HOW GOD USED THE ADVENTIST CHURCH TO AFFECT MY LIFE

by Mike Cauley, D.Min.
Florida Conference President
I was reflecting recently about how good God has been to me. It is amazing. I love Him for picking me up from a very hard situation when I was a teenager and blessing my life in ways that I could never have dreamed. I feel that I owe everything to Jesus and how He has used the Seventh-day Adventist Church in my life. In what ways did God do this?
He sent a Florida Conference pastor and Bible worker to my home to study with me and encourage me to attend an Adventist boarding academy. He used Bible Conferences at Camp Kulaqua to lead me to an experience of deeper surrender and prepare me to accept a call to the ministry. He used Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University) to help me be prepared for the gospel ministry and to introduce me to Dottie!
Later, He provided further education through the Seminary at Andrews University. He enabled me to do evangelistic work with my church members and to lead men and women to Jesus and be baptized. Finally, He has given me the privilege of serving the Church as a local conference leader; to have some part in a movement that operates the strongest missionary enterprise, including Christian education and health care, among any protestant denomination in the world. It is amazing to me how God has used the Seventh-day Adventist Church to affect my life and so many others.
This all was made possible—all of the things I mentioned above—because of the tithing system. Tithe changes lives. It changed mine, and it is still working today.
Through this system of finance, both returning tithe as well as local and global giving, Florida Conference is enabled to operate Camp Kulaqua, the most utilized Adventist Camp/Retreat facility in the Adventist world. This system of finance made possible the recent NET series and other evangelistic programs in our churches. It enables the Mission to the Cities emphasis which is resulting in training for church members and pastors for reviving their churches and carrying forth the mission. Mission to the Cities has brought scores of people to Jesus this year.
This system of finance, unique to Seventh-day Adventists, has enabled the opening of a new school in Tallahassee. It enables us to assist schools with 40% of the teacher costs so that all the expenses for operating a Christian school doesn’t have to be borne locally.
So, I want to say thank you. Thanks to those who were faithful in years past. It changed me forever. And thank you to all of our members who made possible a miracle in the lives of men, women, boys, and girls in 2014. Your faithfulness and our system of church finance is still changing lives.