ASI 2025 Conference: Investing in Eternity

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Plenary

G. Alexander Bryant

Empowered by Him

I am very honored to be here this evening.

Thank you, Brother McNeillis, for a very kind and generous introduction, and to our president, Andy Honsecker, for the invitation to be here and to share with you tonight.

I am so honored at what God is doing with ASI.

And on behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, I'd like to thank you for your ministry around and your impact in our local churches and around the world.

It is a joy to see what God is doing through his people.

Tonight my message is entitled, Empowered by Him.

And I know this is opening night and we have been traveling, but I do have a full message for you tonight.

I'm not gonna do like Paul who kept the people to midnight, but I will try to get us out of here a little earlier than that.

Now it doesn't take a genius or particularly a religious person to look around us and to come to the conclusion that we are on an unsustainable course.

The world cannot survive on the current path at the current pace.

And we at 70 Adventists, we know what's about to happen.

We don't know exactly when it will happen, but we know what's about to happen.

We know what's waiting down the road and around the corner.

We know that there are cataclysmic events that will ultimately lead to the end of this world as we know it.

Before we begin our message tonight, I invite you to bow your heads with me as we pray together.

Father, we stand at a critical point in Earth's history.

And Lord, you have called a people to tell this world and to give the world a final message from you.

And that message is that you love this world and everyone in it with an everlasting love.

And now as we open up your word tonight, we invite your spirit to be with us.

And we ask that you might hide the preacher behind the cross of Calvary, that we may not see him or hear him, but we might see Jesus high and lifted up.

And Jesus said, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.

So draw us, Lord, closer to the foot of the cross is our prayer in Jesus' name.

We're in a cosmic conflict on a supernatural level.

Therefore, we must engage this conflict knowing who the enemy truly is.

And the first factor in any battle is to identify who the enemy is.

The Bible tells us our enemy is the devil.

And we want to talk about a little bit tonight on how Christians fight with our enemy.

The devil will want us to believe and fight as though mankind is the enemy or we are each other's enemy but the real fact of the matter is we have 1 enemy and it is the devil.

Now when Peter was, even with people who speak false things, speak against God's word.

When Peter was speaking words not according to God's way, Jesus didn't call Peter the enemy.

Jesus called out the real enemy and he said, get thee behind me, Satan.

And it brings me to our first point tonight is we must recognize we're in a battle.

And the things that happen around us every day, the things that we see in the news, the things that happen to us in our personal lives is a part of that cosmic battle.

We must know and recognize we're in a battle and who it is that we're fighting against.

The battle started with mankind in the very beginning of the creation of man in God's image.

Genesis 3 15 says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

I want to talk tonight about empowered by him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we know in this text, Genesis 315, the enmity between the woman, the woman representing the church, the serpent representing the devil, and in the very beginning as mankind began to exist, There was this battle that started in the very beginning.

There is a genuine built-in dislike, disdain, and hatred between the woman, the church of God, and the serpent, the enemy of God.

There's a natural conflict in values, a natural conflict in truth.

They are diametrically opposed to each other.

Genesis tells us that this battle will continue generation after generation.

Paul describes the battle this way in Ephesians 6, 12.

He says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness in high places.

What I'm here to remind us of tonight is that we as God's people are in a spiritual battle.

And God says that this battle will go from generation to generation.

It is not flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle that we're in.

Sometimes I get, I'm interested that people get concerned that the church sometimes take hits.

The devil would get some hits in, but he, in the fight, but he will not win the fight.

Some people get in the battle and believe that God is not with them just because the devil gets some hits in.

Just because we see things not going the way we want them to go.

The Bible predicted that it would be so and even the existence of the devil and attacking the church is a fulfillment itself of prophecy.

The key points about tonight is I want us to recognize that the devil would get some hits in on God's people and on God's church.

But God will use the hits that the devil gets in and turn them around to use them for his glory.

That God said, I would take the negatives that you bring to the church.

I would take the negatives that you bring on my people.

And God said, I will turn them around to bring glory to myself and also to elevate my people.

So even the losses, as we call them, is a plus in God's kingdom.

It is God's way of directing or redirecting our steps.

Romans 8 28 reminds us that all things work together for good for them that love God and who are called according to his purpose.

So as we think about this battle, it doesn't mean bad things won't happen.

It doesn't mean that the devil won't get some hits in on God's people and on God's church.

It simply means that God will turn whatever the devil attack the devil will bring on you or upon his church.

He will turn it and he will use it for his glory and for our good.

Peter states it this way in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12 and 13.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials which are to try you, as though some strange thing happen unto you, but rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." And what Peter is saying is that when we sign up in this battle, when we are on the Lord's side, that there may come suffering with doing God's work, he said, but we rejoice because as we are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, that when his glory shall be revealed, we will also be partakers of his glory.

And Jesus is an excellent example of this on the cross.

The devil thought that in killing Jesus, he was getting rid of his problem.

All he did was ensure that God's way is a superior way, that God's love is eternal and incomprehensible, that the universe saw him for who he is.

The devil thought that if I kill Christ and if I destroy Christ, I will win.

And God's wisdom and God's plan calls for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

But what the devil meant to be for evil, God turned it to be for good.

And just as God did that with Christ, he still does that with his people and with his church.

We are called by God to be his representatives on this earth and declare the devil a loser, a liar, and a deceiver.

Look at what the servant of the Lord says.

And it's a quote that Ellen White makes when God in vision sat her in the meeting of the devil and his evil angels.

And he had the servant of the Lord take down minutes at the devil's committee meeting.

And this is what she said, I saw that Satan bade his angels lay their snares, especially for those who were looking for Christ's second appearing and keeping all the commandments of God.

Satan told his angels that the churches were asleep.

He would increase his power and lion wonders and he could hold them.

He says the sect of Sabbath keepers we hate.

Remember Genesis 3 said I will put enmity between the woman and I see he said we hate this sect of the Sabbath keepers.

James Hartley

Investing in Lay Ministry: The ASI Story

Today we're going to be talking about the importance of lay ministries and the history of ASI.

How many here, by show of hands, are currently serving at a supporting ministry.

How many have been a part of ASI for 20, let's say 20 plus years?

Glad that you are here and glad that we are together.

I hope that we can gain some inspiration from the Lord as we seek to understand better how the Lord has led in our past history.

Our title today is Investing in Lay Ministry, the ASI story.

We pray that you would inspire us from our history and from where we are today and what you want to do with your church.

We're thankful for ASI and we're glad to be here gathered together.

We pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us.

There's no doubt that lay ministries have a tremendous impact on God's Church today around the world.

As Steve mentioned in his introduction, they're especially meaningful to me because if it wasn't for lay ministries, I would not have met the Seventh-day Adventist.

I was introduced to the message through supporting ministries.

I was studied with and baptized while volunteering at a supporting ministry.

I was then given mission training at a supporting ministry and have now served over 25 years in the supporting ministries.

Over these years, I've had the privilege to visit over 60 countries and have seen firsthand the impact of supporting ministries in people's lives and in the Seventh-day Adventist Church today.

In my work, I'm often questioned, what is ASI?

Do they work independent from the church?

Are they necessary for the success of the church today?

And are they worth investing in with our time, our energy, and our resources?

These are important questions for us to explore and maybe the best way to answer them is to look at the origins of ASI and to see how all this got started.

History is important for us to understand and I just want to share a quote here from American author Robert Heinlein, which once wrote, a generation that ignores history has no past and no future.

When we understand our history, we know how we got here and where we need to go.

The very first supporting ministry of the church, the ministry that laid the foundation for what ultimately developed into ASI, the ministry that set a powerful example for hundreds of supporting ministries around the world today was indeed Madison College.

Madison was established by the Lord's direction in the year 1904.

So let's set the context a little and see what was going on in the church at that time.

The church was making steady progress in sending the message around the world.

67 countries had already been entered by that time.

Due to this growth and to make room for the work to grow even more successfully, the church needed a reorganization to empower its leadership that were serving around the world.

Counsel was given from the Lord, stressing this importance.

The matter in regard to centralizing all the power in 1 body has become serious.

From the light given me, I see that this administration is embracing altogether too much and is trying to carry burdens and interests which it has not strength or wisdom from heaven to bear or to conduct successfully.

The Lord is just as willing to impart wisdom and ability to men in distant fields as he is to impart wisdom and ability to the men in Battle Creek.

And again, there must be a reorganization.

Let there be fewer responsibilities centered in 1 place.

There was no time to delay for God's church.

The work needed space for rapid expansion.

It was not practical or efficient for the leaders at the General Conference to be making decisions for the work all over the world.

In response to that council in the 1901 and 1903 General Conference sessions, the Seventh-day Adventist Church underwent a dramatic reorganization to ensure that it could reach out to all the world.

So why am I bringing up GC governance in a talk about ASI and supporting ministries?

Well, this was a very significant event that happened in the church in the years just prior to the beginning of Madison, and I believe it's also part of a bigger picture where God seemed to be raising the urgency of truly finishing the work Christ had given to us.

While we can be thankful for the growth that was happening at that time, it was obviously below our Lord's expectations.

In 1904, church membership was about 82, 000, but the world's population was 1.7 billion.

Seventh-day Adventist represented 0.005 of the world's population.

The church was in need of a bigger vision and framework for expansion.

The church at that time needed a restructure, not only for current operations, but to make room for future growth.

Yet the engine for that growth was not to be reliant upon our ministers but the lay members.

The engine for that growth was not to be reliant upon the ministers, but upon the lay members, who for the most part seemed half asleep and wrapped up in their own lives.

The following message was given to the church at this time.

Had the purpose of God been carried out by his people in giving to the world the message of mercy, Christ would, ere this, have come to the earth, and the saints would have received their welcome into the city of God.

Christ was delaying his return because we were not willing to take up the work wholeheartedly.

So there was counsel given at that time to wake up and arouse the lay members into action.

The need was for total member involvement.

The mentality that the work should be left to the ministers was evil and a threat to the success of our mission.

Christ was given, Christ has given our church an urgent prophetic message from Revelation chapter 14 to share with every person in the world.

Ours was not to be a denomination of those who sat warming their pews.

We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood of believers with a commission to surrender our lives to Christ and to be used by him in spreading the gospel to the world.

Mission service was seen from the beginning not as optional to our membership but core to our identity and we needed a heavy reminder of that at this at that time.

From Testimonies Volume 8, There is a much greater work devolving upon the individual members of the church than they realize.

Many of the members of our large churches are doing comparatively nothing.

They might accomplish a good work if instead of crowding together, they would scatter into places that have not yet been entered by the truth.

Not 1 in a hundred among us is doing anything beyond engaging in common, worldly enterprises.

We are not half awake to the worth of souls for whom Christ has died.

It is not the ordained ministers upon whom we must depend for this work, speaking of the work of reaching the unreached, but laymen who love and fear God and who feel the burden for the salvation of souls.

It is not the Lord's plan And the church treasury does not have the finances to pay the expenses of every lay person that feels called to work for God.

I'm sure our GC treasurer, Paul Douglas would agree with that.

There is a lack from the testimonies, there is a lack of money in the treasury.

And if none shall engage in the work but men who are paid wages, what will become of the multitudes that are in darkness?

If the lay members of the church will arouse to do their work in a quiet way, going to war at their own charges, each seeing how much he can do in winning souls to Jesus, we shall see many leaving the ranks of Satan to stand under the banner of Christ.

The church needs to be imbued with the missionary spirit.

Then there will be many to work unselfishly in various ways that they can, notice, without being salaried.

And by the way, let me add here that when lay members get active in God's work, lay ministries start popping up all over.

Praise the Lord, we have seen a tremendous spike in lay ministries in recent years.

James McKinney

Maritza McKinney

Removing Barriers to Healing: A Sustainable Approach to Health Retreats Using Medical Experience & Airbnb

Dear Father in heaven, thank you so much for this opportunity.

Lord, we know that according to your word, it's the spirit that quickens.

And if you bless us with your spirit, we'll all walk out of this place blessed today.

I thank you for hearing and answering our prayer as that you would help us to share our testimony in a very clear and winsome way in Jesus name amen.

So I am James Dion McKinney and this is my wife Maritza McKinney.

I'm a respiratory therapist, and my wife is a physical therapist.

And we're gonna talk to you today about the Wellness B&B.

It was actually built towards the end of 2023, but we had been dreaming and talking about this and praying about this when we were dating.

We reach our 20th wedding anniversary in October.

Before we start, I had mentioned yesterday evening that I went to the Atlanta Beltline on Sunday, this past Sunday.

And I went and I interviewed people because I wanted us here at ASI to get a taste of what our witnessing field looks like, the people, okay?

And do they even know what a lifestyle center is?

So that's what they're answering right now.

So this is just a minute or 2 video of that.

The first 1 is, have you heard of a lifestyle center before?

It's a place you can go to do things like get enrichment for your physical wellness, your spiritual wellness, your mental wellness.

From my understanding, I mean, it could look like a lot of things.

But basically, it's the center or retreat, where people come with like-minded ideas and needs and fulfill those.

Members in Action ASI

Members in Action

We we want you to buckle up because we have an amazing story here That's a series of miracles and collaboration and with us this evening is Tyler Coleman and Fletcher pride and Tyler Let's just start with you your your church there in Minnesota set out to accomplish a pretty lofty goal to reach a broad area with a radio broadcast.

Tell us a little bit about how that got started.

Yeah, I think it's kind of a theme in the church is what's been going on in Adventist radio.

And our church, through COVID and afterwards, we've had some of the best years of evangelism we've ever had.

And when he's doing that, sometimes you start thinking it's because of what we're doing, but it was, we were witness to what God was doing.

And 1 of the things that was happening is we, along with a lot of Adventists, not-for-profits around North America, we received a construction permit to build a high-powered radio station.

So we had a plan to build this radio station.

When I say ours, that was the Dodge Center Church, myself and my father-in-law Denzel McNeilis.

We were ready to build this radio station.

And what our plan was, was we had 3 years.

In our construction permit, we had 3 years to build this.

If you don't build it in the 3 years, it just goes away.

We had put money into this, but we were going to win the permit.

We were going to hire local engineers and other experts that we needed to do this.

So we're gonna buy all the best equipment, build a rent space on a really tall tower, and then we were going to share the gospel throughout all of southeastern Minnesota.

It was with good intention, but this was our plan, how we were going to do it.

Series

Plenary

Removing Barriers to Healing: A Sustainable Approach to Health Retreats Using Medical Experience & Airbnb

Transcript

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