Ed Barnett, RMC president

Year 2020 helped me confirm that there is no status quo, neither in the world, nor in our church. We see change taking place everywhere around the globe. As we move forward, I believe all of us must take our relationship with Jesus more seriously. We can observe that more of our fellow brothers and sisters are realizing the same truth.

This makes me think that the greatest days for the Seventh-day Adventist Church are right in front of us. Each of us has a part to play in sharing Jesus wherever we go, not only in words, but in the way we live our lives. Some of the long-established values of Christianity need to be visible like never before, be it honesty, kindness, gentleness, genuine love for our neighbors, or being friends who are not trying to win people into the baptismal tank but let them see-–with the help of the Holy Spirit–-what Christ is really like.

These days, Christianity is not thought of as highly as it once was. But we have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around us. I believe we will see that happening. That is what I imagine our members doing as we move into 2021 and beyond.

I praise God for the wake-up call He has given us. Let’s be known as the most loving, kind people in our communities!

Eric Nelson, RMC VP for administration

In the past 12 months, there has been a settling into whatever the new norm is for each individual.  For some, it has grounded them more deeply in their commitment to the Lord and the Adventist Church. For others, there has been a deepening divide, loss of contact, diminishing connection with the church where they hold membership and have attended in the past. It will be an ongoing effort to re-engage many in the church during 2021. That will be the greatest challenge in 2021. How do we reach and incorporate, re-engage many of our members? How can we re-ignite their spiritual fire? We have the challenge of doing all we can to make worship and fellowship so interesting and meaningful, that they would not want to miss out.

There is no going back to the way it used to be! We are using so many tools that we didn’t know how to use in years gone by. We have tools to conduct meetings more efficiently. We have new methods by which to reach out to a broader demographic than those who previously came into our worship centers. Pastors are sharing with me that twice as many are attending worship (in person and on-line) than have attended in past years. How can we connect with those who are joining remotely? How can we discover who and where they are? This is a very exciting problem.

I personally look forward to fellowshipping in church, shaking hands, singing full-voiced without a mask. I look forward to fellowship meals and [maskless] face-to-face conversations. I look forward to seeing faces and smiles I recognize, faces that I haven’t seen for some time.

George Crumley, VP for treasury

Prophet Haggai (chapter 1) talks about the people saying the time had not come to rebuild the house of the Lord. They had become discouraged by opposition in the past and had grown indifferent to the importance of the work. In their indifference, they focused on their personal comforts and security while God’s house lay in ruins.

Through the prophet, God said that because they were focused on their desires instead of God’s work, they were suffering. To paraphrase, God said that they are planting and not getting much of a harvest. They were eating, but were not satisfied and their wages disappeared as if they were putting them in pockets filled with holes. God commanded them to take up His work and then He did an amazing thing. He motivated them to do that work. In the NLT, we read that God sparked enthusiasm in the leaders and the people, and they started to work on the house of the Lord.

Most of us can attest that, at times, our focus has been in the wrong areas. We’ve been out chasing rabbits at the expense of God’s work and have been left empty and impoverished. But as we enter this new year, what an opportunity we have to recommit to moving God’s work forward by being lights that shine to those around us. God is willing and ready through His Spirit to fill us with the same enthusiasm with which He filled the people of Judah years ago. Now, that is a neat thought!