Impressions from St.Louis (2)

Not all can attend the General Conference session in person. But you can follow the proceedings on youtube livestream in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, and American sign language.
The session is a hybrid model with about 1,500 in attendance in St. Louis and about 400 via Zoom. This slowed down discussion and voting and causes some chaos due to Wi-Fi problems.
Three worship talks were presented to begin the day (Mark Finley, Dwight Nelson, Barry Black) each followed by group prayer.
Mark Finley shared that we can only “finish the work” with the presence of the Holy Spirit based on the book of Acts.
Dwight Nelson built upon the need for daily surrender and not to rely on big and occasional “revival events.”
Barry Black, Senate chaplain, built on the link between trusting and believing God’s word with receiving the blessings of the Holy Spirit.
In the morning, General Conference president Ted N.C. Wilson delivered his president's report, which provided a comprehensive overview of the significant events and achievements of the world Church during the past seven years.
During the highlight of the report, Wilson shared the powerful mission work done in the Philippines between 2017 and 2022 as part of the I Will Go framework for 2020-2025, where more than 124,000 people were baptized, including many rebels from the Philippine Communist Party’s “New People’s Army”. During the report, Wilson baptized rebel leader Raymundo and his wife Rose was baptized by Duane McKey from Adventist World Radio.
Several new Unions, Union Missions and Union of Churches were voted into the sisterhood of Unions .
It is good to see women delegates from around the world – Spain, France and Austria.
Several minor changes to the Constitution and Bylaws took a couple of hours. There was
Significant discussion about some Church Manual changes, including the ordination of elders. There was an attempt by some who oppose women’s leadership (ordination) to derail it into a discussion of female elders. Although the vote ended up being overwhelming supportive.
Ordination of Elders—Election to the office of elder does not in itself qualify one as an elder. Ordination is required before an elder has the authority to function. When a church in a business meeting votes the election of new elders, it also authorizes their ordination. There was also some discussion about the ordination service for Deaconesses, which is to be carried out by an ordained pastor credentialed by the conference.
At the end of the day, Pastor Ted Wilson was re-elected as President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists by a 74% / 26% margin. Let us pray for Pastor Wilson and his wife Nancy as they serve the church over the next 3 years.
Log into our webside to see Impressions from St. Louis (2) :
https://cloud.eud.adventist.org/index.php/apps/files/?dir=/WM%20Webseite/Impressions%20from%20St.%20Louis&openfile=31619774