December 2023 Carolina's 10,000 P5
Embracing Carolina with the Compassionate Call of Christ
The 10,000 President’s Prayer Partners is a fast-growing group of Carolina Conference constituents who take matters such as these to their knees. We invite you to join us and make this monthly list a matter of prayer. Together we seek the Lord for His answers and provisions to every need we bring before Him.
This year brought tragedy upon tragedy, with an incomprehensible loss of lives: the war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas; devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan, Morocco, Syria and Turkey; and here in the United States, a fast-moving and devastating wildfire on Maui and record-setting mass shootings around the country.
Time and time again, we have seen all-too-familiar scenes of pain and suffering: parents mourning children and children mourning parents — and piercingly worse, children mourning children. What a day that will be when this picture will become a beautiful reality with all God’s children – both young and old, men and women from every nation kindred, tongue and people sharing a common bond of love for each other.
On that holy night when Heaven touched earth with the most treasured Christmas gift that all mankind received, the gospel of Luke (2:13-14 NKJV) records that the skies above the fields of Bethlehem lit up with a glorious brilliance, an angelic proclamation and the very first Christmas song ever sung: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.’”
It is only through Christ, whose birth we celebrate during this season every year, can we find true peace, especially in the midst of the chaos of the world. At the same time, we have no illusion that the peace on Earth promised in the Bible refers to any kind of worldwide peace — at least not in the world as we know it now. But we do believe in finding peace in Christ, and we most certainly should also believe in being peacemakers.
As we celebrate this Christmas, let us all seek and pray fervently to be peacemakers in the coming year. For my fellow Adventists, it seems a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of our Savior year-round. I love the New Living Translation of Matthew 5:9 which serves as a refreshing reminder to each of us: “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.”
The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates a global educational system with 111,476 teachers and 2,064,741 students in 9,589 educational institutions, primarily through university (Actual statistics from the Education Department of the General Conference as of December 31, 2021). It is by far the largest Protestant school system in the world. The extent of the Adventist school system is itself a statement of the present value that our church places on education within the context of faith.
As one of the pioneering founders and a prophetess for the Advent movement, Ellen White concurred with this value by highlighting the importance of Adventist education in terms of character formation, the development of persons who could think and act for themselves, and the redemptive purpose of Adventist education, she penned these words for us as we are living in the very closing moments of earth’s history: “When I was shown by the angel of God that an institution should be established for the education of our youth, I saw that it would be one of the greatest means ordained of God for the salvation of souls.” [Testimonies for the Church, Volume 4, Page 419].
As a servant leader for the Lord for the past 50+ years, I am so blessed to be a recipient of Adventist education from my childhood through elementary schools in far off Sri Lanka to my boyhood and youth through high school in Maryland. As a young adult my college years continued the heritage of Adventist education in Tennessee and England, and later into my university years in Michigan. My wife, my children, and my grandchildren are also beneficiaries of the inordinate blessings of an Adventist education.
Today the Carolina Conference operates 20 Adventist schools in North and South Carolina including our secondary boarding campus at Mount Pisgah Academy. I am so grateful for the dedication and commitment of our Education Department that oversees this precious ministry. They include Rick Anderson, our Superintendent of Education, Cara Simonds, our Associate Superintendent of Education, and Courtnie Hodgins, our secretary for the Office of Education.
I am so grateful to my fellow administrative colleagues who believe in the value and beauty of Adventist education not only in all the committees and boards on which we serve, but also by taking the time to visit our schools on a regular basis and spending time with our teachers and students.
We are now reaching a mid-point in the 2023-2024 school year. Join me in reading the names of each of these schools and praying for their principals or head-teachers along with every consecrated teacher who is a part of this precious ministry that is impacting the hearts of our children and youth for Christ:
Adventist Christian Academy ~ Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Adventist Christian Academy ~ Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Adventist Christian Academy ~ Raleigh Raleigh, North Carolina
Asheville Pisgah Christian School
Candler, North Carolina
Blue Ridge Adventist Christian School
Waynesville, North Carolina
Brookhaven Seventh-day Adventist School
Winterville, North Carolina
Cornerstone Adventist Academy
Charlotte, North Carolina
Eddlemon Adventist School
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Five Oaks Adventist Christian School
Durham, North Carolina
Mills River Seventh-day Adventist School
Mills River, North Carolina
Myrtle Beach Seventh-day Adventist Christian School
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Poplar Springs Seventh-day Adventist School
Westminster, South Carolina
Salisbury Adventist School
Salisbury, North Carolina
Silver Creek Adventist School
Morganton, North Carolina
Tri-City Christian Academy
High Point, North Carolina
Tryon Seventh-day Adventist School
Tryon, North Carolina
Upward Seventh-day Adventist School
Flat Rock, North Caroina
Wilmington Seventh-day Adventist School
Wilmington, North Carolina
William H. Johnston Elementary School
Hickory, North Carolina
Mount Pisgah Academy
Candler, North Carolina
With each issue of our President’s Prayer Partners, we continue to focus specifically on one of our goals and share some of the developments that are helping us in our journey toward accomplishing that goal. In our November issue of P5 we focused on what is taking place at Mount Pisgah Academy toward reaching our goal of enhancing our ministry on our campus to reach and maintain a consistent sustainable enrollment of 125-150 students.
In this P5 issue we continue focusing on what is taking place in our desire to develop measurable goals for faithful discipleship. During this past year many of our churches have procured, studied, and discussed the Discipleship Handbook.
If you are a member of one of our 178 churches, I encourage you to share with me how you have been blessed in your relationship with Christ by spending time and reflecting on the beautiful counsel of this book to guide you in your faithful walk with Him. My e-mail is simply: llouis@carolinasda.org. I would love to hear from you!!
As we close this year and welcome the New Year, where will we go from here? During the year 2024, we plan to encourage and provide pastors & churches with a book such as the one entitled: Deep Calling – On Being and Growing Disciples by Tara J. Vincross as a second resource for training and equipping all NC’s or Nurturing Companions. Secondly, we will intentionally and diligently encourage every pastor to work with the leadership team of each church entity to identify seasoned members of the church who are willing to serve as NC’s for every new believer who is baptized or enters the church by profession of faith for a period of at least one year.
I believe God is leading and blessing the work of evangelism and faithful discipleship endeavors. I am so grateful for the dedicated efforts of our ministerial department and especially that of our evangelism and discipleship director, Elder Glen Altermatt. Just in the last two years, we will have realized more than 1000 souls in kingdom growth for both 2022 and 2023. As of October, our evangelism offerings have already exceeded $1,000,000. We have never witnessed the faithfulness of God’s people in tithing as we have in the past few years. Something exciting is happening!
The phrase “turn the hearts of the father to the children” appears in several biblical verses including Deuteronomy 32:46, Malachi 4:5-6, and Luke 1:17. It refers to a father’s deep desire to see his children grow up to be faithful followers of Jesus, and to make personal and financial sacrifices to ensure this. The phrase also implies a reconciliation produced by repentance.
Join me as we pray for God’s blessings as we continue to learn and grow both personally and as church families in our close relationship to Christ through these discipleship initiatives.
01 Protection from Satan Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 | 02 Protection from Our Sinful Heart But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15 | 03 Deep Spiritual Encouragement For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. Romans 1:11-12 | |
04 Wisdom If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 | 05 Doctrinal Faithfulness By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 2 Timothy 1:14 | 06 A Healthy Body But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27 | 07 A Strong Marriage & Family He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church. 1 Timothy 3:2-6 |
Beginning with our April 2019 issue of P5, we started highlighting a department of the conference each month. Our aim is not to provide a comprehensive report of all their accomplishments, but to uplift our leaders and their faithful service in their respective ministries through our prayers.
In September 2021, we began the second full cycle of remembering all the ministry departments of the Carolina Conference.
The Church Ministries branch of the Carolina Conference encompasses the following departmental subdivisions of service:
• Family Ministries
• Prayer Ministries
• Hispanic Ministries
• Singles’ Ministries
• Men’s Ministries
• Women’s Ministries
• Planned Giving/Trust Services
• Health Ministries
During this December issue, we ask you to uplift in prayer our Prayer Ministries Department under the dedicated leadership of our director, Beth Grissom and the secretary serving this department, Chana Gentry.
In Matthew 21:13 Jesus says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” The goal of our Prayer Ministries is to equip, train and encourage God’s people in the Carolina Conference to have HOPE — Houses of Prayer Everywhere. There is power in united corporate prayer! Prayer Ministries seeks to empower God’s people to pray more fervently according to the Word of God. Whether this takes place in a church sanctuary, on a neighbor’s front porch, or in solitude, miracles will surely follow. When we work, we work. But when we pray, God works!
Prayer is simply our way of communicating with God. Just like the way a child talks and listens to their parent, prayer is how we as Adventist Christians and children of God converse with Him. And everyone’s conversation with God is different. That is why prayer is the most intimate form of communication that directly connects us to God on a very personal level.
We encourage everyone to experience the power and peace of prayer – in your private times alone with God, by praying for a family member, friend, or co-worker, through a divine appointment in your day, in regular attendance at your church’s prayer meetings, or by joining our Monday evening conference prayer line.
You Are Invited to Circle Carolina in Prayer Mondays from 7-8:00 pm Simply Call: 267-807-9611 Access Code: 205023#
All Youth (Ages 13-18) Are Invited to Circle Carolina in Prayer Tuesdays from 7-7:30 pm Contact Beth Grissom for instructions on how to join by emailing her: bgrissom@carolinasda.org
As a President’s Prayer Partner, we invite
you once again to be truly a people of the
Word. As Seventh-day Adventists, we adhere to
28 Fundamental Beliefs that are based solely on
the Bible. We began our third cycle of focusing on
these vital beliefs, which are centered in Christ as
both our Savior and Lord, in December of 2021.
Let’s continue to thoughtfully place His Word
in our hearts every day this month. I personally
carry a set of these passages in my car and recite
them aloud as I drive from one place to another.
My aim is to say one verse prayerfully at least
five times a day for a week, thus internalizing the
promise of God’s Word: “Thy word have I hid in
mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
(Psalm 119:11)
I encourage you to repeat these passages until
they become a part of your very being. Of course,
you’re always free to do more. Please consider, in
a prayerful manner, how you can saturate your
soul with His Word and make it a part of your
heart every day.
Be part of God’s praying church across North America by uplifting these leaders of our church who guide God’s work in these territories of God’s vineyard:
