The doors of Auburn Adventist Academy Church opened Sunday morning, April 18, to welcome nearly 300 delegates to the 58^th Constituency Session of Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

 

By tradition, Byron Dulan, Washington Conference outreach ministries director, and Maylan Schurch, Bellevue (Wash.) church pastor, led the delegates in singing hymns such as “We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing” and “We Have This Hope.”

 

In his devotional thought, Max Torkelsen II, North Pacific Union Conference (NPUC) president, talked about the role of the church. “The church is God’s idea for teaching us how to love each other and Christ,” Torkelsen says. “The church may not always be what we want it to be, but it will always be what we are. If you want a spiritual church, be a spiritual person. If you want an active church, be an active person.”

 

Torkelsen continued: “We need to be cautious about criticizing the church because the church is Christ’s bride (see Revelation 21). Before we can reform the church, we need to love the church. Then we can turn to revival and reformation. You can’t reform the church out of anger.”

 

Before the session officially opened, delegates divided into groups of two or three to pray for God’s direction in the meeting. “We need the mind of Christ before we make any decisions,” says John Freedman, Washington Conference president.

 

With a quorum secured, the constituency session officially commenced with the seating of six new churches, a short ministry survey using electronic voting devices, and approval of the parliamentarian, session procedures and the day’s agenda.

 

“It amazes me how a group of people with such different ideas, backgrounds and cultures can become one through Jesus Christ and his mission,” says Rob Aaron, a delegate from Lacey.

"Four years ago Washington Conference prayerfully moved to align every ministry with the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” Freedman says during the Washington Conference Report. “This called for revival to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus. This called for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to anoint and guide us. This called for momentum to share Jesus with the world.”

 

In the last four years, Washington Conference encouraged lifestyle evangelism and invested in training, public evangelism, cultural evangelism, missions, literature ministries, community outreach, education, youth ministries and more. “Everything we do is centered on Jesus,” Freedman says. “Everything we do is all about Jesus.”

 

Torkelsen and Bryce Pascoe, NPUC executive secretary, presided over the election process for officers, directors and associates. All leaders were re-elected including all three officers, four new directors and two new associates. Officers for the next quadrennial are: John Freedman, president; Doug Bing, vice president for administration; and Jerry Russell, vice president for finance.

 

The four new directors are: Dennis Carlson, trust services director, from associate; Omar Grieve, Spanish ministries and stewardship director, from coordinator; EuGene Lewis, regional affairs director, from coordinator; and Heidi Martella, communication director, from associate. The two new associates are: Jeff Fogelquist, associate treasurer, from business intern, and Peter Rampton, trust services associate, from It Is Written Television Ministries.

 

Delegates gave a standing ovation for David and Gaylene Wolkwitz, Trust Services director and Trust Services associate, who are retiring after 44 and 25 years of ministry, respectively.

 

The session also elected members for the Executive Committee and Board of Education. After quite a bit of discussion on the makeup and diversity of the committees, delegates approved the committee nominations with a recommendation to invite two Hispanic leaders to serve as invitees on the Board of Education.

 

Jerry Russell, Washington Conference vice president for finance, presented a thorough and positive financial review. “God has given us everything we need,” Russell says. “God provided for us through the recession and gave us the reserves to carry us through.”

 

Russell shared several statistics: In the last four years, Washington Conference received $73.6 million in tithe. In the last 25 years, tithe increased 155 percent. Tithe is used for pastoral ministry (40 percent), education (21 percent), department ministry (13 percent), camp meeting (2 percent), retirement/other (14 percent) and administration/treasury (11 percent).

 

The increase in evangelism funding from individual donors at Washington Adventist Camp meeting and appropriations from the North American Division and NPUC allows Washington Conference to fund Bible workers, literature ministries, evangelists, training events and public evangelism.

 

Lon Gruesbeck, Washington Conference vice president for education, gave an Office of Education Report. He talked about "Growing Great Schools" to address the spiritual and academic culture and climate of our schools by strengthening relationships, providing excellence in education and improving service.

 

“Our schools are working together to develop campus witnessing plans, mission trips and outreach opportunities,” Gruesbeck says.

 

In the last four years, the Office of Education focused on “making a difference” through communication, service and example. Additionally, the Office of Education initiated a teacher mentor program to provide a strong support system for teachers new to the profession and new to Washington Conference.

 

An education commission is looking at message and mission, enrollment, finances, leadership, spirituality and marketing/customer service.

 

“While our schools may not be perfect, the value of Adventist Christian Education is priceless,” Gruesbeck says.
 

John Freedman, Washington Conference president, right, thanks Marvin Mitchell, Auburn Adventist

 

Four years ago, Washington Conference session delegates expressed their desire for Auburn Adventist Academy to improve its campus security features. The Academy now has an attractive, lighted metal and brick fence around the campus, a gate system and many other campus safety features.

 

Washington Conference asked Marvin Mitchell, a retired educator, to serve as interim principal while a committee conducted a nation-wide search to replace Keith Hallam who served as Auburn’s principal for 14 years.

 

Mitchell shared the Academy’s vision for its academic program. “We don’t want to be just a college preparatory school,” he says. “We recognize not all students are college bound and we want to equip them with skills for the job market.”

 

Additionally, Mitchell shared a few words about the school’s finances. “Finances are not as robust as they should be,” he says, “but we are on the road back to good financial health.”

 

Delegates thanked Mitchell for his year of service with a standing ovation, and welcomed Samir Berbawy, AAA principal-elect, with a time of prayer and commitment. Berbawy comes to Auburn Academy with 30 years of experience in leadership and education. Mitchell and Berbawy will work together for a smooth transition of leadership.

 

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee presented three recommendations to update one remaining gender reference to gender-neutral terminology (a process addressed four years ago) and to update the conference address to reflect the current location.

 

The third recommendation suggested changing the frequency of session meetings from four to five years beginning in 2014 to reduce expenses and to align schedules to prevent a conference session from occurring in the same year as a General Conference session or a North Pacific Union Conference session. Delegates passed this measure with 93 percent approval.

 

The session wrapped up with a come-and-go ministry fair where delegates interacted with conference ministries and discovered resources.

 

“Because this meeting is about our church governance,” says Freedman, “we surrounded our session with prayer and watched how God directed our entire meeting.”