UPDATED Wednesday Nov. 6, 2024, 5:48 p.m. ET

The 2024 North American Division (NAD) Year-End Meeting began at 9 a.m. on November 1 at the NAD headquarters in Columbia, Maryland, following a two-day administrators’ conference — the first in 10 years — at the same location. One hundred and fifty executive committee members (of 302) gathered for day one of business meetings where, until Monday, November 3, they will receive reports, vote on business items, strategize, and fellowship with fellow Adventist church leaders and friends. Back in person for the third year since 2021, the year-end meeting is also live-streamed on the NAD website, Facebook, and YouTube platforms.

“It’s always a pleasure to share with you what’s happening across the division,” said G. Alexander Bryant, NAD president, as he began his 2024 president's report. He continued, “In March 2021, this group voted as a theme for the quinquennium, “Together in Mission.” The idea is that we are stronger together, can go further together, and accomplish more together.” He highlighted the second half of the theme — “I will go” — which aligns with the global church’s strategic focus. 

Bryant divided the theme into the NAD’s areas of strategic focus, “the three Ms” — mentorship, media, and multiply. He noted that in a vast, diverse, and rapidly changing context such as North America, these intersecting points help us advance God’s mission more effectively. 

Mentorship Matters

That morning, introductions of new committee members from each union revealed leadership changes across the division. Bryant reported that 169 committee members, or 56 percent, are new. Since January 2021, at the NAD, one of the three executive officers, four of six vice presidents, and 13 departmental directors are new. At the union level during the same time period, new leaders include seven presidents, seven executive secretaries, one treasurer, and five education directors. Among the 59 conferences, 48 presidents, 45 executive secretaries, 18 treasurers, and 35 education directors are new. 

“There’s never been this amount of change this quickly in the North American Division territory,” said Bryant. He emphasized the need for mentorship — identifying, coaching, and equipping new leaders — to navigate this wave of change. He challenged leaders to consider how they are mentoring the next generation.

Bryant then welcomed Paulo Macena, NAD leadership director. Macena shared research on the impact of mentoring for leaders and referenced his book, The Mentorship Guide, which covers biblical mentorship and program planning. He introduced a mentorship certification program for church leaders that reached roughly 10,000 participants on Zoom and YouTube and is now available through the Adventist Learning Community. Macena also discussed the in-person Adventist Leadership summits, with the next summit set for November 17, 2024, online, and the 130 leadership videos created for social media.

Finally, Macena highlighted an NAD program in which 35 conference presidents formed groups of four to seven, each led by a mentor. In a video testimony, Jeff Potts, Alberta Conference president, shared, “As a new conference president, I found my mentoring group extremely helpful. We prayed together, encouraged each other, laughed together, and sometimes wept together. The group gave me the courage to address challenges and [offered] access to the wisdom of more experienced colleagues. [It] was a great blessing.”

Spreading a Broad (Inter)net

Bryant continued with the media strategic focus, noting that Adventist pioneers were trailblazers in using technology, such as the printing press, to spread the gospel. He remarked, “We're living in a new world of media [and] technology, and as a church, we're barely scraping the surface of our potential.” He suggested that, just like the pioneers, who were in their 20s, youth and young adults have an opportunity to be leaders in media ministry. 

He invited forward Adam Fenner, vice president of digital media and director of Adventist Learning Community (ALC). “We could not be more digital than now,” Fenner began, sharing that a third of us are connected to the Internet the entire day. As a church, competition from digital giants such as Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as social media influencers, requires “a positive digital presence.” He stressed that outdated, inconsistent platforms harm ministries, and “a broken link in the chain reflects badly on all of us.”

Fenner shared the NAD’s rebranding and retooling plans for NADadventist.org, social media, and other NAD-affiliated sites; he also highlighted the NAD’s MOU with the world church to collaborate on updates to adventist.org. The division aims for NADadventist.org to become a “one-stop shop” for resources.

He promoted Adventist Connect, a rebuild of Adventist Church Connect (ACC) and Adventist School Connect (ASC) website platform. In a video, Brent Hardinge, AIM director and Adventist Connect project manager, announced that migration to the more user-friendly WordPress platform will begin in Spring 2025. Anthony White, AIM’s assistant director of operations, added that basic sites will still automatically pull eAdventist data, providing even the smallest churches an online presence; and advanced sites will offer greater customization at no additional cost.

Hardinge promised, “This is just the beginning,” citing plans to integrate this platform with other ministry tools for “a unified experience that aligns with our mission to multiply outreach, leverage media for evangelism, and foster membership in digital ministry.”

Building Bridges Through Digital Connections

Fenner shared that he once equated digital ministry success with millions of views or connections. Now, he believes that “what we do online, [whether] at the conference, union, division, or GC level, should directly impact the local church.” He praised AIM as “an institution at the forefront” of building these digital connections. 

In a video, Marshall McKenzie, assistant director for pastoral care, described AIM as a ministry building bridges between local churches and their communities. Originally an evangelistic contact center for Adventist media ministries, AIM now engages digital contacts as well. Recently, AIM has been creating prayer ads for church Facebook pages, responding to digital interests, and training local volunteers in interest follow-up. They teach members, “If you have a cell phone, a computer, [or] a tablet you can connect with your community,” said McKenzie.

Switching hats, Fenner shared ALC accomplishments, such as reaching 100,000 users last year, representing more than 25 percent growth. He also highlighted ALC’s digital church series, where host Matthew Lucio visits churches “doing digital church well.” 

Finally, Fenner called for a more robust division-wide interest management system, seeking attendees’ prayers: “As we see the power of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon us in Pentecost and beyond, we have to have a way to handle all those interests.”

Fishing with the Right Bait

“How many of you will be glad when Tuesday voting is over? Are you inundated with ads?” Bryant asked. “There’s a science to what they’re doing to reach people. It’s for evil,” he said, eliciting chuckles, “but we can take the same science and use it for good.”

Paul Hopkins, NAD director of data analytics, delved deeper into the potential of data science for ministry. “Facts don’t lie,” he said, stating that companies embracing advanced data analytics and visualizations exhibit financial gains and make faster, more accurate decisions.

Hopkins also demonstrated a dashboard from his department that can track a church’s growth since 2006 and create a five-year forecasting model for growth. Similarly, it can examine tithing and other relevant trends. Over time, this dashboard should provide a holistic view of what’s happening in the church in North America. 

Later, while sharing a map of dominant denominations by state, Bryant remarked, “Information helps us learn what kind of bait to use when we go fishing.” 

He emphasized mingling with those we serve, discerning their practical and spiritual needs, per Christ’s method, as another aspect of fishing more effectively. 

“We talk haystack language [but] the only people who understand haystack language are Adventists,” he said to much laughter, continuing, “We need to speak steak and pork language!” 

Pentecost 2025

As he presented the final M, multiplication, Bryant revealed that, as of the second quarter of 2024, NAD membership was 1,268,572. However, with 390 million people in our territory,[1] much work still needs to be done. He referenced Pentecost (Acts 2) as a moment that elevated the disciples’ ministry. The Holy Spirit had already been working through them, but on the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 were converted as they received additional power for God’s work.

Bryant shared the NAD’s Pentecost 2025 initiative, inviting members and leaders to hold at least 3,000 proclamation initiatives. “So far, 3,600 churches have signed up to be part of Pentecost, praise the Lord,” he said to applause, adding that registration is open until December 31, 2024. 

“Pentecost is more than just an event. It’s a clarion call to God's people that we want to take it to the next level, to another level, and it's an admission that we can't do it in our own strength,” Bryant stated. He also acknowledged that “we don’t know where all the money is going to come from, but Pentecost is stepping out in faith and trusting in something we can’t see.”

He outlined three steps the NAD is taking to prepare for Pentecost 2025: 1) Praying for the Holy Spirit; 2) Live training webinars; and 3) Community engagement and digital sharing. 

Bryant underscored that Pentecost 2025 recognizes that “the world is in a different place than [it’s been] before, and we need extra strength, courage, power, and transformation.” 

He urged attendees to reject a hierarchical view of ministry and instead adopt the view promoted in this Ellen G. White quote, that “everyone can do something” for the kingdom:

“The work of God on this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers” (Gospel Workers, p. 341).

Bryant shared other initiatives, including church planting and public evangelism. He covered the Antioch initiative, which aims to impact metropolitan centers by focusing collective resources on those areas. Currently, Antioch pilot projects are underway in Dallas, St. Louis, and New York.

He then reminded attendees of the division’s assets, spanning seven media outlets, a call center, elementary and high schools, 13 universities and colleges, about 6,670 congregations (churches and companies),[2] more than 65 camps, several health care systems, and much more. Bryant also noted that several of our media ministries were helping prepare churches for Pentecost 2025 [see resources below]. 

Then, as typical in his reports, Bryant cast a vision by asking, what if …

• We had division, union, and local conference resources collaborate and collide in one place at once?
• We had an intentional, systematic mentorship program at every level of the church?
• We ensured all of our media ministries are featured weekly in our metro areas? 

Additional “what if” questions covered strategically combining resources and establishing centers of influence for health, food distribution, training, transitional housing, and counseling.

Finally, with pictures of his evangelism efforts in Papua New Guinea and San Francisco on display, Bryant remarked that wherever we are in the world, “People will respond to the gospel of Christ if we mingle with them, reach out to them and then say, ‘follow me.’”

“We can do this by the power of God's Spirit, by the transforming of God's Spirit on our hearts; and we can do it together in mission. Let’s go and do it!” Bryant concluded. His audience of engaged leaders approved the report with applause and a resounding “Amen.”

View the full president's report at this link. 

Additional Resources and Links

Click here to view the NADYEM on the NAD website, here for Facebook, and here for YouTube.

Visit pentecost2025.com for registration, resources, and information on this NAD initiative. 

Visit pentecost.vop.com for a Pentecost 2025 plan for churches and schools. Register for training at vopconference.com.

Click here for It is Written’s Pentecost 2025 resources.

Click here for Pentecost 2025 training and Bible study resources. 

Click here for Pacific Press resources.

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