by Mike Cauley, D.Min.
Florida Conference President
I was recently energized by two experiences. The first was several weeks ago in celebrating the organization of Lighthouse Ministries into a church mission group. It was so inspiring to witness this group of young adults who have committed themselves to become agents for transforming lives through the gospel.
In addition, I was especially encouraged that the Florida Living congregation was the sponsoring entity. To see these older members who love the Lord and His church so much, committed to encourage, mentor, and pray for these younger missionaries, was a wonderful experience. Only in the Church would you ever see folks from a previous generation in such solidarity with a group of younger people around a common, glorious cause—spreading the gospel and good news that Jesus is coming again!
The second experience was on the heels of that Sabbath. The following week, I embarked on a short-term mission trip to Guam to hold evangelistic meetings. The Guam-Micronesia Mission was recently made a part of North American Division. Several administrators from North America converged on this field to hold evangelistic efforts across the islands as a gesture of welcome to the Division. I was privileged to take part through an outside donation.
I was assigned to conduct reaping meetings at a newly planted church mission group in the northern part of this island that is only 35 miles long. Night after night, I saw the Holy Spirit work to change lives and see people come to Jesus. The smiles of joy and satisfaction on the faces of men, women, and teenagers linger vividly in my mind. It was a beautiful experience when we saw 35 people baptized in the Pacific Ocean on Sabbath, September 14,
Two church plants—one in Central Florida and the other in Guam—are both about seeing God change lives. This is our purpose. This is the reason that God called the Seventh-day Adventist Church into existence.
Beginning in 2014, Florida Conference is launching an initiative called Mission To the Cities. The focus will center on a section of the Conference each year for five years to help pastors and congregations with their mission and support the planting of new churches. The regions we will target are:
- 2014: Miami
- 2015: West Palm Beach/Fort Lauderdale
- 2016: Tampa/Naples
- 2017: North Florida
- 2018: Central Florida
Facilitating the work of evangelism and church planting is the reason that Conferences were organized at the beginning of the Adventist movement and, by the grace of God, what we will re-embrace as our focus. May God bless us as we keep our vision focused upon the heart of our movement and calling.