Central California Conference: Tell us about the upcoming Hope Now evangelistic seminar.
Dan Serns: Every spring and fall we have some type of reaping throughout our conference. This fall, we encouraged every church to do a reaping event and, if possible, do it Sept. 6-14. September 14 will be one of our Fill Every Baptistry services that we encourage twice a year.
This one developed in a very interesting way. We have a pastor in our San Francisco Central Church who thought, What if for our reaping we invited the General Conference president, Ted Wilson? He said, “Let's go ahead and try,” and before we knew it, Elder Ted Wilson said yes, he'd preach in San Francisco Sept. 6-14.
When we shared that with the pastors in San Francisco, it lit a fire. And other people started picking up on the idea across the conference. They said, “Why don't we all just do something that week?” We put it out to the evangelism team and to the pastors and across the field. In January, we shared the idea with the pastors and elders, and the result is about 80 percent of our churches are doing something major to win souls for the Lord this fall.
Then we began wondering, if Pastor Wilson is coming, what if we invited other people? We sent out invitations and we have wound up with more speakers. Pastor Ted Wilson will be preaching in San Francisco. The president of the Hope Channel—who speaks Russian and Ukrainian—will be speaking in San Francisco. Pastor Alex Bryant will be speaking in Silicon Valley. A missionary who works secretly in a closed country is speaking in one of our churches. The General Conference treasurer Paul Douglas is speaking in Bakersfield. The new president of the Atlantic Union Conference, Abraham Jules, is speaking in Visalia. Kyle Allen, the vice president of Adventist World Radio, is speaking in Modesto. And the list goes on.
CCC: Is there a theme for this event?
DS: The theme for this event is Hope Now. In Jesus Christ we have hope for today. Come learn how to grow your relationship with Him!
CCC: Why should someone go out of their way to attend this event?
DS: We encourage all who attend to participate. Participate by being a preacher or helping with music or helping as a greeter or helping in another way. We encourage you to pray for people who you want to see make a decision for Jesus. Pray for people by name, and reach out to them, befriend them, minister to their needs, help them and invite them to your home.
In our camp meeting, we invited everybody to be a neighborhood pastor where they live. We said, “God's placed you there strategically. Go pray for the people, even if you don't know them. Look for ways to reach out to the people in your neighborhood.” We had hundreds who came forward to say they will accept that challenge to be a neighborhood pastor.
God is also opening the way for people struggling personally, maybe going through depression or anxiety or difficult times in your life, but are committed believers. Come to the meetings just as an attendee and find hope. Find hope to lift that depression and reconnect with people. You'll be reminded once again of why God raised up the Seventh-day Adventist movement in the last days, and the hope we have in Jesus and the Bible prophecies. There is hope for the future.
CCC: What have been some of the milestones in setting up this event?
DS: The fact that we have 80 percent of our churches participating is very encouraging. Another thing that's exciting is we have so many volunteer evangelists, lay people who are rising up to speak and to preach and share. It’s been thrilling to see that happen. Another wonderful thing is that the churches participating are seeing that this can result in more souls for the kingdom.
Some of the challenges have been finances. We have been praying for finances. We try to be very conscientious. We wish we could give more to each site to help them with the meetings. Another challenge is the logistical coordination, but we've seen God open the way for that to happen, and that's encouraging.
CCC: What should an attendee expect at this event?
DS: On Sept. 14, we're having a soul-winning festival on Sabbath afternoon in seven different locations throughout the conference where churches will get together, share testimonies and introduce new members. Ted Wilson will be speaking when the church is gathered in San Francisco, and Alex Bryant will be speaking with the churches gathered in Silicon Valley.
Another thing that's amazing is next year the North American Division is doing something similar division-wide. It's called Pentecost 2025 (pentecost2025.com). What we are doing as a conference, the North American Division is planning to do next year. This will help us build momentum into next year.
Learn more at www.hope-now.us.
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