World Church: Center for World Evangelism Voted, Finley Tapped As Director
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Seeking to expand the opportunities for the Seventh-day Adventist Church to reach and win those who do not know Jesus as Savior, the church's annual business session voted Oct. 13 to create a Center for World Evangelism, which will be based at the world headquarters. |
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From left: Mark and Ernestine Finley, Adventist church secretary Matthew Bediako, and church president Jan Paulsen.
Seeking to expand the opportunities for the Seventh-day Adventist Church to reach and win those who do not know Jesus as Savior, the church's annual business session voted Oct. 13 to create a Center for World Evangelism, which will be based at the world headquarters.
Pastor Mark A. Finley, speaker/director of the "It Is Written" global Adventist television broadcast, was nominated and elected as both a field secretary for the world church and as director of the evangelism center.
"Our vision for the Center for World Evangelism is to stimulate creative ideas on the part of the [church's] regions by providing training events in evangelism and outreach," Finley, an award-winning telecaster who has hosted "It Is Written" for 13 years, told ANN in an interview. "We see the center as a stimulus for multifaceted actions to reach the largest number of people for Christ and the kingdom of God."
Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, told delegates at the annual business meeting that he had been speaking with Finley "for the past three or four years" about ways to extend the evangelist's work within the church. Paulsen said Finley will begin his position Jan. 1, 2004, while continuing for a time with his "It Is Written" responsibilities.
"My transition [from "It Is Written"] will be a soft transition over a period of time," Finley told ANN. "I will continue as speaker/director for the foreseeable future. Our first task will be to choose an associate speaker, who over time will be brought along" to take the reins, he added.
To Finley, evangelism does not merely consist of large public events, where hundreds and thousands often are baptized into the church. While those will continue--and, he says, will provide forums where he can train pastors and lay leaders in evangelistic skills--he sees outreach as more than that.
"I see evangelism as reaching men and women for Christ in the broadest possible way in their cultural context," Finley said. "This includes one-to-one witnessing, small groups and a plethora of events. In addition, I see my role as a partnership with [church regions] not only in baptizing people, but in nurturing them as members."
Mark Finley and his wife, Ernestine, have conducted more 100 evangelistic series that have spanned the globe, and his sermons have been translated into more than 50 languages. In his efforts to reach people all over the world, Finley became a pioneer of satellite evangelism technology. As a result, millions attended his satellite evangelistic campaigns, NET '95, NET '96 and ACTS 2000. In March of 2003, he presented a new satellite series about the life of Jesus titled, "A Man for All Time--The Incomparable Christ."
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