June 2017 Issue
The pastor and the church school: Partnering for success
Ella Simmons
About 35 years ago Isaac Lester, a seasoned pastor, and I, a new principal with some leadership experience, began a running conversation about the pastor’s role in Adventist education. This, the mid-1980s, was a period during which new concepts of pastoral roles and…
Ground zero in the great controversy: The struggle for the minds and hearts of the next generation
George R. Knight
Hiroshima! Ground zero! I was standing at the spot above which the world’s first atomic bomb detonated. Frightful in its consequences. Shattering in its implications. The world was never the same. Ground zero is where the action takes place. Ground zero is where…
The gatekeeper: What if pastors could reverse the decline in church school enrollment?
Shane Anderson
When I graduated with a theology degree in the mid-1990s, I thought being a pastor meant that I would focus my time only on churches, not schools. I could not have been more wrong. From my first district (which had a K–10 church school) until my present church (which…
5 ways to encourage youth in Total Member Involvement
Ted Wilson
More inspiration from our Revival and Reformation feature.
More inspiration from our Revival and Reformation feature.Strengthening Adventist education—Recommendations for pastors and officers
Jerome Thayer, Anneris Coria-Navia, Aimee Leukert, Elissa Kido, Larry Blackmer
Taking one’s place behind a pulpit is a heavy responsibility. Much prayer, study, and preparation goes into the task of sharing God’s Word with a congregation. Regardless of whether this is in a simple, white clapboard church with a dozen members or in a stained-glass,…
Give them a fighting chance1
Carlton P. Byrd
Our church cannot be immune to new ideas, new goals , and new plans. We talk about these new ideas, goals, and plans through mission and vision. When God gives a vision for ministry, you know it is of God because the vision outlives you. Christian education is a God-given…
We is more powerful than I 1
Pamela Consuegra
Take one sheet of paper from the envelope on your tables and one pair of scissors, one each for every two people. Work with a partner at your table. Pretend that paper is the problem you face. Your challenge is to cut a hole in that one piece of paper that is large…
Educating for Eternity
Kermit Netteburg
The Adventist Review called George Knight “probably the most pro- lific author since Ellen White.” He has written more than a dozen books on Adventist history and more than a dozen books on New Testament and theological topics. In Educating for Eternity, Knight returns…
Two ministries, one monorail
Jerrell Gilkeson
There are many questions being asked in Adventism today. One of the most compelling is this: How necessary is Adventist education to the survival of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s mission? For us in the Atlantic Union Conference, this pertinent ques- tion needed…
Letters to the Editor
Open to the Holy Spirit Thank you for that important story(“Revival and the Holy Spirit,”February 2017). Generations havepassed away since that happened.Ellen G. White also wrote, “When thebooks of Daniel and Revelation arebetter understood, believers will have anentirely…