Mountain View Conference Re-Elects Officers

Story by Valerie Morikone

At Mountain View Conference’s constituency session, held Sunday, delegates re-elected their top two officers and received good news about the financial picture of the smallest conference in the Columbia Union.

Delegates met at the Valley Vista Adventist Center in Huttonsville, W.Va., for Mountain View Conference’s First Quenquinnial Session and voted to re-elect Mike Hewitt as president and Victor Zill as secretary/treasurer. “I am excited about the upcoming quinquennium and the amazing potential that is before us,” said Hewitt.

Attending her first constituency meeting, Dawn Wadsworth, delegate and member from the Charleston (W.Va.) church, said, “I was honored to be a part of this process, and it was exciting to hear the vision for the future of the Mountain View Conference. Despite my relative newness to the Adventist faith, this session felt like a family reunion!”

Zill shared that the financial position of the conference was currently healthy with 178 days of cash and 128 days of unrestricted net assets on hand in the operating fund to meet expenses at the end of 2018. This reserve enables the conference to better handle short-term financial changes and to pursue ministry opportunities with the goal of winning souls for Christ.

Zill shared that tithe giving for the past five years increased 17 percent over the prior five-year period, and that in 2018, per member tithe-giving was the highest in the North American Division. Zill also shared the challenge of membership numbers that have slightly decreased and how we need to all do our part to reach people for the kingdom of God. “I’m very positive about the finances of the conference and encouraged continued faithfulness in returning tithe and giving to the Mountain View Mission offering,” he said.

As Mountain View moves ahead, Hewitt said church planting and the work to revitalize the existing churches with the new Church Revitalization Team is already producing wonderful results in both of those areas. “Some of our communities that were previously without a Seventh-day Adventist Church now have one and congregations that had only a handful of people are now experiencing growth and health. The future for the Mountain View Conference is very bright if we continue to lean on Jesus and keep His mission our main focus,” he added.