As never before, God is calling Seventh-day Adventist church leaders and members to be faithful to Him, General Conference (GC) president Ted N. C. Wilson said in an appeal on Saturday (Sabbath), October 12. He gave a pastoral address to more than 340 members of the GC Executive Committee (EXCOM) attending the 2024 Annual Council in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
“In this contemporary world of ever-changing values and slippery moral slopes, we are to stand firmly on solid ground with our feet planted on the sure Word of God,” he emphasized.
The yearly leadership gathering and business meeting being held October 10-16 includes departmental reports, discussion of plans, and votes on projects and initiatives of the 23-million-strong denomination.
This year has been marked as special by the Adventist Church as it commemorates 150 years since the first official missionary, John N. Andrews, and his family arrived in Switzerland, something that Wilson pointed out. “We are called to follow faithfully in this amazing example of selfless mission service wherever we are around the globe,” he said.
Relying on Christ’s Righteousness
Our call to faithfulness to God’s Word and His truth is based, Wilson said, in our complete reliance on the righteousness and power of Christ. Grounded in Him, our faithfulness will affect every practical aspect of our lives, he emphasized.
“Let us live faithful Christian lives, allowing the righteousness of Christ to work in us to show a lifestyle full of godliness and mission outreach,” Wilson said in invitation, adding, “Through His righteousness, we can show a lifestyle of biblical standards, health reform, righteousness by faith in Him, faithfulness to His Word in all things, and simplicity of action and behavior.”
A Unique Message and Mission
Wilson also emphasized that we are called to hold to God’s intended mission for the Adventist Church. “We are a peculiar people … a unique people with a unique message on a unique mission,” he told EXCOM members and those following the service online.
Wilson then expanded on what is implied, according to him, in God’s call. “God is calling us to be faithful to Him, His Word, to the Advent message, and to the proclamation of the three angels’ messages which focus on Christ’s righteousness and His beautiful Ten Commandments,” he said. Those commandments, he added, reveal “that His character is based on His everlasting love for each of us” and that “this love shows the centrality of Christ in our lives and His complete role in our salvation.”
God’s call is also a call to mission, he said. “We are to be part of global Total Member Involvement to reach the world, saying to the Lord, ‘I Will Go,’ ” Wilson said.
The Power of Personal Witnessing
In the context of this divine call to faithfulness, Wilson highlighted the power of our personal stories to connect and reach out to others. “The personal stories and witness of each of us are to be shared with the world as we faithfully testify of Jesus and His saving power,” he said.
Against that background, Wilson shared that while attending a recent board retreat at Loma Linda University Health (LLUH), he heard a testimony that he wanted EXCOM members to listen to. He called Giorgia Maghelli to the stage. Maghelli, a medical student at Loma Linda University, shared how she experienced God’s faithfulness in her life.
A Special Testimony
Maghelli, who was born in Italy and lived in Scotland and Ireland, shared how she first got acquainted with the Adventist Church through YouTube videos on prophecy and later through Ellen White’s books.
She shared how the opening sentence of Patriarchs and Prophets — “God is love. His nature, His law, is love. It ever has been; it ever will be” — appealed to her heart. “[It] reeled me in,” Maghelli acknowledged. “It opened up a whole new world for me.”
Maghelli then shared how, through a series of providential events, she was introduced to international evangelist Mark Finley and his wife, Teenie, and later to Andi Hunsaker, an Adventist physician who is currently president of Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries (ASi). It was a journey that eventually led her to Loma Linda University, where she is learning how to use the Adventist health message to alleviate suffering and bring others to Jesus.
“The blessings and miracles have almost been too great for me to contain — they fill me with a sense of awe and gratitude,” Maghelli said.
United for Mission
In the closing of his message, Wilson reminded EXCOM members and those following the program online that God has provided all that is needed for our salvation. Thus, “all that is needed is for us to be faithful in proclaiming His last-day message of hope, warning, and redemption.” He quoted Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White, who, in her book Selected Messages, wrote, “God has called us as a people to be a peculiar treasure unto Himself. He has appointed that His church on earth shall stand perfectly united in the Spirit and counsel of the Lord of hosts to the end of time” (book 2, p. 397).
Wilson closed by appealing to every church leader and member to join him in these efforts. “Are you willing to be part of global Total Member Involvement in sharing God’s message to the world?” he asked. “You are chosen for mission and called to be faithful.… May God bless each of you as you are faithful to Him. Maranatha!”
The original article was published on the Adventist Review website.
