A group of 1,500 Seventh-day Adventist lay people met in Sacramento, California, United States, August 8 to 11, to explore ways of expanding lay involvement in humanitarian and mission work around the world.

The Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) convention brought together Adventist business people and professionals, mission workers, and church leaders from the United States and Canada. The annual mission-oriented event features worship meetings, professional seminars, youth programs, and an exhibition hall, which this year attracted more than 300 Adventist-affiliated exhibitors representing health, education, humanitarian work, publishing, and mission outreach.

“The key is not just to be inspired,” said ASI president Denzil McNeilus during the Saturday, or Sabbath, morning worship service held in the Sacramento Convention Center. “The key is to get involved and to get busy afterwards.” 

McNeilus, chairman of the Minnesota-based Sterling Financial Group, Inc., challenged the more than 3,000 people present to “make Christ’s mission your top priority.” 

The Sacramento event was ASI’s “best-ever convention,” says Dwight Hilderbrandt, ASI secretary-treasurer. He says registration and attendance hit an all-time high, with 1,550 registering for the convention, and some 3,000 adults and 400 young people attending the Sabbath morning program.

According to its mission statement, ASI exists to “provide challenge, nurture, and experience in sharing Christ in the marketplace, as well as support for the Global Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”

In a message published in the ASI convention program, McNeilus urged members to support the three core strategic issues identified by the Adventist Church. “I believe we’re already doing it,” he wrote. “But can we plan more specifically to keep contributing to Church unity, the quality of Church life, and Church growth?”

At each convention, ASI members identify projects they will help fund in the coming year. This year’s projects include financing for new Adventist church buildings in countries of the former Soviet Union, the development of a health center in Lisbon, Portugal, and support for Radio 74, a radio station based in Archamps, France.

ASI funding will also go to support the work of Helen Eager, head of the Australian-based Asian Aid. Her organization provides education for almost 5,000 children in 22 schools throughout India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

ASI members gave just over US$3 million in a single offering August 11 to fund international projects.

Evening and weekend meetings of the ASI convention were broadcast live by Three Angels Broadcasting Network, a lay Adventist satellite television network based in Thompsonville, Illinois.

The Sacramento event marked the 54th annual gathering of ASI members. The organization was established in 1947 by Adventist health-care workers, but expanded in the 1970s to include other business people and professionals.