ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE
Greeley Church Initiates Art Class in Preparation for Catch 2020 Outreach n preparation for the Catch 2020 evangelism thrust in northern Colorado, the Greeley Church creative events are raising awareness about the outreach series in the community. In hope of inviting community members to the evangelistic meetings, the evangelistic team decided to be creative. “As we were brainstorming I started thinking about paint parties that are so popular right now and I thought, Why couldn’t we do that here?” said Grace Logan, member of the team. Philip Castillo, a member of the Greeley Church, is an
artist who also teaches classes at the local Adventist school. It only made sense to ask him to teach the class, and he was willing to help out. Church members were encouraged to come to the bridge event on Dec. 15, 2019, but there was one requirement: they had to bring a guest. “We decided to make it a Christmas paint party so we could give away our paintings as gifts,” said Logan. “There were only 16 seats available, and they filled up quickly. It was such a fun environment and we were able to get to know the guests in a nonthreatening atmosphere. All the
Photos Courtesy Rocky Mountain Conference
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guests said they would come back if we do another one.” As they let their paint dry, the participants were treated to a devotional from Janea Balderrama, who is preparing for baptism. Castillo also shared his testimony of what
the church has done in his life. The class was such a success that the plan is to have many more painting classes. RMCNews with Grace Logan
RMC Ministerial Retreat Envisions Church Growth
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lanning for church growth was one of the main features of the 2020 RMC pastors retreat. The annual gathering of pastors from nearly 130 congregations in the conference met Jan. 5-8 to “learn ways to make Christ known in RMC,” said Mickey Mallory, RMC ministerial director and organizer of the retreat. The retreat was designed to give pastors practical tools to help them be more effective in their ministry. It brought together 80 ministers, some
with their spouses. In a parallel program on two mornings, Shepherdess meetings were organized for spouses. “If we are not planning to grow, we are going to die [as a church],” said Jose Cortes Jr., NAD associate ministerial director, one of the presenters. Cortes called for a re-focus of our mission throughout America. Ivan Williams, NAD ministerial director, commented on an often-heard remark that the church worships tradition rather than Jesus.
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“Unfortunately, sometimes the institution is revered more than the mission. We have to change that. Every institution is in the business of keeping itself alive, but the church has not been called to be an institution,” he said. Retreat presenters also included two members of the NAD Ministerial Department, Esther Knott and Dave Gemmell, as well as MAUC ministerial director Mic Thurber, NAD Risk Management account executive Leander Tomazelli, and administration and ministry leaders from RMC. “I was struck by Jose Cortes Jr. when he said, ‘People were not attracted to Jesus because of His clothes, nor His diet or taste in music. They were attracted to Jesus because He
cared about them.’ Amen to that,” said Shayne Vincent, pastor of the Casper, Wyoming, district. “I love our pastoral team,” said Ed Barnett, RMC president, in his farewell. “We hire pastors to grow healthy churches.” Commenting on the retreat, Anton Kapusi, pastor from Pueblo, said the gathering “showed me, as a new arrival, that pastors can be friends and on the same team with leadership, and that leadership can embrace and empower pastors on the front line not only on the organizational [level], but also on a spiritual level.” Rajmund Dabrowski is communication director for the Rocky Mountain Conference.
