A Communiqué from the Office of the President
June 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 Still, Small Voice of Reason"
Elijah part 22
“So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of The Cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, what are you doing here Elijah? And he said I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. Then the Lord said to him go return your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also, you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” 1 Kings 19:13-17 NKJV
After God demonstrates his amazing power in nature He speaks to Elijah in a still small voice. Elijah immediately realizes whose voice it is. He doesn't argue or ask who it was that was talking to him he just begins to share his pain with God. God then speaks to him in a still small voice, in a gentle way, and explains to him that he (Elijah) was never alone on this journey. God shares that there were 7,000 people who did not bow down to the false prophets or the false gods. God also shows Elijah that He had never left him, that God himself was always there right beside Elijah through the midst of his trials, his doubts, his temptations, and even his great struggles.

God was teaching Elijah that His normal way of communicating was not through lightning bolts nor earthquakes, but in a gentle, quiet way. There is no question that God was present and speaking in a specific way through all of the supernatural events. Elijah, being “a man just like us" had come to depend upon those emotionally moving experiences to affirm God's presence in his life and ministry.

This is God's normal way of dealing with His children, you and I included. He speaks to us in a still quiet way. Sometimes it's through a Bible verse and other times it is through an encouraging word from a friend. God is never judgmental or attacking in the way He works with His people. It is His desire to have an open dialogue with His children.

I love the way Isaiah puts it in Isaiah 1:18, “Come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” In this passage God is speaking to us as “sinners” and says come let us reason together. He is not judgmental and He is not angry. He is simply trying to open a dialogue that could save us for all eternity. The Message Bible puts it this way “Come. Sit down. Let's argue this out. This is God's message, if your sins are blood red, they'll be snow white. If they're red like Crimson, they'll be like wool. If you'll willingly obey, you'll feast like kings.”
May was an amazingly busy travel month both in conference and out. I was blessed to be in the office the entire first week of the month with the usual meeting schedule. I was also asked to be the staff worship speaker for that week as well. It is always great to have our staff together for a short time of worship and prayer each morning and it always gives us a boost to start our busy days.
The weekend of May 5th and 6th I had the privilege of participating in the inauguration of the Stronghold Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cochise, Arizona. I praise the Lord for the lay leadership and the work of pastors Ricardo Biscardo and Villamor Meriales who got this church off the ground. What a blessing to have a building purchased and a place to worship. May God bless this church in a special way, as it reaches out to its community. The conference was well represented by Pastors Ray Navarro and Van Bledsoe, as well as Treasurer Reggie Leach and Communication Director Jeff Rogers.
The following week May 8 through 12 I was in the office just for Monday and part of Tuesday because the rest of the week I was at the La Sierra University Board Meeting. During that week I also had meetings in Arizona by Zoom. With all the meetings stacked on top of other meetings I thank God for the strength He gives us to get this work done.

Then on May 13 I was a part of another very special celebration at the Mesa Palms Seventh-day Adventist Church for the ordination of Pastor Vincent Woolsey to the gospel ministry. It was so great to be at this church and see one of our leaders being officially recognized by the conference and the world church for the gift of ministry God has placed upon him.
The week of May 16 to 19 I was at the Pacific Union Conference President's Council and Executive Committee. Since my birthday fell during that week the leaders of the Union sang happy birthday to me. It is a blessing to work for God in his church and my friends in this Union have been so kind to me. May God continue to bless them in their part of the vineyard.

Then the week of May 21 through 24 was our Arizona Conference Corporation Committee Week. I'm so thankful for my fellow officers Reggie Leach and Ray Navarro for their help in conducting these meetings. We meet like this every two months and it is a very long week, however God seems to always show up and do amazing things for us in these meetings.
On May 25 I had the privilege of speaking at the Cochise Seventh-day Adventist School Graduation in Bisbee, Arizona. It was a blessed event to be a part of this graduation of five precious students from one of our smaller schools in the conference. God has truly blessed that school with great lay leadership along with our head teacher Juliebee Roberts and her staff who conducted a wonderful ceremony. The graduation took place at the home of Steve and Sandra Spooner whose home is like a Botanical Garden and was a beautiful setting for this special event. I was so pleased to see Elder Alvin Schnell and his wonderful wife at this event as well.
The final weekend of the month of May was consumed with the wonderful graduation events at Thunderbird Adventist Academy. It was great to be there for each of the services especially the Commencement Service that Saturday night. These 30 young people who graduated with their high school diplomas have the opportunity now of impacting their world for good. The speakers were awesome, which included pastor Zach Surovec, who is completing his master's degree at Andrews University, and Oliver Mirada who taught at Thunderbird Academy for 18 years. May God continue to bless them and their ministries as well. I am so thankful for the great things that are happening here in the Arizona Conference.
Camp Meeting is coming up and you will not want to miss that. We have awesome music and great speakers lined up to bring us into the presence of God at our beautiful Camp Yavapines.

Also, if you haven't had your kids register for youth camp yet this year please do so soon as time is running out. I believe this year's camp will not only be a place for your young people to experience Jesus in a real and living way but they will also have a great time of fellowship with fun activities.

May God continue to bless the Arizona Conference Family
*God has blessed and the weekly average tithe giving has increased over the prior year. In addition, Arizona Conference has been blessed by two generous tithe donations since the start of the year. These incredible gifts will grow opportunity for ministry in Arizona. Arizona Conference Administration acknowledges that these gifts reflect a higher-than-average tithe giving statistic and will take that into consideration when making fiscal decisions for the future of the church in Arizona. 
Reaching Hearts and Changing Lives
Patti, a viewer in Tucson, called to get our TV guide and to learn how she can start giving to help support Good News TV. She tells us that, "Your ministry really has been a blessing to my life, and a real reminder of Who I need to keep my mind focused on! I keep the channel on 24 hours/day when I don't have something else going on. I just want to thank you so much. God bless you."

Antulio Espinoza, pastor of our Spanish churches in the Yuma area, would like to share about 3 more GNTV Latino viewers that are joining his church this coming Sabbath.
Brother Eduardo, can't read or write, so he depends on television to know God. He has been watching the GNTV Latino channel for a long time. He has the channel on his TV practically all day, where he learned about food, health, doctrines of the Bible, and much more. A friend of Eduardo's, who occasionally attended the Adventist Church, invited him to start attending with him. Now they both attend the church together. Our church Bible worker, Leandro de la Cruz, started studying with Eduardo, and they are now on lesson 15. In the middle of a conference at church, Eduardo came forward to be baptized, and he will be baptized this coming Sabbath.
Sister Eva has watched the channel for a long time. She called the channel, and the channel receptionists (who are very kind) sent me her contact information. We went and visited Eva at her house. She is an older person, and she began to go to church soon after. She also began to study with brother Leandro. She is advanced in her Bible studies, and informed us this week that she wants to be baptized. so she will also be baptized this Sabbath.
Sister Mary Magdalene also came to our church from watching GNTV Latino. She watched the channel at her house almost all day, and she started coming to church in a walker, One day she had an accident and fell in the bathroom of her home. She could not get up, so laid on her side for two days without eating, until her daughter came to look for her. She had a challenging time, but she managed to recover. She was put in a rehab facility, and was sad because she couldn't watch the channel there. The church bought an antenna, and the Biblical worker and pastor installed it in the hospital for her. Now she is very happy again. She will be accepted by Profession of Faith this Sabbath.

We thank God for what he does for people through Good News TV to reach more and more people in our community.

Camp Meeting in Prescott is Coming Again!

Good News TV is honored to bring the life-changing messages of Arizona Camp Meeting 2023. We hope you can join us at Camp Yavapines in person. But if not, GNTV is honored to live-stream Camp Meeting, both English (June 9-17) and Spanish (June 19-24) at:


All meetings that take place under the Pavilion--from early morning through the evening--will be streamed via the website above. Additionally, the meetings will also all be streamed on our FREE Good News TV app, found on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and your Android or Apple phone. Additionally, it will be live streamed through the AZ Conference website. See the Camp Speaker Schedule for times and topics.

Antenna TV viewers will also be able to enjoy the live broadcast of the 7pm meetings on our 8 TV stations throughout Arizona.

Local Arizona Churches: We want to encourage as many people to attend Camp Meeting in person as possible. But many churches will also be providing our Good News TV live stream for Sabbath School and Worship services so that those in their congregations who can't attend will still be able to participate.

English worship services will be on June 10 17, while Spanish will be June 24. Check with your church to find out if they will be hosting the Camp Meeting experience!

DVDs and thumb drives will be available for each program, with the proceeds going to help GNTV offset some of the production costs.

We are thankful for our 30 faithful English and Spanish volunteer production crew members, who give of themselves to help make this possible!

For questions call us at 480-264-1116
TAA Graduation

Good News TV is honored to live stream the 2023 TAA graduation last weekend. We could not have done it without our many faithful volunteers!

You can watch by clicking the image to the right >>>

Ongoing Tower Site Upgrades

We are visiting each of our TV stations throughout Arizona to implement changes that with improve image quality, enable us to remotely monitor the stations and solve problems, and upgrade equipment to stay compliant with FCC requirements.

The cost for these various necessary upgrades will be about $9,000 per site, some more. This is requiring one or more visits to Flagstaff, Verde Valley/Camp Verde, Yuma, Bullhead City/Needles/Laughlin, Prescott, Payson, Tucson and Phoenix.

Do you have a heart for people in one or more of these communities? If so, can you please consider giving a special gift to help us with one or more of these sites? Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

Please pray for this endeavor, and please contact us at 480-264-1116 to help financially with one or more of these locations.

Please support us so we can reach more viewers like Patti, Eduardo, Eva and Mary 

God bless you,
Luke Skelton
Director, Media Ministry
480-264-1116
.Sunday 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Monday – Wednesday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Thursday 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Friday & Saturday Closed
 
480.991.8501
We are also available for curbside pick-up or local Phoenix area delivery.
 
Over the last eight years with God’s blessings, Arizona SonShine has been able to serve over 9000 individuals with over Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000.00) in free medical, dental, legal, and vision services, in 2 countries, five counties in Arizona, and 15 events to date.

Stepping forward in faith, we are asking you to save the following dates for service in the remainder of 2023. Registration is now open at ArizonaSonshine.com
  • Prescott Valley. June 8-9
  • Payson. October 5-6
Finally, if you are unable to attend in person, we ask that you support us in prayer by registering as a prayer warrior for one or all events. We saw first hand in Casa Grande the immense power of prayer.

This year at Camp Meeting the Arizona Conference Administration have set a goal of $50,000.
All of the offerings throughout the 2023 Camp Meeting are marked for Arizona Advance. 
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-Ed Keyes, President
-Ray Navarro, Executive Secretary
-Reggie Leach, Treasurer

Information: 480-991-6777