Two years ago the church elected the youngest president of the General Conference this century. At the 1992 Annual Council the church elected the eighth and youngest-ever secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association. James A. Cress, while only 43 years of age, comes with a rich background in pastoral, evangelistic, and departmental experience. He with his wife, Sharon, the new coordinator of Shepherdess International, have consistently worked together in team ministry.
Pastor Cress, a native of Florida, U. S. A., received a B.A. in theology from Southern Missionary College in 1971 and an M.Div. from Andrews University in 1973. He is currently completing a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary in California.
Cress pastored in Florida from 1974 to 1978. He then served as evangelist and associate ministerial secretary in the Lake Union. From there he moved to the Ohio Conference to be ministerial secretary (1980-1983). Then Cress served as ministerial secretary of the Mid-America Union (1983-1989). For the past three years Cress has pastored the Marietta church in Georgia.
Sharon, his wife of 22 years, works closely with him. She hails originally from Milan, Indiana, although she prefers to call Florida "home." She has most recently served as an associate pastor in the Marietta church. She teams with Jim in such areas as evangelism and personal soul winning, team ministry, and nurturing pastoral families, besides leading out in children's ministries and conducting Myers-Briggs personality inventories.
Here are some of the areas that Jim and Sharon worked in tandem ministry: (1) conducting large city U.S. evangelistic meetings in Miami, Jacksonville, Florida, Lauderdale, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Chicago, Lansing, Anchorage, Kansas City, Denver, and overseas in Fin land; (2) conducting field schools of evangelism in Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri; (3) teaching courses in team ministry at the New Orleans and Indianapolis General Conference sessions; (4) co-founding Soul Winning Workshops for Pastoral Couples (200 pastors/spouses taught evangelistic skills) in the Ohio, Potomac, Northern California, Georgia- Cumberland, Alberta, and Oregon conferences, as well as for the North Pacific and Mid-America unions; (5) founding and publishing Praxis, a journal of pastoral care (1986-1989); (6) teaching for the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary's ninth quarter (pastoral evangelism) in the Pacific Union (1984-1989); (7) instructing for the PREACH professional growth seminars; (8) speaking for workers' meetings across North America and in the Trans-European Division.
The Cresses are intensely interested in increasing the pastoral morale of pas tors and their families. They bring tremendous energy and creativity to their work. They are both deep Bible students and believe strongly in bringing men, women, and children to the foot of the cross, where lies the only true remedy for humankind's problems.
I have personally known Jim and Sharon since 1972 when they came to Glasgow, Scotland, to participate in a field school of evangelism led by Pastor Dale Brusett. I was pastoring in Perth and Crieff at the time. Incidentally, the leader of the student team from the seminary was Ted N. C. Wilson, who has just been elected as president of the Euro-Asia Division.
We discovered that we share the same wedding date, June 7, and never thought that one day we might work closely together. The unexpected happened when Jim was called to the Ohio Conference in 1980 as ministerial secretary, where I was serving as assistant to the president for church administration. There a close friendship developed. Some of our most enjoyable social events were spending evenings together playing various word games.
When Jim and Sharon left in 1983,1 never dreamed that we would ever associate as closely again. But the unexpected has now happened twice. I eagerly anticipate a third fruitful relationship. Jim and Sharon have formidable intellects, deep spirituality, engaging personalities, and the ability to cut through minutiae to the heart of the problem.
Jim has a passion for Noah's ark, especially in its more modern whimsical forms. He collects art, memorabilia, objects anything that bears some resemblance to the ark. While this hobby reminds him of the first destruction of the world, his main goal in life is to prepare people for the second destruction of the world. He and Sharon do this by proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him crucified in the context of the final events that will climax in the coming of our Lord.
We in the Ministerial Association join all the Adventist pastors of the world in welcoming Pastor and Mrs. James Cress as our leaders. We wish them God's rich est blessing.
