NY13, which stands for “New York 2013,” consists of a comprehensive evangelistic initiative designed to involve each church administrator, departmental director, pastor, and church member in the greater New York metropolitan area. This initiative involves much more than a single event, envisioning an ongoing process. The Atlantic Union, Columbia Union, and five conferences (Greater New York, Northeastern, New Jersey, Allegheny East, and Southern New England), comprising the Greater New York and New Jersey area, have united their efforts to reach the 20 million people living in the this huge metropolitan area. NY13 involves varied outreach approaches including personal Bible studies, small groups, health, family life, youth ministries, literature ministry, community services, lay evangelistic meetings, and much more. NY13 envisions each church as a dynamic soul-winning center in which pastors have a passionate commitment to reaching lost people and church members are equipped and trained for service.
During the weekend of January 18–20, 2013, Ted Wilson, the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, along with his wife, Nancy, and an accompanying team, met with pastors, leading laypeople, and other church administrators to develop comprehensive plans to reach the city. In addition to a major convocation, the team conducted lay training events throughout the metropolitan area. More than 500 people packed the Linden Seventh-day Adventist Church in Queens to attend Ernestine Finley’s “Light Your World for God” seminar on how to become an effective lay Bible instructor. Each participant received a witnessing workbook and a set of “Search for Certainty” Bible lessons. Attendees actively participated in the seminar as they practiced giving Bible studies to one another. Mrs. Finley challenged each participant to allow God to use them to study the Bible with at least one person and lead that person to Jesus.
Denzil McNeilus, a banker and active lay leader from Dodge Center, Minnesota, along with Robert Costa, associate ministerial secretary for evangelism for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, led out in a “New Beginnings” seminar to train lay preachers. The church was packed to overflowing with eager participants desirous of learning how to use their homes and small auditoriums to conduct lay-led evangelistic meetings. Commenting on the enthusiasm of the attendees, McNeilus said, “I am convinced that there are thousands of laypeople waiting to be challenged to do something significant for the Lord. They just need to be trained and equipped.”
Mark Finley, the assistant to the president of the world church of Seventh-day Adventists, taught a class on how to organize home Bible study groups based on the book of Daniel. More than 130 people attended the small-group training seminar and committed to organize 70 small groups. In addition to the lay training events, more than 1,400 youth were challenged to be part of something great for God and use their influence to touch their friends with the gospel during NY13.
During NY13, approximately 400 evangelistic meetings will be conducted in the metropolitan New York area, involving hundreds of churches and thousands of church members. Pastors are leading their congregations in prayer vigils, earnestly petitioning heaven for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The following gives a summary of plans and events thus far: laypeople giving Bible studies, small groups organized, health and family life ministries launched, literature distributed, young people actively involved, lay evangelistic meetings planned, evangelists and pastors from every division of the world attend an international school of evangelism in New York in June. The Holy Spirit is moving. Pastor Don King, the Atlantic Union Conference president, challenged administrators, pastors, and members to be actively involved in this massive outreach for Christ, stating, “NY13 is a united approach bringing us all together to focus on reaching people in this great metropolitan area for Jesus.” Pastors Daniel Honore and Earl Knight, presidents of the Northeastern and Greater New York Conferences, respectively, electrified the audience as they announced that each of their conferences had committed US$1,000,000 to the NY13 evangelistic initiative. Honore shared the story of a lady, whom he did not know, who walked into his office the week before and told him she was impressed to do something significant for NY13 and handed him a check for $20,000.
This evangelistic outreach in New York City is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Mission to the Cities initiative. Church leaders at every level of church organization have identified 630 major cities worldwide upon which to focus their evangelistic energies and resources in the next three years. [Mark A. Finley]
End Child Abuse campaign releases multilanguage digital kit
Launched by Adventist Risk Management and a group of Seventh-day Adventist denominational partners, the Seven Campaign to end child abuse has prepared a digital kit that is available at the campaign Web site (www.thesevencampaign.com). The digital kit includes information and message points about the campaign, a petition form, logos, and posters, all of which are free to download.
The digital kit is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Use this kit to raise awareness about the issue of child abuse at your local church and school and to reach out to your community. Encourage your members to become educated about this issue and to take active steps to make a difference. One of the banners on the campaign Web site reads, “The best things in life are free! Use your voice, your life, your influence to make a positive difference.”
Visitors to the campaign Web site are encouraged to (digitally) sign a promise to take action. The promise says the following:
• Tell seven people how to stop abuse now, by sharing the resources.
• Speak out against abuse—don’t remain indifferent.
• Advocate for change with my voice and vote.
• Mobilize my peers.
• Lead by example.
• Express my support creatively through the virtual gallery.
• Share the Seven Campaign with seven people.
The Seven Campaign is a grassroots campaign that aims to raise awareness and mobilize church members and supporters to take a stand on the issue of child abuse.
[Adventist Risk Management]
