There were a number of things that the members of the congregation had to do on the ancient Day of Atonement. The first of these responsibilities that we will discuss is the call for a holy convocation. This is found in Leviticus 23:27.

Come For Holy Gathering in Sanctuary

Here the people of God had to come to the Sanctuary for a holy gathering (convocation). Here the people of God came to be in tune with the priest who was doing this great work.

The people did not just come without thinking of the importance of the day. They knew that this was a solemn service where their eternal interests were vitally at stake.

Likewise, those of us who find ourselves in this anti-typical “Day of Atonement Period” should seek to do the same thing. While it is not possible for us to go to the heavenlies to actually participate in a group meeting up there, we can do a few things on this earth to show our solidarity with the heavenly high priest and his great work on our behalf.

Come to The Heavenly Sanctuary

First, we can go by faith into the heavenly sanctuary. The Bible says to “Boldly come to the throne of Grace.” (Hebrews 4:16) We come to the heavenly sanctuary as we think about and identify with the great work that our high priest is doing up there. We come to the gathering as we make the work that is being done there the center of our thoughts. Just as the cross should be at the center of our thoughts, so should the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary occupy our thoughts and minds.

Meet With Other Believers

Second, we can have this holy gathering as we meet with other believers who have this heavenly view in mind. The Bible says to not neglect the gathering of ourselves together, Hebrews 10:25)\. We must come together in our holy gatherings down here as we look to the great work up there.

To do this, we are to learn of Christ as our High Priest. We are to learn of what Christ is accomplishing now. We are to cooperate with that great work that Christ is doing. And finally, we are to gather with one another as we all look to that great work that Jesus is bringing to culmination in the Sanctuary in heaven.

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What Others Are Saying

Simply looking at what folks are saying and who these folks are gives you a good idea of what Wilson said. Those on the progressive-liberal-whatever you want to call it wing of the Advent movement were not happy about the presentation. I read on AToday of it being “Retrograde Adventism.” I see comments from some voices being very scared.

Then on the right, I saw one website call it “The Adventist Church Awakens” or something like that. It certainly appears that those on the more conservative-traditional-right wing-whateveryouwanttocallit wing of the Adventist movement are happy about this development.

Now I believe Sabbath Pulpit to be kind of in the middle. Maybe “center-right” on many issues. So just as I expected, I am receiving emails and comments from people who are very happy about the election of a man who seems to be unashamed and unambiguous in his articulation of Basic Adventism as understood by the more historic Adventist Crowd.

But because of my website, more and more people are asking, what do I think of the message. Here are my thoughts.

What I Liked About Wilson’s Presentation

I like that Wilson clearly made use of the prophetic Gift of Ellen White in his presentation. Wilson affirmed the use of her writings, and also used her writings. So he argued for the principle and went ahead and followed through on the principle. I have heard preachers defend Sister White in the past and yet their presentations show little influence by her. Wilson is heavily influenced by the gift and that is encouraging to me at least.

I like that Wilson connected Justification and Sanctification together in his presentation. Often we preachers will emphasize one to the exclusion of the other. Simply put, God Sanctifies those whom God Justifies.

I like the emphasis on Jesus Coming Again. This is what we are about as Adventists. We cannot lose hope in the promise. Wilson also dabbled in the “Signs of the Times.”

Wilson Presents Adventist Identity

Let me say that very encouraging is the emphasis on the identity of the Second Advent Movement. Wilson unambiguously uses categories that those who are steeped in the theology of the Advent Movement will appreciate. Terms such as Remnant, Spirit of Prophecy, Three Angel’s Messages.

Wilson also took unambiguous positions on Biblical Interpretation methods. He questions the use of the historical critical method of biblical Interpretation. Here he was sounding much like the Biblical Research Institute and groups such as Adventist Affirm. Wilson argues for the Historical Grammatical Method. This is an interesting inclusion in that I wonder how many hearers of the message even understood what was being talked about here. At any rate, Biblical Interpretation Method is a hot button for some and Wilson took a clear position that is in line with current Adventist published practice.

Wilson also took on the issue of Evolution. He argues against this and promotes creation by questioning why are we even here on this Sabbath if evolution is true? One need only look in some of the business sessions of the same General Conference Session to see this idea being fought. Wilson took a stand against Atheistic or Theistic evolution.

Wilson also took aim at the mega church and other methodologies that have been used to grow our churches. Again, this seems to be a siding with the “Adventist Affirm” side of the Adventist movement. I think we need to look seriously at these methodologies before spreading them. I question whether they work in the Advent Movement. To be honest, I question whether they work anywhere. Look in the city that you live in. How many mega churches are there? How many churches are there attempting to be mega churches? If being a mega church is the symbol of success then Adventists are not alone in failing by that standard, so are the vast majority of churches of all denominations.

We need to look at our methodologies in line with our principles and we also need to stop jumping at and promoting the “shiny new toy” without proof that it works. I think agree with Wilson who speaks against mega church methodologies. I agree because they don’t work in the vast majority of cases (Adventist or non) and because there are serious problems with how such a model would fit in with our theology and polity.

Conclusion

Well you can see that I think that the sermon was largely a good one. I would have liked to have seen a reaffirmation of the social commitment of Adventism to good in this world. I would have liked to see a connection of that to the historic Adventist message he preached. But hey, you can’t get everything in one sermon. We will see how things go in the future.

At any rate, I pray that God will be with Pastor Wilson as he seeks to be an influence for good in this denomination and in this world.

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Adventist Co-Founder James White

He writes:

Adventist preaching…essence is clearly one of reform—Sabbath reform, health reform, family reform, stewardship reform, etc. Preaching that does not ring with the certainties of Daniel and Revelation; that is not flavored with the symbols of the sanctuary; that does not uphold the law of God; that does not honor the prophetic gift of Ellen white; that does not extol justification by faith is not Adventist preaching. It may be truth, but it is not Present Truth; it may constitute an engaging performance, but it does not constitute the remnant proclamation.

There are a few things that are interesting about this quote. First it makes “reform” that upon which our preaching rests. It is not simply about preaching truth. Certainly it includes preaching truth, but it is a certain kind of truth. It seeks to preach an end time message. It seeks to preach getting better. It seeks to prepare a world. All of these things require change. And it is to us as Adventist preachers to proclaim these truths.

So we preach “present” truth. This is a truth that is needed right now. We teach truth that reforms and calls the hearer to a better way of living. Finally it has at its base that which we agree with others as well as that which has been given to us to teach for we preach the gospel through the symbols of the Sanctuary as we uphold the Law of God while keeping ahold of the prophetic gift. But we must never forget the truth of justification by faith.

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Here Sister White encourages all to write if God has given you that talent. we have come to a point where we need an all hands on deck mentality. We cannot wait for an assignment from our oveworked pastor or conference official. We cannot wait until someone gives us a test to inform us of our abilities. We cannot wait until someone in church office resigns or retires opening the door for us. No we are to find what we can do, and do it with all of our might and strength.

Today, we are in an era where the power of the author has been magnified. If you can write you can reach literally millions very quickly. Ellen White spoke about our publications going out like the leaves of autumn, but I wonder if she would even be surprised at the power that the web has given to all of us.

But more than the writer. There are other talents in the church that we have not given to the Master. There are computer professionals who have some time while the church’s web presense languishes. There are teachers who could be holding GED programs or the like. There are health instructors who could be focusing on the “right arm of the message.” There are pleasant people who could be giving much needed ministries of encouragement. There are people with Biblical knowledge who could be giving Bible studies and readings. If you want to see an explosion…just think what would happen if those of us who have been given talents had the audacity to use them for the mission of Christ in the world. It would literally “turn the world upside down.”

The church needs you. If you are waiting for an assignment, then Jesus gave it to you when he said “Go ye therefore and teach all nations…” “Ye” means me and it means you. If you need an ordination, then you got that at baptism. If you need a position, then you got that cause you been called an ambassador of God.

In short, if you can…Go head on and Do….The Body of Christ needs it…And we need it right now!

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Photo by Marco Gomes

What is a church hopper? It is one who simply moves from church to church following the next big “high.” When a new exciting pastor comes to town, they go join it. We often see this when a Mega Church grows at the expense of many smaller churches. In the city in which I live, I have seen some jump from church to church as pastors come and go. One very dynamic preacher left town and the migration to another powerful speaker started. Then a new preacher came to town and now the “place to be” moved to that new locale.

However, sometimes a church hopper moves to a new church for added responsibility. Sometimes a church hopper comes to a new church because the leader of the new church has inspired action that gives added spiritual growth and ultimately a stronger witess in the community and the world. Sometimes church hopping may strengthen the member. Sometimes God may even call you to move to another church and the community is strengthened. Sometimes church hopping can be a blessing.

However, much of the time people church hop not to be involved in the church community or to be stronger witnesses in the larger commuinity, but to find better religous entertainment to consume. That entertainment may be preaching, singing, or programs put on by the church.

But then there are other hoppers who have been displaced or run off by new leadership. Sometimes when a new pastor comes to town current leadership of a church takes the time to move on. Other times pastors move some current leadership out. Some pastors displace the leadership in a church when they come into a church. These people have been sat down by the pastor for whatever reason. Sometimes the pastor has a valid reason for setting them down, sometimes they don’t.

The preacher’s main point is that none of these really increase the number of Adventists. Neither does it really increase the amount of people who have heard the message we have been called to preach. Tithe may increase at that local congregation, attendance may increase locally, but church hopping does not normally increase the number of Adventist members in the city.

Why are we here and what are we to do? If we are here to “preach the Gospel of the kingdom for a witness to all the world.” Then it is time to judge our ministries and our work by whether it is providing a witness in the world and whether we are warning the world of the coming crisis. It is time for us to stop acting as if church is solely about our needs and our entertainment and recognize the responsibility of church membership and Get in the game. It is time for all members to move into that category of member that is not just an attender but a minister.

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Then there are those who are fearful of what they think may be a retreat to an earlier era that they fear will not work in today’s world. These argue that Adventism must be a “big tent” where anyone can become a member regardless of their views on evolution.

As I look at this sermon this weekend, I will be listening to echos of Gospel. I will want to hear a word of forgiveness and power that comes to us by the power of Jesus Christ. In short, I hope to hear about why I am a Christian.

In addition, I want to hear echoes of our peculiar movement. I want to hear a reminder of the role and the importance of this movement specifically. It is too easy to forget that there is an assignment given to this movement, and I hope that we will hear a word of that. In short, I hope to hear about why we are Adventist.

I also want to hear about the plans for the forward progress through mission. I hope to hear not a reheated fossilized message that does not address the needs of today, neither do I hope to hear untested conjectures that may not work.

Finally, I want to be inspired by its connection to the Holy Ghost. I don’t want to just hear truth, I want to hear inspired present truth.

Remind us that we are Christian, remind us that we are Adventist, inspire us to God’s mission in the world by a connection to the Holy Spirit. And then the people will be ready for 5 more years of work, toil, and life in this world, “should Jesus delay his coming.”

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However, I wonder about the ramifications of such a move. Will such a move effectively eliminate the voice of the layperson from directing the church. I mean now, the conference is elected by lay people and the workers in a conference. However, will eliminating the conference level leave those lay people, and workers who are not politically powerful, from the table of decision making? Is such a move the best?

It is true that the discussions and decisions have to be made on how this will work, but I do wonder about whether the average pastor and average lay person will have as much say in the leading of these Union of Churches and in the leading of their local conference.

For that reason alone, I wonder if the elimination of the Union level might be brought to the table as a cost saving device as well. How many of us even interact with out union officials. We do see the conference officials often, but the union? Division, GC?

I’m all for monetary savings and am not philosophically against restructure, but I do think we need to be very careful about how we consolidate power. If done in the wrong way, we will never be able to get it back.

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The book is a compilation of interviews and sermons by Black Seventh-day Adventist preachers. In the chapter on C.D. Brooks, Brooks was asked for the book or commentary that had the greatest impact on his preaching. To answer, Brooks stated that The Bible, The Great Controversy, and the Desire of Ages. These three, according to Brooks, would provide preaching material “until Jesus Comes.” Further, Brooks stated that if he had to go to a deserted Island, he would take those three books with him.

Note that two of the three are books by Ellen White the prophet to the remnant. Of interest to many is the balance of the two books. The Great Controversy traces Christian history from about the 1st century to the end of time, but an emphasis is on the end of time. The book Desire of Ages provides a devotional commentary on the life of Christ from Sister White. Thus Brooks captures both the need to preach an end time message and a need to preach Jesus in the book choice.

Another interesting thing is that both books are chosen from Sister White’s Conflict of the Ages Series. This is largely a devotional commentary on the Bible. So Brooks emphasis here is on Sister White’s direct statements in regard to the Bible Story. Certainly Elder Brooks sees great need for Sister White’s other books, but if he had to pare it down, he would go for the conflict of the ages, specifically, The Great Controversy and The Desire Of Ages.

Yes, Brooks takes the Bible in one hand, and in the other he would hold the End-time focus of the Great Controversy and the life of Jesus focus of the Desire of Ages. And in the end he preaches a solidly Adventist and Christian message of warning to this world.

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The revised Church Manual also introduces a glossary of frequently used terms, including a definition of “union of churches,” a church governance structure in which a group of local congregations reports directly to a union, eliminating the conference or mission level of administration. Delegates will approve several recently formed unions of churches at Session, as well as consider whether to expand the structure’s use.

As Samuele Thomas Sr. used to say when he preached…”Did you Get it? or Did You Miss it?”

Yes there seems to be talk about eliminating the conference level altogether. Now if you are a loyal reader of SabbathPulpit.Com, this would not have taken you by surprise. We talked about this four years ago in 2006. I discussed Harold Lee’s article on this page.

I talked about the annual council when this came up at this link. That article also has a pdf document of the different proposals for structural change.

In this article, I looked at 5 different options talked about in that document.

Finally, I talked about what structural change might mean for the regional (black) conferences at this link.

Well, it is here folks. There will be discussion about a so-called “union of Churches” which is simply a union conference. There is talk about eliminating the conference level.

Can We Afford Both Levels?

To be honest, I think that we can no longer afford nor do we need both the local conference and the union conference levels. It is a throwback to an earlier era. My only concern is that the members of the local church still retain its ability to affect and vote for its local leadership whether that be a “Union of Churches” or a “Conference.” This re-structuring cannot be a way to remove the ability of the member to participiate in the choosing of the direction of the local church and the level right above the local church.

But after having said that, there is a lot of duplicate leaders and offices that really need trimming. I mean do we really need a religious liberty director at the conference level? Don’t all the hard cases go up to the Union anyway? Do we really need the local conference Sabbath School leader? And if we do need both of them, how about a union leader and his staff, and then a conference leader and a regional conference leader if it is in the east. No we need restructuring.

I Hope This Is Not Simply A Power Grab

I suspect a lot of tentative decisions and discussions have taken place on this subject. It is my only hope that whatever happens, it will not amount to simply a power-grab by a few leaders, but it will be a principled decision for the good of our World Church by people at all levels of the church including the local conference and local church levels.

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The last few months, I have been looking at some old sermon material that my father has showed me. Specifically they are the very old book Public Evangelism by J. L. Shuler published in 1939. In addition there is the book Evangelistic Methods: Step by Step by Fordyce Datamore published in 1957. And then there is God Made An Evangelist by E. E. Cleveland published in 1994.

These books primarily are “Evangelistic” sermons and methods for doing evangelism. Many of the principles are still being used, although modified, by evangelists today. There are a lot of things of interest in these materials to me, a seminary trained homilititian, and we will discuss these over time on the website.

But one thing that was striking is the consistency of the sermons in the books. There were a number of basic sermons that seemed to be passed down from generation to generation of Adventist Evangelist. There were a few new sermons or different sermons, but in general they were the same sermons with only a change in sermon title and/or illustrations. Shuler even suggests that the great Adventist Evangelist should be always on the lookout to have modern and appropriate titles to “speak on the old-time truths of the message.”

Shuler’s Daniel 2 sermon was titled The Fate of Europe. This became simply titled “Daniel 2″ by Datamore. Finally Cleveland gave it “The Great Prophetic Metal Man. Does He Live Today?” Shuler added other possible titles as “Seven Words That Changed History.” Those words were “They shall not cleave one to another.” And so on with other sermons like the Second Coming, Millennium, and State of the Dead.

Of particular interest was the Sabbath. Here evangelists would use titles like “What Day Should Christian’s Keep” and “The Missing Text” which goes through all the texts that refer to Sunday in the Bible. These sermons took on titles like Mary’s Mother’s Birthday and “The Father Didn’t, The Son Wouldn’t, The Apostles Couldn’t. Who Did.”

What is interesting though is that while the titles changed, the basic idea behind each of these sermon/lectures was a number of texts that would be presented to prove the validity of the claims of the Evangelist. These basic sermons were the “standards” or the “Adventist Basics” of the Adventist Evangelist. (note: Instead of using the term “standards” which has a specific meaning among Adventists, I will use the term “Adventist Basics” for understanding.)

Daniel 2 had to be preached under whatever title. Daniel 7 had to be preached as well. The history of the papacy had to be preached. Revelation 12, 13, and 14 as well. These were the “Adventist Basics.”

And just like a jazz audience who have heard the standards over and over again, they never tire of hearing them. So the Adventist audience who have heard Daniel 2 wonder how the preacher will present it this time.

But the “standards” or “Adventist Basics” did not just include the books of Daniel and Revelation. In the 16 week meeting the preacher had to preach why the preacher accepts the Bible as the Word of God. There were also sermons on Family life like Cleveland’s “Marriage-The Secret to a Happy Home Life.” In addition, all of them had sermons on “confession, repentance, and forgiveness.”

These basic building block sermons were a solid part of the preaching in tents. They gave a solid foundational understanding of the framework of Adventism. However, in today’s world, 16 weeks 6 nights a week will not work. There are just too many nights. That meeting has been truncated to 5 weeks 4 nights a week. And thus many sermons had to be removed. Some of them were the standards. And thus now we are in an interesting position where these sermons that everyone had heard. Whether they agreed with the position or not, they at least have heard them. Now we have generations of Adventists who don’t know the “Adventist Basics.” They don’t know the basic Adventist argumentation. Now these “Adventist Basics” are hidden away in theological texts. Books like “1844 Made Simple” is simply an expansion of a Bible study that every Adventist had heard in the evangelistic meetings. It was an “Adventist Preaching Standard.”

I do not think that we can simply go back to the past. Neither do I think that we can or should attempt a 16 week, 6 night a week meeting in 2010, but we have to find a replacement for that meeting that will pass on the “Adventist Basics” to another generation.

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