One day in February 2024 an unusual assortment of North American Division leaders walked into the president’s office. Those represented included the Ministerial Association, vice presidents, the president’s office, Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI), Professional Services, and communication. Most did not know what the meeting was about; with searching looks on their faces, they took their seats. 

I was one of the “most.” While all of us at some point or another have worked together, I could not recall a time this particular grouping had ever assembled. I sat in one of the chairs set in a circle and mentally ticked through a list of topics. Camporee? Year-End Meeting? Leadership Council?  Each possibility didn’t quite match the gathering; none of my musings matched the meeting topic. And although it was an inauspicious start, a tiny acorn sprouted into something big and exciting.

After prayer and an exchange of pleasantries, the leaders looked to president G. Alexander Bryant. “What do you all remember about Pentecost?” he asked. Typical answers surfaced referencing the Acts 2 account. “What if we were to do something like that at the NAD? What if we could get all our churches involved? What if we focused on prayer, outreach, and proclaiming the gospel message?”

Simple yet profound questions. 

An outline was handed out. Emblazoned across page 1 was the number 3,000, referencing the early church that, during Pentecost, rapidly grew in one day from 120 to 3,000 believers.

The fire was lit. I scrawled notes. Thinking. Listening. Not accustomed to being in a room with so many impassioned pastors, I marveled at their ability not only to pontificate on the theme but to articulate the deep need in the world, in the church, in the members, in themselves. With energy I’m not accustomed to seeing, we prayed again. Then we started to lay out what Pentecost 2025 could look like in North America. How each member could be involved.

That day I assisted in planning the name, the landing page, the website, the messaging, the call to action. Together we helped shape the words explaining what the division hopes to accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was a good start: “The Pentecost serves as a reminder of the call to engage in mission and evangelism. This is not merely a historical event but a clarion call for us, as Seventh-day Adventists, to prayerfully carry the everlasting gospel to every corner of the earth, starting here in North America. . . . Let us, with renewed zeal, embrace the mission, proclaim the distinctive truths entrusted to us, and embody the love of Christ in a world hungering for hope and wholeness.”

As we marched through 2024, the plans and processes took firmer shape. Training events were added in and by unions, conferences, and churches. The division filmed webinars to encourage and prepare members with sessions on holding Bible studies and prayer meetings, conducting outreach events, preparing for a proclamative evangelistic series, and multiple sessions on prayer. The first-ever NAD livestream prayer meeting in January 2025 grew from the need to keep prayer the top priority and remind us all that Pentecost is not a “one and done” event.

Our group has continued to meet, to plan, to pray, to dream. Though all were (and are) inadequate alone, together with God and His Holy Spirit we recognize that we can change the world. 

The “what if?” questions persist. What if we humbly and sincerely ask for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s power? What if we continue to make it less about the numbers and more about the inviting, the following, the doing? What will happen if we allow the Lord’s transformative grace and transformative power to work in us?