President's Post
June 2019
Attending BASS Memorial Graduation is always really enjoyable for me. During Katherine Bowes' presentation, she spoke to each graduate personally, and only a teacher could do that, it was powerful! Principal Bowes gave me the honor to present each graduate with a beautiful Bible with their names engraved on the cover. Also, at the end of graduation I had the parents come up on the platform or students go out to be near their parents, and I had the dedication prayer. I absolutely loved that moment.
I have a trailer that I stay in during graduation and Camp Meeting. I have nine days that I’m in that trailer during this time period. It provides me and my ADCOM team a place to meet privately during this time. I always seem to get a lot of things done, if it is phone calls or writing, the time alone is productive. However it sure is good to go home when it is all done.
Camp meeting was terrific. We began on Wednesday evening in the gym with a young lady whose life had been so far from Jesus that it's a miracle she was here speaking to us. Only our loving Lord could be so merciful as to direct her to the Desire of Ages as the book she needed to read. It impacted her life and saved her not just for eternity, but saved her life literally here on earth. Her messages are available online at our website, www.gulfstatesconference.org it will direct you to our YouTube channel. Well worth your time.
Then on Friday and Sabbath, Pastor Mike Tucker took biblical stories that we are all familiar with and taught us the love of Jesus through the story that we had never seen. Pastor Tucker is fast becoming one of my favorite denominational speakers. My visits with him are always intriguing and I learn from him each time. He said; “My message is always the same, if it's Genesis thru Revelation I'm speaking on the love of God.” I’m so thankful he is one of our most visible speakers with the Quiet Hour, Mad About Marriage, and Faith For Today.
We were blessed by a concert from one of our favorite singers, Jennifer LaMountain. The people who attended told me over and over how much they love her. I know she is always a blessing.
Jennifer LaMountain
I have always promised you I would share my heart in the President’s Post. Here is what I’m praying and pondering about. I know we made changes a few years ago to our BASS Academy Camp Meeting. We reduced the time from nine days to four days. We did that because of the low attendance during the week. Several times during the week for morning devotionals and afternoon seminars there would only be 10-20 people and many of them would be our own employees. How can we fly someone in to speak or present to so few people? It provided a real problem. We could not justify having our pastors and us out of district and the office for so long. During the nine-day Camp Meeting, Sabbath attendance would be near 500+ people, especially the second Sabbath of the Camp Meeting. Now that we have one Sabbath together I find it puzzling that our attendance this year is only 355. I don’t know where everybody has gone? It’s not like they were with us during the week in previous years. Why would attendance drop by 150-200 people? We can’t provide better speakers; we have had some of the best in our denomination. We have had great health lectures with again, some of the best in our church. Our two-day Camp Meeting at Camp Alamisco that we began three years ago had 415 on Sabbath morning this year. I don’t know if our advertising for Camp Meeting isn’t good enough. We will look at that very carefully for next year. I think these four days at BASS or two days at Camp Alamisco are some of the best days of our year. We need to get the word out that if you miss them, you are really missing a blessing. And who doesn’t want to be blessed and encouraged? Please pray with me over this issue.
David Sigamani leads our Trust and Literature departments. He is out with young people selling our books. I still believe in Literature Evangelism. Last week he told me his team in Mobile sold $15,000 worth of books in their first week. Many of the books have been the Great Controversy and the Desire of Ages. Two of my favorites! He has four vans of young people totally invested in sharing our literature all up and down the Gulf Coast. Our books are invaluable to us and to see the commitment of these young people is so encouraging.
I am a part of the team doing evangelism in Opelika these next three weekends. Pastor Paul Kulakov has invited me, Martin Fancher, and Cary Fry to take turns sharing our message with the people of Opelika. We are all excited to present these truths we hold so dear.
Pastor Paul Kulakov
Until next time, God bless you and our entire Conference.
Dave
Prayer Summit 2019 - He Touched Me
The annual Prayer Summit invites all those that want a closer walk with Jesus. Powerful, spirit-filled messages are preached and participants are directed to make real what they have learned through the power of the Holy Spirit and intercessory prayer. The purpose of all annual Prayer Summits is to empower congregations and church members to pray without ceasing. At these summits, we are enriched by life-changing testimonies, small-group intercessory prayer, and spirit-filled anointing services. Let’s continue to make intercessory prayer a priority in our lives; praying for the lost; for our church families; our church leaders and the leadership of our respective conferences.
Who Should Attend: All who want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and experience renewed determination to make prayer a priority in their church, family and community are invited to attend.
Featured Speakers: Michel Rodriguez, Pastor for Gulf States Conference.
To guarantee your place, please register ASAP. Register online or call AdventSource at (800) 732-7587. AdventSource will process registrations for this event through August 27, 2019. All major credit cards accepted.
https://gscsda.org/prayer-events/2018/8/17/prayer-summit-kabmd
Friday, Aug 30, 2019, 03:00 PM
Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center, 1314 Shocco Springs Road, Talladega, AL, USA
Possibilities Ministry: Aspergers, ADHD, and Autism Spectrum
How can we best reach and teach those with Aspergers, ADHD, or are on the Autism Spectrum? Come and learn with us.
Reid Soria - "Autism Sings" - will have a spiritual concert in the afternoon, and his mother will share what it was like raising a child on the Autism Spectrum.
Saturday, Nov 2, 2019, 09:30 AM
Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, Mississippi 39, Meridian, MS, USA
Office of the President
Email: admin@gscsda.org
Website: gscsda.org
Location: 10633 Atlanta Highway, Montgomery, AL, USA
Phone: 3342727493
Facebook: facebook.com/gulfstatesconference
Twitter: @gscsda