On behalf of the North American Division I thank Loren Seibold for six years of service in helping produce the Best Practices for Adventist Ministry email newsletter. From those humble beginnings with a mailing list of less than 300 the number of subscribers has grown to over 7,000. From just one newsletter, an entire family of Best Practices has emerged including BP for Worship, BP for Evangelism, and BP for Ministerial Directors and Fresh Strength for Spouses. With the hundreds of issues, thousands have been inspired, affirmed, stimulated, and educated. Best Practices is a great example of vision eclipsed by reality. I thank Loren for the thousands of hours devoted to Best Practices. As I looked over the archives just now I am again struck by the consistent relevance and quality of writing and editing that he has given the NAD pastoral community over the years.

 Starting with this issue Dan Martella is our new Managing Editor. Dan is the pastor of the Healdsburg and Cloverdale churches in Northern California. I have known Dan to be an avid reader and gleaner of resources. I'm sure we will be blessed with his creative aggregation. You can help as well. Send him your story ideas and resources. Share what's happening in your church to the entire NAD pastorate.

--Ivan Williams, NAD Ministerial Director 

 

On the morning of the wedding the photographers came to snap pictures of our son as he got dressed. Looking down from the loft above, I watched my youngest slip into his wedding barong. Suddenly a large dam of emotions broke loose. With great heaving sobs I fell into the arms of my wife and recently married daughter crying, "This is the end of life as we have known it. Today we begin a whole new season ..."

Every family, church, and ministry goes through seasons.   And yes, even Best Practices for Adventist Ministry goes through its own sequence of seasons. In seasons past our writers and editors have inspired us with their stories of best practices in pastoral ministry. Their creative insights and encouragement have helped us to sharpen our ministry saw, and we are grateful.

Today we begin a new season together. What can you expect? Short, to the point articles showcasing and encouraging best practices in ministry from a wide variety of pastors and church leaders across the North American Division. Wise words you can quote in your sermons and newsletters. Links to ministry development resources and events. Practical encouragement to grow strong in the seasons of life and ministry.

In the next few issues of Best Practices we will introduce these new features:

• In Stories We Tell, pastors from across the division will share their favorite sermon illustrations. These power-packed stories will energize your preaching, and help connect vital Bible truths to the real life experience of your congregants.
• In Ask A Seasoned Pastor, we will provide you with a free consultation with some of our wisest and most experienced pastors. Through this advice column we will connect your ministry questions with answers that have been forged through the crucible of real life ministry experiences. Be sure to e-mail us your questions.
• In Let's Talk, we will share important conversations together, so be sure to speak up! After reading our articles, tell us what you think on our Best Practices Facebook page. Through our contact link send us your best sermon illustrations, float an idea for an article you would like to write for us, or raise a question that you would like answered by a seasoned colleague. Hearing from you is essential to keeping our Best Practices conversation vibrant and relevant.

With a fresh mix of the old and the new, Best Practices is entering a new season. As we share our stories and gifts in ministry, we will synergistically develop mission-critical attitudes and skills that will help us get our job done with God-blessed success.

Dan Martella is the Managing Editor for Best Practices in Adventist Ministry, and Pastor of the Healdsburg and Cloverdale Churches in Northern California.

 

Teenagers are in a unique position in their identity formation and spiritual development. They are no longer attached to their parents in the way they were as children and it's important to recognize and acknowledge this independence by visiting them in their own world - which for most teens is on campus - at school.

During the teenage years a child spends far more waking hours at school than at home - it is the environment they identify the most closely with, in most cases, and the place where they are faced with the most decisions regarding who they are becoming as a person - especially whether or not they will embrace and actually put into practice the things they are learning in church. If teens don't learn how to "live" their faith at school - they may never learn how to live it at work as adults or anywhere else in their future lives either. Read More here for a few suggestions for making successful pastoral visits with teens at school.

Join the discussion on Facebook.

Scott Ward is the Youth Pastor for the Lodi English Oaks Church in Northern California, and the Public High School Ministries Coordinator for the North American Division.

Join our Best Practices conversation. Share your best sermon illustrations. Tell us the subjects you'd like us to talk about. Float an idea you would like to write about. Raise a question that you would like answered by a seasoned pastor. Contact us at danmartella.nadbestpractices@gmail.com