West Point of Evangelism, trip report #1

Did you know that church growth is not directly related to the number of seminars you hold? I'm sitting in a seminar by Mike Tucker on the theology of church growth. We're learning about how important it is to meet the needs of people in our community. Our church needs to be involved in the community, and I'm so happy to hear that because I know that is a direction where our church is headed (community involvement).

Last night we had the opening meeting by the president of the Arizona Conference (Duane McKee). He highlighted the transformation that has taken place in the Arizona Conference over the last four years. They went from a conference that was having to lay off pastors to have a 47 percent tithe increase. They've invested in evangelism, and it appears to be paying off in some amazing ways. Their conference has held some 900 evangelistic meetings (700 in Arizona, 200 overseas), and the results are in: the Pacific Union's growth rate has been 1 percent, and the Arizona Conference during that same time has grown by 17 percent. Wow! I can't wait to learn more about evangelism. I had better sign off for this first report so I can continue listening (and get ready for my own seminar about Ellen White as Model Evangelist this afternoon).