a DVD for US$10.00
(includes shipping).
1 Murray Watts, Preachers at Large (Grand Rapids,
MI: Monarch Books, 2001), 6.
2 Responsive reading and hymn numbers refer to
the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal.
3 Suggestions for a formal charge and welcome to
ministry should be selected and abbreviated from the
Seventh-day Adventist Ministers Manual, chapter 15.
Tell us what you think about this editorial. Email us
at [email protected] or write to us
12501 Old Columbia Pike / Silver Spring, Maryland / 20904-6600 / U.S.A. / www.willplan.org
P L A N N I N G F O R T H E
Estate planning gives us
a truly awesome power
to make a difference for
generations to come.
Pastor Lynn and Lona Schlisner
Madison, Tennessee
W
e wrote our first wills in the early 1970s,
because we wanted to be sure that, if
anything happened to us, our son would be raised as
an Adventist even though not all of our family
belongs to our church. Over the years, as weve
pastored in South Dakota, Oklahoma,
Virginia and Tennessee, Trust Services has
helped us learn how to plan for our growing
family, conform to state laws, and remember
the conference in which we are employed.
And working with Trust Services has promoted a
spirit of confidence that our wishes ultimately will be
carried out. We believe stewardship extends beyond
our lifetime. Estate planning allows us to continue
Gods work, so that we are counted in the last analysis
as faithful. So its a very secure feeling for us
to have wills. We are thankful to Trust Services
for providing a chart to help us navigate the
road ahead.
Call us toll free: 1- 877- WI LLPLAN
Tr u s t S e r v i c e s
1350 N. KINGS ROAD NAMPA, ID 83687-3193
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Nonprot Organization
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PAID
Nampa, ID
Permit No. 147
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
James Earl Massey is the

son and grandson of ministers.
For 22 years Dr. Massey was the
senior and founding minister of
the Metropolitan Church of God,
a large multicultural, mission-
oriented congregation in Detroit,
Michigan, U.S.A. He was also
elected for a ve-year period to
be the speaker on the Christian
Brotherhood Houra weekly
international program which
broadcasted on more than
140 radio stations. More than
140 colleges, universities, and
seminaries have invited him
to preach or lecture. James
Earl Massey has authored 25
published books and in 2006
Christianity Today named him
one of the 25 Most Inuential
Preachers of the Past 50 Years.
THE
PASSIONATE
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Broadcast Live from Walla Walla University
College Place, Washington, U.S.A.
TUESDAY, APRI L 22, 2008
1: 004: 30 P. M. U. S. Eastern Ti me
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Hope Channel (North America)
LIVE Tuesday April 22, 2008
1:00 4:30 pm US Eastern daylight time.

Hope Channel Europe (Europe)
LIVE Tuesday, April 22, 2008
17:00 20:30 GMT

Hope Channel International (Africa)
LIVE Tuesday, April 22, 2008
17:00 20:30 GMT

Hope Channel International (Pacic Rim
and Southeast Asia)
Repeat: Wednesday, April 23, 2008
01:00 04:30 GMT (11:00 am Sydney, Australia)

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Available at no cost to you!
Par ti ci pati ng Organi zati ons
301.680.6515 301.680.6502
[email protected]
www.ministerialassociation.com
[select PREACH from menu list]
Laurence Turner is
Principal Lecturer in Old
Testament Studies and Director
of Research Degrees at Newbold
College, Bracknell, England. Dr.
Turners main area of research
and publishing has been the
book of Genesis, on which he
has published three books and
contributed to major reference
works and journal articles. He
is very highly regarded as an
expository preacher and enjoys
expounding the Old Testament
in a contemporary Christian
context. In addition to Old
Testament, Dr. Turner teaches
homiletics at undergraduate
and postgraduate levels and
is regularly invited to preach
internationally.
Jo Ann Davidson lectures at
the Andrews University Theological
Seminary. She has the distinction
of being the rst woman lecturer in
the Theology Department. Articles
she has written have appeared
in the Adventist Review, Signs of
the Times, and the Journal of the
Adventist Theological Society. Her
column, Lets Face It, which has a
womans slant on theology, appears
regularly in the journal Perspective
Digest. She has also authored the
published book Jonah: The Inside
Story. Dr. Davidson is a highly
sought-after speaker for large
national and international Christian
conventions and continues to nd
great fulllment in her various roles
as wife, mother, daughter, sister,
auntie, teacher, musician, student,
and active Christian.
Lloyd John Ogilvie has
long been recognized as having
a remarkably distinguished
ministry. He was the 61
st

chaplain of the United States
Senate in Washington, D.C. Dr.
Ogilvie has authored more than
55 books and has been the
recipient of many prestigious
awards including being named
in the 1996 Baylor Universitys
worldwide survey as one of the
12 most effective preachers in the
English-speaking world. Recently,
Fuller Theological Seminary in
Pasadena, California, established
the Lloyd John Ogilvie Preaching
Institute and the Lloyd John
Ogilvie Chair of Preaching.
Broadcast LIVE by satellite on Hope
Channel and LIVE via webstreaming
www.ministerialassociation.com

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I NT E R NAT I ONA L

is the international journal of the

Subscriptions, 12501 Old Columbia Pike,

(ISSN 0026-5314) is a journal of the

Pub. Assn., 1350 N. Kings Road,

James Earl Massey is the

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