| | | | | E-Newsletter of the Ohio Conference of Seventh-day Adventists | January 2011
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| | | | | Ohio Conference Welcomes Steve Carlson as Youth Director
 Elder Steve Carlson has accepted our offer to join the Ohio Conference office team as director of youth ministry, taking the place vacated by Dr. Mike Stevenson. Among other things Steve will be the conference director for Pathfinders and Adventurers, lead the summer program at Camp Mohaven, and be a resource person for all youth ministry in the Ohio Conference.
Steve and Daisy and their sons Ian (2) and Gavin (3 months) come to us from California, where Steve is a pastor for teens and young adults at The Place, a church in the Southern California Conference.
Steve is part of an Adventist ministry family: his father is Pastor Ron Carlson, now president of the Kansas-Nebraska conference. Steve grew up in North Dakota, Missouri, and California. He's a graduate of Union College in Lincoln, NE. Daisy, also a UC graduate, is from Kansas City.
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 What Does the State of the Dead Have to Do with the Living?
By Monte Sahlin
One of the key doctrines of the Adventist message is what I was taught as a child as "The State of the Dead." Unlike some who grew up in a different background, as a fourth generation Adventist child I was never told that my much-loved grandfather was "looking down on you from heaven" when he died. His death was one of the most traumatic events of my childhood. I was only six years old and he was standing, watching a train go by, holding my hand and holding my little brother's hand on his other side. My big, strong farmer grandfather simply tumbled forward and was dead. Maybe it would have been comforting to tell a very bereaved six-year-old that "your grandfather loves you and he is heaven waiting for you," but my parents taught me what the Bible says: "He is asleep in the grave until Jesus comes. The dead know not anything." In adulthood my eyes were opened to the fact that the State of the Dead doctrine is more about the state of the living than it is about the dead. Even when I was growing up in the 1950s, Adventist theologians were writing books about the nature of humanity. Adventists have believed from the beginning of our movement that the basic nature of a human person is both physical and cognitive, that we each are a unity of many dimensions, and it is the complexity of God's creation that make each person who we are. Based on that truth, the Adventist Church teaches that God is equally interested in religion and many things others consider secular, such as the food we eat, how much sleep we get at night, how many glasses of water we drink, how often we take a walk, etc. Isaiah 58 is a chapter that Ellen White says we should read often. It provides a framework for a holistic Adventist theology and a holistic mission for the Adventist Church. In this passage God speaks to people who bow before Him in fasting and prayer, who humble themselves seeking the outpouring of God's spirit. Yet, He says, "this is not the kind of worship that I desire." He says that worship must be accompanied by caring and kind behavior, practical compassion. Adventists, more than other Christians, are invested in providing education for young people, health care for the hurting, and help for the poor and suffering. God cares about how we live our whole lives. It is not just about a couple of hours on Saturday; it is 24/7. That makes Adventism hard, but it also makes it good. It is not easy to live the Christian life fully and wholly, but when we make the attempt it gives us each a richness and depth of spiritual life we cannot otherwise know. And it provides a unique character to our church. Monte Sahlin is the Director of Research & Special Projects for the Ohio Conference |
Camp Meeting Returns to the Ohio Conference
Enjoy a full week of camp meetings the week of June 12-18 on the campus of Mount Vernon Academy. The program will include daily multigenerational worships, multiple opportunities for serious Bible study, spiritual and personal growth, inspirational singing and music, full programs for Cradle Roll, Kindergarten, Primary, Junior, Earliteens and youth, recreational activities, fellowship and food. Plan now to spend this week with your Christian brothers and sisters from across Ohio. Watch for detailed information.
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| Ohio Ministry University to feature workshops for lay leaders Ohio Ministry University is coming up March 19-20, in Columbus. Featured speakers are Ray Tetz, who will talk about how to market your church, and Dr. Leslie Bumgardner, whose presentation is called "Helping People Get Serious About God."
We're especially excited about our Sabbath afternoon workshops. You can choose the one that will help your ministry the most.
- Vacation Bible School workshop. VBS expert Barbara Manspeaker will provide guidance and familiarize you with the materials to conduct a VBS in your church this summer.
- Reaching High School Youth in Your Community. Brendan Prutzman will teach you how to create relationships with students, and lead them into a relationship with Christ.
- Is Your Church Prepared for Disaster? Natural disasters can strike any community. Will your congregation know what to do? Instructor: Roy Nelson, ACS Disaster Coordinator.
- Friendship Evangelism. Monte Sahlin is a pioneer in the concept of friendship evangelism in our denomination. He'll teach you how you can use this tool to reach people as Jesus did.
For more information, call 740-397-4665 X165, or visit www.ohioadventist.org |
| ACTS '11 Autumn Conference celebrates The Acts of the Apostles  | | Ted Wilson |
The book of Acts was written by Dr. Luke 2,000 years ago to record the acts of the Holy Spirit in advancing Christ's mission through His newly birthed church. The Acts of the Apostles was written by Ellen White and published in 1911 to remind the church of that important story.  | | Ganoune Diop |
Now comes ACTS '11 -- a century later - a gathering of Seventh-day Adventists to revisit the story and to consider its implications and applications to our time and place. October 22, 2011 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Roberts Center at the Holiday Inn Wilmington, Ohio Speakers will includ Elder Ted Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and Dr. Ganoune Diop, Director, Global Mission Study Centers, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Be prepared to be informed, inspired, and challenged! |
| | | Adventist Christian Fellowship Report
* The ACF group in Athens joined hundreds of others for the Good Works Homeless walk, to raise awareness of poverty and hunger. They continue an active slate of Bible studies and other events. Contact ACF chaplain Darrin Thurber. · The Kettering-Dayton ACF is working on starting a praise band so they can hold worships on campus. Chaplain Sabrina Araiza has reached out to all the area churches, and is finding many more students to be part of their group. · The biggest news from the Columbus ACF chapter is that our ministry chaplains, David and Gina Helbley, have had a new baby! Anna Journey Helbley was born Sunday, January 23, 10:48 am - 7 lbs 4 oz, 19 3/4in. · Check out our ACF Ohio blog, or donate money to our ministry via PayPal! Just click the "Donate" button, below. |
| Stewardship report
As our year's financials were closed, we found that the Ohio Conference experienced a 1.4% decrease in tithe between 2009 and 2010. "This reflects the economy of Ohio and the nation," says conference treasurer Doug Falle. "As income decreases, so does tithe. That's why we're especially grateful to all our church members for their generosity in 2010." Let's pray that our economy will improve in 2011!
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Inspiration
Let parents devote the evenings to their families. Lay off care and perplexity with the labors of the day. The husband and father would gain much if he would make it a rule not to mar the happiness of his family by bringing his business troubles home to fret and worry over.... Let home be a place where cheerfulness, courtesy and love exist. This will make it attractive to the children. If the parents are continually borrowing trouble, are irritable and faultfinding, the children partake of the same spirit of dissatisfaction and contention, and home is the most miserable place in the world. The children find more pleasure among strangers, in reckless company, or in the street, than at home. ... Let children find home the most attractive place on earth. Not long since I heard a mother say that she liked to see a house fitly constructed, that defects in the arrangement and mismatched woodwork in the finishing annoyed her. I do not condemn nice taste in this respect, but as I listened to her, I regretted that this nicety could not have been brought into her methods of managing her children. These were buildings for whose framing she was responsible; yet the rough, uncourteous ways, their passionate, selfish natures, and uncontrolled wills, were painfully apparent to others. Ill-formed characters, mismatched pieces of humanity, indeed they were, yet the mother was blind to it all. The arrangement of her house was of more consequence to her than the symmetry of her children's character. ... In whatever else we may fail, let us be thorough in the work for our children. If they go forth from the home training pure and virtuous, if they fill the least and lowest place in God's great plan of good for the world, our life work can never be called a failure. Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, pp. 154-161
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| | | Upcoming Events | OHIO MINISTRY UNIVERSITY, March 19 & 20, Embassy Suites Hotel, Dublin, Ohio. Focus areas include: - Personal Spirituality
- Marketing Your Ministry
- Friendship Evangelism
- Vacation Bible School
- Disaster Response
- Ministry to High School Youth in your Community
BIKER CAMP MEETING, June 1-5, Mount Vernon Academy. A specialty camp meeting that will focus on four target audiences: - Church members (who may or may not be bikers themselves) who wish to develop a ministry to bikers in their communities;
- Adventist bikers who wish to enjoy a specialized camp meeting with features for bikers;
- Christian bikers from across the State of Ohio
- Non-Christian bikers from across the State
INTERGENERATIONAL CAMP MEETING, June 12-18, Mount Vernon Academy
- A stimulating and inspiring camp meeting experience for persons of all ages.
- The programming will include unique intergenerational worship experiences along with age-specific programs, seminars, workshops, and other features.
ACTS 2011, October 22, Roberts Center in the Holiday Inn, Wilmington, Ohio. Another Ohio Conference sponsored national Sabbath gathering of Adventists, in partnership with the Columbia Union Conference.
- The event will focus on the message of the biblical book of Acts and Ellen White's Acts of the Apostles (which was published in 1911 - a century ago).
- Featured speakers will include Elder Ted Wilson, president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and Dr. Ganoune Diop, Director, Global Mission Study Centers, General Conference of SDA.
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