Across the Seventh-day Adventist Church landscape, Growing Young Adventists is being shared with congregations, pastors, local church leaders, ministry professionals, educators, and church administrators. Throughout the North American Division and beyond, the interest grows for loving next generations better, and making our church the best place for all generations to grow.
Here is a limited sampling of the plethora of presentations being made, either directly teaching about #GYA or sharing Growing Young commitments.
Southwestern Union in partnership with the Texas Conference hosted a series of Growing Together Summits featuring GYA Certified Speakers, Pastors Guadalupe Montour and Benjamin Lundquist.
Younger Generation Church, the vibrant young adult ministry of the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church in Texas, has hosted a couple of sermon series featuring Growing Young Adventists. YG’s Teaching Pastor, A. Allan Martin, offered an introductory sermon entitled, Growing Young in Jesus. A full transcript of Dr. Martin’s sermon is available in the General Conference Youth Department’s Youth Leader Magazine. Other notable presenters in the series include Texas Conference Youth/Young Adult Ministries Director, Paulo Tenorio; Underground Youth Pastor, Danny Cano; Canyon Creek Project Campus Pastor, Peter Casillas; and UG Mentor/YG Worship Leader, Christian Aparicio.
Youth leader, Sharee Patrick provided the sermon at Dandenong Adventist Church in Victoria, Australia as part of a special weekend giving focus to Growing Young.
The Meadow Glade Seventh-day Adventist Church, one of several Adventist churches participating in the Growing Young Cohort, held a series of sermons exploring the #GYA core commitments. Pastor Jana Lee presented “Warm Community.” Pastor David Smith presented “Empathy.” Pastor Jackie James presented: “Who is My Neighbor,” “Unlocked,” “Prioritize Everywhere,” and “Taking the Message of Jesus Seriously.”
Azure Hills Youth Pastor, Nick Snell shared Growing Young Adventists in his sermon on passing faith to the next generation, “Half a Generation.”
On January 25-26 a weekend gathering of Kansas City area churches from the Kansas-Nebraska Conference, Iowa-Missouri Conference, and the Central States Conference met to help make our churches a home for younger generations. The 2019 Kansas City Convocation’s theme was “Better Together,” over the weekend a series of speakers shared ways to make the local church more conducive to keeping younger generations around longer and build a stronger community, together. In all, we had a TON of people attend from over 20 churches throughout the Kansas City area. It was a true blessing to see God work through our combined efforts on behalf of the Kansas City area. We really are better together! At the convocation, Kansas-Nebraska Youth/Young Adult Ministries Director, Pastor Tim Floyd presented Growing Young Adventists.
Loma Linda University Church, one of several Adventist congregations involved with the Growing Young Cohort, held a series entitled, “Generations.” Pastor Joey Oh also conducted an interview with Growing Young co-author, Jake Mulder, to introduce the congregation to the #GYA commitments.
At the Global Youth Leaders Congress held in Kassel, Germany, Dr. A. Allan Martin introduced Adventist youth leaders from around the world to #GYA Keychain Leadership as part of the congress emphasis on iCOR. Find his presentation at the 1:45 mark following an introduction by Pastor Armando Miranda. Additionally, Dr. Martin presented a workshop on Growing Young Adventists, captured as part of GC Youth Ministries’ podcast.
Pastor Shantel Smith, one of the NAD’s Growing Young Adventists Certified Speakers, introduces #GYA at the division’s evangelism and leadership summit, eHuddle. Find her presentation at the 1:36 mark, following an introduction by Pastor Armando Miranda.
Loma Linda University Church Young Adult Pastor, Filip Milosavljevic was the guest speaker for “Your Story. Your God.” Youth Congress held in Toronto, Canada. A doctoral candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary, Filip’s Relevant Magazine article was among the first to give an overview of Growing Young, and he has since published a peer-reviewed book review on the same work.
The three-day congress afforded Pastor Filip opportunity to share #GYA in a series of presentations: “Will Faith Survive Another Generation?“; “Relevant Spirituality in the 21st Century“; and “The Mission-Minded Minority.”
More recently, Pastor Filip shared a presentation for Loma Linda University Church entitled, “Adventism and the Future of its Young People.”
At the Center for Secular and Postmodern Studies’ Reaching Millennial Generations Conference, an array of intriguing presentations and discussions were offered. In an interview article for the center, “Ministry Begins at Home,” Dr. A. Allan Martin offers the importance of Growing Young Adventists in fostering a missionally attractive and relationally engaging culture in the local church. As part of the conference, Martin managed to work the Growing Young commitments into his seminar, “Snoop Dogg, Dogma, & Spirituality: When Culture, Faith, and Society Collide, Combine, and/or Collaborate.”
Click above image for Growing Younger sermon podcast
Richland Seventh-day Adventist Church recently featured Growing Young Adventists in their Fall sermon series with senior pastor, Sergio Manente. They culminated the series with a church-retreat with Benjamin Lundquist.
Growing Together 