Mid-Year Conference meetings

Members of the Coordinating Leadership Team (representing each of the SDB Boards and Agencies) will hold meetings at the SDB Center in Janesville, Wis., on Thursday and Friday, March 29-30. We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel, productive discussion, and Spirit-led decisions for the Conference. We will receive updates from each ministry, discuss budgets and outreach efforts, and cast a vision for our Alliance In Ministry.

Please continue praying as the rest of the General Council joins us (members-at-large voted in by Conference delegates) and begin meeting Sabbath night, March 31. This will be our annual get-together as we look forward to General Conference sessions this July/August at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.

Article on Lost Creek SDB Church Appears in Goldenseal Magazine.

In the Spring 2007 issue of Goldenseal Magazine, an article by S. Thomas Bond entitled, "The Old Brick Church," appears. Mr. Bond contacted the Historical Society for photographs to publish along with the work, which we were happy to provide. The article details some of the history of the Lost Creek church, along with Mr. Bond's personal recollections of his experiences with the church. The article is well written and paints the Lost Creek church (and Seventh Day Baptists) in a favorable light. It also explains the effect of the Lost Creek church on the surrounding community and details the involvement of the church in Lost Creek. Special attention is paid to the annual Oyster Fry the church put on until 1969, as well as the church's relationship with other SDB churches regarding the issue of slavery.

Copies of the magazine can be purchased at the magazine's webpage in print or online here.

Baptist Historical Societies On the Move

Both the American Baptist Historical Society and the Baptist History and Heritage Society have announced that they will move their offices (and respective collections) to the Atlanta campus of Mercer University in 2007. Previously, ABHS's offices were located in Valley Forge, PA, and BH&HS's were in Brentwood, TN.

ABHS's move was an effort to consolidate their collection. Their collection had been split between their offices in Valley Forge and the campus of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, NY. They received proposals from Colgate Rochester and the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island before ultimately deciding to move to Atlanta. The ABHS announced the move in a press release, the culmination of two years of searching. Similarly, the BH&HS's decision to move was motivated by the Society's goals for the future, as well as by the knowledge that they will be closer to the ABHS's considerable resources. Previously, the BH&HS resided in the offices of the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

This move will likely make Mercer's Atlanta campus the center of Baptist History research in the coming years.

BH&HS has announced a sale for many of their resources in an effort to cut their stock before the move. Many SDB churches have used information from BH&HS in the past, and so now would be a good time to check their catalog if any individuals or churches plan on using any of their materials in the near future.

The SDB Historical Society has had good relationships with both of these Baptist Historical Societies over the years and we look forward to continued relationships with both in the years ahead in their new home.

Time Marches On

Out with the old and in with the new. Last week Kevin Butler heard clicking (similar to the sounds from his back) coming from the refrigerator and by the afternoon the ice had gone soft. So after 20+ years of faithful service the SDB Center has a new refrigerator.

Not to be outdone the microwave door was refusing to open due to one too many burnt popcorn bags so we now have a bigger microwave (now we can pop full size pop corn bags!!).

With all new appliances we can now start paying more attention to the clicking sounds from Kevin's back as he approaches 60 . . . or is it 50. Oh, well.

Morgan

(Forgetting that the 'clicking back' guy has editing privileges...
This is Kevin. All the lovely comments above come from a younger guy—with white hair, such as it is—who was identified in a photo, BY HIS OWN SON, as "Gramma!" Gotta love ya, man!)

Why have Conference every year?

We tend to hear this question periodically. Some have suggested we could move to a biennial gathering, thus saving much work and money.
So, when I saw this headline—“Why have Conference every year?”—in a 1976 Sabbath Recorder, the short article caught my eye. Here it is:

“Gatherings at Conference are safeguards against apostasy and disintegration. They cultivate acquaintance and create aspiration for holiness and Christian labor. They often result in conversions, broaden our conceptions of Christian doctrines and duty, and in many ways are worth vastly more than they cost.
“Does it pay for the farmer to lay out money to purchase seed and scatter it to the ground? Wait until the harvest for the answer.
“Does it pay to expend money to educate your children? Wait a few years and see the well-disciplined mind, the expanded and devout Spiritual being, the eminently useful man or woman, and then see how quickly a few hundred or thousands of dollars will fade out of sight.
“Give the Conference your support, your presence, your sympathies, and be blessed thereby.”

Here’s the fun thing. This 1976 SR was quoting from another Sabbath Recorder—July 20, 1896!

Callam Nominated to Succeed Lotz

Neville Callam was announced as the nominee March 7 during a meeting of the BWA Executive Committee at the group's Falls Church, Va., headquarters to succeed Denton Lotz, the organization's retiring general secretary. The BWA Executive Committee responded by giving the nominee a standing ovation and symbolically affirming the candidate.

During John Sundquist’s presentation of the next GS, the chairman of the search committee said that the, "Rev. Callam is a seminal theological thinker … and he is an articulate statesman. I was so impressed by his capacity to listen -- the way he is able to take any question, any inquiry, and begin to exegete it biblically."

Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz responded with enthusiasm to the announcement of Neville Callam as the nominee to be the next BWA General Secretary. Lotz pledges his support during the transition.

Lotz states, “I am particularly pleased that the nominee is from the Southern Hemisphere. This sends a clear message that Baptists worldwide recognize the growth of the church has moved to the Southern Hemisphere. The fact that 60 percent of Christians are in the Two-thirds World necessitates that Baptists open their hearts and minds to the new things God is doing in mission worldwide. I look forward to working with Neville Callam as he assumes leadership at the end of this year.”

Lotz speaks highly of Callam’s love for the poor. “Neville has a pastor’s heart. He pastors two Jamaican churches, one affluent, the other from a poor community in Kingston.”
Pastor of Tarrant Baptist Church in Kingston, Jamaica, Callam has been heavily involved in BWA life for more than 20 years. He has served on BWA governing bodies and on several other committees and work groups for the organization. He currently belongs to BWA's Implementation Task Force, which is charged with restructuring the organization for the future. To read more about Neville Callam, see the link provided. http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=456

If elected in July, the 55-year-old Jamaican pastor will represent approximately 110 million Baptists in national and regional bodies. He would also be the first general secretary in the group's 102-year history to hail from somewhere other than the United States or Europe. The position will not become formal until the organization's larger governing body, the BWA General Council, votes on Callam's nomination during its July meeting in Accra, Ghana.

Callam, in response, said he would offer only one sentence: "All I have to say is, if this is how the Lord is leading us, I am willing to follow."

PreCon Directors Chosen

The 2007 Young Adult PreCon Retreat will be directed by Pastor Wayne North. Wayne is the pastor of the New Auburn, WI, Seventh Day Baptist Church, recently served on General Council, and is well respected by many Young Adults. One of the reasons for this respect is his sincere desire to introduce everyone he meets to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His actions loudly proclaim that love and his words reinforce the Gospel given to all of us.

The 2007 Youth PreCon Camp will be directed by Pastor Christian Mattison. Chris is the pastor of the North Loup, NE, Seventh Day Baptist Church and brings to the role compassion and an understanding of how to communicate the important things of life to our youth while they think they are just having fun.

Both directors have worked with their respective age groups at the Conference level multiple times in this last decade and have shown a continued and growing heart to help others grow in their faith.

Both PreCons will be held in beautiful Oregon locations. Youth PreCon camp will be held at Molalla Retreat, Molalla, OR. The site provides pleasant housing, covered and open sports areas, a lazy river, good food, and hopefully will attract lots of youth. Young Adult PreCon Retreat will be held on the campus of George Fox University. Outdoors is beautiful. Indoors you have your typical well-maintained college facility -- no food to cook, no dishes to wash. Come and enjoy a time away from work and the pressures of home. Worship, play, and learn with people who will become your friends.

More information about the PreCon can be found at the Board of Christian Education website.

Registration forms will be available in the May Sabbath Recorder.

In Like a Lion

The old saying about the weather in March is "in like a lion, out like a lamb." And the reverse also seems to apply. Well here we are with a lion the first of March in southern Wisconsin. The picture is of the snow falling by vehicles in the SDB Center's main parking lot. At times it is falling horizontally (wind is blowing it sideways).

We endure the blowing snow (and shovel it, and at times walk like a penguin so as not to fall on the ice) with hope for spring and warm and green.

Peter wrote in the first chapter of his first letter about a "living hope" (vs 3) and "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -- kept in heaven for you" (vs 4) . Right now "for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials" which come to prove our faith. (vss 6-7). Just like winter helps us appreciate spring, even with mud, so the testing of our faith in many ways helps prove and prepare us for heaven.

Winter can be fun. Winter also wears on us as it teaches us lessons we would not learn in the gentle breezes of summer. God does use all things (even those events, persons and situations from which we pray to be freed) for good. (Rom 8:28) And he does have good works for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) Enjoy the warmth of our Lord's presence as we wait for His appearing.

Gordon