The Heat Is on in San Antonio for 2015
by Ed Schwisow
July 10, 2014
San Antonio, the hottest summertime city in the United States, is a poster child for the perils of climate extremes. Red now colors the rising coastal tides on the eroding Gulf shorelines, as area reservoirs fall to some of their lowest recorded levels.
That’s fearful knowledge for those of us who have family members living in San Antonio or as Adventists who wonder why a deliberate choice was made to conduct a world session during the hottest days of the hottest month in the most arid major city in the United States. Otherwise, San Antonio’s summer climate is a worthy gathering ground for Adventists who fervently believe that this world, as it is becoming today, is no longer a fitting home for the human race….
The Heat Is on in the Church
But while questions of logistics are important, of greater import is that the General Conference Session (July 2-12, 2015) is fast lining up as a case study in climate change within the Adventist Church. Internal heat is on and tides are rising. Members right, left, and center share an unprecedented level of concern regarding the Church’s future and are mystified by the strange and idiosyncratic responses by Church administrators to a number of concerns (decisions chronicled and thoughtfully analyzed by Adventist Today). Pressure for women’s ordination from a sizable portion of the Church’s territory has finally broken through the dam of delay and demureness. There is no going back, it seems, and those who may try to turn back San Antonio’s sundial will find the situation far hotter than they ever deemed possible.
In the untimely closing of “The Record Keeper,” we see what truly must be a new record in heated administrative reaction against its own earlier decisions. Why, after so much quality time and effort, was this evangelistic film project terminated (rather than tested and polished further)? If it possessed so little potential by the time production ended, what happened to strip away the original virtues in the early script? The story and the story behind the story are emerging and will indeed be told without bias or self-interest by the free Adventist press. Count on it.
The heat is rising so quickly, and tides are now so high over these and other troubling issues, that Adventist Today has been told of serious concerns that the current GC administration may prove to be a one-term proposition—something unprecedented in modern times. Clearly, San Antonio is a defining moment for the Church, even as San Antonio’s most famous church, the Alamo, was definitive 160 years ago in the history of North America. Eight generations have passed since the Adventist Church came into being during those years of turmoil with Mexico and the future of slavery. We have reached a point of serious reckoning about the future of our Church.
A Historical Reckoning
Historians tell us that about every 80 years (four generations), an organization faces a new reckoning, marked by the passing of those who knew the founders personally.
The Adventist Church passed its first 80-year point (1851-1931) a few years after the death of Ellen White. Now the Church faces the conclusion of its second 80-year span (1931-2011). Gone are the aged Adventists who remember those days in the 1930s, when the Church decided to move in a direction of conservative Protestantism on matters of infallibility both in Scripture and in the writings of Mrs. White. We are faced again, in 2015, with an 80-year benchmark of reckoning.
Internal heat is on, and tides are rising, and making sense of the data is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Eighty years ago great secrecy attended the discussion of vital issues of that time, contributing in significant ways to what is in fact a sundering of Adventism into at least four major factions (Historic, Traditional, Evangelical, and Progressive). In the pages of Adventist Today and on its Web site we now possess an information and analytical resource that attracts articulate members of each of these elements of our Church—elements that for 80 years have tried either to ignore each other’s existence or to use each other as fighting foils.
Moving Forward
To that end, Adventist Today is moving forward aggressively, conscious that we are not a wealthy organization but that our resources lie in the investment we have made in our seasoned readers and the younger set coming aboard. The other day I was talking to one of our young-adult readers with limited income, and asked if she would permit me to send her a complimentary subscription. She refused, and I asked her why. Said she, “When I like something as much as I like Adventist Today, I believe I should pay for it. We want it in our home, and we’re willing to pay the freight.”
We’re now preparing to provide special coverage of this momentous time in the history of our Church (more about that in a future letter.) As other magazines decline precipitously in circulation, Adventist Today remains consistent, in part because we continue to improve and expand our coverage, without increasing our cover price. Our Website traffic has grown immensely and now includes thousands of readers around the world, as well as North America. This winning combination has been made possible by strong donated support since last General Conference Session, when this era of dangerous opportunity for the Church began in earnest. Now as the Church faces a crucial historical divide in its history, we need the independent Adventist press more than ever to chronicle and make sense of a witheringly complex situation that will set the course for the next 80 years.
This is an opportunity to respond strongly as we face a once-in-a-century coming together of forces in the Church that will to a considerable degree lock in elements that will remain with us into our grandchildren’s old age. A special investment in Adventist Today is more important today than at any time before in our 21-year history, not because we need or deserve special help, but because the investment now is so vital to the Church as it wrestles with these issues.
To that end our reporting staff is expanding as we begin to establish contact points in our colleges and universities and use the skills of gifted student writers as well as seasoned professionals in the Adventist ambit to cover not only the Americas, but the world field.
Like the weather itself, our Church is a complex collage of many ideas, many influences, many voices. Insight, wisdom, and knowledge are needed to understand it and adapt to changing times. For moments like this the Free Press was created, and functions at its very best….
As the economy continues to show signs of life, and as we move toward San Antonio in 2015, consider making an online gift that reflects the audacious challenges we all face ahead in our Church, or don’t hesitate to phone me, Ed Schwisow, to discuss larger pledges and contributions over the next few months leading up to the Session…. Our phone number in the Pacific Time Zone) is 503 826-8600. Thank-you for your support now, and as we journey toward San Antonio.
'Historians tell us that about every 80 years (four generations), an organization faces a new reckoning, marked by the passing of those who knew the founders personally.
The Adventist Church passed its first 80-year point (1851-1931) a few years after the death of Ellen White. Now the Church faces the conclusion of its second 80-year span (1931-2011). Gone are the aged Adventists who remember those days in the 1930s, when the Church decided to move in a direction of conservative Protestantism on matters of infallibility both in Scripture and in the writings of Mrs. White. We are faced again, in 2015, with an 80-year benchmark of reckoning.'
Really great comment. When you read the NT, you do get the expectation that the Apostles really thought Jesus was going to return in their lifetimes. Probably the best example is Paul telling virgins they may not have time to marry.
Many Bible scholars today (non-Adventist ones to-boot) emphasise just how apocalyptic the NT Church was. The even have a special term for the type of ethics Jesus taught – 'thoroughgoing interim ethics'. Being, whilst we might want to relegate Jesus to just a great moral teacher (as many of our regular ex-Adventist commentators do here on AToday), even Jesus' ethincal teaching are framed by the context of an imminant end.
The Early Church when through a massive crises when Jesus did not return, and you even start to get glimpses of it in the frantic writings of Peter, James, Jude and Paul. The NT itself is a product of the Apostles starting to die off, because as Kasemann rightly said, 'You don't write a full history of Jesus and the Early Church if you think the world is about to end.'
By the time of the second and third centuries, many of the Church leaders of the 'proto-Catholic' Church had all but given up in the idea of Jesus' coming back soon – or at all. You have Augustine emphasising the New Jerusalem is the Church here on earth. You have a greater emphasis on the question of the intermittant state after death (because before the question itself would have been pretty irrelevant, if you thought Jesus was about to return and the resurrection occur).
My point being, I think the SDA Church is now in about the same place as the Early Church was, when it started to give up hope. When I was a kid (and I am only 35), most of us thought Jesus really would return in our lifetimes. When I recently asked a group of teens this same question, only 2 out of 40 put their hands up and thought the same.
What will the SDA Church loook like when a very large portion no longer believes, or drastically downplays, the idea of the imminant Second Comming. Can you have an Adventist Church without the Advent? This, I think, is a shift probably found in Mormons and other similar-timeframed denominations, quite apart from the sort of changes (like on the issue of WO) found in more mainstream and other Christian groups.
Just to clarify, July is not the hottest month in San Antonio. Today, 49 miles north in San Marcos, it's 88 degrees at 12:30 p.m. Try August and September!! Did you know that San Antonio is the 7th largest city populationwise in the US? It's a really lovely city. Easy traffic. No smog. Good food. You'll be surprised! Today, 40 miles north, it's 88 degrees at 12:30 noon. Not too bad, huh? (Of course next year could be a different story–it might be 95.) Welcome!
Ed Schwisow and Mr. Ferguson have put their fingers squarely on an issue that will increasingly haunt the credibility of those speaking for the corporate Adventist Church. What do you do when a large part of your second generation and beyond membership have come to the conclusion that Jesus is not coming back soon? When a sizable portion of your members in the First World do not subscribe to the Adventist part of the name of their denomination, what are your options? One option is to redefine what “imminent” means. One way is to say it does not mean in a few years or few decades, it means “at the end of the individual lifetimes of current members.” That’s the “Second Coming.” But everyone will have his or her way to dealing with that new reality. An exchange of views on this topic should be very, very interesting.
Does anybody remember the 1985 General Conference session in New Orleans? Now that one was HOT! Days in the 90s with stifling humidity. Oh, how good it felt to get inside where it was air conditioned!
Some of us were introduced to San Antonio when we were stationed there at Ft. Sam Houston for basic training and advanced medical corps school. I arrived in FEB and left in AUG (1962). I remember a bit of heat and humidity….
"~~Eighty years ago great secrecy attended the discussion of vital issues of that time, contributing in significant ways to what is in fact a sundering of Adventism into at least four major factions (Historic, Traditional, Evangelical, and Progressive)."
Hmmm 4 factions…really. What is the difference between Historic and Traditional? About the only thing I can think would be if you mean by historic that extremely small group that still believe in Semi-Arianism. I don't recall even seeing any of those represented in the comment section on Atoday. What does Evangelical mean? Evangelical is frequently equated to fundamentalism today. Not at all sure what that means anymore, people that read John MacArthur or Rick Warren. Most Adventist who are middle of the road prefer the term moderate over Evangelical. Long ago Evangelical was used for good news oriented but I think that meaning vanished quite a while ago. No need to go over Progressive as we all know it is not something that the church really even wants to acknowledge.
Try giving us a clear description of each. Try it. The words are so nebulous and poorly defined and the ways people use them so varied that they are meaningless. So here are my suggestions:
1. The "Out of Towners." These are the folks who think we should all be living in remote places because of what Ellen White wrote about the unsanitary conditions that existed in the cities 150 years ago.
2. The "People of the Red Books." These are the people who can give you five or ten quotes from Ellen White (or claims of what they think they remember her saying) on a particular point, but never a Bible verse.
3. The "Lost in Prophecy-ites." These are the people who are focused so intently on studying and debating minor points of prophecy that they can think of nothing else. Ministering God's love and seeking the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are irrelevant to them.
4. The "I know, so therefore you don't-ers." These are the people whose actions and opinions tell you that they think God judges us based on how many facts we have right about him instead of knowing him.
5. The "Escape Artists." These are the people who leave the church to escape the four groups above.
6. The "Seekers." These are the people who know their sinfulness and need of a Savior and are seeking to know God better.
7. The "Spirit Ministers." These are the people who recognize the scriptural role of the Holy Spirit and are seeking to minister God's love to others in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Seems to be 1,2,3,4 overlap so much that they are only one group. so the question would be are they historic or traditional, or evangelical (fundamentalist SDA version)?
If they all look the same to you it is because you do not know them well.
Or maybe I know them well and you don't. You ever think of that? Let's go through them instead of just using your graitutitus assertion technique. What do those first 3 have in common…EGW. Right? What does number 4 have in common with the first three? Judging by knowledge, and where does that knowledge come from to say I know and you don't. Which aside from the graituitus assertion method that you used is in the Adventist church done by pointing to the EGW "truth".
Believe me I know them all well. And I know them well enough to recognize the differences. They do NOT all look the same to me.
Brother William,
Once again you have made some very astute observations.
I think you have left-out the "Institutional Loyalists" among others. Many in the employed ranks of the church fall into this category (surprise 8-).
Also there are the "Social Adventists" who constitute a very large portion of Adventists in many places. And then there are the "Socio-economic climbers" who see Adventism as a path for upward mobility. Again these are a large portion of Adventists in some places, particularly regions of rapid growth.
Also it must be understood that these categories are not mutually exclusive. People can and do operate within various combinations of these categories. And over time they can migrate between these categories in interesting and not easily predicted manners.
William, I love it! Witty and perceptive.
William, I love it! Witty and perceptive.
Wilson will be re-elected quicker than he was elected.
WO may not even be on the agenda in San Antonio; if it is it will be tabled again to a super select commitee for further study.
And Pipim will be a delegate from Ghana
Your first two predictions may indeed come to pass. The pro-Wilson and anti-WO constituencies are very strong within the largest divisions of the world church.
Your third prediction is more problematic, though hypothetically possible. It is my understanding that (non- ex officio) GC delegates must be church members within the organization they represent. Dr Pipim's freshly reinstated membership is in the Ohio Conference. Based upon a recent open letter from its president, the Ohio Conference is unlikely to select Dr Pipim as a delegate to GC. So I guess Dr Pipim has less than a year left to transfer his membership to Ghana should he wish to become a delegate?
If Ted is reelected, it only shows that religious institutions are usually their own worst enemy and their ability to shoot themselves in their many feet is unlimited.
As for WO not being on the agenda. I suspect that Ted can't stop that, even if he wanted to. And if, by some political miracle, he does accomplish it, if NAD does not revolt at that point, then we are in for a long dark night in the NAD. But I have confidence in the integrity of current NAD leadership. They would not allow that to happen.
The long dark night will be introduced rather by changing the wording of FB#6 to return Adventism back to the it's low point theologically as it was in the 1930s.
The 2015 GC session in San Antonio should be very interesting for all kinds of reasons. Adventist Today will be there to report objectively and with high journalistic standards on all that happens. How the Adventist Review reports what happends is questionable, depending on how much the editor wishes to keep his job.
Could it be that the speculation as evidenced above is the product of wishful thinking?
Maranatha
~~"Why, after so much quality(?) time and effort, was this evangelistic(?) film project terminated (rather than tested and polished further)? If it possessed so little potential by the time production ended, what happened to strip away the original virtues(?) in the early script?"
(?) Added.
What does a wise person do with trash? There's an easy answer.
Maranatha
One person's trash is another person's treasure.
A lot of higher level GC and NAD officers lent their names to this project. Not people accustomed to producing trash.
You of course have admitted to only seeing the trailer yet you know all about this?
Or do you think that fat-cat Adventist donors should have a veto over every church-sponsored initiative?
~~"A lot of higher level GC and NAD officers lent their names to this project. Not people accustomed to producing trash"
Jim, I'd appreciate knowing who the "lot" of higher level NAD and GC officers were who lent their names to this misadventure. Thanks. Frankly, I have never heard that previously and since you seem to have the inside info please let us in on it.
The credits at the end of each episode included the names of various NAD and GC officers. Representatives from these organizations were intimately involved in developing the script and were on the set at every filming, and were in total control of the budeget.
The SDA church holds the copyright to this series as a work-for-hire which is why the GC were able to cancel it under pressure from certain interest groups who did not like the results. It is likely that the final decision was made by Ted himself, though nobody will come right out and say this. The decision to cancel the series was by no means unanimous within the church hierarchy, but once the decision was made, publicly thay have all fallen into line. I know that privately there are different opinions about what happened as high up as "executive row" in Silver Spring MD.
You might want to re-read my Atoday reviews of the video series itself and of the reactions from various perspectives.
https://atoday.org/article/2493
https://atoday.org/article/2540
David Barr's comment about Pipen is priceless. First class.
If Ted is reelected, it only shows that religious institutions are usually their own worst enemy and their ability to shoot themselves in their many feet is unlimited.
As for WO not being on the agenda. I suspect that Ted can't stop that, even if he wanted to. And if, by some political miracle, he does accomplish it, if NAD does not revolt at that point, then we are in for a long dark night in the NAD. But I have confidence in the integrity of current NAD leadership. They would not allow that to happen.
The long dark night will be introduced rather by changing the wording of FB#6 to return Adventism back to the it's low point theologically as it was in the 1930s.
The 2015 GC session in San Antonio should be very interesting for all kinds of reasons. Adventist Today will be there to report objectively and with high journalistic standards on all that happens. How the Adventist Review reports what happends is questionable, depending on how much the editor wishes to keep his job.
Jim-
I just would like to see some of the "names" whom you claim were associated with the film who are high level NAD and GC personnel. Thanks.
Maranatha
For what purpose?
To prove whether I am telling the truth or so you can add them to your rogue's gallery?
Whatever!! It appears quite obvious that you can't produce the alleged names, Jim. So what else is new?
No – I will respect the rights of the SDA church which has withdrawn the series and holds the copyright.
You can make whatever insinuations or accusations that please you. Even if I published the list of credits you could choose not to believe me and claim it was a fabrication. Or you would add them to your personal rogue's gallery. Or both. So just go ahead and accuse me of whatever evil you wish to imagine. I stand in good company with all the others you have maliciously accused with absolutely no evidence except your own dubious and devious suspicions.
Did you ever bother to read the two articles I have published at Atoday regarding The Record Keeper? Did you bother to check all of my sources that were cited in these articles? How exactly do you intend to live-up to your pen name?
If you are seeking further truth regarding The Record Keeper, then even though you may not believe what I have written, you might want to carefully read my two articles, especially the second. There you will find many reference to other sources that may have more truth than I. You should read all of these references, not just your favorites.
If you are still seeking further truth, you can contact those sources directly and see if they will answer your questions. If these sources decline, then I will honor their wishes. If they should choose to answer questions that I have not answered in writing, then I will be happy to further discuss whatever they say, if you would find that to be helpful.
If this search for truth seems too daunting, here are just a few links you might want to read:
https://atoday.org/article/2493 (my first article for whatever it may be worth)
https://atoday.org/article/2540 (my second article for whatever it may be worth)
http://gleanernow.com/feature/record-keeper-new-window-great-controversy (a church publication)
https://www.facebook.com/TheRecordKeeper/posts/569064119850286 (a church Facebook page)
http://www.asabbathblog.com/2014/04/why-suspension-of-record-keeper-is.html (one of the more neutral commentaries with several good links of its own)
Or you can remain smug in your current state of enlightenment regarding this topic.
Seek and ye shall find.
One more link that Truth Seeker does not agree with:
https://atoday.org/article/2440/opinion/waterman-dean/time-for-a-family-meeting
Those of us who do not share Seeker's perspective are just "liars all the way down" 8-).