August, 2018 Carolina's 10,000 P5, part 2
4. PRAYING FOR OUR TEACHERS AND OUR SCHOOLS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA AND THE CAROLINAS
As I prepare to send this message, Carole and I are driving on route from an amazing weekend gathering of our ASI International Family in Orlando, Florida all the way north to Chicago, Illinois where approximately 7000 Adventist educatorfrom around the North American Division will gather for their quinquennial (5 Year) convention.
The theme for this year is entitled: Encounter Jesus; Experience Excellence. Let’s pray for traveling mercies for all who will be making their way to this great city by air and/or highway travel. Let’s pray for God’s protection during the main assemblies and all the breakout sessions of seminars. Let’s pray for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to bless the worship, fellowship and enriching experiences of ideas and skills that our educational ministers will take from this great gathering into their classrooms.
Closer to home, let’s band together to uplift our Carolina Conference Educational work by remembering to pray for our:
Own academy – Mt. Pisgah Academy (MPA) – as they have made a major transition with their new principal, Remy Guenin. Let’s join together as a conference family to uplift our needs for a strong enrollment to minimize the financial challenges to our conference in operating a major secondary boarding academy program. Some parents are still in the valley of decision about where to send their young men and young women for their high school experience. Let’s uplift our homes to be convicted by the Holy Spirit to place their youthin the care of a campus which has consecrated its energies to uphold for our youth the banner: "Jesus lives at MPA."
21 Church Schools across North and South Carolina will soon be opening their doors to the children of our churches and communities to effect an education in their lives for all eternity. Specifically, let’s remember in our prayers these schools and teachers:
Adventist Christian Academy....................................................Terry Tryon, Head Teacher & Grades 6-8
(Charlotte, NC) Becky Barclay, Grades 3-5
Cathy Carlton, Grades K-2
Adventist Christian Academy.........................................Dewald Coetzer, Head Teacher & Grades 6-8
(Raleigh, NC) Suzan Wilson, Grades 3-5
Luis LaPorte, Grades 1-2
Lizette Trawick, Kindergarten
5. REMEMBER AND KEEP IN FOCUS OUR 2020 VISION
1. VISION I: Establish New Church Plants & Grow Existing Ones
PRAY AND COMMIT to a FAITH GOAL of raising at least 20 New Church Plants in South Carolina and 40 in North Carolina.
In addition PRAY and COMMIT to a FAITH GOAL of 90 TOTAL progressions or steps in congregational status [GROUPS > COMPANIES > CHURCHES].
With our latest issue of the Carolina Actionin March, 2018 we began our cycle again of unveiling each of the seven visionary goals that we established at our last Carolina Conference Session two years ago in summer 2016.
During this quinquennial term through 2020, it is our desire to see these goals continue to be highlighted in each issue of the Carolina Action with an update on how God is guiding and blessing us in accomplishing these benchmarks of progress in our service for Christ and His church in the Carolinas.
Never in the history of the Carolina Conference have we expanded the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to encompass more communities with the message and mission of God’s end-time church.
At the end of 2015 we had a total of:
5 Groups 6 Companies and 35 Churches in South Carolina
34 Groups 19 Companies and 90 Churches in North Carolina
During the past two years, we have witnessed 34 steps of progression in church plants that have made transitional growth in their status from group to company and/or company to church. Of these 34 steps, 21 have included new church plants in the Carolinas: 8 in South Carolina and 13 in North Carolina. I praise the Lord for His blessings! I praise the Lord for all the prayerful efforts being made by consecrated volunteer lay leaders and lay-pastors who are passionate about growing God’s remnant movement! Let’s pray that our heartfelt desire be fixed on seeing a finished work so we can soon be home at last with our Savior!
Guided by Heaven’s wisdom, we have made significant strides in developing guidelines and a supporting structure to facilitate the advancement of God’s church in more un-entered Carolina communities. And we’re not finished yet.
Please continue to pray as plans are being developed and fine-tuned to expand a volunteer Lay Pastor Training Program that will help guide in the advancement of meeting the needs of additional church plants.
