Arizona Connect - January 2023

A Communiqué from the Office of the President

January 2023

TOGETHER -- WE'RE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE ARIZONA CONFERENCE

It is a pleasure to share with Arizona constituents and friends the many wonderful things happening within our Conference. May you catch our vision for winning men and women, boys and girls to Jesus!

"The Prophet's Prayer and Fire From Heaven"

Elijah part 17

“And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me Oh Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are The Lord God, and that you have turned their hearts back to you again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 1Kings 18:36-38 NKJV

Finally, after a long day of watching the futile efforts of the false prophets, Elijah makes his move and begins with a special prayer. He calls on a God he has known his entire life. A God who he has watched perform miracles for God's people as well as for himself. With assurance Elijah walks to the altar and begins to pray. He knew that God would answer his prayer because God had promised. The lesson for us in this amazing story is that when you spend time with God you know what He is capable of doing. When you spend time with God in prayer and devotion you can count on His promises coming true.

And just so that no one could say that this wasn't God who answered the prayer Elijah had water poured over the altar. There was no way that a secret fire lit under the altar could spark such an amazing inferno. The magnitude of the fire shows that it was supernatural and that it had to come from God. The verse specifically says that it burnt the offering, the wood, the stones and even the dust and then licked up the water that was in the trench around the altar. There was no one in the audience that day who could argue that this was anything but divine intervention.

To me the most amazing thing about this story happens in verse 39. Notice what it says in the New King James version, “Now when all the people saw it they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, He is God, The Lord, He is God!” 1Kings 18:39

You might ask, “Why is that so amazing?” The reason is simple. When the people are shouting “The Lord He is God!” they're actually shouting Elijah’s name. The name Elijah means “My God is the Lord, or “My God is Yahweh.” From the time Elijah was born and named by his parents, his destiny was to bring people back from apostasy and rebellion to worship the true God.

This is one of the reasons why God's last days remnant people are said to have the Elijah message. The message of restoring people to true worship of the true God and bringing people to God and having Him restore them is a calling any true believer. It’s an awesome and heavy responsibility, but by the grace of God we can all do it. God provides the strength and ability for that calling just like He did for Elijah.

The first three days of the month of December I spent preparing for meetings, then participating in one of our Tucson area church services. The holiday festivities kicked off on December 4 when I had the privilege of being a part of our Annual Retiree Luncheon at the Arizona conference office. The meeting was well organized by Elder John and Susan Loor and my Executive Secretary Jacque Battistone along with the rest of their team. It was a lot of fun, and the fellowship was great.

The week of December 5 through 9 I was the worship leader for our staff worship. We also had several important meetings preparing for the new year. But the highlight of that week was our annual staff Christmas party on the evening of December 7. Our own Communication Director Jeff Rogers was very involved in planning this event, as well as his good friend Eva Gonzalez and her sons. The food was fabulous, I was greatly surprised to find out that Jeff is an accomplished chef. It was a lot of fun to fellowship with each other outside of our usual work environment.

This year was particularly great because Executive Secretary Elder Ray Navaro led out in transforming our office into the old Israel of the Nativity. The staff from each department took on a role and made their area one portion of Bethlehem. It was some set, with shepherds, wise men, tax collectors, and even officials of ancient Rome. One afternoon students from TCE walked over to visit the "Walk Through Bethlehem" experience.

On Sabbath December 10th I had the privilege of being a part of the Yuma Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder Sabbath. It was a wonderful program with the Pathfinder leaders and pathfinders themselves making up the entire program. For probably the first time in a dozen years or so I was not able to stay for lunch or the afternoon program because of other commitments I had that day. But praise the Lord for the strong Yuma Pathfinder group.

That afternoon I was at the Beacon Light church for the celebration of life of Elder Alvin LaCount. It is always hard to call a memorial service or a funeral service beautiful, however this one was especially touching. It was wonderful to hear how Elder Lacount led his life as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless his precious wife Marilyn, and their beautiful daughters and families, as they continue to grieve and miss Pastor LaCount.

Saturday evening December 10th I was blessed to be a part of Thunderbird Adventist Academy’s Annual Christmas Program. It was a beautiful service of music. The Bell Choir, Band, and Choir shared their talent with the full house that evening. They led us closer to Jesus with their beautiful music. May the Lord continue to bless the music program of our precious Academy here in Arizona, led by the amazing Talea Shupe. And, if you would like to help them purchase some more equipment, they greatly need another octave of bells for the bell choir. You can donate to that project on the TAA website.

On December 11th I was privileged to be a part of the Hispanic pastors Christmas party. It was a blessing to all who came for sure. Fun and games as well as great food. Our own Assistant Treasurer Luis Munoz played a trumpet duet with Pastor Chan Bonabel as part of the entertainment. I thank the Lord for the great leadership of this department under pastor Aby Escalante and his fabulous assistant Gaby Corella..

The following week I had a number of meetings with the Arizona conference, as well as Zoom meetings with the NAD and union. One of those meetings was our Arizona Scholarship Committee, which scared me a bit to see how low our tax credit funds are this year. With the new voucher that helps a lot of our young people attend our schools, many have felt it's not necessary to give to the tax credit as well. However, that is a misconception. We truly need those tax credit funds to help our young people stay in Adventist schools. Especially Thunderbird Adventist Academy. So, it's not too late to give your tax credit money so please be willing to help these young people continue in a Christian environment at an Adventist school.

December 17^th, I had the joy of participating In Adventist Worship Center’s 25^th anniversary service. It was awesome! The music was amazing and Elder Bobby McGhee had his usual cadre of musicians involved in the program highlighted by the closing set of songs delivered by the 3 Wiseman quartet (figure that one out, Haha) made up of Zack Smith, Keith Perrin, Chris Morris, and of course Bobby McGhee himself. We even had Elvis in the house. May God bless their ministry and the upcoming evangelism they will be doing with Dr. Steve Case. You’ll want to attend those meetings, Steve is an awesome presenter.

December 18 to 22 I spent mainly getting ready for 2023. I was in the office each of those days taking appointments, visiting with people. And having meetings as necessary.

The rest of the month from December 22 through December 31 I spent visiting my family in Alabama, and Tennessee. We also had the blessing of visiting with none other than Phil and Joey Draper. It was great to see our dear friends and they send their deepest regards to the AZC family. A number of people ask me about how they are doing, so just to give you a quick answer, I would say “Great!”

My daughter Becky and her husband Harrison are living in Birmingham AL and doing well. We got to spend time hiking, going out to eat, and putting together very difficult puzzles over the holidays. And, playing with their cool Boston terrier named Charlie. My son Andrew, and his wife Rhina are doing well also. With their two precious children Benji, and Emma. It is so fun to spend time with a three-year-old, and the one-year-old grandkid. You never know what kind of fun you'll get into. Christmas was truly special being with them this year.

Now as the Year 2023 begins I will quote a blessing for you from Numbers 6: 25-26 “The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

MONTH

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

YEAR TO DATE

WEEKS

AVERAGE/WEEK

2022

$1,182,937

$1,757285

$1,330,253

$15,146,382

$315,550

2021

$1,268,931

$1,477,695

$1,340,836

$14,781,053

$307,939

% CHANGE

-6.78%

18.92%

-.79%

2.47%

Massive Outreach throughout Phoenix

Late last year, an organization called Streams of Light organized a massive outreach into much of the Pheonix metropolitan area, with the objective of distributing the Great Controversy to as many families as possible.

In preparation for this, 70,000 Great Controversy books arrived at Glendale Church, where members of various English and Spanish churches came together to pray for our communities and insert promotional materials for the local churches as well as a Good News TV bookmark. These books were then packaged in clear plastic bags to be easily distributed door-to-door.

Following all of the packaging, on Friday, December 30, a group of over 1,700 Adventists, primarily youth and young adults attending the GYC Convention, headed out into the communities of Phoenix to distribute these hope-filled packages to households.

Johnny Henderson, coordinator for Streams of Light reported the following preliminary results:

42k+ families received these truth-filled packages on Friday, December 30th
315+ people signed up for Bible studies
Over 1,700 young people and church members went out
God was truly glorified.

This is not the end, but rather just the beginning. Now it is up to God and our Adventist church members, to work together follow up on these many Bible study contacts and more. Please pray for the hearts of those 42,000+ families who received these materials, to be touched by God as they open up the GC book, consider attending our churches, and check out GNTV on their TVs.

There were many testimonies that have already come in from this Great Controversy community outreach project, including this one...

Terri from Phoenix called Good News TV last Sabbath morning, the day after the books were delivered to tens of thousands of homes in the community. She saw our GNTV bookmark in the Great Controversy book which encourages people to watch the station and also to call us to find a church near them.

She told us that she felt that God was telling her that she needed to start going to church! We gave her the address and details of the church nearest her, (Desert Cove) and she went to worship that very same day. This was the first time she had ever been to a Seventh-day Adventist Church and she enjoyed herself, stayed for fellowship lunch. She said she would be back!

Good News TV is honored to be a part of this ongoing outreach to Phoenix!

Blessings of Yesterday. Plans for Tomorrow.

As we begin a new year, we pause to reflect with gratitude on the miracles the Lord wrought for the ministry in 2022. We are so thankful for each of you being part of the Good News TV family through your support and prayers, as well as your help in so many ways. We look forward to all the Lord has in store for reaching our communities for Christ in more and more effective ways throughout 2023.

To read our latest GNTV newsletter, please CLICK HERE.

THANK YOU for your prayers and support of Good News TV and GNTV Latino.

God bless,

Luke Skelton

Director, Media Ministry

480-264-1116

People around the world will be unifying their hearts together to the Lord in a special way for the "Ten Days of Prayer" January 11-21, 2023. Many wonderful materials to make this time a special blessing are available at the following link. The info can be customized for individuals, prayer teams, and church familes. If those dates do not work for you, then you can use the materials for a designated 10 days of your choice. As we begin the new year, may our homes, churches, and conference be known as a "Houses of Prayer"

Link: Ten Days of Prayer