As the hundreds of delegates from Northern California Conference’s 153 churches and companies gathered at the Sacramento Capitol City church for the 2008 midterm constituency meeting, they were welcomed by a piano solo played by Jonathan Doram. “It’s a little nerve-racking,” said Doram, an eighth-grader from Sacramento Adventist Academy. “It was fun. I was happy I didn’t mess up really badly.”
The music continued with two songs performed by the SAA Junior High Handbell Choir. “It was a privilege to be invited,” said Nina Negretti, music teacher for K-12 at SAA. “It was exciting to start off. I was proud of how well they played.”
Roy Ice, chaplain of Pacific Union College, gave the morning’s devotional message, where he challenged those in attendance to be intentionally aware of God’s power and presence, and to be open to His guidance in the day’s business matters.
After Reginald Horton, the new senior pastor of the Capitol City church, officially welcomed all of the attendees, NCC Executive Secretary Marc Woodson announced that 443 delegates had arrived, which meant there was a quorum and business could be conducted.
Jim Pedersen, NCC president, then addressed the delegates and gave the president’s report. He described how the conference has a tremendous opportunity to do something awesome for the Kingdom of God. Pedersen gave an update on the mission projects that were initiated at the conference-wide convocation in September 2007, specifically stating that $350,000 of the $1 million goal has been raised. He also said that a group from the conference would be going on the first mission trip to Mozambique in June and would send out a report on the project upon their return. Pedersen concluded by echoing the challenge he made at the 2007 convocation and said, “It’s time to do the work of God — we must be willing to follow him fully.”
After Pedersen finished, Woodson presented the executive secretary’s report. He described the various changes in membership numbers, as well as changes that have occurred to churches themselves, such as changes in names or locations. He, too, laid down a challenge that while membership numbers are good, they could be even better. “Isn’t it a wonderful privilege that God has given to us? He could have used angels, but he used us,” he said. “May we see the Kingdom of God expand.”
John Rasmussen, NCC treasurer, then gave the treasurer’s report, in which he explained the various percentages of how each tithe dollar is spent. While highlighting the fact that tithe has been going up, the report showed that the slight increase over the past two years was significantly below the inflation factor. Thus, in 2007, the conference’s expenses required the use of some reserve funds.
Once the three reports had been given, two agenda items were presented to the delegates for voting. The first, a proposal to merge the Northern California Conference and the Northern California Conference Association, passed by an overwhelming majority. The second item, a proposal to look into changing communication methods for delegates between constituency meetings, failed 103 to 202.
A third agenda item, regarding the Adventist education benefits of constituent churches, was deferred to the afternoon’s education summit, and the session adjourned at 11:53 a.m. for lunch.
A large majority of those in attendance stayed after lunch for a very important event — the NCC Education Summit. The summit began with Pedersen explaining that the afternoon would be a momentous occasion, because the summit would result in recommendations that could permanently benefit Adventist education in the NCC. Berit von Pohle, NCC education superintendent, then addressed the delegates and gave an overview of the current state of Adventist education in Northern California.
She reported that during the previous school year, 160 students from NCC schools were baptized. She stressed the fact that the NCC employs very committed teachers, that the schools instill beneficial Adventist values, and that the students continue to learn in a safe environment. She explained how students are given opportunities not only to learn about Jesus in the classroom, but also to serve those in need on His behalf, both in their local communities and around the world. Von Pohle cited a recent North American Division fundraising campaign for AIDS orphans in Africa as an example, where the NAD had given the NCC a $4,500 goal and the conference’s schools ended up raising over $12,000. She went on to highlight that a recent survey of the quality of Adventist education, called CognitiveGenesis, showed that students in Adventist schools receive a superior education. It also showed that the comparison of CogAt and ITBS test results, two nationally recognized standardized tests, show that students at Adventist schools performed far better than students at public schools. “To see the consistently high scores of our students regardless of school or class size confirms the academic value of Seventh-day Adventist education,” said von Pohle.
After von Pohle finished her presentation, the attendees separated into three discussion groups, each led by one conference administrator and one education administrator. After about two hours of discussing the assigned topic and its various problems and their possible solutions, the three groups reunited. The groups’ leaders then presented several of the discussion groups' top ideas to the general assembly.
Once all of the various ideas had been presented, Pedersen concluded the summit by promising that the hard work that went into the ideas would not be wasted. He said that each comment and idea that had been written down would be taken to the various committees for further review and more in-depth research. Pedersen said he was aware that there was still a lot of work to be done regarding the improvement of Adventist education in the NCC, but he was very pleased with the results of the summit. “It was a good day to be able to connect with God’s people from around the territory of the Northern California Conference” said Pedersen. “And the discussion that was generated at the Education Summit is something that, I believe, has set us on the road toward some long term benefits for Christian education.”
