Impacting St Louis and Beyond

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Every Five Years
Every five years, Seventh-day Adventist members from around the world gather for the General Conference (GC) Session. This summer, an estimated 40,000 attendees united for the event held at America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis. During the 10-day event, 2,809 delegates—including 21 from the Columbia Union Conference—came together for spiritual renewal and global fellowship and to make church governance and policy decisions; elect leadership; engage in strategic planning and reporting; encourage unity and representation; and reinforce the church’s global mission focus.

Given that the Seventh-day Adventist World Church Headquarters is located within the Columbia Union territory, this worldwide “family gathering” can feel uniquely different for some Columbia Union members. Much of the planning, preparation,  administration and volunteer work for the session is carried out by members who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. They are the event planners, elected officers, exhibit hall volunteers, guides helping attendees navigate through meal lines, stage managers and more.

Behind the Scenes
Chad Stuart (below, third from left), senior pastor of Chesapeake Conference’s Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md., who served as a platform manager, had a front-row seat to all the business sessions. His responsibilities included ushering stage participants to the makeup desk, helping recently elected officials prepare to go on stage and then directing them backstage to Human Resources staff for immediate processing.

While Stuart officially served as part of the “technical staff,” he also found himself stepping back into his pastoral role—praying with the AV staff or encouraging those who were not re-elected to their positions.

Sarah Porter, a member of Chesapeake Conference’s Living Word church in Glen Burnie, Md., was part of the team that edited the transcripts and proceedings of the business sessions. Porter says, “I find it very interesting because I get to read word for word, what everyone is saying, what [the] emotions are. It’s the heartbeat of the business sessions.” She adds that it was a privilege to contribute to this process.

Leadership Changes

An important part of the business sessions is the selection of church leaders who are elected to serve a five-year term. On the first Friday of the session, delegates elected Erton C. Köhler as the new GC president, who most recently served as GC executive secretary. They also re-elected Paul H. Douglas, the incumbent treasurer, and elected Richard E. McEdward, previously the president of the Middle East and North Africa Union Mission, to fill the executive secretary position left vacant by Köhler.

Köhler, who attends Spencerville church, delivered the sermons on both Sabbaths of the event, emphasizing the importance of members having a “Boldness in Mission” and highlighting the identity of Seventh-day Adventists as firmly rooted in the Bible.

“We preach the book, we teach the book, and by God’s grace, we live according to the book,” Köhler said.

Crystal Ward, who, until recently, served as an associate pastor at Spencerville church, was also among the newly elected. “What I’ll miss most about pastoring in the local church is the weekly interaction with members and the privilege of walking alongside them through life’s various seasons,” she shares.

Ward, who was elected as an associate secretary for the Ministerial Association at the General Conference, says, “I’m excited about the opportunity to connect with leaders from around the world and support them in fulfilling their mission.”

The Business at Hand
In addition to electing global church leaders for the 2025–2030 term, delegates voted on revisions to the church’s constitution, bylaws, and Church Manual. These included amendments emphasizing the importance of giving offerings—distinct from tithes—as an act of worship; encouraging pastors to focus on training local church leaders in mission and ministry; and reinforcing accountability through greater financial transparency and reporting.

Celeste Ryan Blyden, executive secretary of the Columbia Union, shared that there were 29 recommendations brought to the GC Session. “Each of them has been studied, researched, discussed, word smithed and reviewed for clarity—all in hopes of helping the church at large to operate in unity on a global level and more effectively at the local level,” she says.

Leena Moses (right), a delegate and member of Potomac Conference’s Damascus (Md.) Grace church, was among the youngest delegates to serve.

She says she learned a lot about the rules of order, how the church conducts its business and why the business sessions devote so much time to seemingly small details that may appear insignificant to the casual observer. “There are many different people from different countries, and it’s interesting to see how the issues that I think are important at my local church are very different from the interests [at a global scale],” she says.

Each day throughout the event, worship speakers shared messages aimed at inspiring delegates, attendees and online viewers to embrace and embody the “I Will Go” 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, which emphasizes spiritual revival, discipling and resourcing members to personally and publicly share the gospel message with others.

Minnie McNeil (pictured, left, in the exhibit hall), a member of Allegheny East Conference’s Coatesville (Pa.) church, who has attended several past sessions, notices that these sessions provide a “sort of levity, a time when people really are engaged in what’s happening [with the church]. … I think it connects with the time in which we are living,” she says.

Connecting to Resources
A popular activity during the session was touring the exhibit space filled with hundreds of booths highlighting ministry and innovative ideas from every division within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Angeline Brauer, director of Health Ministries for the North American Division (NAD), was one of the greeters at the NAD Ministries booth. “We want people to realize that the church has numerous resources for whatever ministry they may be involved with,” she says.

One booth, hosted by the Chesapeake Conference, offered the Forecasting Hope evangelistic set, including slides, art, graphics, sermon notes and tutorial videos designed to assist anyone in preaching a message at an evangelistic meeting, says John Rengifo (right), Ministerial director for the conference.

Directly across the pathway in the exhibit hall, Corrine and Gladstone Brown, members of Potomac Conference’s Cartersville (Va.) church, and owners of the Rays of Light Ministry, sold natural soaps, body butters and tea—highlighting the variety of experiences offered in the hall.

Gerald Christo, pastor for young adults at Potomac Conference’s Southern Asian church in Silver Spring, Md., says he enjoyed hearing how fellow members are living out the mission across the world and learning new ways to evangelize and share God’s love.

Getting Involved
The GC Youth Ministries Department, in collaboration with the NAD Youth Ministries, Adventist Community Services and local churches from the Mid-America Union, organized several events to serve the residents in St. Louis in conjunction with the church’s formal business meetings. Through the “Impact! St. Louis” initiative, young adults embodied the “I Will Go” strategic plan by helping to beautify local gardens, support local shelters, clean public spaces and distribute literature at the Gateway Arch. The church also gifted the city with $100,000 to assist in tornado relief efforts.

Anees Abdelnour, a GC employee and member of Potomac Conference’s Sligo church in Takoma Park, Md., leads Sligo’s refugee ministry. Abdelnour brought that ministry to St. Louis where Sligo collaborated with Potomac Conference’s Hyattsville (Md.) church to support Central States Conference’s Agape church in University City, Mo. Together, they distributed groceries and hygiene and cleaning supplies to eight Haitian refugee families who now live in St. Louis.

Worshipping Together
Worship, music and prayer were interwoven into many elements of the GC Session. Numerous Columbia Union members contributed behind the scenes on the Music Committee and also show-cased their talents on stage, like students from Potomac Conference’s Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) orchestra and choir, Southern Asian church’s orchestra, the New Jersey Conference Pastor’s Choir and Spencerville church’s Sanctuary Choir.

Anjani Shaw, a SVA senior who plays viola and sings bass in the choir, says it was his first time at a GC Session. “I learned how many different types of people are truly a part of the [Adventist] family. … And seeing all those people coming together to make music was inspiring.”

Reflecting on the event, Columbia Union President Marcellus T. Robinson shares, “The overall sense of this meeting exudes optimism and hope in God’s guidance of His church, and though we are defective people, God’s will is being done in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. ... It is my desire that when we leave this session that all of us realize that if the church is going to change, the change starts with us—the individual member—in our personal relationship with God.”

He continues, “I hope that St. Louis will say, ‘Those Adventists are all right with me.’ It’s my desire that they know we are God’s children, and I believe that I sense and feel that here in St. Louis.”