Prayer for Expectant Mothers

Our friends at Circle of Prayer (part of the American Bible Society) sent something that hits close to home for Janet and me. Lord willing, Matt and Danielle will be having their first baby and our first grandchild in early August. This prayer was entitled "Rejoice for Expectant Mothers." We sure do!


Father our Lord,

We thank You for gracing expectant mothers with the marvelous gift of life. We ask You to protect and nurture our expectant loved ones to deliver with good health and without complications. May Your children come safely into the light of the world and feel the strength of Your love. Lord, we entrust our children to your loving heart.

Amen

Conference Promotional Video Now On-Line!

The 2008 General Conference Promotional Video is now available for viewing on-line on the SDB Conference Website! If you were at General Conference in Newberg, Oregon you saw this video prior to President Andy Samuel's presentation Sabbath evening.

The video shows the beautiful campus of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin along with attractions in Kenosha, Milwaukee and Chicago!

Do you want to generate some excitement for attending Conference? Then show them this video!!

If you would like to get a copy of this video to show at your church or Association please contact the SDB Center to obtain a copy.

CLT & General Council Meetings

The Coordinating Leadership Team (CLT) met February 7-8 and the General Council meet February 9-11, 2008 in Daytona Beach, FL, for their midyear meeting. We had wonderful meetings and thank you for your prayer. We enjoyed the fellowship with the people of the Daytona Beach, Palatka and Bradenton churches on Sabbath day. We also greatly appreciate the hospitality of the Daytona Beach people in hosting and feeding us during our meetings. A special thank you goes out to Jani Graffius for her organization and delegation of the facilities and meals.

The CLT is made up by the Executives of the six Boards; Andrew Camenga, Board of Christian Education; Kirk Looper, Missionary Society; Kevin Butler, Tract & Communication Council; Gordon Lawton, Council on Ministry; Marjorie Jacob, Women’s Society, and Nick Kersten, Historical Society and is chaired by Rob Appel, SDB Conference Executive Director. The CLT is to coordinate the plans, programs and activities of the various denominational organizations and bring creative ideas and solutions to the General Council.

The General Council is comprised of the above, minus Nick, plus 6 elected members; Don Graffius, Ruth Burdick, David Davis, Andrew Samuels, Jane Mackintosh and Ed Cruzan, and the President of the Memorial Fund, George Cruzan. The Council is in place to handle the business of the General Conference when it is not in sessions at the yearly meetings, and works on behalf of that body.

During our meetings in Florida here are some of the highlights.

Promotional DVD – Convey what Boards and Agencies are doing for the local church. Kevin Butler was appointed to take charge of this project. And will have something by pre-Conference meeting.

Christian Social Action – Rob Appel and Don Graffius will be meeting with several key committee members on April 20, 2008. The Subcommittee will look into the CSA Standard Operating Procedures and make recommendations to the General Council at the pre-Conference meeting.

Pastors 403(b) – There are IRS changes for pastor’s retirement for 2009. COSAR standing committee to work with MF & COM to implement necessary recommendations.

CLT – to discuss and report back in pre-Conference General Council meeting in July on defining the rights, responsibilities and duties of Boards/Agencies that are directly dependent upon General Conference, as stated in Bylaws Article VIII, Section 2(b). Also they will need to define the relationships of the remaining affiliated agencies of the General Conference; the SDB Missionary Society, SDB Board of Christian Education and the SDB Historical Society.

Create & Implement Regular Appeals – In an effort to raise income for the Conference budget a subcommittee presented the concept of outward missions, and inward missions, such as at Thanksgiving/Harvest and Easter/Passover time frames. We have so much to be thankful for. How can we show our gratitude in giving to specific ministries that are vibrant and cutting edge in reaching the lost?

We had many other house-keeping items that we needed to spend time and decision on. Some of these will appear in our report to the General Conference session on August 4, 2008.

New Baptist Covenant Update

The New Baptist Covenant was celebrated in Atlanta Georgia on January 30 – February 1, 2008. There were between sixteen and twenty thousand participants seeking unity in Christ. The gathering demonstrated racial, theological and geographic harmony as they prayed, sang, listened to sermons and attended workshops focusing on ministry to the lost in this world. Participants broke down a 163-year-old wall that separated Baptists since U.S.

Baptists parted company over slavery more than a decade before the Civil War.

The unprecedented gathering brought together African-American, Anglo, Asian-American and Hispanic Baptists. They participants represented over 30 Baptist conventions and organizations. The North American Baptist Fellowship, the regional affiliate of the Baptist World Alliance were involved with Bill Underwood, President of Mercer University and former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter in launching this first time event. "For the first time in more than 160 years, we are convening a major gathering of Baptists throughout an entire continent, without any threat to our unity caused by differences of our race or politics or geography or the legalistic interpretation of Scripture," said Carter.

As women and men of numerous races sat side-by-side through sermons and hugged and laughed in hallways, they embodied a dream-come-true for Baptists who dreamed of racial reconciliation. “The convocation has fulfilled the prophecy of Martin Luther King Jr.” Bill Underwood said. “Forty-five years ago, a native son of Atlanta, a Baptist pastor, shared with all of us his dream: One day, on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners would be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." Underwood continued, "Today, here on those red hills of Georgia, Baptists have come together to take a step in the long and difficult journey toward achieving Dr. King's great dream. After generations of putting up walls between us-separation, division by geography, by theology, but most of all division by race-a new day is dawning. … Today, we all sit down together at the table of Christian brotherhood and sisterhood."

Bill Underwood

"The New Baptist Covenant is a public witness to our common commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed," explained North American Baptist Fellowship, NABF President David Goatley, who is also Executive Secretary of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention.

David Goatley

"Never before have Baptists on this scale sought to cross the boundaries we choose to live behind-ethnicity, ideology, and theology. Never before have Baptists on this scale sought to explore ministries of this impact. Never before have Baptists on this scale come together for cooperation and collaboration for mission ministry impact.” "We are at the threshold of great possibilities," Goatley said.

There were many speakers on the subject of reaching out to who Jesus described as the “least of these”. Topics were centered around the passage in Luke 4: 18-19. We learned what the Bible says about “Peace with Justice”, “The Poor”, “What About the Children”, “Respecting Diversity”, “Welcoming a Stranger”, “Feeding a Hungry World”, and “Setting the Captive Free”. They also heard from two former U.S. presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, former vice president, Al Gore, US Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa, and author John Grisham.

Historian Walter Shurden, recently retired director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University and one of the early organizers of the convocation, said the event could become "a major step in racial reconciliation and gender recognition of Baptists in North America." "It's the most significant Baptist meeting in my life, after playing in the Baptist yard 55 years or so," he said. "I've never been to a Baptist meeting where there was the equality as well as the presence of multi-racial, multi-gender participation.”
"It bears the marks of the ministry of Jesus."

However, there are many wondering where we go from here. Stay tuned to further developments.

Seventh Day Baptist Email Accounts

Recently the SDB Center in Janesville, Wisconsin updated its email service. As part of that upgrade we now have the ability to provide email accounts with the "@seventhdaybaptist.org" address to member churches and Associations. If your church or Association wish to obtain an "@seventhdaybaptist.org" email account please contact me at either . . .

mdshepard@seventhdaybaptist.org or (608) 752-5055.

Once I set up the account I will send instructions on how to either access the account via the Internet or set up your email program (i.e. Outlook, etc) to download automatically.

SDB on Discovery Channel

Al Hill is president of the Daytona Beach, Fla., SDB Church. At the worship service in Daytona this Sabbath, Al announced that he was about to get his “15 minutes of fame.”

On Tuesday night, February 12, Al's employer, the Boston Whaler company (maker of the “Unsinkable Legend” boat) in Edgewater, Fla., will be featured on the Discovery Channel. The show airs at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. Check your local listings for time and channel.

Al Hill was filmed and interviewed as part of this special show. Congratulations, Al. I hope many of us can check it out!

General Council to meet this weekend.

The General Council is scheduled to meet February 9-11 in Daytona Beach, FL, for their midyear meeting. Please pray for the Council to have a productive time of business and fellowship and also that they would have wisdom and discernment for the agenda items that face them. The General Council is comprised of 6 elected members and 6 ex-officio members, along with Executive Director Rob Appel.

The Council is in place to handle the business of the General Conference when it is not in sessions at the yearly meetings, and works on behalf of that body.