At the Hawaii Conference Constituency Session in Honolulu on Sept. 24, delegates re-elected Ralph S. Watts III as president for the next four years. Watts came to the Hawaii Conference in March. The delegates also re-elected Ronald A. Lindsay as treasurer and executive secretary. One new church was voted into the fellowship — Oahu Hispanic — the first Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist church in the Hawaii Conference.

The progress report for the last four years was a mixture of good and bad news. The good news was about people: 1,659 people have joined the Adventist church in Hawaii between 2002 and 2005, including 690 who joined by baptism. On paper, that was nearly offset by 1,615 people whose names were removed from membership. But that is misleading, said Lindsey, because in the last four years, most of the churches in Hawaii, in an effort to reduce insurance costs, removed the names of members who haven’t attended for many years. In spite of the membership list clean-up, membership increased from 5,799 to 5,843.

Also in the good news, tithe — the donations that support ministers and ministry — increased 22 percent during the last four years, among the highest in the North American Division, according to Lindsey.

The bad news was about expenses: the conference lost money each of the last four years. “But the ship has been turned around,” reported Lindsey. “As of Aug. 31, 2006, the bottom line is better than budget by $43,000, medical costs are better than budget, and a plan is in place to eliminate ABC losses.”

“My dream for the next four years,” said Watts, “is that every Adventist in Hawaii has a passion to reach one person for Jesus during the next four years.”