Yami Bazan, president of Union Adventist University, kicked off the North American Division’s Year-End Meeting on Friday, November 1, 2024, with a message centered on the “preparing” part of the week’s theme of “Preparing for the Pentecost.” 

She recounted a youth and young adulthood full of calendars, schedules, scripts, timelines, goals, and plans. She wanted to be ready, just as God asked.

“The call was not what I thought,” Bazan admitted. “I thought I needed to be ready for an event; for an eternity I could help others plan for, too. But what we call ‘ready and waiting’ is actually the act of living. Living in Jesus.”

Pentecost is about transformation, and transformation requires surrender, Bazan pointed out. “It’s not about obedience, it’s about trust,” she said. “If I trust, I surrender.” She shared that though there is nothing wrong with timelines and plans and scripts, they’re like Moses’ staff.

“The point of the story isn’t the staff; the point is what happens with the staff when you hand it over,” she concludes. “Rather than hold onto my plan and ask Him to bless it, I release my plan and ask how I enter into His.”

Worship closed with small groups gathering to pray together, asking the Holy Spirit to lead them as they lead in the church. “Help us surrender,” prayed Leon Brown, vice president for the Pacific Union Conference. “Help us remember it’s not our will, but Yours.”

A Transformation Testimony

Marcellus Robinson, president for Columbia Union Conference, gave the worship talk on Sunday, November 3, for day three of the NAD Year-End Meeting. He shared the story of how he came to the church as a teenage boy, after his mother returned from a trip a changed woman. 

“When she walked in the door we all knew something was different,” Robinson recalled. “She was cheerful, smiling, and calm. We told her we liked what we saw and wanted to know what had happened.” What had happened was God. Robinson’s mother had attended an evangelistic series and responded to the altar call. All the way to the front of the room, she prayed to God to take away her craving for cigarettes, and by the time she reached the front, Robinson related, she found her taste for them was gone.

“We watched our mother burn a brand new pack of her favorite cigarettes in the driveway,” he said. “I ran to my room, fell on my knees, and said, ‘Lord, I want what my mama has.’”

At age 15, Robinson went from no faith to serving as junior elder and preaching in front of the entire congregation of a church he had just joined. 

“This was my journey to God,” he said. “I didn’t know Him at all, but He knew me, He had plans for me, and He was going to put me to work for Him.” And it all came about because of prayer; prayer of his mother, the pastor, the church, and even Robinson himself. And, he concluded, God has prayed for each of us, as well.

“Even before you had a thought, God had a plan to save you,” he said. “Jesus was killed for us, and then ascended to intercede for us. To pray for us. Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you as wheat. But don’t worry about him. Jesus says, ‘Remember, I have prayed for you.’ He’s got you. You’re going to be alright.”

Passion; Possibility; Power

“My brothers and sisters, come with me to Ephesus,” invited Abraham Jules, president of the Atlantic Union Conference. “Permit your senses to experience the beauty of this maritime city. See its magnificence as you stroll through the busy streets lined with grand temples and bustling marketplaces.” Painting an immersive picture of the city, Jules transported everyone in the room to the streets of Ephesus in the time of Paul.

Then Jules made three observations of Paul and his context which Jules believes are still applicable today:

• Paul and the disciples had a passion for the mission;
• Paul and the disciples saw possibility for the mission; and
• Paul and the disciples had power for the mission.

When Paul had found the disciples in Ephesus, the Bible says he asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit, and they responded they had not heard of the Holy Spirit. “They didn’t react arrogantly or get offended,” Jules pointed out. “They didn’t say they repelled innovation and resisted change. They were willing to be baptized, to step into the dynamic possibilities that the Spirit presents.”

Jules concluded that still today, we need the filling and work of the Holy Spirit. Though we can do many things without it — even win souls, have piety, and love our neighbors — Jules says that without the Holy Spirit, “our understanding will remain incomplete, our ministry will remain inadequate, and our efforts will remain insufficient. God has power, and He’s able to fill you with His spirit and give you boldness.”

The energy in the room built to a fever pitch as Jules came to a close, while “Amen!” and “Yes!” and “Well!” were called out with intensity in response to Jules’ powerful message. He finished with an altar call, and G. Alexander Bryant, president of the NAD, offered a final closing prayer.

“Father, we bow in your presence and acknowledge in our bowing our deep need for You,” Bryant prayed. “The work is too great; the challenges are too many. We need your Holy Spirit power. Thank You for what You’ve done to bring us this far, and for what You will do to take us home. Fill us, oh Lord, with Your Spirit. Amen.”