Best Practices
| June 17, 2010
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iFollow Luncheon at the GC session
Friday, July 2, 12:30 to 1:29
Convention Center Room B306
iFollow was developed in response to research findings with Adventist pastors who said that they needed discipleship resources. Our best Adventist writers and editors, under the direction of the NAD Church Resources Center, have created a set of powerful tools for strengthening the vitality of the local congregation and deepening spiritual life.
Come and share a (free) luncheon buffet and get a sneak peek at the overall scope of iFollow, including the special edition of the Pastor's DVD with its complete library of iFollow resources. Attendees will receive a complete set of the inaugural iFollow resources.
Please RSVP to chariolett.johnson@nad.adventist.org, or call 301-680-6429.
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General Conference Session
| GC 2010: A User's Guide
by Loren Seibold
A marvelous theme - and theme song
First off, let's thank our leaders for a wonderful General Conference theme: "Proclaiming God's Grace". There was a time when we Adventists didn't talk enough about grace. But grace is what we're about, both as Christians living and worshiping down here, and in our quest for heaven: "Twas grace that brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home.'
That's not the theme song for Atlanta 2010 - though it could be. This session's theme song is by Southern Adventist College professor Bruce Ashton - and it's a marvelous piece of work, worthy of inclusion in the hymnal. You can download the music and listen to a recording on the GC website.
Keeping up with the GC news
In case you're not attending the GC session, they've worked hard to communicate with the church about the upcoming session. There's a full print and web presence, and even an iPhone app devoted only to GC session news! Quote: "It features information on local hotels, restaurants and transportation... a facility map, the Session schedule and news." In addition, for a mere 99¢ you can get a Hope Channel app, to follow the presentations live right from your iPhone. Access these through the iTunes Store. (No android apps yet.)
Other ways to follow the session
Important issues
You won't be all that surprised that some of the business doesn't differ much from previous sessions. The biggest thing - and the one most people will be talking about - is the election of GC officers. (Check here for an explanation of the process.) GC official sources are tight-lipped about expectations - after all, the final decision belongs to the delegates - but there's one guideline that you can go by: if an officer hasn't announced his retirement, he's available for reelection. There are two confirmed retirements from the upper echelon: General VPs Mark Finley and Gerry Karst. The position of ministerial secretary is also open, due to the untimely passing of Jim Cress late last year.
One interesting subject up for discussion will be a proposal to elect only top officials at the Session, and move the election of departmental associate directors from the Session to
the first GC committee meeting afterward. Some unions and conferences already do this. If adopted, it could streamline the process.
As always, GC officials will be presenting changes to the Church Manual. Beyond the usual edits, a key section will address potential problems when working with minors, such as sexual abuse.
One thing you won't find on the agenda: the ordination of women. In our recent Best Practices webinar, Paulsen that the results of a world
church survey showed having this discussion in Atlanta would be
counterproductive, but that there are "no biblical grounds" on which the
church should "shun or push away" the issue. "With some more time, some
more education, we will accomplish something that if we try to address
before we're ready, could do greater damage to the global church." (See more on the webinar discussion here.)
How much does it cost?
Here's the answer from GC Treasurer Bob Lemon:
"The world headquarters' cost directly for the
Session is a
little over $6 million. The total church cost is approximately twice
that when
you count all the travel and hotel expenses and expenses for delegates
coming
from all around the world, which I would estimate is about $12 million
total."
The NAD
The president of the NAD will be elected at the GC session, as are the executives of all the divisions. The rest of the NAD officers are appointed at or after the year-end NAD executive committee meeting in November.
What impact does this session have on you and your local church? Directly, very little. Over time, quite a lot.
In an article in the Adventist Review, Andy Nash talks about how little knowledge modern young people have of the church's hierarchy: only ten out of fifty-seven of his students knew that Jan Paulsen was the church's president, and four knew that Don Scheider was the NAD president.
I wouldn't be surprised if most of our adult church members are similarly uninformed, suggesting the GC session is an insiders event. But the leaders of the church do ultimately affect how the church runs, its ministry and mission. The GC president, especially, has a high pulpit from which to influence church policy, and even how we
think about our distinctive beliefs.
Adjunct programs
These programs are also scheduled for Atlanta, around the same time as the GC session. Check them out.
Impact Atlanta
SEEDS church planting conference
Innovative Impact
SONscreen Film Festival
United Christian Artists Association events
Dr. Bob Peach from Kettering Counseling Care Center is running a "Counselor in Residence" program for pastors and others at the GC session. Visit their website at www.khnetwork.org/gccnl/to get info or schedule an appointment.
Look for the NAD booths in the exhibit hall. Church Resources
(Vervent) will be there promoting several of our favorite programs,
including SONscreen Film Festival and the new iFollow Discipleship
curriculum.
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| Featured Media |  The 2010 SONscreen film festival will be held in Atlanta,
Georgia at the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University concurrently
with the Seventh-day Adventist World General Conference session. This year will
be an even more exciting gathering of student, professional visual
storytellers and international attendees who are literally "Changing the
World, 24 frames per second". No one should miss the informative
workshops, inspiring panels, presentations, and nightly film screenings. This
year's General Conference theme "Proclaiming God's Grace" has been
incorporated into SONscreen overall theme this year. The Film Festival Showcase begins June 26,27. Also on July 1 all three of Stained Glass Documentary series will be shown in their entirety during the SONscreen showcase. Click here to view the schedule of fil  ms to be
shown. The SONscreen Film Festival was created by the NAD Church Resource Center to nurture Christian filmmakers in their craft, career development, and
spiritual life.   The iFollow Discipleship luncheon takes place Friday, July 2
12:30-1:29 pm in the Convention Center Room B306. iFollow was developed in
response to research findings with Adventist pastors who said that discipleship
resources were among the most important materials that could be provided to
them. Attendees at the announcement luncheon will receive a complete set of the
inaugural iFollow resources and information on how they and their organization
can participate in iFollow Launch activates slated for 2010-11. Please RSVP to
Chariolett Johnson at Chariolett.Johnson@nad.adventist.org.
For those who can't attend, a preview of the iFollow curriculum can be viewed
as a recorded webinar here.
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| To the Point
| Our
meetings are held to discuss many problems which would never
arise if we held fewer meetings
- Ashleigh
Brilliant
There
is one crucial rule that must be followed in all creative meetings:
Never speak first. At least at the start, your job is to shut up.
- William Goldman
Meetings
are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
- John Kenneth
Galbraith
When
I give a lecture, I accept that people look at their watches, but what I
do not tolerate is when they look at it and raise it to their ear to
find out if it stopped.
- Marcel Achard
A
meeting moves at the speed of the slowest mind in the room. In other
words, all but one participant will be bored, all but one mind
underused.
- Dale Dauten
A
meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours wasted.
- James T. Kirk
If
people are coming to work excited...if they're making mistakes freely
and fearlessly...if they're having fun...if they're concentrating on
doing things, rather than preparing reports and going to meetings...then
somewhere you have a leader.
- Robert Townsend
Football
incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence
punctuated by committee meetings.
- George F. Will
I think they should consider giving Oscars for meetings: Best
Meeting of the Year, Best Supporting Meeting, Best Meeting Based on
Material from Another Meeting.
- William Goldman
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News, Ideas & Reminders
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- The Andrews Study Bible Released. The
only formal study Bible
ever produced by a Seventh-day Adventist publishing
house, the Andrews Study Bible was released to the public for sale on
June 10.
Three years in the making from concept to reality, it will be formally
introduced to the world Church at the upcoming General Conference Session in Atlanta,
Ga., June 24-July 3.
Using
the widely accepted New
King James Version of the Bible, the historic
publication is a full-feature study Bible, with more than 12,000
original study
notes written by an international team of Adventist scholars who
represent the
latest in faithful Biblical scholarship. The volume includes navigational tools,
articles, helps, cross-references, maps and notes, and a unique, linked
reference system to highlight the great themes of the Christian faith. Get more information here.
- Rajkumar Dixit, associate pastor at New Hope church in MD and occasional Best Practices contributor, has written a new book called Branded Faith: Contextualizing
the Gospel in a Post-Christian Era. You can find out more about it here.
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Best Practices is a Vervent publication of NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER. Editor: Loren Seibold, Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church. E-mail:
Best Practices. You are free to republish pieces from Best Practices in your own
newsletter or blog, with attribution to the Best Practices newsletter and the
author of the piece. |
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