According to presenter Vanesa Pizzuto, the heartbeat of the I Will Go strategic plan doesn’t begin with action, but with communion. Before mission comes commitment and connection. During the 2025 General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri, this foundational priority came alive through Sabbath presentations, breakout discussions, business meetings, heartfelt testimonies, and a video journey into the spiritual core of Adventist identity.
The I Will Go plan for 2025–2030 presents a global vision, aligning resources with measurable goals and inviting every member to develop contextual action plans. At the center of this strategy are four spiritual priorities: Communion with God, Identity in Christ, Unity through the Holy Spirit, and Mission for All.
“I need to be revived in my own life,” shared Mike Ryan, one of the plan’s architects. “I need to find my identity in Christ, to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and to be involved in mission.” For him, the plan is more than strategy, it’s about spiritual renewal, beginning with personal communion.
Communion with God.
Seventh-day Adventists believe that deep, daily connection with God is the foundation for spiritual maturity. As Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4, NKJV). This abiding is the source of spiritual fruitfulness. Guided by the Holy Spirit, communion with God grows through intentional practices: prayer, personal Bible study, regular worship, service, stewardship, and applying Spirit of Prophecy principles.These practices cannot be approached as a daily to-do list, but rather as rhythms of grace that shape believers from the inside out.
This vision isn’t limited to policy documents or strategic reports. Around the world, it is already bearing fruit. In the Dominican Republic, a teacher invited her students to write their personal prayer requests and place them in a time capsule. A year later, they opened it together and celebrated how God had answered. In Wisconsin, United States, Adventist schoolchildren used a Mission to the Cities world map to pray for a different urban center each day. “They pray for the cities, the families, the communities,” their teacher said. “They’ve learned that the mission starts on your knees.”
Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, GC Education director, reminded attendees that plans must be lived, not just written. “Strategy is for amateurs; logistics are for professionals,” she mentioned. “To make I Will Go succeed, each institution and member must operationalize these spiritual goals, track them, live them, and measure growth in devotion just as we do in outreach.”
A Family Transformed by Prayer
In India, Anil’s faith journey began during a time of desperation. Though not a Christian, he accepted his wife’s invitation to attend church and prayed for something deeply personal, a child. After a year of prayer and Bible study, their son was born. But soon after, Anil suffered a life-threatening car accident with only a 50% chance of survival. His church began fasting and praying for him daily. Two weeks later, he began to recover. Then another miracle followed: his mother, who had refused heart surgery for 25 years, agreed to undergo the procedure after witnessing his healing and she survived. Inspired by this, many relatives began attending church. Five have already been baptized. His father, once opposed to Christianity, now says: “Only God could have saved our family."
Dwain Esmond: The Four Dimensions of Communion
In a keynote presentation, Dwain Esmond, Associate Director of the Ellen G. White Estate, shared a compelling reminder: communion is not just personal, it is communal, missional, and eternal. Here's how he explained each.
Communal: Communion begins in fellowship. From the beginning, the Godhead modeled unity and connection (“Let us make man…”). God designed humanity for relationship with Him and with one another. In the early church and even in the wilderness, God sought to dwell with His people.
Personal: Communion is intimate. It's not enough to attend church, it’s a daily walk with God through prayer, Bible study, and quiet reflection. Jesus Himself modeled this, for instance, by spending nights in prayer before choosing His disciples.
Missional: True communion overflows into mission. When we’ve spent time with Christ, we’re compelled to serve. Communion fuels purpose, driving us to love, witness, and work for souls in need.
Eternal: Communion with God is the beginning of eternity. As Esmond reminded the audience, “We must be with God before we can do anything for God.”
“In this way, communion is not optional, it is the spiritual lifeline of every believer. And when we truly connect with God, we are changed, families are transformed, and churches are empowered to share the gospel without compromise”, he added.
Communion invites us not only to be transformed, but to take ownership of our calling. The natural response to abiding in Christ is saying, 'I will go.'" On stage at the GC Session, a powerful visual reminder stood tall: the iconic I WILL GO sculpture. Each visitor is invited to visit the exhibit hall where the sculpture is displayed, step into the empty space where the “I” should be, and take a photo symbolically saying their own “Yes!” to God’s calling. “That empty space is there for you,” Mark Ryan said. “You are part of this.”
In the end, communion is not a program or slogan. It is the beginning of mission itself. When believers pause to listen, to abide, to pray, they are transformed. And from that transformation flows service, not out of pressure, but out of presence.
The next article in this series explores the second pillar: Identity in Christ, a call to stand firm in the truth of Scripture and rediscover what it means to belong to Jesus in today’s complex world.
For more coverage of the 2025 General Conference Session, including live updates, interviews, and delegate stories, visit adventist.news and follow ANN on social media.
