The iPad offered a promising solution to the problem, while adding some nice features. First, the large, bright screen made it easy to read the slides. Furthermore, when presenting with the iPad you have 4 different possible views, which you can change on the fly: current slide, next slide, current and next slide side-by-side, and current slide with speaker notes.

Second, you actually control the Continue Reading…

This fall, the Coeur d’Alene Seventh-day Adventist Church decided to delve into Revelation with the sole intent of seeing how Jesus is revealed within the pages of this often intimidating book. They organized their Sabbath morning church services as an evangelistic platform for all who were interested in learning more about the book of Revelation from the vantage point of seeing Jesus.

Pastor Mike Larson shared ten messages in a series entitled, ‘Jesus Revealed’, which covered the entire book. In preparation for the series, changes were made church-wide. The Coeur d’Alene church worked to intentionally create an atmosphere of anticipation. As a part of their evangelistic effort, a team was formed that addressed stage design, church decor, web site enhancements, worship planning, member involvement, and advertisement.

Although, the sermon teaching was in some respects the central part of the series, the church also wanted to bring out the ‘revelation’ theme in other parts of the service. They accomplished this by using drama, music, and various creative expressions to provide an atmosphere where people could experience Christ throughout the service.

Pictured left to right: Michaela Peterson, Kaitlin Seeley, Camryn Clark, and Daniela Larson

One of the highlights of the series was when many in the congregation responded to the call to accept or recommit to Christ as their personal Savior during the message on the three angels of Revelation 14. The response was followed by a season of prayer. Many were brought to tears as they felt the reality of God’s presence in their lives and in the church body.

Over the course of the ten-week series, the Coeur d’Alene church was blessed in a variety of ways. The response to the messages was overwhelmingly positive. Estranged church members began returning to the church fascinated by the different perspective being presented. Current church members stated that in all of their years in the church, they had never seen how beautifully Christ was revealed in the book of Revelation.

Ron and Cindi Stout described their experience this way: “In our 29 years as members of this church we have never been more excited about going to church and listening to and absorbing the messages that are presented each week. As we travel we listen to the sermons online as soon as they are available. The scholarly study of Revelation has truly been inspiring.”

In addition to the Stouts, many other individuals benefited from listening, watching, and even reading the sermons on the church’s website. The church received emails from various people from all over the country who were impacted by the ‘Jesus Revealed’ messages. Many who attended the services felt the series was a blessing to the church. It allowed them to experience Christ through the lens of Revelation. A book that was once intimidating to some became a beautiful testament of a Savior who loves deeply and who is coming soon!

The Holy Spirit is at work in the Lacey Seventh-day Adventist Church! A couple of weeks before I began our evangelistic meetings in October, a man we had never met walked into our church on Sabbath morning. He said his name was Dick and he lived just a couple of miles from our church. He had been studying his Bible and was convinced that the Sabbath was on the seventh day of the week. The greeter brought him to my pastor’s class and he was sitting there when I arrived. He has not missed a Sabbath since! He attended all of the evangelistic meetings and when they were over, I had the joy of baptizing him and his daughter, who has cerebral palsy. Dick was a member of a large Sunday-keeping church in town and so he went to his church leaders and explained what he was doing and why before resigning his positions in that church. Not only has Dick been faithful in coming to the church every time the doors are open, but he has already begun sharing his faith with those he knows by giving them literature about the Sabbath!

We praise God for the way He is working in the hearts and lives of so many who He is preparing for the “harvest”. We also praise Him for the joy we have in being co-workers with Him in the saving of souls! Not only has it been exciting to see the changes in the lives of so many who have taken their stand for Bible truth, but our church has been blessed as we have worked together in reaching out to our community with the Good News.

The One Project is returning to the Emerald City in 2014. Registration is now open and is already filling up with over 200 of the 700 spots taken and 150 requested it appears we are nearly 50% full.

Join us. Add your voice to this important conversation. Spend two days with like-minded believers celebrating the supremacy of Jesus in the theme of “Present Truth.”

An often-overlooked scriptural promise offers a key to transforming America

No one doubts that America has turned its back on God. Neither is there any debate whether our nation now revels in ungodly principles, beliefs, laws and actions. We are an unrighteous people who love our sinfulness, yet those of us who have experienced the redemption of Jesus in our lives still cling to a hope that the heart of America may still yet be turned back to Him.

That hope has taken serious hits recently, to the extent that many Christians have given up praying for a nation that continues to voice—and vote—its ungodly values. None of us knows when America will officially fall from God’s mercy into His judgment. But we can cling to a biblical prophecy that not only has lasted thousands of years, it also offers a key to transforming any nation, no matter how far steeped in godlessness.

In the final chapters of the book of Daniel, buried amid end-time prophecies on everything from the Antichrist to Armageddon, the angel Gabriel delivers this promise: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (12:3, NIV).

The American church isn’t exactly shining like the heavens right now, and I believe part of this dimming is because Continue Reading…

A vegetarian diet is one that does not include “flesh” foods. Some argue that fish was not included in the term “flesh” in the late nineteenth century; even today many who consider themselves vegetarians include fish as a part of their diet. Our Lord both ate and served fish in His glorified body, which would logically lead to an understanding that fish, intrinsically, is a useful article of diet.

Even Ellen White ate fish during a period in which she claimed she had not eaten any “flesh” foods. This has led some researchers to believe that she did not include fish under the terminology of “flesh,” which usually connoted red meats. She did, however, caution about fish taken from polluted waters.

Since her time the rise in concentrations of mercury, cadmium, PCBs, and dioxin in natural waters has been of many multiples, and we do not feel comfortable recommending fish as a regular article of diet. Of course, we recognize that there are places where the waters are not polluted, and that there’s some evidence of benefits from consuming fish.

Several studies show that the consumption of fish two to three times per week lowers the risk of a nonfatal heart attack by 21 percent, of death from coronary heart disease by 38 percent, and of stroke by 31 percent.1 These studies have Continue Reading…

Last month at Auburn Adventist Academy, Edward T. Decker Jr., announced to the school in a Skype call that he will become the new principal by early August. Decker, who is currently working on a Ph.D. in leadership from Andrews University, is a respected and well-known leader in the Northwest. Says Decker, “By God’s grace and strength, I desire to demonstrate integrity and compassion as I proceed, with excellence, in the goals God puts before me.” Decker will be joined by his wife Gladys, who used to teach English at Auburn. Their son, Trei, graduated from Auburn in 2012 and daughter, Alexi, is currently a student there. Watch the recorded Skype call on Facebook and read the complete story from AuburnAcademy.org.

Bryan Departing Walla Walla University

Alex Bryan, senior pastor at the Walla Walla University (WWU) Church in College Place, Wash., has been named president of Kettering College, in Kettering, Ohio, effective June 1. Bryan, who has served WWU for the past four years, will be the sixth president of the college, replacing Charles Scriven, who is retiring. In addition to a teaching role for the WWU School of Business and School of Theology, Bryan also served on the president’s cabinet as an advisor on vision and strategy. “This decision has come at the end of many long weeks of prayer as we have sought God’s leading,” says Bryan. “We hold deep affection for this church and this campus. The Walla Walla family is our family now, and always.” Read the full story at GleanerOnline.org.

Source – Best Practices for Adventist Ministry

There is a divine mandate given to us to preach, teach, and baptize. While we may be excellent in exposition and get many baptisms, I believe we still lack one thing: the element of discipling new converts and believers. At our church we’ve attempted to close the back door with some new methods that are also reasonably priced. Do you like free? I do. The Lord has helped us gain new converts through these new, simple discipleship methods. I have baptized many before, but not like this.

I’d been searching for a new way of modeling the ministry of Jesus, to do something different. One method that has worked in my church is to meet people in a neutral environment. Jesus taught his disciples in a place of comfort for them. For many today Starbucks is a place of comfort. It’s a place to relax and talk, a place to be themselves. I embarked on a discipleship journey with someone at Starbucks before they were interested in being baptized. We would meet once a week and talk about life, being a man, sports. Eventually that led to him asking what he had to do to join our church. We started having weekly bible studies at Starbucks. He did get baptized. But after his baptism we still meet at Starbucks to talk about life, being a man, and sports. This encounter has lead to others joining us.

The second method that we have been using in our church as a discipleship project is a church fantasy football league. As many know, fantasy football is often used to bet, gamble and most of all talk trash. We instead use it as a positive way for the men to bond. But more than that we reach out to those that Rick Warren would describe as on the fringes of the church. It’s attracted both men and women.

After a few months one of the men on the fringes who was in the league asked for Bible studies and was baptized. He said he never felt prodded or pushed to make a decision to join the church. He said he just felt like he was a part. We use the fantasy football league to encourage positive fellowship with fellow believers. I wish I could say that on Sabbaths all that is exchanged are normal Sabbath pleasantries. But the important thing is that the league is a way that people use to find common ground, a springboard for conversations about, life, kids, work and the week. The camaraderie that has developed in the group has built anticipation and assisted us in fulfilling the gospel commission.

“Those were great presentations pastor, I wish more people could have been here” – Church member

Evangelism is hard work for our church people. All the time given, all the money spent, and at times there seems to be no increase in membership.

We did not get any baptisms from our series, there are things we could have done better in advertising and preparing people for these meetings. Those things didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a successful meeting. We had about 15 guests come from our neighbors, family, and friends. Our church regained our focus on why we exist today.

We as a church have dedicated ourselves to the growth of our church. I encouraged our members that these meetings could be a launching point to become teachers, and practice giving lessons to others. We can’t do this work waiting for pastors to do all the preaching. This message must be taken out by the whole body.

Seeds were planted, new people came to church, some for only one day, and some for the whole series. I believe one day when the time comes, the things they have heard will ring true in their minds. If we look to the future, it is bright, people know that the Adventist message is a timely message for the last day people.

I am not sure what it will take to wake up our city, but I know there will be a time as Amos said, “there will be a famine in the land,” the hunger for truth. When people start searching for truth, I believe we will be there to share the gospel in force.

Whatever the outcome of our series, I am happy that we got to share the truth with new people. To see a church motivated for growth is something that is always positive.

By Robert Amaya, Pastor of Pendleton Spanish Adventist Company

Besides is a ministry that I love, I was scared walking through the metal doors and between guards.  I was impressed when I saw a large room extremely clean and appropriate.  A pulpit, better than many pulpits in our churches, was right in the center of the room in front of 50 chairs full of man with smiles and ready to start.  That was my first day and my first impression at the Prison of Pendleton, Oregon.

That day God gave me another reason for bringing us to this part of the world, the prison ministry was an unexpected gift.  It is a church with some of the characteristics that I as a pastor would love to see in my regular churches.  Only four SDA members and 46 visitors, all of them full of joy and hunger of the Word of God… what amazing church!

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God was preached there during the following five months. In the middle of the series I made a call to accept Jesus Christ through baptism. 11 people said yes to the Lord and accepted to live under the Kingdom of God and his reign.  Praise the Lord for that miracle. 

One of the 11 to be baptized was Angel, who came to me to tell me his joy in the Lord.  He said, pastor, “I will have to spend the rest of my life here but now I felt that I made the right decision in my life, I am alone but now I know that God is sovereign in my life.”

The day of the big party, in a beautiful church and baptistery in the prison and in the middle of the amazing celebration, Angel was baptized.  He told me:  “I’m free living the Kingdom of God, I’m happy and now my life has sense.”

Praise the Lord for Angel and for our amazing church at the Pendleton prison.

Visual Technology and the Local Church

Technology is rapidly shaping society. From iPhones to iPads to complicated lighting boards and powerful projectors, society is influenced by the best gadgets and electronics this age has to offer. But how are cellphones, computers, projectors-you name it-influencing your local church? Read more

Older Folks Like Visuals Too As technology has worked its way into our sanctuaries over the last two decades, generation gaps have grown into chasms. Any church over 30 years old is having to traverse the balance between their young adult and senior members by finding relevant ways to teach their congregation while staying grounded in biblical principles and tradition. For many this balance has been the cause of frustration and conflict. Churches with largely older members have often decided that avoiding change is the best course of action, resulting in a loss of dynamic energy that can lead to decreased membership and effectiveness. However the gap can be bridged with good communication. Read more

Downey Church uses SongShow

Like many churches we started our media experience with PowerPoint. When we needed more features, we started by listing the features that we thought were important that were missing from PowerPoint.

We read every review and article we could find. One of the great features of worship presentation software is they all allow some type of trial. We installed them all and evaluated them as well.  This is an important step that everyone who is thinking about changing systems should do. Nothing says more about the software than actually trying it on your own system. There were some software packages that were highly rated, that just didn’t feel right to us. That’s an important item to consider as you will be using this software every week. Read more

Prezi Can Be Stunning

If you’re looking for a way to spice things up a bit from the same old PowerPoint slides, or if you’d like to pre sent your worship graphics in a more linear way, you might give Prezi a try.

Prezi, much like PowerPoint and Apple’s Keynote, is a computer-based presentation program that works on PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad. It differs from the other presentation software options because, instead of being slide-based, Prezi uses one large canvas where all of your text, graphics, and even videos are placed. This can be really helpful when you need your audience to grasp concepts and how they are connected in a more visually spatial method. Read more

Spartanburg Uses ProPresenter

ProPresenter is a very dynamic worship software application suitable for the simplest of needs to more complex integrations. There are many features you can read about on renewedvision.com, but I will cover some here that I find very appealing. We utilize the site license and find it very convenient to have it on multiple computers. The software is also cross-platform so we can all get along. Read more…

by Edwin Cook

In the fall of 2011, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) formed the ad hoc committee for Religious Freedom, headed by Bishop William Lori. He appeared before the U. S. Senate on October 26 of that year to address the concerns of the Roman Catholic Church regarding the libertas ecclesiae (freedom of the church, as an institution) against perceived threats from groups advocating abortion and contraceptive rights.¹ On November 8, 2011, he told Catholic News Agency (CNA) that the first goal of the ad hoc committee was “to lift up the whole area of religious freedom, beginning with the teachings of the church in Dignitatis Humanae—the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on religious freedom” and also to recoup “the vision of our Founding Fathers of the United States” regarding religious freedom.² For him, religious freedom, one of the chief cornerstones of American society, is being violated through restrictions on the free exercise of religion in the public square by some liberal groups.

Implicit in Bishop Lori’s statement regarding the religious freedom vision of our Founders is its compatibility with a Roman Catholic understanding of religious freedom. Is this a historically accurate characterization? Perhaps a short review of a Roman Catholic understanding of religious freedom and that of the American republic is in order. Modern Roman Catholicism struggles with adaptation to the prevailing democratic political systems of our world today, many of which allow for religious pluralism.³ Accustomed to centuries-long church-state relations in Europe in which the secular political order was based on Continue Reading…