CARLTON - Adventist ReviewThe Adventist Review (ISSN 0161-1119), published since 1849, is the...

F e b r u a r y 2 1 , 2 0 1 3

Vol. 190, No. 5

Adventists Plan NYC Outreach

Feel the Power

Further Testing

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February 21, 2013

www.adventistreview.org

CARLTON BYRD

BREATH OF LIFE SPEAKER/

DIRECTOR TAKES NEW

YORK BY STORM

16 Carlton Byrd Takes New York by StormCeleste Ryan Blyden

The talented ministry of Carlton Byrd and his dreams for the future

14 Feel the PowerHomeR tReCaRtin

Are we connected? Or do we need a charge?

22 iDolsVinCent maCisaaC

When do the devices meant to serve us be-come our masters?

24 At the WellGalina stele

Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman was no accident.

28 The Eternal Chapterlilian Han im

Thank God He knows us better than we know ourselves.

4 Letters

7 Page 7

8 World News & Perspectives

13 Give & Take

21 Cliff’s Edge

27 Back to Basics

30 The Life of Faith

31 Reflections

16 25 10 6

A Journey of Faith and HealingThe White Memorial Medical Center is celebrating 100 years of serving its community.

Carlton Byrd, speaker/director of the Breath of Life television min-istry, uses his talents to honor God and spread the good news.Cover photo by Dawin Rodriguez

ARTICLES DEPARTMENTS 6 GeRald a. KlinGBeil

Back to the Future

7 CaRlos medleyLiving Examples

COVER FEATURE EDITORIALS

Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®, Executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun, vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik Doukmetzian, legal adviser. Editor Bill Knott, Associate Editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating Editor Stephen Chavez, Online Editor Carlos Medley, Features Editor Sandra Blackmer, Young Adult Editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView Editor Wilona Karimabadi, News Editor Mark A. Kellner, Operations Manager Merle Poirier, Financial Manager Rachel Child, Editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the Editor Gina Wahlen, Marketing Director Claude Richli, Editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, Senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad Sales Glen Gohlke, Subscriber Services Steve Hanson. To Writers: Writer’s guidelines are avail-able at the adventist Review Web site: www.adventistreview.org and click “About the Review.” For a printed copy, send a self-addressed envelope to: Writer’s Guidelines, adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.adventistreview.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to adventist Review, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, new international Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © Thinkstock 2013. The Adventist Review (ISSN 0161-1119), published since 1849, is the general paper of the Seventh-day Adventist® Church. It is published by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists® and is printed 36 times a year on the second, third, and fourth Thursdays of each month by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740. Periodical postage paid at Hagerstown, MD 21740. Copyright © 2013, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 190, No. 5

Subscriptions: Thirty-six issues of the weekly adventist Review, US$36.95 plus US$28.50 postage outside North America. Single copy US$3.00. To order, send your name, address, and payment to adventist Review subscription desk, Box 1119, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1119. Orders can also be placed at Adventist Book Centers. Prices subject to change. Address changes: [email protected]. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257. Subscription queries: [email protected]. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257.

ON THE COVER NExT WEEk

“Behold, I come quickly . . .” Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing Him better, and hope in His soon return.

www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013 | 3(131)

Letters From our readers

inbox

Inspirational Review » Wow! What an inspiring

Review! I’m referring to the January 24, 2013, edition. First, “Listening to Atheists,” by Grenville Kent, is an excel-lent article. Never before have I seen printed the rea-sons atheists have for their beliefs (eternal hell, etc.). This article offers good ways to approach atheists.

In KidsView C. D. Brooks’ “Who Finished the Build-ing?” is an excellent illustra-tion of God’s miracles.

Two articles, Gina Wahlen’s “What’s a Body to Do?” and Allan R. Handy-sides’ “Coping With Cancer,” were enlightening in regard to cancer options. I am sure many families have been rav-aged by someone close hav-ing cancer. These articles showed alternatives to what we normally do. Excellent!

ART MILES

Apison, Tennessee

Taking the Hint » I’m writing to thank

Andrew McChesney for reminding us that God wants Christians to avoid the ways of the world (see “Tak-ing the Hint,” Jan. 24). The way we talk, act, and dress

speak volumes for good or evil!

PAM CROSS

Altamont, Tennessee

Religious Freedom in America

» With more than a little skepticism I began reading “Religious Freedom in Amer-ica,” by Nicholas P. Miller (Jan. 17, 2013). But into the second page Miller began putting it all together with an impeccable discussion of “moral philosophy” and the “dissenting (free church) position” (in opposition to both right-wing Christian conservatives and left-wing liberals).

Miller gives a nuanced discussion of a rational approach to current “foot-ball” issues—a rationale more Adventists should study. It places these issues within a framework of weighted factors, resulting in a fine-tuned balance. It avoids extremes and protects against future suppression of the minority religious view. If understood, Miller’s approach would minimize much of the polarization we find on many issues within our church and nation.

CONNIE DAHLkE

Walla Walla, Washington

» I appreciated the thought-provoking article “Religious Freedom in America.” In it Nicholas P. Miller writes:

“This approach would also recognize the moral value of protecting the goals and ends of the child-raising unit of a mother and a father, and reserve its full approval for such relationships. Such an approach may allow for civil unions for tax and insurance purposes, but it would limit marriage and the right to raise children to heterosex-ual couples based on moral arguments about the pur-poses of procreation and the rights of children to benefit from the special care pro-vided by a mother and a father.”

This statement seems inconsistent with the issues or realities faced by single parents (who may or may not have previously been married) or by single per-sons who wish to adopt chil-dren. I know of singles who adopted. I also know of one single woman who raised a child conceived by artificial insemination. In these and other similar situations a sole person of either gender (both never married and pre-viously divorced) has most assuredly successfully raised a child/children. There is no “natural” moral argument to allow the state to enforce or legislate the “right to raise children to heterosexual couples” and exclude every-one else. How unfortunate it would be for many children not to have the privilege or the “right” to be raised by a loving single person who is

capable and desires to be a parent. In an ideal world every child would have the opportunity to be raised with two loving parents of both genders. . . .

The most urgent attention is needed for repeal of the law prohibiting a counselor/preacher/physician/etc. from advising any person under 18 who desires such counsel-ing “to modify or alter same-sex attractions.” This is dangerously foreboding and totally outside the realm of the state to legislate such (morality).

“DENISE”

Location Withheld

What Is a Mystic? » It was with great disap-

pointment that I read the article “What Is a Mystic?” by Eric Anderson (Jan. 10, 2013). Anderson has chosen to sub-tly guide the reader through a maze of semantic twists and turns in an unbiblical effort to justify the accep-tance of “mystics” and “mys-ticism” into the Seventh-day Adventist spiritual life.

Anderson first supports his thesis by quoting two early-twentieth-century writer/poets—Kathleen Nor-ris, a Benedictine-trained Catholic, and Evelyn Under-hill, who, going against her own spiritual mentor, was ultimately drawn into mysti-cism and Catholicism. It is concerning that the author advocates for the beliefs of

J a n u a r y 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

Vol. 190, No. 3

What’s a

Body to Do?How not to panic

wHen tHe doctor

says, “it’s cancer.”

Let Me serve you

2013 world Budget

Focuses on Mission

Listening to atheists

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January 24, 2013


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Vol. 190, No. 2

one of

the most

fundamental

freedom

unde attack?r S

IS

Religious

Freedom in

the United

States

A Wave and a Greeting

Religiously Unaffiliated

Swell Worldwide

Divine Assassin?

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January 17, 2013


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Vol. 190, No. 1

January 10, 2013

Ordination Study

Committee Named

Willing to Be Led

God’s Peddler

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Seeking

companionShip

with Christ

What Is a Mystic?


| www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 20134 (132)

row. Their health status now will impact our health-care system, military, labor force, economy, Social Security, etc.

That’s why I was glad to see Allan R. Handysides and Peter N. Landless broach this topic in their December 27, 2012, Ask the Doctors col-umn. While they gave a lot of great statistics and facts out-lining the problem, the doc-tors spent only the last two paragraphs talking about solutions for grandparents and parents to consider. Here are a few more resources that we recom-mend in our Family Fit pro-gram held at Loma Linda University’s Drayson Center:

Super Sized Kids, by Walt Larimore, M.D., and Sherri Flynt, M.P.H., R.D., L.D.

Disease-proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right, by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child, by Walt Lari-more, M.D.

Kid Shape Café (150+ kid-tested recipes), by Naomi Neufeld, M.D.

www.superkidsnutrition.com—one of the best nutri-tion Web sites, packed with resources for kids and par-ents, by Melissa Halas-Liang, M.A., R.D., C.D.E.

http://circle.adventist.org/download/PI-KidsExercise.pdf—an excellent kid fitness article for parents, by Chris-

such writers and suggests their counsel should guide an Adventist’s spiritual walk with God.

An even greater concern is his implication that “mysti-cism” is affirmed by Ellen White. Numerous quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy warn strongly against mys-tics and any form of mysti-cism—calling it “satanic” and “spiritualism.” To sug-gest that White affirms the beliefs that she emphatically warns against disparages her as a prophet of God and bla-tantly affirms error.

Anderson concludes by urging “Christian mysti-cism” as a “remedy” for Adventists today. Despite the clever semantics of the author, “Christian mysti-cism” is truly an oxymoron. The combination of the sacred (Christian) and the profane (mysticism) cannot be justified.

JANET C. NEUMANN

Walla Walla, Washington

» The author of “What Is a Mystic?” distorts the writ-ings of Ellen White by imply-ing that she was describing mysticism as the term is commonly understood. A footnote acknowledges that for White the terms “mysti-cal” and “mysticism” were usually negative terms. Why, then, does Eric Anderson

attempt to put a positive sheen on them? Mysticism could prepare the way for spirit guides that are not the Holy Spirit.

We draw close to Jesus—not just by mountain retreats, quiet places, and prayer retreats, but also by active service for Him. The way White put it, Christ spent His life “between the mountain and the multi-tude.” Is it not possible to promote quality time with Christ without going down the same road as the Catholic mystics who retired from society to be “close to Jesus”?

CINDy TUTSCH

Silver Spring, Maryland

Pediatric Obesity » Former U.S. surgeon gen-

eral Richard Carmona once said, “The greatest threat to our national security is pedi-atric obesity.” Why? Because the kids and teens of today are our future; our tomor-

tine Wallace, for CIRCLE, a resource for Adventist educators.

ERNIE MEDINA, JR.

Loma Linda, California

John Lello » Please pass on our deepest

sympathy to Pam Lello and her children (see “Accident Kills John Lello in Papua New Guinea,” Dec. 27, 2012). Papua New Guinea has a spe-cial place in the hearts of everyone of the Knopper family. My brother-in-law, Peter Knopper, died at the Homu Bible School in 1988 as the result of being shot.

Any loss in our South Pacific Division is a reminder of the great sacrifice being made in spreading the love of Jesus to this dying world. May God be close to this little family that has been left to face the world without a hus-band and daddy.

CORINNE kNOPPER

Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

We welcome your letters, noting, as always, that inclusion of a letter in this section does not imply that the ideas expressed are endorsed by either the editors of the Adventist Review or the General Conference. short, specific, timely letters have the best chance at being published (please include your complete address and phone number—even with e-mail messages). letters will be edited for space and clarity only. send correspondence to letters to the editor, Adventist Review, 12501 old Columbia Pike, silver spring, md 20904-6600; internet: [email protected].

“We draw close to Jesus—not just by

mountain retreats, quiet places, and prayer

retreats, but also by active service for Him.” —CINDy TUTSCH, Silver Spring, Maryland


Editorials

“How can 17

million Adventists

make a difference

in a world of

7 billion?”

Back to the Future AROUND NEW yEAR’S, bLOggERS, COLUMNISTS, EDITORS, AND pundits often dare a look into the proverbial looking glass. What’s the outlook for the economy? How will the political shadowboxing in Washington, D.C., play out? What will be the social phenomenon of the year? What surprises will we get from Cupertino—or any other small or big gadget company?

You wondered about 2013 as you stepped into January 1. I did—and so did billions of others. With two teenagers and a preadolescent roaming the space of our home, change and action has become the Leitmotiv of our lives. What will happen in their lives in 2013? What will happen in the church we love and cherish in 2013?

Every December The Economist publishes a special issue looking at the big picture of the coming year. 2013 was no exception. An issue, full of best guesses and (at times) thoughtful comments, also included a look by Edward Lucas, an international editor of The Economist, at what he thought 2013 would bring for Christianity.* I was intrigued. Lucas sees secularism gaining ground (not really too difficult to discern) and bleak times for Christianity in Europe and the Middle East (we knew about that, but it’s good to remember that missionaries are needed to reach the crib of Protestantism and the region where most of the biblical stories happened). He forecasts tremen-dous tension within the worldwide Anglican Church and more splintering over gay issues, theo-logical liberalism, and the role of Scripture for the practice of the church. He thinks that Catholicism will decline even further in Europe and North America—albeit not in Asia and Africa. Finally, Lucas suggests that Christianity as a whole will boom in eastern Asia, including also South Korea, China, and Taiwan.

As I read this take on 2013 I found myself at times nodding or shaking my head. Lucas did not write about the Seventh-day Adventist Church—yet in my mind I compared his comments with our reality. Yes, Europe, Australia, and increasingly North America are becoming more secular by the day—including Protestant U.S.A. Yes, we are currently facing hot theological issues (think ordination of women) that will test our ability to study and stand together to the utmost. Yes, we are delighted to see tremendous church growth in Africa, Central and South America, and some other parts of the world. Yet this church is not like any other church. It is not just another denomi-nation. At the risk of being severely chastised by some of our readers for being arrogant and conceited—this is God’s end-time remnant, a visible part of the larger universal church of people who are ready to follow the Lamb wherever He leads.

This claim is not based on sociological or historical realities—it is based on Scripture and detailed further in the prophetic word. It translates into a call to mission and transformation, sharing a special message in a special time—in 2013.

I feel overwhelmed by the numbers. How can 17 million Adventists make a difference in a world of 7 billion? How can .24 percent reach the remaining 99.76 percent? Jesus used the imag-ery of yeast leavening dough. In His time everybody had seen this at home. I am sure they could not explain too well the involved chemical processes—but they saw it work. I cannot see exactly how we will do it, but we will, because God’s Spirit guides this movement. I cannot really tell how we will resolve our theological questions—but we will, if we keep following the Lamb. I cannot even project what will happen in the lives of my family in 2013—but I want to walk confidently holding my Savior’s hand.

So, just for a moment, set aside the numbers, threats, issues, and to-do lists. Lift up your eyes—and know that your salvation is near. n

* Edward Lucas, “Christianity at Bay,” The Economist, December 2012, p. 29.

Editorials

Gerald A. Klingbeil


Living examplesIN JANUARy I HAD THE RARE OPPORTUNITy TO SPEND A FEW WINTER days in Florida—Miami, to be exact. The weather was sunny, and the temperatures reached more than 80 degrees in the daytime. The chance to wear summer clothes in the middle of winter was pure delight. The climate was in stark contrast to the freezing temperatures at home in Maryland.

But despite wonderful weather, the occasion was a solemn one. Our family came together to honor the life of my mother-in-law, Elizabeth Krigger, who passed away in December at age 92.

More than 200 friends and family members packed the modest-sized church to celebrate her life. She was remembered with music, the spoken word, acknowledgments, and reflections from friends, children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. The impact of her life was evident by the stories they shared, as well as the expressions of love that filled the service.

As I reflected on the memorial, I couldn’t help realizing that the many acts of kindness my mother-in-law performed were a living example of what Christians everywhere should be about. By reaching out to neighbors, praying for a hurting coworker, or encouraging a young student or senior citizen, we are spreading the warm sunshine of Christ’s love and compassion in a cold, sinful world.

Through acts of kindness we reflect the character of Christ to those around us. The apostle Paul said it well: “Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives” (2 Cor. 3:2, 3, Message).*

As God looks into our lives He wants to see Himself. If we are willing, He will. n

* Texts credited to Message are from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Say It Again!

Photos and quotes are courtesy of www.blacksdahistory.org. Visit the site for more information on African-American Adventists.

FRANK HALE“If the General Conference, the union conferences, the local conferences, the publishing houses, the evangelists, the ministers, the missionaries, and the educational and medical institutions would all combine their powers to erase the smudge of racial segregation and discrimination among us, the whole system would crack and crumble overnight. Such a challenge is for us the living! I have no other plans but to accept this challenge.”

—Former President of Oakwood College (1966-1971) to F. L. Peterson, May 3, 1961

This month we remember the words from some Adventist African-Americans.

CHARLES BRADFORD“We need to recapture the word ‘movement’ and all that it implies.”

—Former President of the North American Division (1979-1990), 1975

THE AEOLIANS“The Aeolians could sing passages from the phone book and still make you feel the presence of the Divine.”

—Huntsville Times, November 1997. The Oakwood College (now University) choir, the Aeolians, have ministered through music since their organization in 1946.

Carlos Medley

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Adventists Prepare for New York City OutreachTraining spans multiple sites; participants eager to reach neighbors for Christ. BY ADVENTIST REVIEW STAFF

HUNDREDS OF Seventh-day Adventists from the metropolitan New York area—where the overall population is esti-mated at 19 million, more than 50 percent above that of metro Los Ange-les—gathered at a series of January 18-20, 2013, meetings to prepare for a major evangelistic outreach called NY13.

The numbers, throughout the region, were impressive: 2,000 gathered at an auditorium at Hunter College in Man-hattan for worship and training, and 560 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.

More than 300 people—double the expected number—flocked to Harlem’s Fort Washington Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church to hear Denzil McNei-

lus, a banker from Dodge Center, Min-nesota, who represented the Adventist- laymen’s Services and Industries orga-nization along with Robert Costa, Gen-eral Conference evangelism coordinator, present a New Beginnings seminar to train lay preachers.

Commenting on the attendees’ enthusiasm, McNeilus said, “I am con-vinced that there are thousands of lay-people waiting to be challenged to do something significant for the Lord. They just need to be trained and equipped.”

Noted Seventh-day Adventist evange-list Mark Finley taught a class on how to organize home Bible study groups focusing on the book of Daniel. His seminar was attended by more than 170 people and was held in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village Seventh-day Advent-ist Church, which in June will see Gen-

eral Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson preach an evangelistic series there. Wilson began his pastoral work as a minis-terial intern at the Green-wich Village church.

Along with the lay training events, more than 1,400 youth gathered in two locations spon-sored by the Greater New York and Northeastern conferences. These young people were challenged to be part of something great for God and use their influence to touch their friends with the gos-pel during NY13.

Don King, president of the Atlantic Union Confer-

ence of Seventh-day Adventists, declared, “NY13 is a united approach bringing us all together to focus on reaching people in this great metropoli-tan area for Jesus.”

During NY13 approximately 400 evangelistic meetings will be conducted in the metropolitan New York area. Hundreds of churches and thousands of church members will be involved, Adventist leaders said.

The massive 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 iden-tified 630 major cities worldwide to focus their evangelistic energies and resources on in the next three years. This comprehensive evangelistic approach blends biblical principles with the practical, divinely inspired counsels of the Spirit of Prophecy to reach people living in these urban cen-ters with Jesus’ end-time message of hope for our time.

More information about the New York City outreach is available online at www.ny13.org. n

—with information from Mark Finley

MEMBERS IN TRAINING: Seventh-day Adventists from around the New York City metropolitan area lis-ten to Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the General Conference, as part of a lay training series held through-out the region preparing for the NY13 evangelistic outreach.

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World News & Perspectives

SITE OF TRAGEDY: A fire at a nightclub in downtown Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, killed at least 231 people on January 27, 2013, and left hundreds injured, leaving area hospitals scrambling to restock blood banks.

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READY TO DONATE: Young donors participated in the Vida por Vidas blood drive.

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Brazilian Adventists Help in Healing After santa Maria InfernoIn wake of nightclub fire that killed hundreds, blood drive, first aid given.By FELIPE LEMOS, ASN, reporting from Brasilia, Brazil

SEVENTH-DAy ADVENTIST young adults in Brazil rallied to donate blood in the wake of the world’s deadliest night-club fire in more than a decade.

At least 231 partygoers died, and some 200 were injured, on January 27, 2013, when a band’s pyrotechnics dis-play ignited ceiling insulation at a club in downtown Santa Maria, about 200 miles west of Porto Alegre in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil. The fire released flames and toxic smoke into the panicked crowd, and a stampede broke out, media reports indicate.

As victims flooded local hospitals, medical staff urgently appealed to the

Adventist-run Vida por Vidas (“Life for Lives”) blood-donation organization in South America. The denomination is known for handling large-scale blood donation drives, especially in Brazil, where health officials estimate the proj-ect annually contributes 3.5 million units of blood.

Blood donors gathered early on Sun-day, January 27, at the Central Adventist Church in Santa Maria and immediately headed to the city’s Blood Donation

Center, said Vida por Vidas coordinator Adriano Luz.

Meanwhile, Adventist medical staff volunteered at local hospitals, among them Dr. Jocemara Fernandes, who received an emergency call to aid vic-tims early Sunday morning.

“The scene of horror and despair I witnessed was unprecedented in my experience,” Fernandes said. She has worked in a local emergency room for more than a decade.

Fernandes treated at least 15 victims between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on Sun-day. “Most people had problems related to smoke inhalation,” she said.

Another young victim suffered sec-ond-degree burns and had difficulty breathing, Fernandes said. Most victims were under the age of 30.

“What we can do now is pray, for the injured and the bereaved families, that God will help them,” Fernandes said.

Santa Maria mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and local authorities continue to investigate the cause of the blaze, according to media reports.

Vida por Vidas was launched in 2006 and is overseen by young Brazilian Sev-enth-day Adventists. n


n G r e At e r m i D D L e e A St U N i o N m i SS i o N

Lichtenwalter to Lead Islamic studies, theology Faculty at Middle east UniversityVeteran Adventist theologian has taught at Andrews University for 12 years. By RACHEL LEMONS, deputy director of communications, Middle East University, writing from Beirut, Lebanon

THE RELIgION of Islam and the Middle East region are firmly situated within the global spotlight of modern society. With such prominence it is vital that the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church develop a solid understanding of the region and its dominant religion in order to effectively minister to, and interact with, its diverse inhabitants and adherents.

Within the Adventist community, Middle East University (MEU) envisions itself as the knowledge center on topics that relate to, or intersect with, the Mid-dle Eastern region, its religions, its cul-tures, and its languages. Central to this vision is the development and expan-sion of the Institute of Islamic and Ara-bic Studies, along with the Faculty of Theology, to be headed—as of March 2013—by veteran Seventh-day Advent-ist pastor and teacher Larry Lichtenwal-ter, whose appointment was recently announced. Lichtenwalter’s breadth of experience promises to bring a unique perspective to the expansion and matu-ration of the programs, school officials believe.

Lichtenwalter has served as pastor of Village Seventh-day Adventist Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan, for the past 27 years. During this time he saw his pastoral ministry evolve to include aca-demic roles as well. He recounts that over the past 12 years he has taught a class almost every semester at the Sev-

enth-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He is the author of eight books and has published articles in various publications, including Adventist Review and Dialogue, a Seventh-day Adventist journal for college students.

In Lichtenwalter’s estimation the MEU campus “is a little haven amid all the con-centrated city that’s around it. It’s a lovely campus, and it has potential and room for the addition of more buildings.”

In addition to the potential of the cam-pus, Lichtenwalter believes that the Fac-ulty of Theology and the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies have the potential to flourish as well. When asked about his vision for the programs, he said, “I think we have some very exciting possibilities. There’s no doubt that the multicultural and contextual setting of MEU has a lot to offer to any young person thinking about what to do with their spiritual life or how to

serve. Our world has become more and more multicultural in its per-spective. I believe this campus can provide some diversity in the theological realm that some other schools would not be able to.”

MEU aims to provide a theology program that complements those of its sister uni-versities around the world by providing a semester abroad, which complements the theo-logical curriculum they are studying at their home universities. In charting out MEU’s niche in the space of theological education, Lichtenwalter

described “a curriculum, a program where you have your Islamic and Arabic component. That is what MEU is seek-ing to serve.”

Lichtenwalter completed his undergraduate studies at Southern Adventist University and his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. at Andrews Uni-versity. He is married to Kathie, and they have five sons and two daughters-in-law. n

NEW DEAN: Larry Lichtenwalter, a veteran Seventh-day Adventist pastor and instructor at Andrews University, will head the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies, along with the Faculty of Theol-ogy, at Middle East University in Beirut, Lebanon.

URBAN OASIS: Larry Lichtenwalter praised the Middle East University campus as an oasis in the middle of Beirut.

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GENESIS THEME: The Bible’s first

book, Genesis, is the theme of Investiga-

tion Station, the 2013 Vacation Bible

School kit from AdventSource.

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ADrA Germany Gains New LeaderMolke follows Lischek, who started group 27 years agoBy ADVENTIST PRESS SERVICE, Switzerland

THE SEVENTH-DAy Adventist pastor who founded and led the German branch of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, ADRA, has retired after more than a quarter century in that role.

“It is not difficult for me to retire from the management of ADRA Ger-many, because I know that my successor,

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Genesis Is theme of 2013 VBs Program From AdventsourceBy CASSIE MILNES MARTSCHINg, communication director, AdventSource, writing from Lincoln, Nebraska

ExPLORINg THE Bible’s first book, Genesis, and learning fundamental truths about where the earth came from and God’s plan for their lives are activi-ties provided for kids during Investiga-tion Station: The Genesis Factor, the 2013 Seventh-day Adventist Vacation Bible School program now available through AdventSource in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Investigation Station: The Genesis Factor is an interactive VBS that teaches kids about Genesis and the God of cre-ation. The kids, who act as junior inves-tigators, will receive daily assignments related to the theme. As they travel through the daily learning stations, they will gather clues that will help them answer the question of the day.

Each day the kids will dig into a Bible story found in Genesis, and they will learn that:

God created the universe.God blessed the seventh day.God made rules that were broken.God is ready to save us.God helps us start over.

Kids will also learn how science and nature support the Bible by watching interactive video segments featuring Rich Aguilera, Guide magazine creation columnist.

A team of Seventh-day Adventist pas-tors, children’s ministry professionals, and VBS leaders developed the lessons with a passion for sharing the real cre-ation story and God’s plan of redemp-tion. Investigation Station contains Seventh-day Adventist beliefs including God as the Creator, the seventh-day Sab-bath, baptism, and heaven. Each lesson is specifically designed to connect with commun ity children while engaging

Adventist children in learning biblical truths.

“VBS is one of the most effective out-reach programs a church can offer,” AdventSource said in a statement. “Pro-vide the families in your church and community with a fun and uplifting experience they will not forget by con-ducting the Investigation Station VBS at your church,” the group added.

This program is available from AdventSource, at www.adventsource.org or 402-486-8800, or the Adventist Book Center, at 800-765-6955, or www.advent istbookcenter.com. The Investigation Station is available in English and Spanish.

Investigation Station VBS was created by the Children’s Ministries Department of the North American Division in part-nership with the Review and Herald Pub-lishing Association and AdventSource. n

LEADERSHIP CHANGE: Erich Lischek, left, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, retired recently as ADRA Germany country director. At right, Christian Molke, who is the new country director.

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Christian, will meet the challenges of the international ADRA network,” declared Erich Lischek. He is leaving after organizing and developing ADRA since 1986. “As relief agencies we have learned to join forces in major disasters. I am grateful that I was able to support these efforts.”

Lischek established ADRA Germany in Darmstadt in 1987, starting with only one part-time secretary. ADRA now has 28 employees and 10 volunteers in the headquarters in Weiterstadt, close to Darmstadt. The charity also offers an apprenticeship in office communication.

Günther Machel, chair of the ADRA

Germany board, thanked Erich Lischek: “From a humble beginning ADRA has become a major relief agency. Lischek has shaped ADRA Germany, and he will continue to cooperate as managing director of the ADRA Foundation.”

Christian Molke, also a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, is the new ADRA direc-tor, having begun his work in January 2013. Previously he led the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the federal states of Hessen, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saar-land, with 65 churches, 4,600 members, and 34 pastors. Molke transitioned to his new task in the summer of 2012.

ADRA Germany is part of the global

ADRA network, with 120 country offices. It is also a member of the country’s Joint Welfare Association (Paritätischer Wohl-fahrtsverband) and cofounder of the Association of German Development NGOs (VENRO), Relief Germany, and Together 4 Africa. In cooperation with the Weltwärts project of the German state, ADRA Germany sends approxi-mately 15 volunteers per year to sup-port projects in Albania, Costa Rica, India, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, and Tan-zania. For additional information about ADRA Germany, visit the English-lan-guage section of the group’s Web site at www.adra.de/en/english.html. n

n N o rt h PAc i F i c U N i o N

Hoover to Lead Upper Columbia Conference, succeeding Folkenberg, Jr.Veteran pastor, administrator moves from Georgia-Cumberland Conference.By JAy WINTERMEyER, Upper Columbia Conference communication director, reporting from Spokane, Washington

PAUL HOOVER accepted the call to serve as president for the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He will serve as president following Bob Folkenberg, Jr.’s recent move to the China Union Mission.

Hoover says, “On behalf of Patti and myself, we want you to know we are deeply honored and humbled to accept the opportunity to serve with so many dedicated wonder-ful people. We look forward to following God’s leading and becoming a part of the Upper Columbia Conference family.”

Hoover, currently vice president for administration for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, grew up in several places around the world, as his father was in the military. He was baptized into the Adventist Church in 1977 in Tampa, Florida. Hoover attended Southern Adventist Uni-versity, where he graduated in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in theology, and then from Andrews University in 1983 with a Master of Divinity degree.

He served as pastor in the Kentucky-Tennessee, Okla-homa, and Georgia-Cumberland conferences. In 1991 he accepted a call to the Georgia-Cumberland Conference and pastored the Smyrna-King Springs church and Calhoun, Georgia, church. He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Andrews University in 2001.

Hoover enjoys running, golf, road biking, and spending time with his family. His wife, Patti, is a registered nurse. They have two grown sons. n

CONFERENCE LEADER: Paul Hoover, left, a veteran Seventh-day Adventist pastor and administrator, is the new president of the Upper Columbia Conference, headquartered in Spo-kane, Washington. Patti, at right, is his wife and a registered nurse.

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Sound Bite

adventiSt life

Me: “Chloe, guess what? You get to have lunch with your favorite guy in the world!”Chloe: “I get to have lunch with God?”I explained to my young daughter that she would be having lunch with her second-

favorite guy in the world—Daddy.—HEATHER CROSS YOUNG, nasHVille, tennessee

Morning conversation with 2-year-old Noah:“Do you know what today is?” I asked with a big smile on my face.Noah: “Sabbath!”“No, Noah, today’s only Monday. Today is another special day. Your birthday!”For him, the only special day is Sabbath!

—WENDY ENGELMANN, GeRmany

“When no one else would be caught dead with us,

he was not ashamed to call us brothers.”

—PASTOR JIM HOWARD, duRinG

His deCemBeR 22, 2012, CHRistmas

seRmon.

SHare WitH uS

We are looking for brief submissions in these categories:

Sound Bites (quotes, profound or spontaneous)

Adventist Life (short anecdotes, espe-cially from the world of adults)

Jots and Tittles (church-related tips)Camp Meeting Memories (short,

humorous and/or profound anecdotes)Please send your submissions to Give &

Take, adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; fax: 301-680-6638; e-mail: [email protected]. Please include phone number, and city and state from which you are writing.

Hi, kids! Herald’s trumpet is once again hidden somewhere in this magazine. If you find it, send a post-card telling us where. Be sure to include your name and address! Then we’ll randomly choose three winning postcards.

In our last contest (November 15, 2012) we stumped almost everyone! We had 4 entries. Who were the win-ners? Micah Garcia, from Albuquerque, New Mexico; Alex Meier, from Beltsville, Maryland; and Ilcias Vargas, Jr., from Ringgold, Georgia. Each received a book from Pacific Press and a KidsView beach ball. Where was the trumpet? On page 29.

If you can find the trumpet this time, send your post-card to Herald’s Trumpet, adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. The prize will be . . . a surprise! Look for the three winners’ names in the May 9, 2013, edition of the adventist Review. Have fun searching, and keep trumpeting Jesus’ love—and His second coming!

Herald’S trumpet

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Devotional

by HOMER

TRECARTIN Click, click, click, click, click. With a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach you get out and look under the hood, whether or not you know

what to look for. You text a friend, call AAA, or just stand there gazing long-ingly at any approaching vehicle. Jumper cables? You flail them at pass-ersby. At last some angel arrives, hooks up the cables, and signals you to stick the key in the ignition and turn. Vrrrr-rooooommmm! Ah, power!

We may not understand our cars, but we understand the need for power. We purchase gadgets that plug into our phones or computers to provide a boost of power. Our heat pumps and cars often have a setting that gives us a quick blast of heat or cold. Advertising bom-bards us every day, promising us a sud-den rush of energy if we will just eat, drink, or swallow this or that. Oh, yes. We believe in power.

There were no cars, power adapters,

or energy drinks in Bible times. And many of us do not understand the Bible’s farming language about early and latter rains. But we do get the talk about power—Holy Spirit power, latter-rain power. We get the power talk. We want to hook up jumper cables!

Power for What?We love to talk about the promise in

Joel 2:28, 29: sons and daughters proph-esying, old men dreaming, servants Spirit-anointed. But what’s the power for? Why do we pray for latter-rain power? What do we think it will accom-plish? A ripened harvest? Not primarily. The harvest is already ripe, Jesus declared; we should pray for laborers. Stirred-up laborers then, His sleeping church? Now, that sounds good! Like hooking up to heaven’s jumper cables for one final jolt of power! Like latter-rain energy propelling us from rocking chairs out into the world with the final message! Perhaps.


Before we settle back in those rockers to wait for the rain, let us ask ourselves: Could not God pour out His Spirit on a sleeping church? Could He not suddenly and powerfully speak through dozing saints to call the world to repentance? He spoke through Balaam’s donkey. He can make stones cry out.

But is that the planet’s need? Talking animals, crying stones, sleep-talking saints? Remember, the talking donkey didn’t convert Balaam, and the promise of shouting stones didn’t convert the Jewish leaders. Besides, might it be that our nodding and dozing actually robs us of the rain? Too late we may discover that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was taking place all around us, and we didn’t even notice.

king SaulIn 1 Samuel 19:19-24 Saul learns that

David is with the prophet Samuel in Ramah. He sends contingent after con-tingent of soldiers to capture him, but the Holy Spirit overpowers them all, and they begin to prophesy. Finally, com-pletely frustrated, Saul sets out to seize David himself. The Spirit overwhelms him too, and, prostrated naked before Samuel, he prophesies all that day and night. But though these soldiers all prophesied, they were not changed. Nor was anyone converted who listened to King Saul. People simply mocked: “Did you see that? Looks like Saul has become one of the prophets!”

What makes the difference between Peter at Pentecost and Saul at Ramah? Nothing good came of Saul’s overpow-ering. He simply made a fool of himself. For in reality the Holy Spirit’s power is effective only if our lives match the mes-sage. Saul’s life did not match the mes-sage he was giving while under the power of the Holy Spirit. He had not let the Spirit mold, shape, and change him all along. When the power came over him, the temporary contrast was so great that it just made people laugh. The power he experienced didn’t last, and it didn’t change him, or anyone else, one single iota.

The final, mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit doesn’t change the direction

we have been going, either. Its power simply pushes us farther and faster to wherever we were already headed.

To come back to our jumper cable illustration, if my tires are flat and my radiator punctured, the power surging through the cables will do nothing to get me where I am going. Connecting red to positive and black to negative and getting ignition will not suddenly trans-form my car. The power surge will not even send me in a new direction.

Temporary bursts of power, even those from heaven, do not force us to change direction; they only push us on

in the direction we are already heading. And they are effective only if the rest of the system is in proper operating order. This is why we so desperately need revival and reformation. Our hearts must know the gentle working of the Holy Spirit now, not just a power surge sometime tomorrow.

Is the Soil Ready?Joel’s promise of rain and a full

threshing floor (Joel 2:23, 24) will never be fulfilled if nothing is planted before the rains come. The vats will overflow with juice and oil only if vineyards and olive groves have been planted and tended. The latter rain does not change the crop, it only enhances what is already planted in the soil.

When I plant and fertilize, everything is ready. The rains then make it grow. What comes up is what is there already. The same is true when the latter rain ripens the harvest. It brings wheat and weeds to maturity. It does not change what is in the field.

My wife, Barbara, and I were on our way to the airport in Delhi, India. The

night clerk from the hotel was riding along in the hotel taxi with us. His eyes were heavy from being up all night, and his head was nodding. He was going home to rest.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, a few big drops of rain splattered on the wind-shield. Almost instantly his eyes perked up. Softly, excitedly, he looked back and said, “Look, sir, the rain has come.” Then he turned back to watch. Gone were the tired lines around his eyes. His back was straight; his lips curved in a slight smile. This was no downpour, just a couple of stray drops of water on a dusty road. To the young hotel clerk those drops were filled with hope and promise. Rain was coming at last.

I, too, have seen the rain beginning to fall. Jesus is about to return. Seeds are being planted. People are praying together, pleading with God to soften the soil of their minds, asking the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers, pray-ing for the outpouring of the latter rain.

This will not be merely a burst of temporary power. When this power comes, it won’t be for just a day, and it won’t embarrass us. It will finish the work that we have allowed God’s Spirit to begin in our hearts and lives today.

Look, sir, look, madam, the rain has come! n

HOMER TRECARTIN IS PRESIDENT

OF THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST

UNION MISSION.

NothiNg good came oF saul’s overpoweriNg.

he simply made a Fool oF himselF.


CArLtON BYrD tAKes NeW

YOrK BYstOrM

AND LOs ANGeLes, AtLANtA, NAsHVILLe, HUNtsVILLe . . .

Cover Story

Carlton Byrd always felt that he was born to

pastor, born to preach, born to be an evangelist.

He grew up in the ministry, grew up wanting to

be a pastor, and loves to speak. now he speaks

many times a week and sometimes twice a

sabbath. on this particular night he’s in the Bronx, a borough

of new York City, preparing to speak for the nY13 kickoff rally

at the north Bronx seventh-day Adventist Church. And he

can hardly wait to preach, to fire up the base and get

members here excited about the 2013 major city evangelism

campaign set to blanket the city that never sleeps.

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It’s the first of hundreds being orga-nized by the worldwide Adventist Church, but for Byrd, it’s another oppor-tunity to further Christ’s mission: “I love the Lord, I love people, I want to go to heaven, and I want to take as many peo-ple with me as I can,” he states, flashing the signature smile he wears above his signature bow tie. “God called us to take this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone, everywhere, and I’m just glad I get to do it full-time.”

“I Ran to Ministry”Full-time, Byrd is a pastor, evangelist,

and the newest speaker/director for Breath of Life (BOL), the television minis-try founded 39 years ago by Walter Arties to bring hope and guidance to the Afri-can-American community. Thousands have accepted Christ through its evange-lism efforts, often held in stadiums and major venues in cities across North America and other parts of the world.

Byrd, whose nickname is “Buddy,” took the helm just two years ago at age 38 and was glad to get the oppor-tunity to follow in the footsteps of the revered C. D. Brooks and Walter Pearson, Jr., his predeces-sors. Though it has been only a short time, he’s hoping his message will penetrate the noise that convolutes today’s urban community.

It’s getting through in Long Island, New York, where Alecia Anderson watches Breath of Life on Friday eve-nings. “Can I take a photo with you?” asked the 20-year-old member of Long Island’s Riverhead church soon after Byrd arrived at North Bronx. The flash of Byrd’s smile prompted the flash of her father’s camera, and then it was on. After her father, Orley Anderson, got a turn, others jumped up.

“He’s my favorite preacher,” said Orley, who identified himself as the first elder of the Riverhead church. Orley arrived two hours before the announced NY13 pro-gram time to secure a seat. “He makes the message so clear and simple. He’s a pow-

erful [speaker], sure of what he’s saying.”Alecia, who relished meeting Byrd,

agreed. “He’s inspiring, and I under-stand what he’s saying.”

That may be because Byrd under-stands—his calling, his purpose, and what it takes to do ministry. “Ministry is service,” he told me afterward as we sat in the tiny, white-walled media room in the attic of the church overlooking the sprawling two-story sanctuary of the North Bronx church. Byrd is con-stantly engaged in ministry. And sur-rounded by it. His dad, William Byrd, is a pastor in West Palm Beach, Florida, and his mom, Carol Byrd, is superinten-dent of education for the Southeastern Conference, headquartered in an Orlando suburb. His father-in-law, too, is a pastor. In early years Byrd memo-rized the conference directory, read and filed letters for his dad, and attended many weeks of prayer and tent meet-ings, all because, as he put it, “I wanted to be there.” And he adds, “I was born to do this.”

Byrd didn’t run from God’s call. He ran to it. “I arrived at Oakwood [College, now University] knowing what I needed to do,” he recounted with surety. “Some pas-tors told me to run [away], but I didn’t.”

He’s been running ever since, trying to follow a path paved by the renowned Adventist pastors and evangelists who influenced his life—his dad, E. C. Ward, Pearson, Brooks, Benjamin Reaves, and E. E. Cleveland.

Path to SuccessHis first assignment out of Oakwood

was to pastor the South Central Confer-ence’s Laurel, Columbia, and Soso, Mis-sissippi, congregations, which probably

could have met in his car. The Laurel church, for example, had two members. “I didn’t worry about that because I knew it was going to grow,” he mused. “I worked hard, cut the grass at the church, painted—anything that was needed, I did it.”

He also conducted a series that yielded three baptisms. This increased the membership by 150 percent, mak-ing Byrd the top evangelist per capita in the conference that year. At summer’s end the conference sent him to the Sev-enth-day Adventist Theological Semi-nary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, to complete his Mas-ter of Divinity degree. Later he earned an M.B.A. at Tennessee State University in Nashville, and a Doctor of Ministry with an emphasis in African-American religious studies at Andrews.

After graduating, Byrd was sent to pastor in Tuscaloosa and Eutaw, Ala-bama, where he ran his first tent effort and baptized 19 people. This was fol-lowed by Nashville, where he pastored a

new church plant and baptized 300 peo-ple in four years. That’s where Byrd believes he really became an evangelist. It’s also where he started doing what he dubbed “tract attacks,” which involve identifying a community, going door to door, soliciting Bible studies, and pray-ing with people. Byrd tries to recruit the entire church to participate. On Sab-bath, right after worship and before lunch, members take to the streets and take communities for Christ.

The method also worked in Houston, Texas, where Byrd baptized 500 people in three years and then in Atlanta, Geor-gia, where he baptized 1,800 in five years and grew the church to include

“GOD CALLeD Us tO tAKe tHIs WONDerFUL GOsPeL OF JesUs CHrIst tO eVerYONe, eVerYWHere, AND I’M JUst GLAD I Get tO DO It FULL-tIMe.”

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FAITHFUL VIEWERS: During the NY13 event this past fall, Carlton Byrd poses with Orley and Alecia Anderson.


funeral at his home church in Hunts-ville, on Monday and Tuesday he’ll hold BOL board and executive committee meetings at the North American Divi-sion (NAD) offices in Silver Spring, Maryland, and then head home to con-duct Wednesday night prayer meeting. Afterward he’ll reunite with Danielle, his wife of 15 years, and their 12- and 10-year-old daughters, Christyn and Caileigh.

Listening to his itinerary I wondered aloud if anything had ever slowed him down. Challenged him, stopped him.

“My daughter,” he said, suddenly get-ting quiet. “She was 4-and-a-half months old.”

Stopped in His TracksThe story unfolds: “It was September

25th, 1999. We left the north side of Nashville en route to Tuscaloosa to speak for an event at the church I’d pas-tored early on. We had been having car trouble; our car wasn’t sounding right. On the south side of town, we stopped at our head elder’s home. He switched cars with us and we took his SUV. Four-teen miles from our destination, the car started doing flips. We were all knocked unconscious. When I came to, I was lying in the median. We all were. My wife started screaming. Our daughter was not moving. The ambulance came and took our daughter to one hospital, us to another. When I got to where she was, she was on a respirator. The next day the physician told me that if she didn’t wake up by noon of the following

day, they would take her off the respirator.”

The Byrds prayed and prayed. “We just knew she was going to make it. I knew she was going to make it. But she died in my arms,” he said.

“I was mad at God. I said, ‘I labor for You as a minister; why would You allow this to hap-pen to me? I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I got married and then had kids.’ My life had been very ordered,” he explained. “I did things the way they were supposed to be done—

ordered. Yet here was a real tragedy that happened to [us]. I didn’t read it in the paper, it didn’t happen to somebody else, it happened to us.”

“How did you get through it?” I asked. “Prayer,” came the answer, “a whole

heap of prayer.“I tell people, ‘God wouldn’t take you

to it if He couldn’t bring you through it.’ Even though you can’t see it and you don’t understand it, and it doesn’t make sense . . . God will bring you through the storm. He will, He will, He will, He will,” he repeated until his voice trailed off.

A few weeks later, Byrd, 27 at the time, came across, as if for the first

4,000 members, two services, a 50-apartment senior citizen housing complex, barbershop, beauty salon, health fitness center, food pantry, cloth-ing distribution center, youth activity center, vegetarian sub shop and juice bar, and a women’s shelter.

Byrd has just completed his first year in Huntsville, Alabama, as senior pastor of the Oakwood University church, where he’s currently based. Sure enough, not long after he arrived, he was in the pulpit promoting “tract attack Sabbath.” About 1,500 of his 2,000 mem-bers joined him, and after just eight months and one meeting they’d bap-tized about 200 new believers.

The responsibility of leading such a large church and Breath of Life simulta-neously hasn’t slowed him down. If anything, it has spurred Byrd to want more, do more, dream more. “I’m excited, invigorated, on fire for the Lord,” he beams.

And still running. Byrd dashed from our interview to another with Hope Channel cohost David Franklin in the sanctuary of the North Bronx church. It’s Friday night in the Bronx, but last Sabbath Byrd was in Atlanta. Tuesday he traveled here to New York, Wednesday he held a BOL rally at the Linden church in Queens, followed by another at Elmont Temple in Long Island Thursday night. Tomorrow he’ll preach the 11:00 service at the Ephesus church in Har-lem. Then he’ll make his way to the Brooklyn-based Hanson Place church for a 6:00 event. Sunday he’ll officiate a

tHe resPONsIBILItY OF LeADING sUCH A LArGe

CHUrCH AND BreAtH OF LIFe sIMULtANeOUsLY HAsN’t sLOWeD [BYrD] DOWN. IF

ANYtHING, It HAs sPUrreD [HIM] tO WANt MOre, DO

MOre, DreAM MOre.

AUDIENCE APPEAL: During Carlton Byrd’s sermon at NY13, congregants raise their hands to an appeal.

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FAMILY TIME: Carlton Byrd, with wife, Danielle, and daughters Caileigh (10, on left) and Christyn (12).

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casts airing on Hope Channel, which also airs on DirecTV 368; Three Angels Broadcasting Network; the Word Net-work; and local subsidiaries in Atlanta and Huntsville. And John Huynh, an intern also based at the media center, helped Byrd develop a presence on Face-book and Twitter, an online store, and a mobile app to allow smartphone users easy access to sermon archives. He also e-mails three-minute Breath of Fresh Air devotional videos that contain edited snippets of Byrd’s sermons and serve as spiritual appetizers for recipients.

In the pastor’s study at the North Bronx church, the driven and choleric Byrd also wants to share some needs. “We need to get Breath of Life on some mainstream television networks, and, even there, I will continue to preach [Adventist] doctrine because people need to know what we believe and that we’re a Christian community that cele-brates Christ by keeping His command-ments,” he said.

In addition, Byrd sees a need to book the half-hour preaching program on subsid-iary networks in major metropolitan areas so when he prepares to conduct a series of meetings, the church can promote it and locals can view it before the evangelistic meeting begins in the community.

This brought him to the need for usable, television-quality programs. “Though there are churches that bear our name, we also need to establish some television-ready, satellite BOL churches,” he said. “These churches should be seeker-sensitive, mission-oriented, and in a nice facility, because they will be the face of Adventism to viewers.”

Finally, Byrd believes BOL needs an outreach compo-

time, 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No tempta-tion has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (NKJV).

“God spared my life,” Byrd now con-cludes, “because I wasn’t ready; or per-haps He still had a work for me to do; or maybe it was all of the above. I surmised that it’s all of the above.”

As a result Byrd is more passionate about the mission. “I’m not just talking, I’ve lived it,” he says, “I’ve lived [through] tragedy and survived. . . . My sense of urgency for the second coming has grown tremendously.”

Needs and Next StepsSince December 2010, when he took

over the storied, albeit financially strapped, media ministry, Byrd has traveled extensively to raise awareness, raise funds, and conduct evangelism initiatives. The field services arm, directed by Danielle, is reaching out to donors with personal letters and updates. BOL manager Linda Walter, based at the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, California, keeps the broad-

nent, so that when a natural disaster occurs they’ll have people on the ground ready to help. “We need to be actively engaged in community ministry and ser-vice,” he concluded before heading to the platform to share a sermon from Acts 21 titled “Prison Break.”

Fired UpThen, just as Alecia Anderson from

Long Island and her dad, Orley, expected, Byrd presented a simple and clear mes-sage punctuated by Bible reading, story-telling, and his trademark doxology.

As good people of the Book, the Fri-day night worshippers of various hues and cultures didn’t miss a beat. “The church that prays together,” Byrd started, testing the waters.

“Stays together!” they finished in unison.

“ ‘For he shall give his angels charge over thee,’ ” he quoted Psalm 91:11 (KJV) . . .

“ ‘To keep thee in all thy ways!’ ” they rejoiced.

“ ‘No weapon formed against thee,’ ” he began, citing Isaiah 54:17 (KJV) . . .

“ ‘Shall prosper,’ ” they cheered.Some were now on their feet, and

when Byrd moved from texts to songs, they quickly chimed in: “ ‘If it had not been for the Lord on my side,’ ” he crooned in melodious tenor, “ ‘Where would I be?’ ” they chorused.

With the hour spent, the sweat pour-ing, and his mission of firing up the base accomplished, Byrd brought the message home: “Let’s take New York by storm!” he shouted to thunderous applause. “Let’s take New York by storm! Let’s take (pause) New York (pause) by storm!”

He did. And they will. n

CELESTE RYAN BLYDEN ENJOYS

TELLING STORIES ABOUT WHAT GOD

IS DOING IN AND THROUGH HIS

PEOPLE IN THE COLUMBIA UNION,

WHERE SHE SERVES AS COMMUNI-

CATION DIRECTOR.

AUDIENCE APPEAL: During Carlton Byrd’s sermon at NY13, congregants raise their hands to an appeal.


(148)

A self-refuting PhraseFUNNy HOW yOU CAN READ A TExT FOR yEARS, THEN READ IT AgAIN expecting nothing new but finding something new.

“And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7, KJV).

The Hebrew reads that God formed “the man,” as in one person. The words “his nostrils” reflects the singular again, as does the phrase “and the man became a living being” (NIV). The relevant verbs and nouns and possessive pronouns in Genesis 2:7 show that one man, the man, was created.

In contrast, Genesis 1:26 reads: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air’ ” (NKJV). In this verse “man” comes without the definite article “the.” The word “man” refers here to humanity, plural, as revealed in the clause that immediately follows: “and let them [plural] have dominion over the fish of the sea.”

In Genesis 2:7 “the man,” this one man, is created first; then afterward God breathed into “his nostrils the breath of life” and that man became “a living being.”

Now, what good are nostrils without lungs? And human lungs are useless without blood. And human blood demands a heart. And a heart needs (among many things) a sophisti-cated nervous system, which in a human means a brain. If the man had nostrils, he had a face, and if he had a face, he had a head, which means a skull, and so forth.

Everything about that text implies that the man was created as a whole entity first, but a lifeless one. Only after having a complete human body did he become a “living being.”

Thus, if I take at face value my theistic evolutionary friends’ claims to revere the Scriptures, I ask them in all sincerity, How can evolution be harmonized with this text? Can’t you see an irrec-oncilable contradiction between it and even the broadest evolutionary scheme? Why would the Lord have inspired the writing of this creation model when, in fact, He used an entirely different one? What good is the text if the opposite of what it teaches is true?

Because science points to the evolutionary model, we have no choice but to meld the two. Yet evolutionary science is at best—what? Twenty percent of hard-core empirical evidence stretched and extrap-olated into 80 percent speculation shaped by metaphysical assumptions constructed around culture, peer pressure, psychology, philosophy, and other variables that have little to do with immediate science. Why pit such subjectivity against an explicit biblical text?

Also, evolutionary theory is based on natural selection and random mutation. That’s natural, as opposed to supernatural, selection. And random mutation? How random could that be if God was guiding it along? The names of these processes themselves rule out divine intervention, making the phrase “theistic evolution” self-refuting.

Richard DeWitt, in Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science, writes: “So if one adds a supernatural involvement into the account of evolution by natural selection, say by allowing a God to meddle in the evolutionary process, then it is no longer natural selection. One is no longer taking natural science, and evolutionary theory, seriously. In short, taking natural science seriously means that an account of evolutionary development that is importantly influenced by a supernatural being is not an intellectually honest option” (p. 313, Kindle edition).

He said it, not me.Usually at this point I begin to snort, chortle, and rail. I don’t want to now. Instead, I humbly ask someone

to explain to me how you can, with a straight face, meld Genesis 2:7 with an evolutionary model of origins.

We all have to put our faith in something. What I don’t understand is how those who claim to believe in the Bible can put their faith in what is, in light of Genesis 2:7, so contradictory to it. n

CLIFFORD GOLDSTEIN IS EDITOR OF THE adult saBBatH sCHool BiBle study Guide. HIS LATEST BOOK, sHadow men, IS AVAILABLE FROM

SIGNS PUBLISHING IN AUSTRALIA.

Cliff’s Edge

Cliff Goldstein


smARtPHones, smARt APPs,sMArt sPIrItUALItY

As I See It

by BY VINCeNt MACIsAAC

We live in a world that not only craves but demands the next big gadget breakthrough promising to be a game

changer. even major international news services such as Cnn are quick to stream “keynotes” from tim Cook, the new Ceo of apple, that promise to change our lives. We know the names of the Ceos of computer companies as if they were baseball, football, or music stars. it seems all that tim Cook (and the late Steve Jobs), eric Schmidt, mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Ballmer are missing are trading cards with their quarterly earning stats on them—but then i bet there is already an app that can do that for us.


We can’t fight it. This world is chang-ing, and those who don’t keep up will be left behind. Even e-mail is currently scheduled to be a dead medium. It is lit-erally yesterday’s news. Instead Face-book, Google+, and a host of other instant social media platforms are giving us a taste of our immediate tomorrows. It’s like the Verizon 4G LTE commercials say: “That is so four seconds ago!”

Church and TechnologyI am glad to note that our church is

not being “left behind” or showing up as “Johnny came late” to the party! Major Adventist media groups sport apps, churches are streaming services to a worldwide audience, church buildings are being equipped with Wi-Fi, and every day my Sabbath school app pops up on my Droid Bionic reminding me to study my Sabbath school lesson. Preach-ers regularly preach from iPads, Kindles, and a variety of electronic tablets. People who are traveling in this digital world Skype into board meetings, and confer-ences are held in Google+ hangouts all the time. Printed agendas are becoming a thing of the past as my church leaders prefer to show up to committee meet-ings with laptops and tablets instead. Most important, we see the gospel reach places where just five or 10 years ago it would have been impossible to have a digital presence. I cannot help hearing the words of Jesus echo in my ear: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be pro-claimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).1

beware of the Technology PitSo, is there a downside to all of this? I

mean, what more can we want when the church is keeping relevant and the gos-pel is being preached? Is this not a dream come true for us?

Yet I worry. I worry about the environ-ment we are creating in which church members and, yes, even pastors openly chastise each other over our technology

choices. I worry about a world in which some-one using an Apple, a Droid, or (dare I say it) a PC is like declaring yourself openly a Republican or Demo-crat, or, worse yet, a theological liberal or conservative. Wait, wasn’t the whole point of technology to bring us together, not tear us apart? Can we afford to let it tear us apart? And what does it say about us as a society and as members of a world-wide community of faith when we only dream of the next “lat-est and greatest” gad-gets? We toss out or “Craigslist” perfectly good technology rather than come to church and be seen with last year’s model smartphone or tablet. When I think of the counsel our forefathers were given about costly liv-ing and self-adornment I wonder if we just found a new way of doing the same old sins covered in those “little red books” written more than 100 years ago—and, ironically, all available in an app on my tablet?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not anti-technology whatsoever. Rather, on the contrary, my church members have affectionately called me “the technology pastor,” and I have innovated new uses of interchurch services via Internet streaming in my conference. But as Jim Collins so poignantly said: “When used right, technology becomes an accelera-tor of momentum, not a creator of it.”2

I am reminded of the words of the old hymn: Our “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteous-ness.” Here is my point: Let’s use current technology to transform the world, and at the same time, let’s not be transformed by it. God surely is the ultimate Creator of technol-

ogy, and He has allowed it to surface right now for a purpose. We better not be like the Gentiles in Romans 1 who worshipped the creation and not the Creator. Let’s not forget that there will come a time when it is all shut off. Let’s not make “iDols” of our technology, engaging in the world’s newest form of false spirituality. When the next über gadget does finally come, I don’t want to forget it is all about the ultimate keynote “Game Changer”—Jesus. Let’s make sure we keep moving forward with Jesus and His cross at the center of all our innovations and technologies. n

1 Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publish-ers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), p. 152.

VINCENT MACISAAC, “PASTOR

VINNIE,” SERVES THE ARLINGTON

AND FAIRFAx SEVENTH-DAY

ADVENTIST CHURCHES IN THE

NORTHERN VIRGINIA AREA

JUST OUTSIDE OF WASHINGTON, D.C. HE IS MARRIED

TO TINALYNN MACISAAC, AND THIS YEAR MARKS

THEIR TWENTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY.

Let’s use CuRRent teCHnoLoGYto tRAnsfoRm tHe woRLd, And AttHe sAme time, LET’S NOT bE TRANSFORMED by IT.


Jacob’s well sat at the entrance of a valley with about 80 springs of water, a pearl of the Promised Land full of grass, flowers, plums, nuts, figs, pomegranates, oranges, and grapes—a valley of beauty, history, and theological significance. Gerizim and Ebal rose from it, moun-tains that were the site of Israel’s cove-nant renewal after they crossed the Jordan river (Deut. 27:12, 13). Its cities of Sychar and Shechem were historic too.

God appeared here to Abraham—newly arrived at Shechem in response to God’s call—promising the land to him and his offspring. Abraham’s response? An altar “to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7); his first altar in the Promised Land. Jesus, the seed of Abraham, seated at the well, was God personally fulfilling His prom-ise to make Abraham “a blessing” for “all peoples on earth” (verses 2, 3).

There was sad history too: Years after Abraham, Jacob, his flocks, and his fam-ily came to this valley and its many springs did not belong to him. But “for a hundred pieces of silver, he bought

from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. There he set up an altar” (Gen. 33:19, 20). Again the place of worship! He dug a well, more than 100 feet deep. Finding fresh water of the Spirit can demand as much!

Everything was good in this beautiful valley until something ugly happened to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter: a viola- tion that sparked her brothers’ rage and a bloody massacre (Gen. 34:25). It was a terrible night for the people of Shechem—all the male population bru-

Heart and Soul: Biblical Studies

by gALINA STELEiLLustRAtion BY steve CReitz

tally killed; trust was betrayed; good intentions to join God’s people mocked and denied by the very ones who built an altar to the true God in this valley. His name was on their lips, but their lives cried out the opposite.

What a disappointment to God! Descendants of Abraham, supposed blessing to the whole world, acting like terror-ists. Instead of love, hope, and truth, they brought hatred and death to the city they were supposed to reach. Their altar stood outside, but no tabernacle was within their hearts where God could dwell. Someone says, “You can fight the devil with such fran-tic zeal that in the long run you look like him.” How sad it is when people around see such a discrepancy between our truth and our spirit, between our altars—places of worship—and our ways of life. The good news is that Jesus visits the places where we build our altars to Him. There He brings His liv-

ing water.No wonder Jesus

decided to go through Samaria!

This place meant so much to Him! Now syncretism ruled in the land of His early altars. Samaritans did not deny God; they believed in Him, even worshipped Him. But as with us today, they believed and worshipped as they pleased. God was on their lips, but their lives were far from Him. Jesus came to Samaria because He had living water for them.

From Form to LifeJesus comes into the mess of our lives

and transforms everything. He turns our places of worship into a way of life,

a life of worship in spirit and truth. His stop at Jacob’s well shows a different attitude toward those who thirst and do not know the well.

Dinah’s brothers justified their righ-teous indignation. Jesus could have been righteously indignant with the woman at the well. Five husbands is unusual, even for the twenty-first cen-tury. Sadly, it was not unusual at all in the first century. Dinah’s brothers fought sin with swords and hatred; Jesus chose to solve it with love and liv-ing water. He could rebuke the woman,

accuse her; but instead He was willing to share with her the power that would transform her life.

Jesus’ request for water surprised her. Giving water to a tired stranger was a great privilege, even an obligation for people in the East. Water was consid-ered a gift from the Lord. To ask a woman for water was not so surprising, since women were the ones who gener-ally drew water. But she was surprised because He asked to drink from the ves-sel of a Samaritan woman. Jews could buy certain dry food from Samaritans that did not convey defilement, and we know the disciples went to buy food. But water and wet food were different. Amazingly, Jesus is not afraid to use us as His vessels, imperfect as we are.

In response to her questions, Jesus directed the woman’s attention toward something more important than physi-cal thirst—soul thirst. He confronted her sin. He touched a delicate area of her private life and pushed her out of her comfort zone to awaken her thirst for righteousness.

Unless we admit our sins, we won’t

ARe You tHiRstY?

At the Well

At noontime Jesus sat at Jacob’s well. Jews did not usually pass through Samaria to get to Galilee from Jerusalem; they preferred to go around it. But Jesus’ actions have their own reasons.



At the Well

the Greek word proskuneo 10 times in John 4:19-25. The word includes ideas such as “to kiss the hand” (of a supe-rior), “to prostrate oneself,” “to bend the knees,” “to bow down,” “to adore,” “to worship.” This kind of worship can be expressed in song: “Crown Him, for He is worthy! Crown Him!” True worship admits His only and supreme authority.

The primary purpose of worship is not just to share or read some thoughts for the day, to deliver or find interesting informa-tion, to entertain our youth or newcomers, or to prepare a lecture. The primary center of true worship was, is, and should be God the Ruler of the universe, our Creator and Redeemer who should be adored, wor-shipped, and obeyed.

The OutcomeJesus decided to go through Samaria

because the harvest was ripe, because He wanted to reach that city. How did He do it? The secret is thirst. He awoke the wom-an’s thirst; He targeted her thirst. And she, who wanted to escape the crowds, brought crowds to the well herself.

When our place of formal worship becomes the way of vibrant life, then we worship in truth and in spirit. Not only are we revived, we are reformed as well. Jesus becomes visible in our lives, and we cannot hide Him any more than we can hide water in our pockets. The power of Jesus as the living water revives wor-shippers at the place of worship and leads them to the reformation of the life of true worship. Our lives become ser-mons, a revelation of living water. The change in us produces results.

In my Bible is a letter to our church, entitled “to the church in Laodicea.” I wish it said: “To the church called Victo-ria.” Laodicea and Samaria bear striking similarities, and differences.

First, like Samaria, Laodicea has water. Laodicea had a stone aqueduct, a sign of

civilization. Water runs in Laodicea, but because of inefficient filtration—so common with our spiritual life—and distance from the source, the water becomes lukewarm and unpleasant.

Second, like Laodicea, our woman of Samaria had a long-term sin problem to which she had become accustomed. Laodicea used to be famous for its tex-tile industry, especially for its black woolen fabric. Impressive in jackets, skirts, suits, and positions, we forget how much all these covers contrast with the “white robe” we need, and that we look naked in Jesus’ eyes.

But our third comparison brings good news. As Jesus at the well offered “living water” for free, so He offers Laodicea everything we need “without money and without price” (Rev. 3:18; Isa. 55:1).

In a fourth comparison we meet Jesus at the well at noon, now standing at the door in the evening; an evening that speaks of history’s approaching end, and of the importance of our daily commu-nion, our evening (and morning) sacri-fice. He is outside and wants to come in. He was thirsty at the well. He is hungry now, not only for a drink, but to share a feast with us. Once He sat at the well, now He wants to sit at the table (Rev. 3:20).

In the end Samaria is as much about us as it is about a woman at a well. Samaria’s well is a story about the true source of Living Water, and the power that can unite Spirit and truth in our hearts and transform our disastrous yesterdays into glorious tomorrows. It is a story about how our lives can become a blessing for the whole world.

Lord, give us this water! n

GALINA STELE SERVES AS A

RESEARCH ASSISTANT IN THE OFFICE

OF ARCHIVES, STATISTICS, AND

RESEARCH OF THE GENERAL

CONFERENCE.

see our need for living water. We’ll always be thirsty. But whoever drinks what Jesus provides finds within them-selves “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Only Jesus can give us this regenerating power of liv-ing water that will turn our hatred into love, our selfishness into agape service.

And He does it at the places of our personal altars, places symbolic of our temptations and falls, and, at the same time, the places of our victories because of Him. At those places He washes us with the transforming power of living water and turns our places of mere form and ritual into the way of vibrant life.

Spirit and TruthThe Samaritans were waiting for a Mes-

siah. They called Him Taheb and believed He would return and restore true wor-ship. The woman called Jesus a prophet but ended up accepting Him as Messiah.

Jesus’ conversation directed the wom-an’s attention to the issue of true wor-ship, where spirit and truth are united. Only when we understand the true func-tion of worship—to satisfy our spiritual thirst and transform us into the image of the One we worship—will there be harmonic unity between God’s Word, His truth, our message, our spirit, and our attitude toward each other. What-ever we believe about worship, we have to share Jesus’ view about worship. The time has come when “the true worship-ers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (verse 23). This is what God is looking for (verses 19-24).

Spirit and truth; living water and the bread of life. In our story Jesus gives the water, the disciples bring the bread. Bread and water were significant fea-tures of the sanctuary ritual. Are they together in our lives? Are nourishment and refreshing united in our worship? Our discussion of worship uses forms of

whatever we believe about worship,

we have to share Jesus’ view oN worship.


A Partnership With JesusWHILE WALkINg ALONg 42ND STREET IN NEW yORk CITy, A PREACHER SAW A well-dressed man sitting on the sidewalk, face buried in his hands. He thought the poor fellow had slipped, fallen, and hurt himself, so he quickly walked over to help him.

As the preacher came closer, he thought he recognized the man. When he got to where the man sat, he realized he did know him. It was the devil himself.

The preacher said, “Devil, what are you doing, sitting here like this? You’re always busy breaking up mar-riages, corrupting governments, committing random acts of evil.”

To this the devil replied with a sigh, “Hardly anyone is resisting me these days. They’ve left me nothing to do; everything’s going my way.”

Everything seems to be going the devil’s way when we consider the news of the past 12 months here in the United States. During the hurricane season—June to November—tornadoes and hurricanes took more than 330 lives, leveled towns, and cost billions of dollars in property damage. Fifty per-cent of marriages, both in the church and the world, ended in divorce, while 34 percent of unwed teens had at least one pregnancy before turning 20. Untold numbers of abortions were performed, as our nation ranked second behind Russia in this killing field. Horrific mass murders occurred in a Colorado theater (July), at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin (August), at a manufacturing plant in Minnesota (September), and in the unthinkable nightmare in Newtown, Connecticut (December); not to mention more than 500 killed in Chicago, mostly teens, in this diabolical culture of violence.*

Everything is going Satan’s way, or so it seems.Are we going to sit in our comfortable congregations this year and sing, “The Lord is in His holy

temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him”? Or are we going to stand up for Jesus as soldiers of the cross and cry out against the consuming evil and change the world? We have the authority of God embodied in the divine commission of Matthew 28:19, 20.

This commission is also a co-mission, a partnership with Jesus in His mission to relentlessly seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). It is a co-mission that calls us to depend on Jesus to overcome evil with good as we make disciples of all people in our spheres of influence.

If we accept this co-mission, we must be willing to serve God regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We must determine to finish what we start as ambassadors of Christ through whom He makes His appeal to the world (2 Cor. 5:20). If others try to persuade us that this co-mission is impos-sible, we must trust God, knowing that with Him all things are possible. If we feel as though our sacrifice isn’t producing the promised results and we’re getting bogged down in a blizzard of despair, we must dig deeper into the Word, such as Revelation 12:10-17.

There we discover that we can and will overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb, by the testimony of Scripture, by keeping the commandments of God, and by holding to the testimony of Jesus.

Remember, sometimes God allows His anointed ambassadors to share in Christ’s suffering (2 Cor. 12:7-9). Further, what Jesus said to Peter, He says to those of us who are devoted to Him: “Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat,” but I am praying for you, “that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31, 32).

For a time Satan appears to win. That sifting rid Peter of his least-attractive qualities, such as a blustery self-confidence, a chip on his shoulder, and a propensity to violence.

Our time has come to be world-changers. If we encounter opposition, ridicule, or rejection, we shouldn’t let them draw us off course. We must testify, knowing that as Jesus prayed for Peter, He is now at the right hand of God interceding for us. Let’s testify, not under duress, but joyfully, according to the will of God; not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, for it is written: “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:4).

* Statistics have been taken from a variety of Internet sites.

HYVETH WILLIAMS TEACHES HOMILETICS AT THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

Hyveth Williams

Back to Basics


Adventist Life

by LILIAN HAN IM

This past February marked the 10-year anniversary of one of my most life-chang-ing events. It spiraled me into a decade-long whirl-

wind, filled with unanswered questions and unfinished chapters. How my jour-ney culminated with a simple realiza-tion is an astonishing testament to God’s unending story of hope.

My brother, Brian, and I were very close growing up. Although Brian was 2 years younger than I, he seemed more like an older brother. He had a certain confidence that enabled our relation-ship to flourish in that way. We became the closest during the semester I began graduate studies at Andrews University and he was accepted nearby into the esteemed Northwestern University hon-ors medical program in Chicago. Our family and friends were ecstatic at his acceptance, yet somewhat surprised, because Brian had walked into his inter-view in unorthodox interview attire: maroon Dr. Martens boots, a plaid tie, and an antisuit blazer. He believed that he didn’t need to change who he was (outside or inside) just to be accepted at a school, no matter how prestigious.

Life Changer for brianA semester before he was due to cele-

brate the conquest of undergraduate studies, Brian began pondering whether

the eternal ChapterCAn we

find peaCe Amid tRAGedY?


medicine was his true calling. He had been serving as the lay youth leader at the local Adventist church and found himself neck high in ministry rather than immersed in Northwestern’s

highly rigorous academics. Not everyone gets into a program that gives you a straight acceptance to medical school without sitting for the MCAT,* so realiz-ing what would be jeopardized by a change in plans, I blasted him with sis-terly advice: “Finish your last semester and then, maybe, think about seminary,” I said. “Don’t make such a rash decision at a dusty crossroad; wait on the Lord.” And my best one: “Take time away from this academic surrounding by serving as a student missionary overseas.”

This last thought was not at all far-fetched. Recently returned from Palau myself, I was preaching from my post-mission high.

I still remember his gentle, consistent reply: “Sis, there is so much to do here in the U.S. I don’t need to go overseas to find a mission field or a ministry; the person next to me is my mission field.”

My brother lived his own life story. It didn’t make any sense to me for him to switch paths at that point; but somehow, even with all the prodding, in my heart I knew it was the right thing for him. Brian had found peace in his decision and heeded the call to pastoral ministry. He immediately transferred to Andrews University to enroll in the seminary.

Life Changer for MeA few years later, Brian and I had a

surprise announcement for each other. My news was that he was going to be an uncle. His news was that he was going

on a mission trip overseas. I was so excited! I knew it would change his life, but I never anticipated that it would change mine. I was more excited than he was because I had recently worked for

the Adventist Volunteer Center at the General Conference office and had inter-acted with student missionaries and volunteers from all over the world. I was very enthusiastic about mission service overseas—and now my own brother was finally going to experience it for himself. As the Science Depart-ment chair at Garden State Academy in New Jersey and pastor of a local church, Brian would be joining a conference-organized mission team going to El Sal-vador. The group included Garden State Academy students, with my brother serving as a chaperone.

Then late one night during the mis-sion trip the phone rang. I was six months pregnant and feeling very nause-ated, so I couldn’t answer it. Later I called my mom to find out what was going on. My uncle answered the phone, and then I knew something was terribly wrong. It was about the El Salvador mission trip.

After a week of building an orphanage, the students and chaperones decided to go wading in the water along the beautiful shores of a small town. A spontaneous, roar-ing riptide swept them up, and without hes-itation my brother and a lifeguard rushed into the water to rescue them. One by one, each student was brought safely ashore. As the last student was pulled in, he turned to hear my brother’s last cry, “Help me, Jesus!” He simply had run out of strength.

Senseless LossHow could a loving God ignore such

an earnest plea? How much more ear-nest could such a plea be? Why would He allow the life of such a faithful and bold soldier for Christ to end at the age of 26? For someone so overflowing with

advice, at that moment I had no answers.

My mind wrestled for rea-son and hope; despair over-whelmed me. I sank into a flood of anger. I hopelessly sought the peace that my brother had relentlessly lived by. I desperately scrambled to

retract any credit for planting the idea of serving in an overseas mission. In the midst of my anguish, it took me a long time to realize that Christ had been gen-tly tapping on my shoulder to tell me something that would give me a frag-ment of peace:

My child, Lilian, Brian is not lost. I have not lost him; and you have not lost him either. His life is on pause. You did not send him to his death. He found a reason to live that was worth dying for. Besides, he is not gone from you forever. There are so many more pages to add to the chapters of his life.

Renewed HopeSince that tragic time I have experi-

enced a long and winding voyage, but I have now caught a glimpse of the waves of hope and peace in Him. In the words of a traveler on a similar journey, “My life with my brother has been put on pause, . . . but it will be continued in a short while, . . . and this story has no end.”

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die’ ” (John 11:25, 26). n

* standardized multiple-choice exam taken by pro-spective medical students

BORN AND RAISED IN NEW YORK,

LILIAN HAN IM GREW UP WANTING

TO TEACH CHILDREN. SHE AND HER

HUSBAND ARE NOW HOMESCHOOL-

ING THEIR OWN CHILDREN, ALExIS

AND AUSTIN, IN RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA.

the eternal Chapter


Further testingI CAN’T IMAgINE MORE POLAR EMOTIONS THAN THE ONES yOU ExPERIENCE while waiting to find out if you’re going to die. On one hand, you really, really don’t want to die. Your entire being strains against the thought, like when you’re underwater trying to come up for air and you keep bumping your head against a floating dock. Where’s the surface? Bump. Where’s the surface? Bump. WHERE’S THE SURFACE?

But as much as you hate the idea of death, you find yourself feeling better than usual about your outlook on life. Suddenly the things that matter little do indeed matter little—and the things that matter most do indeed matter most.

Later this morning I’m going in for “further testing.” It’s probably nothing, I was told at my last visit. And this reassures me; until I realize that “probably nothing” really doesn’t mean anything if it turns

out to be something.So until I hear someone say, “It’s benign,” it’s very difficult for me to reenter that place where my

mind is calm. I haven’t been myself the past few days; it’s hard to act natural around the girls when I haven’t told them how worried I am. Honestly, the one thing I cannot handle is the thought of sitting in the living room with Cindy this evening and telling the girls that Daddy has cancer. I simply cannot handle that right now. If it comes to that, Jesus Christ is going to have to handle it for me. Seeing my children hurting is at the very top of the things I hate.

Ha! I’m reminded of a list the girls once playfully made about the places they especially hated going. It went like this:

1. Home Depot/Lowe’s: where they have to stand in a very boring aisle of very boring materials2. The Men’s Wearhouse: where they have to stand among very boring clothes and shoes3. The oil change place: where they have to sit in a very boring waiting area with scattered news-

papers and a TV that perpetually seems to play The People’s Court. We finally solved the problem by heading down the street to Salsarita’s Cantina for burritos, chips, and salsa. One of our favorite

memories is running through a heavy rain from the oil change place to Salsarita’s laughing our heads off. Three years later, our youngest daughter, Summer, still talks about it.

I love these girls so much and want nothing more than to watch them grow up—alongside Cindy, the love of my life. That’s why my own list of things I would most hate goes like this:

1. Family members dying2. Me dyingYet, even as I reflect on this list, I realize how earth-centered it is. It’s all about life now. Is this really and

truly what I ought to dread most—the loss of life on earth? I find my answer by realizing what God most dreads—not the loss of earthly life but the loss of eternal life. The things God most hates are:

1. Anyone losing eternal life2. His Son dyingIf I’m really a believer, then my list should at least go like this, shouldn’t it?1. Family members losing eternal life2. Me losing eternal life3. Anyone else losing eternal life4. Family members dying5. Me dyingEven with its lingering selfishness, this list still isn’t easy for me to digest. My flesh screams out against

it. Though I may believe (and even teach) that one person’s earthly death can result in another’s eternal life, I don’t want to be that person. Not now—with my girls so young. I don’t want to sit down in the living room tonight. Again, if it comes to that, Jesus Christ is going to have to handle it for me.

“He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ ” (2 Cor. 12:9).Postscript: It was benign. n

ANDY NASH IS A PROFESSOR AND PASTOR LEADING A FAMILY-FRIENDLY TOUR TO ISRAEL MAY 19-31. CONTACT HIM AT [email protected].

The Life of Faith

Andy Nash


Let It rain!THIS MORNINg I WENT RUNNINg IN A VERy LIgHT AND SOFT RAIN. I WOULDN’T have run outside if it had been pouring with rain; I don’t like getting my running shoes squeaky wet and my clothes soaked. This felt more like a thick mist, and it was highly invigorating. It had been raining all night, and the air smelled wonderfully pine-fresh. The morning was hushed, and it was just me and the wide expanse of dark sky stretched above me with a hint of the dawn in the east.

I lifted my face to the sky and suddenly had to smile. Why? Ever since I was a little girl of about 6 years old I can remember my mom telling me to lift my face to the sky when it rains, because “rain makes your face beautiful.” Or so she said. I guess that notion came in handy when she needed to lift my spirits on a rainy day when I couldn’t go outside to play, or if we happened to get caught in the rain while walking somewhere. But I believed her and dutifully lifted my face for the rain to wash it whenever I had the opportunity. And more than 30 years later I’m still doing it! What’s more, I’m telling my children to do it as well. It has become some kind of family tradition—something we do when it rains and we’re outside. It has been passed on from one generation to the next. What may have been one of those inspired moments when God gives a mother the right words for her children in a specific situation has turned into a wonderful lifelong memory and source of encouragement. Forget the dark clouds and hold your face into the rain. Turn the apparent obstacles into an opportunity. Lift your face to the sky, because rain makes it beautiful!

Although science likely doesn’t support this premise, the passing on of these positive and encouraging words has created long-lasting memories for me. These small words and traditions are woven into the fabric of our family histories, and when we hand them down from one generation to another, we might actually be doing something deeply spiritual: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:5-7, ESV).*

Saying encouraging and positive words to our children—words that remind us and them of God’s con-tinual love, even in the face of pelting rainstorms that will surely come our way—may create a small but lasting legacy that will ring all the way into eternity.

I still don’t like rainy days, because I relish being outdoors and playing with my boys or working in the yard and enjoying nature. But then I think of my mom and smile. I go outside and look up, holding my face high, as I invite my three boys to do the same.

Let it rain; let it rain. n

* Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THANDI kLINGBEIL LIVES WITH HER HUSBAND, MARTIN, AND THEIR THREE CHILDREN IN COLLEGEDALE, TENNESSEE.

Reflections


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