Transcending Talk with Tithe

Transcending Talk with Tithe:  An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Dear Fellow Leader,

Again I have been impressed by the strong and succinct conviction of Elder Jan Paulsen (2009) as he articulated in the October 2009 edition of Adventist World, “We must give young adults meaningful roles within the church (p.10).”

And notably, Elder Paulsen has re-initiated the Let’s Talk series that he has been conducting around the world for over half a decade (Lechleitner, 2009).  Even though I support these fine and admirable verbal gestures, I feel we fail new generations if we only offer another round of conversations and compelling articles.

So I share this open letter with you leader—whether you offer volunteer leadership in your local church or campus or serve as a ministry professional, educator or administrator.  Leader, I implore you to move beyond conversations about youth and young adults to conspicuous and calculated action.

Although I admire the outspoken positions our leaders have taken on this issue (Martin, 2009), I want to invite you and every leader in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to transcend talk with tangible action. Specifically I’m asking you to tithe.  Tithe one or more of the following beginning today:  (a) Travel, (b) Time, (c) Timothys, (d) Telecasts, (e) Talents.

Tithe Your Travel

Divert one of your travel appointments, and instead sponsor a young adult to go to IGNITION, April 2010 in Columbus, Ohio, or IGNITION Atlanta, June 2010. Instead of taking on that tenth speaking appointment or attending another committee meeting, invest that trip’s budget into the leadership development of a young adult.  IGNITION is especially formulated to deepen the discipleship and leadership development of young adults.  Go to http://ignitionblog.wordpress.com for the latest details on these young adult training opportunities.

Tithe Your Time

Offer a tenth of your time each week to mentoring a young adult.  If you average a 40-hour workweek, then set aside four hours this week and each week to nurture, apprentice, and encourage a young adult.  Begin to pour yourself into the next generation.  If you are working a 60-hour workweek and are saying to yourself, “There is no way I can offer six hours each week to mentor a young adult,” it may be that you need to change your work habits/schedule.

Tithe Your Timothys

Empower a tenth of your young leadership to develop new generations.  You may be in the situation where you have a large team of young ministry leaders [i.e., a campus ministry or student association for an Adventist college or university].  Ask your team to train, mentor, and nurture the young people that follow them in age.  Set aside a tenth of the resources and efforts you give to minister to your campus/church and invest it in the next generation of leaders.

Tithe Your Telecasts

Dedicate a tenth of your broadcast time to intentionally disciple young adults. Knowing the integral role media plays in young lives, invest in nurturing their spiritual growth through music, television, film, drama, comedy, photography, literature, art, production, etc.  Overtly involve young adults in the production, creative, and technical aspects of the tithed endeavor.

For some of you, the pulpit is where you broadcast the Gospel.  Afford at least a tenth of the worships in your church to involve young people.  If you don’t have any youth in your church, more radical tithing may be in order.

Tithe Your Talents

Begin today to let a young person take your place. The classic parable admonishes us to multiply our talents, not bury them in the sand.  Although often referring to talents as money, I would offer here a hybrid application, noting that your skills, abilities, giftedness, and wisdom need to be invested in the next generation.  Allow “up and coming” young adults to take roles you might have easily and competently taken.  Give them the opportunity to take your place—at least begin with a tenth of your place.

Do one or more or all of the above.  Dear colleague, I am personally appealing to you to instigate this “tithing” conspiracy today.  If you or someone else calls you a “Seventh-day Adventist leader,” this talk-transcending-tithing request is for you.  Whether travel, time, Timothys, telecasts, or talents, I ask that you put your tithing into motion today.

Thank you for your kind consideration, and in advance I share my gratefulness for your immediate action.  I believe that leaders best represent the Christ who relentlessly pursues new generations by transcending talk with tangible transformational relationships.  May the GOD young adults seek be found living among those who love Him with all their heart (Martin, Bailey, & LaMountain, 2009).  May Jesus be found in and through…you.

Lead, Love, Live,

A. Allan Martin, PhD, CFLE

Associate Professor of Discipleship & Family Ministry

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Andrews University

References

Lechleitner, E. (2009, October 22).  Young professionals talk change with GC President.  Adventist Review, 186(30), 10-11.

Martin, A. A. (2009, Winter). Burst the bystander effect: Making a discipling difference with young adults. The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 3(1), 46-53.

Martin, A. A., Bailey, S., & LaMountain, L. (2009).  GODencounters: Pursuing a 24/7 experience of Jesus. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing.

Paulsen, J. (2009, October).  Why do they walk away: Keeping youth and young adults engaged in the church must be one of our highest priorities.  Adventist World: NAD Edition, 5(10), 8-10.

180 Symposium Focuses Spotlight on Secular Campuses

I just got back from the 180˚ Symposium at Andrews University, sponsored by the Center for Youth Evangelism. Kudos to Ron Whitehead, Japhet De Oliveira, Steve Case, Ron Pickell, and all others involved. Our topic: public campus ministry. I presented a paper on Ellen G. White and the Secular Campus.

Adventists have a spotty record when it comes to ministry on public and private (“non-Adventist”) college and university campuses. We have good examples at places like Berkeley and Knoxville, active student organizations at schools like Texas A&M, and promising new ventures like that led by Sebastien Braxton in Boston. We have some training resources, like The Word on Campus (available from Advent Source) and a Campus Spiritual Life Certificate Program at the seminary that can provide quality training (but it is under-advertised and so few have taken advantage of it).

But we have little money. Our NAD coordinator is a full time pastor and works on a meager stipend and travel budget.The same is true at the conference and local level. Because of this, you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of full-time Adventist chaplains. There are only a couple who have bothered to seek endorsement from Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (and none of us can name those people). There is little stability in ministry, and so little wisdom gained from years of experience (again, we’re talking fingers on one hand when we speak of the number of campus ministers with 10 years or more of experience).

And yet there are 19,000,000 students at these colleges and universities in North America–the combined population of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix. 70% of Adventist students are at non-Adventist colleges.

We were reminded in an NAD report last year by Monte Sahlin that Adventism is “graying.” The median age is high, and not just because Adventists are living longer than the general population, but because we are losing young adults in their 20s, and have a dearth of members in the 20-45 age bracket.

How much wisdom and experience and giftedness have we lost through this attrition? How much tithe money has the church lost because today’s young doctors, lawyers, business entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and video game programmers did not find the church there for them during college and grad school?

We spend millions of dollars on evangelism, throwing much of it away on mass mailings to tens of thousands of people that will result in one or two baptisms. Why not spend this money to evangelize college and university campuses that are full of seekers–and our own young people?

The harvest is ripe–where are the workers? Where is the passion? Where are the resources?

Advent Conspiracy

It’s not too early to be thinking about Christmas. You know the decorations will soon be in the stores. Are you disappointed with the commercialism and the crush of the crowds and the stress and the co$t? Then check out Advent Conspiracy.

From the webpage:

The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it’s all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

There’s a DVD available with four short videos that can be discussion starters, and there’s a book with discussion guide, too.

Encourage a different attitude in your young adult ministry, campus, or church. Join the conspiracy.

Feathers

The provacative clip, Feathers, can be found among the constellation of media on the Pastor’s DVD, Volume 15.  First person and carefrontational, the clip offers proverbial wisdom in a 21st century style.

Following the film, discussion questions allow for both small group and personalized process.  It opens the door for meaningful discussion about the impact of our words and difficulty in trying to take them back.

Feathers, with the integrated process questions, is featured on The Pastor’s DVD, Volume 15, available at all North American Division churches through their local pastor.  Additional copies are available through AdventSource.

Get Away With GOD!

Worship: Experience the Presence of the Living GOD 24/7.

South Atlantic & Carolina Conferences invite young adults to the 2009 GODencounters Retreat, September 11-13, at the YMCA Blue Ridge Center, Black Mountain, NC 28711. Come worship GOD with Matthew Gamble, Prince Lewis, Lisa Hope, Karen Thrower, Victor Bartley.

Register today!

Campus Spiritual Leadership Intensive

[Damita Miller is a graduate student at Ball State. She did her undergraduate work at University of Florida. She took Ron Pickell's course on Public Campus Ministry at Andrews University this summer. These are her reflections on the experience.]

I don’t usually enjoy blogging about my personal experience. But a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a Campus Ministry course at Andrews University. Well, part of the Campus Ministry course. A few members of Adventist Campus Fellowship and I were invited to by Pastor Ron Pickell to attend for a few days.

I have to tell you. IT. WAS. AMAZING! It’s almost impossible to tell you all that we learned in that class; partly because even I was doing there learning about discipleship, creating and sustaining new disciples of Christ, I had to be excused for like a day to finish a paper that I had for one of my classes at own school. But while I was there in the class, Pastor Burns taught us things that I’ve never even considered.

When we baptize someone in Jesus’ name, our usual follow through with these newborn Christians resembles a mother who just gave birth to a baby and then left the woods with a bottle and box of diapers to fend for themselves. He told of this missionary who went to Papua New Guinea and baptized a large portion of the people in the village and then left. When he returned he found that there wasn’t one single member left. Why? Because he left these newborn Christians to fend for themselves in their community and he never explained to him the reason behind following God’s commands. In a world of animism, he never considered that people didn’t really understand the message that he was sharing and would see God a completely different light than the way he’d hoped to share God.

And this made me think. As Christians do we really consider what the person that we’re sharing the message with is going through or is thinking about? We share the word, but do we actually share the love and show expressions of that love? For example, for years I have struggled with deep loneliness and confusion because of family issues that I was dealing with. My father was abusive and manipulative to my family during most of my life and had stolen thousands of dollars from my mother and from my sister’s and mine’s college fund. He was subtly trying to turn me against my sister using his only expression of affection: money. It got to point when I just had to cut him out of my life for the sake of my family and my own mental and spiritual health. It was hard for me, but it was often made worse by people really not understanding what I was going through and how difficult it was for me do that. Actually this course was an unusual blessing for me.

During the Friday evening, Pastor Pickell invited a few us to his brother’s home for pizza. When we were there, Bro. Pickell shared with me some of his own personal experiences and this amazing book called, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”. In this book, the author shared his belief that as Christians we should not ignore things that happen from our past since they will ultimately affect their present and their future. The author’s own marriage was affected by his parents’ strained marriage that he witnessed growing up. When I shared my own experience, I was actually touched by his response. He didn’t condemn me or try to convince me to stay in an abusive relationship with my dad. He understood and for the first time ever I stopped feeling the guilt of not liking my father because of things that my father did and I began to start letting go of the grief and shame.

The whole weekend was like that. I was surrounded by people who understood the importance of sharing God’s love and sharing it on secular campuses. I got to meet some wonderful people who were on fire for God and for sharing His word. When it came to time for me and a few others of us to leave on Sunday and it was actually kind of sad. We’d only know each other for a few days but already we’d formed a bond that was very deep. Through the whole weekend, I felt so inspired by the Spirit that I just had to tweet almost every 5 minutes and write poetry.

24/7 With U…

24/7 With U…
2nd Annual Young Adult Summit – Bermuda Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
August 7&8, 2009
Hamiliton Princess, Bermuda
Register by August 3, info at youngadultsummit@gmail.com or call 292-4110

Got Ears?

Campus Spiritual Leadership

I was delighted to find both students and ministry professionals at the recent Campus Spiritual Leadership Graduate Certificate intensives held at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.  This bright and relevant group of practitioners pooled their experience and know-how to help expand this much needed arena of ministry.

I have great hopes that we will see more campuses impacted by the talents of these ministers, and see their ranks grow.

Where are the Students, an informative video clip about campus ministry can be found among the constellation of media on the Pastor’s DVD, Volume 15. In addition to being available at all North American Division churches through their local pastor,  additional copies are available through AdventSource.

Pull the Trigger

The humorous clip, Rookie Royale, can be found among the constellation of media on the Pastor’s DVD, Volume 15.  Quirky and comical, the short comes across to the point without being heavy handed.

Following the film, discussion questions allow for both small group and personalized process.  It opens the door for meaningful discussion about sharing our faith and the feelings associated with it.

Rookie Royale, with the integrated process questions, is featured on The Pastor’s DVD, Volume 15, available at all North American Division churches through their local pastor.  Additional copies are available through AdventSource.