Top Adventist Leader uses Web, Video to Talk Directly to Members about His Goals, Concerns
by
By AT News Team, November 15, 2013
It is unprecedented, according to the official Adventist News Network bulletin. Pastor Ted Wilson, president of the General Conference (GC) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has released a video "state of the Church" message on the Internet, taking his goals and concerns directly to Church members. Traditionally this message has been presented as a Sabbath sermon during the annual meeting of the GC executive committee.
Wilson thanked God for the rapid growth of the movement which began in the late 1840s with a few hundred people and now includes an estimated 25 million adherents in more than 70,000 local congregations operating in all but a handful of nations. He restated his top goal of "revival" and shared again a quotation from Ellen G. White, the woman who was the most prominent of leader in the formation of the denomination; "A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs."
Wilson listed four key concerns: (1) a loss of a sense of identity as a unique prophetic movement; (2) changes in traditional norms related to "diet and dress, recreation and amusement, and Sabbath-keeping;" (3) "the danger of disunity;" and (4) apathy and lack of involvement by many members. He stated that God has given the denomination a "divinely inspired organization" and "mutual agreements called church policies" and appealed to members "lay aside personal opinion" and support denominational policies and structures.
"Brothers and sisters, I appeal to you, as I appeal to my own heart, to make a full, complete, total consecration to Christ," Wilson ended his message. He then prayed for the denomination and others seeking the "truths of the Bible."
The entire, 40-minute video can be viewed and downloaded at this Web site: vimeo.com/79438041
This story is based, in part, on a bulletin from Adventist News Network (ANN), the official news service of the denomination.
