January 1999

A Tale of Two Teens Adventists and LSD Addiction LETTERS

A Heaven for Real People 1999: Columns and Features Heaven will be a real, physical place with real, physi- It’s our 150th anniversary, and along with all the articles and special issues cal people we have planned, you’ll find these regular columns. Don’t miss them. inhabiting it! North American Division Samuele Edition Bacchiocchi’s Dialogues, by Sandra Doran “Heaven in 3- Cityscapes, by Royson D” (Nov. NAD James Edition) was From the Heart, by Robert very profound S. Folkenberg Sandra Doran and deep—yet World Edition Royson James Robert S. Folkenberg so simple, clear, and comprehensive. Faith Alive! by Calvin Rock His reasoning about how God will Questions Answered, by Angel restore this earth to its original phys- Rodriguez ical perfection was so simple that Cutting Edge Edition even a child could understand it. Leaving the Comfort Zone, by Chris Blake The X-Change, by Allan and Deirdre Martin —Helen L. Self AnchorPoints Edition MORGANTON, NORTH CAROLINA , by Clifford Goldstein Calvin Rock Angel On the Home Front, by Leslie Kay Rodríguez It Seems to Me, by R. Lynn Sauls Muslims and In “Let’s Help His Love Break Also, look for these special features: Through . . . in Bangladesh” (Global Tuesday’s Child, a full page of family Mission, Nov. NAD Edition) that worship material country is described as “an Islamic Bookmark, a review of books republic [of] some 130 million peo- Cutting Edge Conversations, fast- ple,” which it is. Then of those 130 paced interviews with interesting people million, the writer says, “Most have Cutting Edge Meditations, brief spiri- Chris Blake Allan and Deirdre never heard of Jesus.” tual insights from Adventists of all ages Martin Since in Islam, Jesus—along with Reprints of Ellen G. White articles Abraham, Moses, and others—is con- sidered an important prophet, why Plus: letters, editorials, would the writer say that “most have Give & Take, Reflections, never heard” of Him? and much, much more. Perhaps the writer, instead, Remember, if you should have said, “Most of us have don’t receive the weekly never heard anything we were ever , you’re Clifford R. Lynn Sauls Leslie Kay told about Islam.” missing three quarters Goldstein of the magazine. Call —Harry Allen 1-800-456-3991 to join the whole conversation. , NEW YORK

2 (2) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 Hitting Home Forget Lunch The best thing to happen to the The November 19 Cutting Edge Adventist Review is Leslie Kay’s col- arrived at lunchtime. The “I umn, On the Home Front. I find Remember the Sixties” cover caught myself thumbing until I reach her my immediate attention. Flipping open familiar place. She brings a refreshing the cover, I just had to read the letters. COVER STORY and enlightening approach to so many Then of course, Andy Nash (“Bogey topics that affect our everyday lives as Five”) is compulsory reading. (Lunch 8 Cities Under Siege Desperate times call for people who Seventh-day Adventist Christians. A can wait.) Ella Rydzewski (“Health aren’t afraid of a challenge. sincere thanks and God’s blessing to Versus Faith?”) got me with her open- BY RON HALVORSEN, SR. Leslie Kay and her writing ministry. ing sentence, and finally I got to Roy Adams (“I Remember the Sixties”). —Gloria Neidigh What a spectacular example of quin- ARTICLES TILLAMOOK, tessential Roy at his finest! What an issue! Forget lunch!. 14 A Tale of Two Teens Everyone meant well. Family —Fred R. Thomas BY DONALD R. PIERSON I was frustrated with all the important COURTICE, ONTARIO, CANADA 22 Adventists and LSD things I had to do, and I did not want It’s more pervasive than we to take time to read the Review. There thought. Letters Policy were people to visit, evangelism to BY ROBERT H. GRANGER plan, intercessory prayer to address, a The Review welcomes your letters. Short, sermon to prepare. OK, I thought, I’ll specific letters are the most effective and speed-read it. have the best chance at being published. DEPARTMENTS It is now an hour later. As I lay Letters will be edited for space and clarity 2 Letters the Review aside, there is a warm only. Send correspondence to Letters to the 7 Give & Take feeling in my heart; there are tears in Editor, Adventist Review, 12501 Old my eyes. Ideas I have never consid- Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904- 16 Sandra Doran: Dialogues ered have broadened my perspective. 6600; Internet: [email protected] 17 Children’s Corner People I have never met I now feel a CompuServe network: 74617,15. 18 World News & Perspectives love for. There is a new joy in my life in identifying with the great Ad- Note: Occasionally we’ve had some con- 27 Cityscapes ventist family, for we really are a fusion about whether received letters are 28 From the Heart family. I sense God’s presence closer meant for publication. For example, 29 Global Mission to me through this magazine. Thank Bruce N. Cameron’s November NAD You, Lord, for this gift. Edition letter was intended as personal 30 Reflections Renew my subscription! The correspondence and should not have been weekly Adventist Review—an excel- published. (Our apologies to Mr. lent investment. Cameron.) If you send a letter to our EDITORIALS general staff account (see above) and 5 Who Loves the City? —Kelly Schultz don’t want it considered for publication, ALBERTA, CANADA please state “not for publication.” Ideally, 6 Four Questions for Jesus letters intended for publication should be

marked “Letters to the Editor.” Thanks OONEY

Reading Again M for your cooperation.—Editors. NEXT WEEK Thanks to my daughter in , AIL

I received a gift subscription to the Utopia in the Caribbean? RBIS/G

Review. The new format sure is Still trying to a perfect society in CO great! Leslie Kay’s articles are an imperfect world. BY absolutely hilarious and to the spiri- PHOTO tual point. Thanks for the good pro- duction—I really enjoy it. BACKGROUND —Gordon A. Gilkes, M.D. VER O

BLYTHE, C

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (3) 3 “Behold, I come quickly . . .”

Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ through stories of His matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing Him better, and hope in His soon return. The Adventist Review (ISSN 0161-1119), published since 1849, is the general paper of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is published by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and is printed by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, 21740. Standard postage paid at Hagerstown. The North American Edition of the Adventist Review is published 12 times a year on the first Thursday of each month. Copyright © 1999, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Publishing Board: Robert S. Folkenberg, chair; Phil Follett, vice- chair; William G. Johnsson; Lowell Cooper; A. C. McClure; Dorothy Watts; Ted N. C. Wilson; Martin Ytreberg; Robert Nixon, legal advisor

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PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 176, No. 1

4 (4) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 EDITORIAL Who Loves the City? WILLIAM G. JOHNSSON

esus loves the city. We started as a rural movement, changing in the twentieth cen- See Him looking down on Jerusalem from the Mount of tury to an institutional one. Now many of us in North America Olives as He visits it for the last time. He weeps as He worship in attractive churches with fine choirs and reasonably safe thinks of its impending doom: surroundings. We emphasize Ellen J“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who White’s instruction about the benefits kill the prophets and stone those sent of country living. to you, how often I have longed to By God’s grace we But we have misused the prophetic gather your children together, as a hen counsel. We all but ignore her call for gathers her chicks under her wings, but can become an us to take the three angels’ messages you were not willing” (Matt. 23:37, to the city. We forget that once she NIV; see Luke 19:41-44). urban church. refused to speak to then General How long has it been since we Conference president A. G. Daniells wept over New York? Chicago? Los until he acted on her instruction to Angeles? Toronto? start work for the cities of America.1 Most people today live in an urban setting, and the trend During the recent North American Division year-end meeting will only accelerate as we draw nearer to the return of our Lord. I heard an impassioned appeal that cut to my soul. Elder Ron But the sad fact is that, with some notable exceptions, Halvorsen, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, challenged Adventists are failing to address the challenge of bringing the leaders to make the urban areas of North America our focus. We gospel to the city. reprint his message on pages 8-13 of this issue, and I urge you to I have lived and worked in three countries—, India, read it prayerfully. Better yet, get a copy of the audiotape and and the . In each place Adventists’ impact on the catch the weeping passion of Christ.2 city has been small, in some places nonexistent. We are a fast- Could the Adventist Church in North America become an growing movement, but not in the city. Unless we catch a new urban church? Yes, by God’s grace, but it will take a sea change vision of the needs of the city, we will never fulfill the special mis- in our attitudes. sion that we believe the Lord entrusted to us. Instead of fleeing the city we will go back to the city as we indi- The one notable exception of which I am aware is Brazil. I vidually sense God’s call. We will walk its streets and mingle with first visited São Paulo, one of the world’s metropolises, 12 years the people, just as our brothers and sisters are doing in São Paulo. ago. At that time we had more than 400 churches there; today That sounds scary—the city can be dangerous. So the issue the number has passed 600. becomes: Will we put mission above our own comfort and São Paulo has all the attractive features of North American safety? Will we focus on ourselves or on the needs of broken cities, as well as crime, pollution, filth, and degradation. But men and women? Brazilian Adventists live and work and share their faith there. I Two centuries ago Oliver Goldsmith wrote: “God made the saw firsthand how and why our church grows so fast in that country, and man made the town.” Not quite city: laypeople, most of them in their teens, 20s, and 30s, invite correct—in the Bible the story of humanity neighbors and friends to their homes for simple worship ser- begins in a garden, but it ends in a city vices. They erect a covering in their backyard and put out made by God Himself. chairs, and the people come. Before long another new church We are bound for a city. has been planted. In North America African-Americans, Hispanics, and other 1 A. L. White, Ellen G. White: The Later minorities have worked hard and established Adventist beach- Years, vol. 6, p. 223. heads in the large cities. Among Whites, however, we hardly 2 Send $2.50 for a cassette tape to have a presence. Elizabeth Bediako, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 12501 Old Adventists’ attitudes toward the city spring from our history, Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD understanding of Ellen White’s counsels, and personal concerns. 20904-6600.

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (5) 5 GUEST EDITORIAL Four Questions for Jesus DENNIS N. CARLSON

ecently I reread the four Gospels, using A. T. For centuries God’s people have looked forward to Robertson’s A Harmony of the Gospels. I studied Christ’s return. Many things indicate that we won’t have the gospel narrative in terms of four questions I long to wait. Yet even in the time of waiting, Jesus prayed wish I could ask Jesus for His followers: “That all of them as we wait for His may be one, Father, just as you are Rreturn. I read nothing that was new in me and I am in you. May they to me, but bringing the following also be in us so that the world may four questions into my reading Jesus’ answers believe that you have sent me” (John brought new meaning to some 17:21, NIV). Unity demonstrates familiar passages. the genuineness of our fellowship What do You want us to know? to these questions and also indicates the authenticity Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one of our rebirth as God’s children. can see the kingdom of God with- are good news. What do You want us to do? out being born from above” (John Beyond being born again, receiving 3:3, NRSV). This is where it all the Holy Spirit, and cultivating begins. It doesn’t matter how old we unity among our fellow believers, are or how long we’ve been believers; we have to begin each Jesus urges us: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righ- day with the understanding that a new-birth experience is a teousness” (Matt. 6:33, NKJV). Our twentieth-century prerequisite to living the Christian life. lifestyle would bury spirituality under a host of other “impor- What do You want us to have? In His teaching about tant” things on our to-do lists. But putting God first in our prayer Jesus said to His followers, “Which of you fathers, homes, our workplaces, our churches, and all our extracur- if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ricular activities makes us truly centered, balanced, and Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you effective in all that we do. then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts And when the pressures of life seem overwhelming, we to your children, how much more will your Father in have Jesus’ own promise: “Come to me, all you who are heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (Luke 11:11-13, NIV). upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in Earlier in the passage Jesus promised that God would pro- heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28, 29, vide for our material and spiritual needs; but He emphasized NIV). What a precious promise for those of us who have that just as earthly parents delight in satisfying their chil- more to do than we have time to do it. dren’s needs, so our heavenly Father wants to fill our lives Jesus’ answers to these questions are good news. Joy with arguably the most important gift He can grant—second and gladness pervade His answers. From only to salvation—the gift of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know Eden lost to Eden restored, these simple of a commodity more essential or beneficial than having the yet all-encompassing challenges and very Spirit of Christ motivating His followers at the end of promises have guided God’s people. the twentieth century. And they’re as valuable and useful What do You want us to be? In a world that seems to tug us now as they have ever been. in several directions at once, Jesus’ imperative is all-encom- Let’s claim these promises as the passing: “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man coming of our Lord approaches. will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Luke 12:40, NIV). Rather than trying to accommodate a society that is hopelessly out of step with eternal values, we need to Dennis N. Carlson is president of focus on living in harmony with the principles that are the the Minnesota Conference of foundation of God’s eternal kingdom. Seventh-day Adventists.

6 (6) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 ADVENTIST LIFE The first week of NET ’98 my husband was talking on the phone with our 3- year-old granddaughter. When he asked her if she was coming to his birthday party, she replied, “I have to go to NET ’98 first.” —Barbara Hales, South Bend,

During the NET ’98 series we had Communion at our church. As people were breaking up from their classes and taking their seats for church, I sat quietly, reflecting on the wonderful program, with a young girl playing her harp and the terrific lesson study we had just enjoyed. Just then I heard a young boy, maybe 10 or 12 years old, come bouncing GI&VE through the vestibule doors into the sanctuary. Speaking with a loud yet hushed voice, he said, “Whose body is that laying up there on the table?” Perhaps this boy was visiting church for the first time—after coming to NET ’98. I am sure he had never seen a Communion table set up before. I just hope he learned what the “body” and “blood” meant before Communion was over. And I pray I may meet him in heaven. —Dorothy E. Brewer, Crescent City, California

KNOWN BY OUR . . . TECHNOLOGY? In this week’s cover story, Ron Halvorsen cautions us against relying on tech- TAKE nology to fulfill the gospel commission. The following cartoons, sent to us inde- pendently of each other, echo that same caution. AN INVITATION: FRESH 27

Hey, Give & Take readers: Do you have a —German-Swiss real-life anec- Conference dote (seri- Communication ous or Department light) per- taining to one of the Adventist Church’s 27 fundamental beliefs? How about a short testimony, photo, drawing, paint- ing, or (tasteful) cartoon? And kids: Do you like to color? —Signs Publishing The best coloring of each funda- Company, Warburton, mental belief will merit a free Victoria, Australia Review cap. (For that matter, we’ll award all published contributors with a free cap.) We invite your contributions to our blockbuster April issue highlight- ing our beliefs—but we need them by February 1. Send to “Fresh 27” at the Give & Take address below. Help us make this one of the most creative, WE NEED YOU interesting treatments of Adventist Send Give & Take submissions to . . . Give & Take, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, beliefs ever produced. Silver Spring, MD 20904; Fax: 301-680-6638; E-mail: [email protected]. Please include phone number. Submissions will not be returned.

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (7) 7 COVER STORY Cities Under Unparalleled problems in society and the church mean that we’re fighting the fight of our lives.

BY RON HALVORSEN, SR.

Material in this article originally came in a sermon delivered to of the idea of the remnant, the idea of the gospel commis- the North American Division’s year-end meetings last November. sion. There’s no urgency in our evangelism, there’s no Although the target audience was made up of mostly pastors, urgency to go out and seek and save that which is lost. We administrators, and other church leaders, the challenge of reach- stagger and stutter from one idea to another, never focusing ing our cities in North America should resonate with Adventists on the fact that we truly are the church of God, that we are at every level and in every location.—Editors. living in the age that God would have us live. There’s more socialization than evangelization. The gospel of the Left is LONG WITH THE NOVELIST I MUST theory and not practice. There is no outreach in its theology admit that this is the best of times and it is or thinking, nothing to offer lost men and women. It pre- the worst of times. We face tremendous prob- sents issues but not solutions. lems as we approach the twenty-first century. On the other hand, the sanctimonious Right has stolen When you consider the problems of over- grace from us and would take us back to the legalism of the Apopulation, pollution, drugs, ozone depletion, new and dead- Pharisees by proclaiming another gospel. They call themselves lier diseases, poverty, and lawlessness, it’s the worst of times. historical Adventists; they seek uniformity but not unity. It truly is a post-Christian era. Archaic clings to the past when it should be mov- It is the worst of times in the church of Jesus Christ as ing toward a promising future. Its self-righteousness exceeds well. And before God can deal with a careless culture, He even that of the Pharisees. With their “ascension suspenders” must deal with a careless church. and their dresses dragging the ground, they go forth with a message to the twentieth century that is not heard, nor is it First, the Church responded to. They have done more to impede progress than No one would deny that the church needs reformation, to encourage it. Living a monastic lifestyle, they don’t under- revival, and spiritual revolution if we are going to revolution- stand the needs and problems of our culture, and they’ve tried ize the world for Jesus Christ. And we leaders must recognize desperately to force a nineteenth-century culture on the that the spiritual life of the church rises no higher than the twentieth-century church. spiritual life of its leaders. That fact forces us to reconsider Thus we find the church in crisis as we find the world in our own spiritual lives, our own walk with God, our own crisis. It is the worst of times. prayer and study life, and our own experience in worship. So how should we act as a church? Shall we continue Two agendas are being forced upon us in the church, one taking irrelevant messages to an irreligious world? The world from the Left and one from the Right. has lost its values, its focus. How shall we react to a world The Left, with its cunningly devised fables, has robbed us that doesn’t believe the Bible, a world that is spinning

8(8) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 Siege ISC D HOTO © P HOTO P

through space doomed, damned, dipped in the salty tears of sorrow for city of Jerusalem. But Jeremiah was crushed, bound for hell? Jerusalem, whose tears wet his pillow one sent. at night for the people, the innocent Listen to his lamentation: “How Prophet of Compassion victims? deserted lies the city, once so full of If ever there was a prophet to the Jeremiah is his name. Some trans- people! How like a widow is she, who cities, it was Jeremiah. He lived in a late his name “sent forth of the Lord.” once was great among the nations! She different time and place, but things He is sent as lightning from the cloud, who was queen among the provinces were not really that different. The as an arrow from the bow. Jeremiah has now become a slave. Bitterly she future looked bleak, and the challenges came to his prophetic office in the weeps at night, tears are upon her were great. thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign. The cheeks. Among all her lovers there is Who is this prophet whose pen is dust of death falls everywhere upon the none to comfort her; they have become

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (9) 9 her enemies. . . . ‘I called to my allies with my Bible covering my heart—in walking dead—druggies, pimps, prosti- but they betrayed me. My priests and case they shot me. I came up a stair- tutes. Downtown I saw 12-year-olds my elders perished in the city while well and found an 8-year-old boy with carrying guns, old people afraid to they searched for food to keep them- a needle stuck in his arm. I picked him leave their apartments. selves alive” (Lam. 1:1-19, NIV). up in my arms, and he died there in I walked uptown. I saw the Gen The result: “Slaves rule over us” my arms. Eight years old! Xers—sophisticated, well-dressed, smil- (Lam. 5:8); women raped (verse 11); What are we doing? Making stamps ing, clean-shaven, the BMW crowd. leaders imprisoned (verse 12); totally (“Say no to drugs”)? That won’t do it. Yet empty, sad, sick lives falling apart, forsaken by God (verse 20). What did Six hundred thousand babies are being having everything but the real thing. God’s people do? What did God’s lead- born each and every year addicted in After that little excursion I finally ers do? They fled the cities. And the womb. The church has failed them. began to understand the death of the Jeremiah the prophet weeps. Our efforts in the area of temperance city. How do you speak to dead men and In Lamentations I see two things and health consist of counting calories women? How do you share with the about the cities: (1) the hopelessness of and selling soybeans while children die walking dead? What kind of advertising the people, and (2) the helpfulness of the from drug overdoses. will appeal to them? What kind of soft- prophet. In Jeremiah’s day—like in our We send student missionaries ware multimedia program will change own—there was the death of the city. from North America to all parts of them for the better? What kind of books the globe to minister and build do you share with the illiterate? Reaching Out to a Dying Culture churches. Have you seen some poor You can’t evangelize the dead. This Black and Hispanic churches in the Today’s Reality isn’t an ancient story; it’s a present inner city lately? America was founded by godly peo- reality. Have you walked in the cities We teach English in foreign lands ple. God was incorporated into our lately? Have you seen the death of the so that a few influential families can Constitution. But like Jerusalem we cities? I’ve spent a good part of my life get choice jobs, while in some of our have turned from Him. And because of in the cities of North America. I’ve cities one fourth of the children in that, our cities are under siege. spoken to the young and the old, the public schools cannot speak English. Why are we surprised by the condi- good, the bad, and the beautiful. I’ve We have an obligation from God, tions that caused Jeremiah’s lament? walked among the living dead in the North America. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin streets, in the apartments and tene- Our youth and ministers run to a is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. ments. I have discovered their hope- city in a remote corner of the world to 14:34, NIV). If our cities are deterio- lessness, their despair, their dying. hold a crusade, while some cities in rating, it’s because the saints have run Once while visiting in Harlem I their own conferences haven’t had a from them, it’s because righteousness was alone, it was dark, and I was there meeting in years. has not ruled in their streets. I didn’t under- Righteousness has not ruled even in Worship Worth the Risks stand until just our own homes. City people can’t look recently how at us and say, “They are the people of BY TAMARA TERRY pathetic the situa- God.” Jeremiah put the blame on tion has become. I God’s people, and I must also. Crime is no stranger to the members of the Trinity went home. Like Two reasons are given. One is Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church in Newark, New Jeremiah, I wanted immorality: “Her filthiness clung to Jersey. “It goes with the territory, and it’s part of the mis- to see it up close her skirts” (Lam. 1:9). And second, she sion field in which we work,” says church elder Ronald again, to feel it, to didn’t remember that judgment was Sullivan. smell it, to sense inevitable: “She did not consider her Before their new church building opened in November its need. I went to future” (verse 9). When people forget 1986, the congregation had to use on-street parking. the old neighbor- their purpose, they forget who God is Break-ins and thefts over the years necessitated secure hood. I walked the and what life means. parking lots with the opening of the new building. “The streets; I looked at It was my generation and the previ- guarded parking lots simply increase our level of security,” the empty build- ous generation that forgot; this gener- says Sullivan. “It’s especially helpful for evening programs ings. Vacant tene- ation cannot be blamed. They are liv- and services and instances in which members must leave ments lined the ing out the fantasies of past genera- their vehicles during church outings.” streets like beaten tions. We are left with a religion and a Sullivan seems unfazed about the higher likelihood of old men, bent over church seemingly without meaning. thefts and break-ins in the neighborhood. He believes the from years of hard- That’s why our generation thinks greatest hazard is “ignoring Christ’s call for us to address ship. I saw sad, there is nobody home in the universe, those needs so plainly evident around us.” lonely faces in the nobody to comfort. That’s why the crowds. I saw the Gen Xers don’t understand that there’s

10 (10) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 a God who seeks us, a God who wants try and try again, but they go away In my visit back home to the to comfort us. empty and hungry. ’hood I read on a wall the epitaph of Rather, people seek other gods. They try money. They earn and earn, the city: “No one cares, man. No one They seek comfort in the arms of feeling secure until the market turns cares. ——— it, no one cares.” The whores, in horizontal relationships, in down and they lose and lose and lose, pity is Who really cares? There are a finite solutions, when they should be and they’re empty. Full pockets, empty few ministers who work the cities, seeking comfort in the arms of the hearts. That’s the problem we face. and a few administrators who try. But Almighty. But who will tell them? They try recreation and leisure. really, who cares? We see the results of that monastic And so they run and run and run, but Jeremiah cared; he wept for philosophy of Adventism that says they have no destination. They play Jerusalem. I think Jonah finally cared “Run to the country and hide in the until they’re bored and tired, and still for Nineveh. Isaiah cared for hills.” Even what the church shares is life is meaningless. Jerusalem. Jesus wept: “O Jerusalem, created by archaic rules and standards Jerusalem” (Matt. 23:37). Chrysostom that reveal no gentleness or love. The The First Step cared for Constantinople, Spurgeon for church spends more time on the wed- The solution is simple and specific London, Knox for Edinburgh, and ding ring than it does on the wedding. in Lamentations. The prophet sees it Calvin for Geneva. The city hungers for love, for God all and laments. That’s where it begins: Weeping represents a burden. Have made His creatures for love. But a caring people who weep for the you wept for your kids? Every parent they’ve turned to sex, hoping they may cities: for Chicago, , has. Jeremiah wept for Jerusalem. It find a meaningful relationship. They Atlanta, Miami, New York. begins with a burden. We need

Do the Math one bookstore, 11 Adventist Community Services centers, three hospitals, an school, and a retire- BY MONTE SAHLIN ment center. The Adventist Media Center is located here. This region has the largest Adventist presence of any of The four North American cities listed below are the pri- the four metropolitan areas. The entire area is contained in mary evangelistic targets for the next two years.* But the Southern California Conference. throughout North America more than 40 metropolitan areas will see major evangelistic outreach efforts. CHICAGO The largest metropolitan area in the U.S. , with NEW YORK a total population of 8.6 million; 39 percent do not belong This massive metropolitan area—the largest in North to any religion. Ethnic profile: 4 percent Asian, 19 percent America—covers more than 50 counties in New Jersey, New Black, 13 percent Hispanic, 63 percent White. York, and Connecticut. Total population is nearly 20 million. The region has 75 Adventist churches with a total mem- One third of the citizens do not claim any religion. Ethnic bership of 16,000 (includes churches in three local confer- profile: 6 percent Asian, 19 percent Black, 17 percent ences), three secondary schools, one bookstore, two Hispanic, 57 percent White. Adventist Community Services centers, and one hospital. There are 202 Adventist churches with a total member- The 5 million Whites in this metropolitan area constitute ship of 76,000 (in five local conferences, which are part of one of the largest unreached people groups in North America. two union conferences), two secondary schools, three book- stores, four Adventist Community Services centers. TORONTO Less than 5 percent of the Adventist membership is in The largest city in Canada, with a total population of 3.9 the Anglo ethnic group, making the 11.4 million Whites in million. Two thirds do not belong to any religion. Ethnic pro- this metropolitan area one of the largest unreached people file: diverse, cosmopolitan. groups in North America. Some 43 Adventist congregations with a total member- ship of 12,000 belong to one local conference—the Ontario LOS ANGELES Conference. It operates one secondary school, an Adventist This is the largest metropolitan area on North America’s Community Services center, and a hospital. Pacific Coast—center of the aerospace and movie industries for Less than 15 percent of the Adventist membership is in the world. Total population is 15.4 million. Nearly half (45 per- the White, native-born Canadian ethnic group, although cent) do not belong to any religion. Ethnic profile: 11 percent this is the largest segment of the total population in the Asian, 8 percent Black, 38 percent Hispanic, 42 percent White. metropolitan area. This area is served by nearly 150 Adventist churches with a total membership of 53,000, five secondary schools, * Source: Center for Global Urban Mission.

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (11) 11 100,000 weepers for the cities of North venetian blinds and looked out, and the touch of love. Jeremiah’s Jerusalem was America, intercessory pray-ers who crack house had been bulldozed. They in the last stages of death. will pray for a burden. We need a went around the residential house, and He wept. Mission Spotlight program depicting the they bulldozed the other place. He walked. plight of our cities sent to the Sabbath Jeremiah walked the streets with a He spoke the Word. He said, “God schools and churches across this land burden. He wept and then walked. does care.” so that Americans will finally under- When walking, one sees the problems stand that although the world’s needs close-up. Close-up we see the hopeless- The Third Step are large, the spiritual life of our cities ness of the cities without God. The In the church we fight over insignifi- is also vital. specific city in Lamentations is cant theological issues while God’s peo- Jerusalem. But the Word of God ple and the people in the cities perish. The Second Step extends further. The Greek word for We need to take an aggressive stance. Second, we walk. We need 100,000 “city,” polis, means sociological group There were some back in the seventies prayer walkers in America. I’m a or culture. Jeremiah speaks of the who had a vision for New York. They prayer walker. A man came to me death of an entire culture. called me from a safe little place down recently and said, “I live in a terrible What made Jerusalem, the “City of in the Carolinas to go back to the city. I neighborhood. Across the street is a God,” a culture created by faith? Their went and conducted nine crusades a crack house. Then there’s a residence, music, art, and drama were at one time year for six years. (Now if evangelists do then there’s a house where all the a reflection of their faith. Now faith is five crusades a year, they come out pant- addicts and drunks meet.” He said, gone, and soon everything else will die ing. But in those days, nine crusades.) “I’ve been mugged three times on this with it. “Reach the city, Ron Halvorsen,” they street. What should I do, Ron With any city, anytime in history, said. And what did they give me? Three Halvorsen?” that is the result. We’re seeing the thousand dollars a crusade. I said, “Walk it in prayer.” death of our culture. In Jerusalem death But God worked. What we need to “Walk it!” he exclaimed. “I’ve been was violent; so today. In Jerusalem do is begin with weeping; we need to mugged three times!” women were cheapened by men’s per- form teams of people who will pray for “Walk it,” I said, and he started version; and so today. In Jerusalem the cities, and then we need training prayer walking. A month went by; he marriages were dissolved over burned centers in every city to train people to wasn’t mugged. He was praying for his meals; now it’s burned toast. In stand up and preach. The Bible still street. One morning he opened the Jerusalem sex was a technique, not a changes lives. This Bible still works.

By the time Sabbath school begins, a group of youth Sabbath in the City have returned from feeding the homeless. A young Path- finder has seen the face of hunger in a woman rummaging BY ROYSON JAMES through a garbage can for breakfast. As the call to sacred rest ricochets off skyscrapers and Filled with the Holy Spirit after almost four hours of echoes across the urban landscape once every seven days, Sabbath services, the prison ministry team prepares to do Adventists turn from the rat race to find divine rest. It’s the Master’s bidding and visit the incarcerated. Another Sabbath in the city. group grabs a quick lunch and hustles off to the nursing See them hop a bus for that ride to the oasis. Along the home for its outreach to shut-ins. route other pilgrims join the secular moving masses. The In the church basement the seniors enjoy the fellowship good news—, hymnals, and quarterlies boldly of a potluck lunch. Some families, commuters from the sub- clasped—competes with the bad news headlines of the urbs, pool their goodies for a scrumptious feast. Saturday morning paper. Hats and well-pressed dresses It’s Sabbath in the city. A little boy feeds the ducks at stand out against the shoppers’ casual gear—a silent testa- the civic gardens while daddy savors the bed of roses and ment of the call to “come ye apart and rest awhile.” mommy watches as the procession of bridal parties goes Parking is a problem. Increasingly Gen Xers turn their snap, snap, snapping by. A street party is in full swing a cars toward the plush pews and big parking lots of the sub- block away. Michael Jordan is in town. So is Janet urbs, leaving behind inner-city congregations where the Jackson. Boyz II Men plays the Forum. Les Mis, Phantom, sound of the organ, drums, guitar, and heavenly singing and Ragtime beckon from the stage. And there are 62 compete with the hip-hop vibes from the club next door. movies showing at 400 cinemas. Strangely enough, it’s during this time of rest—when Sabbath in the city. A call to observe a time out of God’s people pause for a 24-hour refueling—that His love synch with the pace of the place. Sabbath in the city. The puts on a human face and the Saviour soothes the city’s challenge of a people out of step with the rhythms of the wounds, using Adventist hands. marketplace.

12 (12) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 Church in a Commuter Society the Glendale area—eight other churches are located with- in a five-mile radius—it’s inevitable that people will make attendance and membership choices based on factors BY MARILYN THOMSEN other than geography alone. For the past decade Bill and Kathy Glennie have gotten up For young adult Kristina Haynal, family is a major reason a little early on Sabbath mornings and driven a half hour down she drives from Redondo Beach, in Los Angeles’ South Bay southern California’s 101 freeway so they could attend morn- area, 25 or 30 miles up the Harbor Freeway to Vallejo Drive. ing services at the Vallejo Drive church. Along the way they Her parents are members. She’s been attending since early pass at least four other Adventist churches—one of which is childhood, “and it still feels good,” she says. “I’ve gotten to within walking distance of their house. “We started going to the point where I enjoy people of multiple ages, not just [my Vallejo because of the music program, the choir, the organ,” own]. I have something to offer them, and vice versa.” Kathy explains. “Churches have a culture,” says Counts, who drives past The Glennies are not alone in driving a distance to at least four other churches to Vallejo Drive from his home. attend the church of their choice. An estimated 600 peo- “I like the subculture at Vallejo Drive. It’s big enough to offer ple attend worship services at the Vallejo Drive church, the kind of music program it does. It has a high educational which, in addition to regular Sabbath morning services, level, but the people are genuine, sincere Christians.” includes Friday Night Live (biweekly) and a monthly Praise Distance from the church does have its downside. “The Church. Head elder Myron Counts estimates that half or only time it’s a problem is for extra meetings,” says Glennie. more drive past at least two churches to get to Vallejo “We can’t be as active during the week.” For Kathy and Bill, Drive, which is located adjacent to Glendale Adventist though, the commute is worthwhile. “The draw was the music Medical Center. Given the concentration of churches in program,” she says. “But I really, really like the people there.”

This is the Word of God! England. It was one of the greatest shall fight on the beaches, we shall Yet we see an evacuation of the cities. miracles of deliverance since Israel’s fight on the landing grounds, we shall We even have a theology: we grab a escape from Egyptian bondage. Out- fight in the fields and in the streets, we quotation and say, “We can’t live in numbered, outgunned, outmanned, shall fight in the hills; we shall never those terrible cities.” Listen to me; if we they fled. Small boats, ferries, every- surrender.” That’s fortitude, an inflexi- don’t get there and touch their lives with thing that could float, were used to ble resolve, a deep dedication, a sense our lives, we will never touch them. You evacuate Dunkirk. of purpose. “We shall never surrender.” can’t touch them by a video. You’ve got In the aftermath England was in a Exactly two weeks later, on June 18, to touch them with a heart. A heart state of euphoria. The British people 1940, England braced itself for the touches people. Ellen White said, celebrated as if they had won a great inevitable Battle of Britain—Hitler’s “Those who bear the burden of the work victory. But victory had not been won; invasion by air. Churchill addressed in Greater New York [she uses that as a defeat had only been avoided. Sir Parliament again: “Upon this battle symbol for all cities in North America] Winston Churchill stood at the podi- depends the survival of Christian civi- should have the help of the best workers um of the House of Commons on June lization. . . . The whole fury and might that can be secured. Here let a center for 4, 1940, and sounded a note of reality: of the enemy must very soon be turned God’s work be made, and let all that is “Wars are not won by evacuations.” on us. . . . Let us therefore brace our- done be a symbol of the work the Lord It’s a sober warning to the church of selves to our duties, and so bear our- declares to see done in the world” Jesus Christ, to those of you who make selves that, if the British Empire and (Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 37). decisions for the cities of America, to its Commonwealth last for a thousand every one of us. years, men will still say: ‘This was their The Final Victory It was considered the finest speech finest hour.’” There’s an evacuation now. But in a thousand years. Many said that If this church lasts for another wars are not won by evacuations. Such speech was worth a thousand guns. decade or two and looks back to this was the sober warning sounded by The typically stoic English wept. So year, to this year-end meeting, may Prime Minister Winston Churchill to did the manly Churchill. Listen as he they say, “This was the church’s finest Great Britain’s House of Commons speaks to us today: “We shall not flag hour.” May we take hold of the task, during World War II. nor fail. We shall go on to the end. We and by the grace of God, may we see With the fate of France hanging in shall fight in France, we shall fight on the victory. ■ the balance, there came a massive the seas and oceans, we shall fight with evacuation of British and Allied troops growing confidence and growing Ron Halvorsen, Sr., is church growth from Dunkirk. Nearly 350,000 armed strength in the air, we shall defend our coordinator for the Southern Union forces escaped from Europe back to island, whatever the cost may be, we Conference.

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (13) 13 STORY A Tale of BY DONALD R. PIERSON

ILLIAN HAD JUST GRADUATED FROM A had not rejected Seventh-day Adventist academy. She was now her, how could she If only foresight were a enjoying the freedom from dormitory constraints reject the church? that came from living with an older sister and She returned to full working as a nurse’s aide. Lillian attended the fellowship with a Llocal Adventist church, but she occasionally went to the special burden for movie theater when she had the opportunity. Because she wayward young worked in a hospital, she frequently had to work Sabbaths. people because she understood what No Mercy it’s like to be young One Sabbath she discovered that she had a run in her last and wayward. pair of white nylons. Because she was required to wear white As she has nylons, she stopped at a store on the way to work and bought a matured over the pair. She was observed by a church member. After she moved years, Sally has been to another state, Lillian received a letter from her former con- surprised to discover gregation informing her that she had been disfellowshipped. that her values have Lillian always considered herself a Seventh-day become similar to Adventist, although she never came back into full fellow- her parents’. Over ship with the church. She saw the church as legalistic and the years she has hypocritical, yet she believed its doctrines. Under those cir- been published in cumstances, how could she join another church? But how the Adventist could she return to the church that had rejected her? Review, Guide, From that time Lillian lived an exemplary life. Her two chil- Women of Spirit, and dren are dedicated Christians who seem to have avoided the other church and tumultuous years of teenage rebellion that are often so common. nonchurch publica- tions. She has writ- Young and Wayward ten a series of pri- Sally was a teenager in rebellion. She didn’t wait to be mary Sabbath disfellowshipped. During a pastoral visit she simply asked for school program her name to be removed from the church’s membership list. helps. Two of her When the pastor gently inquired as to the reason, Sally books have been explained her conviction that the church was made up of published, and more hypocrites, and she wanted nothing to do with them. are on the way. This particular pastor had a daughter who was going What would have happened if Sally’s situation had been through difficult times herself, so he wasn’t prepared to com- treated as Lillian’s, or if Lillian’s had been treated as Sally’s? ply with Sally’s request immediately. “It isn’t easy to have one’s Is discipline a means of punishment or a means of redemp- name removed from the church books,” he said. “The church tion? Does God make it hard for us to be saved, or hard to doesn’t take that action lightly.” He agreed that the church be lost? board would consider Sally’s request—if she would come and explain why she no longer wanted to be associated with “those The Gospel of Another Chance hypocrites.” She never got around to making an appointment Sally is my daughter, and I have written this with her with the church board. permission. I’ll always be grateful to the pastor who made it Frustrated that the pastor had made it so hard for her to difficult for Sally to have her way as a teenager. leave the church, Sally completed her journey over “fool’s Lillian was my sister. She had serious health problems for hill.” Later she reflected on what had happened. The church most of her life. About five years ago she was given three

14 (14) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 Two Teens as sharp as hindsight. months to live, but years had been lifted. We did some reminiscing about child- her strong will hood and even shared a few laughs. Then I was shocked a few kept her going. hours later to receive a telephone call informing us that Not long ago I Lillian had passed away peacefully in her sleep. related Lillian’s story to a union Never Too Late conference presi- I believe God inspired the union president to write to dent. Unknown to Lillian, and I believe God impressed me to telephone her at me, that adminis- just the right time. Lillian had already made arrangements trator then wrote with a local pastor to conduct her funeral service. She her a letter, part of revealed to him that she had a very personal relationship with which read, “I am God and that she was praying for her family. She also sorry for the action explained what she believed about death and the resurrection. that the members At the graveside service the pastor read the familiar text of the church took, from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: “For the Lord himself shall and I am sorry— descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the especially sorry— archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in for the fact that Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain they didn’t even shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet discuss the pro- the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. posed action with Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” you. I offer no And we are comforted. We know that even though Lillian defense for their was out of touch with the local church during many years of action and insensi- her life, she was never far from the Lord’s heart, and we sin- tivity. It is not in cerely look forward to seeing her when Jesus comes again. harmony with church policy to indsight, as they say, is always 20/20, and many are drop anyone with- the episodes that shape our life experiences. While out having a dis- Hwe aren’t allowed to unmake the decisions we’ve cussion with them made or undo some of our mistakes, we can be sensitive to the before taking any Spirit’s leading so that our actions in the present may mitigate action relating to a person’s membership. I know I can never some of the heartaches of the past.

) make right what was done more than 40 years ago, but at Our actions should always reflect this great truth: “Christ least I can tell you I’m sorry. And whether or not you can Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15, NIV). attend or would choose to attend, you would be most wel- And when we make it our highest priority to reflect Christ’s COMPOSITE

AL come as a member.” compassion for sinners, the church will be a place where peo-

IGIT That letter made a real impression on Lillian and her ple can catch a glimpse of God’s unconditional love. ■ (D family. One Sabbath afternoon I telephoned Lillian, and we ISC D had a long chat. She was in good spirits, and she assured me Donald R. Pierson is retirement plans administrator

HOTO that she was doing “just fine.” for the North American Division. He and his wife, © P She mentioned the letter she had received from the union Betty, live in Burtonsville, Maryland. president and how amazed and pleased she was to receive it. It HOTOS P seemed as though a load she had carried for more than 40

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (15) 15 SANDRA DORAN: DIALOGUES Is TV That Bad? SANDRA DORAN

’m tired of pastors railing against the “evils” of televi- to settle back into an affirming atmosphere and listen to an sion. TV is simply a medium—like books, audio- uplifting sermon. However, the prophets of God do not cassettes, and Internet access—through which a mes- answer to the same guiding principles as the entertainment sage is conveyed. Why the con- industry. Their purpose is not to tinued tirades from the pulpit? entertain, but to facilitate contact II agree that television is a medium between the divine and the human. through which a message is conveyed. Examine the As creative beings formed in the However, I believe you underestimate image of God, our role in worship is the extent to which this “medium” dreams and goals active, not passive. Engaging our has taken hold of society. Unlike minds, opening ourselves to the fill- books, tapes, or even computer time, ing of the Spirit, we are called not TV viewing is now the primary leisure you have for to occupy a pew in a euphoric state activity of Americans, consuming of relaxation, but to consider what “about 40 percent of all the hours not your life. we hear and see with an openness committed to working, eating, sleep- that pierces through the layers of ing, or doing chores.” According to our lives. We may agree or disagree recent polls, “Americans spend more time watching television with the content of a sermon. We may feel soothed or dis- than working out, reading, using the computer, working in the turbed by a message. We may find material to be uplifting or garden, and going to church combined.” In fact, if you fall into depressing. But since our role in worship is active, not pas- the pattern manifested by the typical American, you will have sive, all such reactions are irrelevant to our personal and spent 10 years in front of the television by the time you die.* spiritual growth. We move forward as Christians when we I don’t know about you, but I’m enough of a rugged indi- reflect, consider, meditate, apply, change. These actions are vidualist to feel bothered by the idea that I might passively not dependent upon hearing a sermon with which we agree succumb to anything that will consume my free time, do my or which makes us comfortable. thinking for me, and gradually shape my ideology and out- Frankly, I would not want to change roles with a preacher look into a carbon copy of that of millions of other people these days any more than I’d welcome the opportunity to under its power. relive the life of Jeremiah. In an era when “every movie, every While I could fill this column with thunderings about the ad, every show, is supposed to entertain, shooting out one blar- violent and lurid content of much of what is on television, I ing, fun-filled image after the other, allowing no one any time will resist the urge. I can tell from your letter that you’ve to think about the last one,” the voice of the preacher can “heard enough” on that topic. What I would like to suggest hardly compete. Perhaps all of us need to rethink not only the is that you examine the dreams and goals you have for your ways in which we spend our leisure time, but the sense of enti- life against the ways in which you spend your leisure time. I tlement we feel when we are part of a congregation. If we have found that most people have some unfulfilled dream come away from church feeling less than blessed, perhaps the buried deep beneath the layers of their existence. onus should be put not on the preacher, but on ourselves. ■ I can’t count the number of people who have asked me to write up their “perfect idea” for a book. When I suggest that * Stephen Seplow and Jonathon Storm, “Remote Control,” Providence Sunday Journal, Feb. 8, 1998. they begin writing it themselves, the answer is almost univer- sal: “I don’t have time.” With all due respect, I wonder if reducing the per capita lifetime commitment to television Sandra Doran is an author and educator who writes from 10 years down to five years might be a good start. from Attleboro, Massachusetts. I can understand your aversion to negative tirades from the pulpit. After a week of fighting traffic, fielding stress from coworkers, and scrambling for supper, it might be nice

16 (16) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 Fasty. He said something like this: “If a boy asks for bread for breakfast, will his Nasty Fasty! father give him a stone?” And all Jesus’ hearers shook their heads and said “No!” Then Jesus asked, “If a boy asks BRIAN PILMOOR for fish for his lunch, will his daddy give him a rattlesnake?” And all of Jesus’ friends chorused, “No!” s a boy, I had never that hangs over like a question mark. So He asked them a third question: heard of a Nasty Fasty On the tip of the tail there is a sharp “If a boy asks for an egg for supper, will until I bought one. needle. When a scorpion attacks, it his daddy give him a Nasty Fasty?” Here in England we stings like an angry wasp. And all of Jesus’ friends said again, don’t have real ones. I once lived in the desert, “No, never!” ANasty Fasty is another name for a and every morning I turned Then He told them. “If you are a scorpion, which lives in the desert. my shoes upside down and bad person, yet you give good gifts to The Nasty Fasty I bought tapped their heels. This was to your children how much more will was only a plastic toy. But make sure that Nasty Fasty God, your heavenly Father, help you to it looked like a real was not hiding inside! live a holy and good life!” chocolate-brown Nasty Fasty hides under And Jesus’ friends all smiled and

ISC scorpion with four rocks. One boy I knew lifted said, “Yes! You are saying that God is D pairs of legs like a up a stone, and Nasty Fasty love.” And they never forgot His words. HOTO big spider. Nasty stung him on a finger. He had © P Fasty also has two to be rushed to the hospital. Brian Pilmoor writes from Egham, HOTO

P short arms, and its Nasty Fasty is fast and danger- Surrey, England. hands are like a ous. crab’s big claws. It has a long thin tail Jesus told a story about a Nasty

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (17) 17 WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES Auditing Service Receives Professional Approval

BY SARAH COLEMAN, WHO SERVED AS AN ADVENTIST REVIEW INTERN WHEN THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN

he General Conference credibility of its financial reporting, Motors,” says Korff, Auditing Service (GCAS) the denomination complies with gen- “and then they look in North America recently erally accepted accounting principles at a denomina- received high marks in a rather than creating denominational tional financial public evaluation accord- measurements that could easily be statement, the same Ting to standards set by the American manipulated or misunderstood. auditing standards Institute of Certified Public The General Conference Auditing have been used in Accountants (AICPA). Service maintains a professional dis- verifying all the Although the Auditing Service has tance between itself and church orga- information.” Eric Korff always sought to maintain indepen- nization. “We function totally inde- Staying abreast of dence from the Adventist administra- pendently of church administration,” constant public standards revisions is tive structure, it is still considered an Korff says. “We are not answerable to no easy task, but well worth the work internal practice and thus not subject for the assurance it provides. to yearly “peer reviews” required by the Silent watchdogs who strictly AICPA. During peer reviews one uphold Adventist financial standards, auditing practice examines another’s “We function auditors deserve affirmation for their system of quality control in such areas scrupulous work. “We feel humble that as independence, integrity and objec- we have been able to provide that kind tivity, personnel management, and totally of service to the church,” Korff says of monitoring—thus ensuring compliance the department’s clean public review. with AICPA standards. independently “It’s really the auditors in the field who “We voluntarily submitted ourselves deserve the credit for this.” to a review,” says Eric Korff, GCAS of church In North America, 70 employees director, “because we wanted to see work to audit every denominational how we stacked up against our profes- institution, sometimes traveling up to sion outside [the church].” After sev- administration.” 70 percent of the year in order to fulfill eral weeks of evaluation, the Auditing their obligations. Without question, Service was given a “clean opinion” by the Auditing Service seeks to fulfill its its external reviewer, Johnson Treasury. . . . The church has granted official mission to “conduct structurally Lambert and Company. us total professional independence.” independent financial audits of the The General Conference Auditing This separation between denomina- highest quality, at minimum cost” to Service consists of 220 employees tional administration and auditing pro- the church. For an organization whose worldwide, nine of whom work in the vides the church with assurance that assets are worth far more than $15 bil- General Conference building. The its financial reporting is responsibly lion, a high-quality auditing service is Auditing Service provides an objective monitored by individuals safe from any invaluable. evaluation of the Adventist Church’s internal pressures. It also provides Not surprisingly, a function that has financial standards and policies. This auditing employees with the freedom provided credible, empowering assis- task involves both routine financial to report their findings in a completely tance to the Adventist Church for auditing services and policy compliance objective manner. almost 100 years looks beyond its offi- tests to verify that financial operations Seventh-day Adventists can be cial job to a larger picture. “Auditing is abide by denominational guidelines. confident that their Auditing Service not an end in itself,” Korff observes. Officially organized in 1975, the ser- stays on the cutting edge of public “We are here to strengthen the hand vice has always sought to maintain a auditing standards. “If somebody looks of the church administration in . . . professional image. To enhance the at a financial statement from General spreading the gospel.”

18 (18) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

agencies are invited to register their Young Adults Anticipating booths.) ■ Messages and music. ConneXions99 ■ Discussion, strategy, and brain- storming sessions. Follow-up to eXcite98 to be held in , D.C. “I’ve spent years,” says Shane Anderson, 27, of Washington State, “dreaming about how the church can BY ANDY NASH, DVENTIST EVIEW ASSISTANT EDITOR A R reach the entire world for Christ. And now, for the first time, I think I can see he cherry trees will be blossom- the Adventist Church, ConneXions99 how it will happen. Ellen White said ing; so will the ideas. will be geared toward Adventist young that young people—us—will actually T Organizers of the adult thought leaders, visionaries, and finish the work of the church. I’m tired acclaimed eXcite98 young adult activists ready for the next level. of waiting for programs to do what our conference have announced plans “I feel as though we are merely generation can do if we start working for ConneXions99, scheduled for following where God is leading,” says together. That’s why I’m going to April 14-17 at the Seventh-day Burr. “He is stirring hearts and chang- ConneXions.” headquarters, just ing lives.” Seating for ConneXions is north of Washington, D.C. Plans for ConneXions99 include: limited to the first 800 to register. But this conference, says coordina- ■ The formation of Connect, a To learn about, contribute to, or tor Shasta Burr, will differ from its pre- young adult ministry network. register for ConneXions99, go to decessor. Whereas eXcite98, held ■ The opportunity to start new http:www.conneXions99.com, call August 6-9 at , ministries and plug into existing ones. 1-800-SDA-PLUS, or e-mail focused on reigniting young adults in (Church departments, ministries, and [email protected].

NEWSBREAK

Zimbabwe President Addresses people from their own land, and decried the scandal of a church that had sold its soul to the colonial masters. World Council Highlighting the controversial financial and moral support given by the WCC to the independence strug- BY ROY ADAMS, ADVENTIST REVIEW ASSOCIATE EDI- gles in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) in the 1970s, Mugabe TOR, REPORTING FROM HARARE, ZIMBABWE suggested that the world body ought to take particular imbabwe president, His Excellency Robert G. satisfaction in the political outcome we see today. ZMugabe, addressed delegates to the Eighth Assembly “Today, I present you the country toward whose libera- of the World Council of Churches (WCC), meeting here tion you struggled,” he told delegates, “a free Zimbabwe in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. whose people can now worship and In his hourlong presentation, Mugabe rejoice without let or hindrance.” recounted the troubled history of Mugabe also made a passionate call to Zimbabwe’s colonial past, graphically church leaders to help end what he describing how the Christian church called “a global conspiracy against poor gave sanction and comfort to colonial- nations,” and amid thunderous applause ist imperialism. appealed to the WCC to use its influ- Regarding Africans “as children of ence to nudge the West to “write off a lesser God,” he said, missionaries in [the] debts of Third World Nations.” league with foreign empire-builders One sees no signs of trouble at the kept them in a state of subjection and moment on the streets of Harare. But subservience, “destroy[ing] African HONORING THE NATION: President Robert there had been considerable unrest here kingdoms and culture, as part of the Mugabe (with WCC moderator, His Holiness and in other parts of the country during proselytizing process.” Aram I) stood for Zimbabwe’s national the past 12 months, with trade unionists anthem just before addressing the assem- Throughout that dark period, how- and students taking to the streets in bly. (Photo: Chris Black/WCC.) ever, prominent voices in the church demonstrations. In fact, the University dissented from the brutal colonialist alienation of the of Zimbabwe, the site of the assembly, had been closed

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (19) 19 WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES John Elway, the Failure?

BY DICK DUERKSEN, DIRECTOR OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT FOR FLORIDA HOSPITAL

ohn Elway, quarterback of the National Football or are not capable of doing. Sometimes we fail because we League’s defending Super Bowl champion Denver are doing too much or trying to do it all alone. Sometimes JBroncos, has had a year filled with failures. He has we just “blow it.” thrown interceptions in the end zone. He has fumbled the When reporters ask Elway about his errant passes, he football again and again. He has made terrible choices, smiles and says, “I think I’ve learned not to throw that one botched plays, and overthrown receivers who were wide again.” For this quarter back, failures are never disasters, open. John Elway has failed—and just opportunities for growth. Fumble, failed often. NEWS COMMENTARY learn, . . . and do better next time. Yet the Denver Broncos were victori- The same is true for us. Our failures ous in their first 13 games this season. Thirteen wins before must not be the end, but stepping-stones on the road to their first loss. And that with a failure at quarterback! success. Failure. We’re all failures. Every day we make mistakes, John Elway’s Broncos produced 13 consecutive victories accomplish less than we are capable of accomplishing, and in 1998, every one of them filled with failures. Yet every one generally “fail” to measure up. Like Elway, we fail at per- is in the records as a -filled “WIN!” fection. Some of our failures are sins, but most are just You will fail in 1999. That’s OK. God is eager to help you poor judgment or foolish lapses. Sometimes we fail turn each failure into a stepping-stone, a stepping-stone to because we try to do things we have not been trained for eternal success.

NEWSBREAK

for eight months (because of student unrest) in the period Hispanic Adventists Commemorate Centennial preceding the assembly. (The university is now in recess until February.) At a recent presentation at the church’s world head- Though the WCC was generally friendly to the his- quarters, Manuel Vasquez, vice president for special min- torical perspective Mugabe outlined in his speech, its istries in the North American Division, and Jim Nix, overall reception of the president’s remarks was mild. vice director of the Ellen G. White Estate, unveiled the This should not have surprised anyone who’d been pay- painting Baptism in the Gila River: The First Hispanic ing attention. Only four days earlier, for example, the Adventists in North America. first issue of the Eighth Assembly’s newspaper had The 48" x 38" oil painting by Elfred Lee records the described Zimbabwe as a country in “crisis,” character- baptism of Marcial Serna, a former Hispanic Methodist izing Mugabe’s rule as “autocratic” and as one that had pastor who became the first Hispanic Seventh-day “brought one of the world’s most beautiful and well- endowed countries almost to its knees” (Jubilee, Dec. 4, 1998). At a press conference following Mugabe’s appearance, WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser declined to comment on a question from a Dutch reporter who said Mugabe had told him earlier that “it is the task of the church to purify homosexuals of this nature.” Raiser’s response was that “President Mugabe in his own country can say what he deems it is necessary to say.” It was an evidence of the tension between the WCC and its host. (The Eighth Assembly ran December 3-14, 1998. Some 4,500 delegates, observers, guests, visitors, and reporters are in attendance. A full report on the council will appear in the February 11 issue of the Review.)

20 (20) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

Unreached AWR Letter Box

Ethnic “Dear Friends at AWR: Your voice is Concentrations in an expression of the heavenly mes- sage of Jesus Christ, and is a giver of North inspiration to us humans. . . . You America gracious and generous ones, take the hand of me, who has been listening to your programs, and enter me into your cir- cle of friendship. I know that in time the chain of our 1. 5,750,000 White non-Hispanics in Chicago friendship will grow stronger, and we will know each other 2. 6,468,000 White non-Hispanics in Los Angeles deeply.”—Middle East. 3. 11,400,000 White non-Hispanics in New York City 4. 3,710,000 White non-Hispanics in Philadelphia “I must be completely honest with you. I am not a believer. I 5. 5,852,000 Hispanics in Los Angeles was raised this way, and this is the way I am. Nonetheless, I 6. 3,800,000 African-Americans in New York City have always had a lot of respect for religion in general. I think that the combination of listening to your broadcast and get- NOTE: These figures were arrived at by subtracting the ting to know new people will enable me to enter into this Seventh-day Adventist membership from the total population in Christian world that is so foreign to me.”—Mirna, from Cuba. each major ethnic group in the 25 largest metropolitan areas in North America. Source: NAD Office of Information and For information about Adventist World Radio, write to: Research, with the assistance of the Adventist Center for 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904- Global Urban Mission. 6600; or call toll-free: 1-800-337-4297; e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.awr.org.

NEWSBREAK

Adventist to be baptized in North America. Also pic- office in Silver Spring, Maryland, she tured are members of the Sanchéz family, baptized on will continue to be an employee of the December 9, 1899, by R. M. Kilgore, District 5 superin- publishing house. tendent of the General Conference. “This appointment fills a major On February 27, in honor of the centennial of this need,” commented William Johnsson, milestone, the NAD’s Department of Multilingual editor and executive publisher of the Ministries will be placing three commemorative plaques Review, to whom McClure will near the site of the first Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist report. “Charlotte McClure is church, near Safford, Arizona. Charlotte McClure superbly qualified to help the Adventist Review in its rapidly McClure Appointed Associate Publisher expanding ministry to the world church.” McClure has three children. Her husband, Dick Meeting December 15, 1998, the Adventist Review McClure, is a satellite communications engineer. publishing board appointed Charlotte McClure as associ- McClure’s appointment resulted from an action voted ate publisher of the Adventist Review. at the December 15 board meeting spelling out the In her new position McClure will spearhead the mar- respective areas of management of the Review by the keting program, oversee advertising, give input for editorial General Conference as publisher of the Adventist Review planning, help coordinate special events, and work with and the Review and Herald Publishing Association as the the global Adventist Church to make the World Edition vendor for various services associated with the Review. of the Review available in more and more languages. McClure is a communications specialist who has served What’s Coming as director of communication for the Columbia Union and managing editor of the Columbia Union Visitor, and who Jan. 1 Monthly Focus—Friendship Evangelism currently is an assistant vice president of the Review and Jan. 8-15 Religious Liberty Week Herald Publishing Association. Although McClure will Feb. 6-12 Black History Week spend most of her time at the Adventist Review editorial Feb. 13-19 Christian Home and Marriage Week

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (21) 21 LIFESTYLE

Adventists and LSD You may be struggling under the burden of dependency and not know it.

BY ROBERT H. GRANGER

DDICTION TO LSD COULD NOT BE devices that save us from having to exert effort. found in a more unlikely place—the In 1996 the surgeon general’s office released its first-ever Seventh-day Adventist Church. What is report on physical activity and health. One of the concerns more startling is that it is rampant among all expressed in this volume was the increasing automation of levels of church membership, including society and its impact on exercise habits. One of the report’s Ateachers, health professionals, administrators, and others major recommendations was to “recognize the need to bal- with leadership responsibilities. Nor is the problem confined ance the use of labor-saving devices with activities that to just North America, for other so-called developed nations involve a higher level of physical activity.” are struggling under the burden of dependency to LSD. The Study has tracked more than Unfortunately, we are now exploiting developing countries 30,000 persons living in California for many years. Among with our products, and the results are devastating. If it weren’t the questions asked were some pertaining to the type, fre- for the serious health, social, and spiritual implications of LSD quency, intensity, and duration of usual physical activities. addiction, there would be little reason for concern. The findings: 40 percent have no-to-low levels of activity, Before you start prying into the lives of your pastor, your 20 percent moderate levels, and 40 percent high levels. child’s schoolteachers, or your fellow pew partners to see if In places such as the United States we demand and they are addicted, I have some explaining to do. When you expect convenience. An indication of a community’s are finished reading, you will recognize that you may have to advancement, paradoxically, is seen by its introduction of look no farther than your own household. And the chances drive-in banking, eating, and shopping conveniences. It is of being unaffected are pretty slim. You see, I am not using almost embarrassing to observe the pains to which we go in LSD as an acronym for the abused substance called lysergic order to avoid moving our muscles. Think of all the LSDs acid diethylamide. Rather I am using it as an acronym for that you use. Your list will probably include electric knives, labor-saving devices. bread machines, blenders, TV remotes, leaf blowers, self-pro- Never in the history of this world has there been such an pelled or ride-on lawn mowers, motorbikes, escalators, eleva- epidemic of inactivity as there is now. And with each pass- tors, electric window lifts, cars, cars, and . . . cars. Many ing year more of the population are being categorized as years ago when dishwashers were just becoming trendy (now sedentary (we prefer that term over slothful). One out of they are indispensable), my father always boasted to our every four adults in the United States of America does not neighbors that he had the best belt-driven, kick-started dish- engage in physical activity at all, and at least that many washer around. Me! again exercise at less than recommended levels. And one of If you pride yourself on not being a smoker but you lead the major culprits is our dependence upon, or addiction to, an inactive lifestyle, here’s a reason to let that halo lose

22 (22) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 hard surfaces with a broom, not a supermarket, it simply means that the blower. mill has stripped many of the nutri- How about the car? Am I meddling tional elements from the whole wheat, yet? You might limit yourself to the use then added some (not all) back in to of your car for trips greater than a make us health-conscious persons feel half mile. It is surprising how good about what we are eating. In real- often we use the car when ity, there is a net nutrient deficiency, our feet would have not enrichment. It should be no sur- done the job. It’s prise that the refine-then-enrich men- comical to tality has corrupted many other areas watch of living. Without argument, LSDs per- have robbed us of the life-giving benefits of manual labor, which we then try to add back in by purchasing a membership at the local fitness club. If we could only inte- grate physical activity into all phases of our life, fitness centers might

some of its lus- ter: The risk of suf- fering from premature death on account of physical inactivity is about the same as that of an active person who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day. (So we have more smokers in the church than sons you thought.) Just like the warning jostle for notices placed on cigarette packs, why the closest not have notices like the following parking space to the placed on the handle of that motorized mall or supermarket lawn edger: entrance. Why not challenge yourself by finding The U.S. Surgeon General Has Determined the most distant space That Lack Of Physical Activity Is Detrimental and then getting in a walk back to the To Your Health. entrance? As for the become as dishwasher, refuse to unnecessary as use it for anything but they were at the I support much of what Elaine St. an emergency. Are you starting to see turn of the century. James promotes in her Simplify Your the point? In a study conducted by the Life books, but you can also simplify Now, I’m not about to get rid of my Cooper Institute for Aerobics your life to the extent of becoming car, nor a ride-on mower if I had an Research in Texas, researchers demon-

UTLER flabby. She suggests getting rid of your acre of grass to cut. The issue is not strated what we have known intui- B lawn, for example. I say keep it, and one of exclusion, but of balance. If tively for some time: the benefits from ALPH

R fire your gardener! Furthermore, get LSDs deprive us of physical activity to lifestyle exercise (lawn-mowing, raking

BY yourself a nonmotorized push mower where we would be classified as physi- leaves, vacuuming, washing cars, etc.)

TION (yes, the type great-grandfather used). cally inactive, then there is a problem. are as effective as structured exercises And don’t use a grass catcher. Go back Here’s another way to explain it. in increasing physical activity and LLUSTRA I over it with a rake. Then sweep the When you buy enriched flour at the improving cardiovascular disease risk

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (23) 23 Major Conclusions of the colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus in particular. Physical Surgeon General’s Report on activity also improves mental health and is important for the health of muscles, bones, and joints. Physical Activity and Health ■ More than 60 percent of American adults are not phys- ically active on a regular basis. In fact, 25 percent of all ■ People of all ages, both male and female, benefit from adults are not active at all. regular physical activity. ■ Nearly half of American youths 12-21 years of age are ■ Significant health benefits can be obtained by including not vigorously active on a regular basis. Moreover, physical a moderate amount of physical activity (e.g., 30 minutes of activity declines dramatically during adolescence. brisk walking or raking leaves, 15 minutes of running, or 45 ■ Daily enrollment in physical education classes has minutes of playing volleyball) on most, if not all, days of the declined among high school students from 42 percent in week. Through a modest increase in daily activity, most 1991 to 25 percent in 1995. Americans can improve their health and quality of life. ■ Research on understanding and promoting physical ■ Additional health benefits can be gained through activity is at an early stage, but some interventions to pro- greater amounts of physical activity. People who can main- mote physical activity through schools, work sites, and tain a regular regimen of activity that is of longer duration or health-care settings have been evaluated and found to be of more vigorous intensity are likely to derive greater benefit. successful. ■ Physical activity reduces the risk of premature mortal- ity in general, and of coronary heart disease, hypertension, See the official Internet site: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/sgr.htm.

factors. This study, as well as the sur- you can lessen your dependence upon geon general’s report, indicates that them. the benefits can be derived from physi- 2. Integrate activity into your typi- cal activity that is accumulated over cal day. It makes little sense to work the entire day, not just in a single ses- out on the stair-stepping machine at sion, as we once believed (see box for the gym, then catch the elevator at more details). work. So here are my suggestions: 3. Be sensible. For example, safety 1. Identify the LSDs concerns may prohibit inner-city in your life and dwellers or solo females from doing determine certain activities that others may get how to participate in. ■

Robert H. Granger is direc- tor of wellness at Parkview Hospital in Maine.

24 (24) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 CITYSCAPES Back to Basics ROYSON JAMES

y New Year’s resolution has been a long ours—are opening their basements to the homeless on time in the making, and it’s taken a path extremely cold nights. paved by the Holy Spirit Himself. And so I’ve set myself three goals as we approach the year In 1978 Andrews 2000. First, I plan to budget $1 a day University con- for the homeless street people in my Mferred on me a communications city. Second, I pledge to confront my degree, and with it an abiding love of Every day we tell church and my city with the needs language and the arts. The late nights of the underclass. And third I pray spent editing the campus newspaper, a story about the that God will help me use my high the Student Movement, have now profile as a columnist to project a blossomed into a job as columnist for God we serve. positive Christian influence. a big-city daily newspaper. I can talk First, the budget. What can a dol- to the mayor at will and explain from lar do? For one, it’s more than I can memory the inner workings of city hall. And yet these daily afford (that’s a miracle worth telling another day). And sec- dalliances with the famous and powerful do not provide the ond, God does great things with small offerings. Who will lasting joy one might imagine. get it each day? Whomever the Spirit wills. There’s still the urge to use one’s God-given talents to Next, our church and its response to the growing number spark an interest in the Creator, to stir a dormant emotion, of the poor and the underclass. There is a painfully obvious or to ignite an eruption of spiritual fervor. I should be writing need, especially for those of us in the cities, to be God’s books or magazines for our literature evangelists, or manuals instruments of hope and love, the salt of the earth, and the on youth ministry, I tell myself. Surely, that’s a higher calling antidote to the harsh acid effects of cutthroat commerce and than lining the pockets of the Toronto Star shareholders. corporate greed. For example, an Adventist church cannot, Then God sent me to St. Lucia in 1994. It wasn’t my in good conscience, own a house that sits empty while idea, really. All I did was tell my editor that a group of kids homeless people are freezing on city streets. from Crawford Adventist Academy and Finally, every day, unsolicited or not, we tell a story about were spending their March break digging ditches to run a the God we serve. Those who watch human sorrow in water pipe on the Caribbean island. My editor’s response, silence are living the lie that God doesn’t care. But the ones during a time of budget restraints, caught me by surprise: who actively care for the wretched of the earth—they give “Go and write about it,” he said. wings to God’s matchless love. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, ADRA, and the So if you’re searching for God this year, on the eve of the work of our committed youth were splashed on the front next millennium, Isaiah says that you should let the oppressed pages of the Sunday edition for its 1.5 million readers. The go free, break every yoke, share your bread with the hungry, Spirit was gently reminding me, “Sometimes all I require of bring the homeless poor into your house, and clothe the naked. you is to tell the simple story of Christian love.” “Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your Lately God has refocused my sights on the need for healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before Christian love in a big alien city. you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you Toronto is Canada’s largest city, its financial core, manu- shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will facturing heartland, and richest and most diverse center of say, Here I am” (Isa. 58:8, 9, RSV). culture and commerce. As such, a mixed multitude of entre- preneurs, refugees, poor, and homeless flock to the shores of Royson James writes from Toronto, where he is a Lake Ontario each year. columnist for the Toronto Star. This winter has seen an unprecedented crisis of home- lessness. In the midst of vast riches people are dying on the streets. Beggars proliferate. Hostels are full. Churches—not

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (27) 27 FROM THE HEART Balancing Act ROBERT S. FOLKENBERG

artin Luther once said that if a man falls off the exact distance from the center. That analogy isn’t ade- a horse on the left side, someone will put quate, however, because human beings (not deadweights) him back on so hard that he will fall off on tend to overreact. In other words, the moment someone on the right. one side perceives an imbalance on Luther’s the other, he or she moves the other Mmetaphor aptly describes the com- way in order to gain an advantage. mon human foible to overreact. If a This in turn causes the one on the person is deemed too far in one Faith and works other side to move still farther to direction, the attempted correction regain the advantage, which in turn often leads to the other extreme. are part causes the other one to go even far- For instance, because Sabbath- ther . . . and on and on. This sadly breaking helped lead to the is what has happened in the discus- Babylonian captivity, the Jewish of a whole. sion of faith and works. leaders became so imbalanced in Faith and works are inseparable their Sabbathkeeping that they and harmonious parts of a whole, accused the “Lord of the Sabbath” not conflicting elements. Pitting of violating it! The Enlightenment, with its extreme empha- Paul’s words (“For if Abraham were justified by works, he sis on reason’s ability to reveal all truth and knowledge, was hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith an overreaction to the unreasonable supernaturalism and the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted superstition of the Middle Ages. Today postmodernism— unto him for righteousness” [Romans 4:2]) against James’s with its belief that we can never know anything for certain— words (“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, is an overreaction to the Enlightenment’s belief that we can when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” [James know everything. 2:21]) ignores the validity of each. If taken alone, out of As a church we’re not immune to this problem, as can be context and separated from the whole tenor of Scripture, seen in the endless debate over faith and works. Those who these two verses could seem hopelessly in tension, if not emphasize faith can, in an attempt to remedy “legalism,” in outright conflict. When “balanced out” with the over- present an imbalanced understanding of salvation; those, arching message of the Bible, and when taken in context meanwhile, who emphasize obedience and character devel- with what issues the writers were specifically dealing opment can, in an attempt to remedy “cheap grace,” present with, these verses work together to create the foundation an imbalanced understanding of salvation. of biblical truth. Though tension does exist between salvation by faith and Scripture is clear: salvation must be by faith alone. The judgment by works, they are not contradictory concepts. law can never save us because it was never meant to save us How could they be, when the Word of God teaches both? (Gal. 2:16). Yet obedience to the law is an inseparable part The problem isn’t with what both sides of the debate teach of living by faith (James 2:18). To overemphasize either one (though exceptions do exist), because both sides do have at the expense of the other is to corrupt both. precious, needed truth. Rather, the problem is emphasis. Most people in the church, I believe, understand these However different the context, Solomon’s words “A crucial distinctions. The key, then, is to keep them balanced false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight so that as few as possible will fall off the horse. is His delight” (Prov. 11:1, NKJV), capture a crucial con- cept. What we need is balance. Error, more often than Robert S. Folkenberg is president of the General not, stems from an imbalance of truth rather than being Conference. an outright lie. It’s tempting to use the analogy of a balance in which to get perfect equilibrium two equal weights would have to be

28 (28) ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 GLOBAL MISSION: REACHING THE UNREACHED WITH HOPE

Bandaging Pneumonia

BY GARY KRAUSE, GLOBAL MISSION COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

aul White tells the story of Grogi, a monkey in using the right medicine. They follow Jesus’ example in min- poor health. Grogi’s cousin Pilli was studying the gling with other people, helping them, winning their confi- book Medicines and First Aid for Monkeys and dence, and then sharing the good news.1 Antony Alexander, Others. He took a bandage from his black bag and a pastor in the war zone of northern Sri Lanka, says: “We bound up Grogi’s leg, exactly the way the book can’t just give sermons; we have to work with people in their Pdescribed. Meanwhile, Grogi was coughing and shivering. suffering. I don’t talk to them about religion. First, I make “Can’t you do something for his cough, Pilli?” asked them friends. When I help them, they come to my house. I Twiga, the onlooking welcome them, and they feel comfortable. Once they are giraffe. helped, they listen when we preach.” “How are you supposed Pioneers use a range of methods in their wholistic min- to bandage a cough?” Pilli istry: health seminars, teaching agricultural skills, public scoffed. evangelistic meetings, literacy classes, tracts. But they know

REWS “The whole of health is that the medicine must match the needs. There are some C

Y not wrapped in bandages,” places public evangelistic meetings would be a total disaster. ERR

T warned Twiga. In other areas health seminars wouldn’t touch anyone.

BY The next day Pilli “The apostle [Paul] varied his manner of labor,” writes

TION returned to work on Ellen White, “shaping his message to the circumstances Grogi’s legs. under LLUSTRA

I “Oh, monkey,” said which he Twiga, “do you not think was medicines might be found to bring peace and comforts to placed.” the chest of your relation?” She adds: Pilli wasn’t impressed, and continued with his bandaging. “The Three days later Grogi was dead. Pilli was sad and angry. laborer for “This cannot be so,” he said. “I bandaged his legs daily with God is to skill.” study care- “Might it be that bandaging a leg is not the best treat- fully the ment for pneumonia?” Twiga replied sadly. best meth- Effective outreach always matches the medicine to the ods,” and wounds. An atheistic investment banker in New York City “they are who believes that the Bible is a bunch of legends won’t sud- not to be FIRSTHAND DIAGNOSIS: Young pioneers making a dif- denly believe in God after an in-depth Bible study with 500 one-idea ference in Monument Valley, Utah. convincing texts. A starving refugee’s first priority may not men, be a lecture on Daniel’s prophecies. A worshiping-on-Friday stereotyped in their manner of working, unable to see that Muslim may not be overly interested in a lecture on why their advocacy of truth must vary with the class of people Saturday rather than Sunday is the Sabbath. among whom they work and the circumstances they have to These may seem extreme examples, but how often do we meet.” 2 really study our methods to see how well they match people’s In other words, let’s never use bandages to treat pneumonia. actual needs? Global Mission pioneers, laypeople who volunteer to estab- 1 See Gospel Workers, p. 363. 2 Ibid., pp. 118, 119. lish a church in an unentered area, know the importance of

ADVENTIST REVIEW, JANUARY 1999 (29) 29 REFLECTIONS The Bench BY K. L. BASSFORD

t was a curious thing to find in the middle of the shades of greens and purples that advanced to the horizon wilderness. A wooden bench nailed between two tow- beyond. As I enjoyed the rustic simplicity of the bench, ering Douglas fir trees. A curious and yet a wonderful my mind drifted to familiar words: thing all at the same time. “Abide in Me, and I in you. . . . The backdrop was the For without Me you can do IBitterroot Mountains of Montana, nothing. with Lily Lake lying like a jewel If you abide in Me, and My within the mountains’ crown. I had The bench words abide in you, hiked for many hours to get to this You will ask what you desire, spot, and now, tired and hungry, I abided so closely and it shall be done for you” stopped and spread out my lunch. (John 15:4-7, NKJV). About 100 feet from the shore, with the trees The seasons marching across the on a grassy knoll, stood twin face of the years had taken the newly Douglas fir trees. They towered hewn plank and silvered it with age. upward at an angle, spreading their that it became one The same rain, snow, and sunshine lofty crowns far away from each that had weathered the board had other, with their trunks about four with them. also caused the twin trees to grow. feet apart at their base. When the With the passing of years the bench trees were young, someone, some- abided so closely with the trees that time, had also hiked to this loca- it became one within them. It now tion. I like to think that it had been a favorite spot for the serves to uplift others, offering to all who pass by a place of hiker. Meaningful, perhaps, for the person had had to carry rest, a peaceful sanctuary for quiet contemplation. a hammer and nails and a 2' x 12' plank all the way up the As I thought about the Bible verse, I couldn’t help stop- mountain to this incredible location. ping right there on that lovely bench and closing my eyes in Painstakingly the person had nailed the board to each prayer. Oh, that I might gain as close a relationship with my trunk, forming a bench between the two. And now, years Saviour as the bench holds with the trees. That I might later, with the continual growth of the trees, the board choose daily to abide so closely with Him that through the had embedded itself within the trunk of each tree, render- progression of time His Spirit will surround me until it is ing it impossible to remove the bench from either side impossible for me to be separated from His love. without cutting down the trees. Aged and covered with When Christ walked this earth, He taught His disciples an inviting green moss, the board created a lovely place to using parables gleaned from everyday sights and sounds that stop and rest. Sitting on the bench and facing one direc- were familiar to them. At one point He used a grapevine to tion gave an incredible view of the lake and mountains. impress upon them the need for a close communion with Facing the other direction gave a wonderful panorama Him, saying, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” Had down the mountainside and into endless valleys beyond. Christ stood there in this very location, perhaps He would I sat on the bench in the shade of the two immense have said, “I am the tree, and you are the bench.” trees enjoying a cool summer breeze that fanned its way Oh, dear Lord, make me the bench forever abiding through my hair, wet with the effort of the climb. Then within Thee. ■ taking advantage of both views, I straddled the bench, my back supported by a broad tree trunk. For a while I enjoyed K. L. Bassford is library director for the Idaho State the quiet ripple of wavelets upon the green surface of the Correctional Institution and writes from Boise, alpine lake. Later my eyes climbed the lofty summit of the Idaho. mountains that stood as a proud sentinel behind. Looking down into the valleys below, I wondered at the varying

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