August 2024 Carolina's 10,000 P5

Embracing Carolina with the Compassionate Call of Christ

The 10,000 President’s Prayer Partners is a fast-growing group of Carolina Conference constituents who take matters such as these to their knees. We invite you to join us and make this monthly list a matter of prayer. Together we seek the Lord for His answers and provisions to every need we bring before Him.

Pentecost 2025 is the launching of a bold plan of the North American Division to experience 3,000 proclamation events across the expanse of this great division of God’s remnant church. It is a plan that will only be successful through prayer and the intervention of the Holy Spirit. In Carolina, we have added a prayer-plea tag line to the Lord – “Let it Rain!”

Beginning with last month’s issue of P5 (July 2024) and continuing through 2025, I

would like to invite our President’s Prayer Partners to continue coming together in an earnest and heartfelt appeal for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit as we near the soon return of our Savior.

It can seem somewhat repetitious and unfortunately even monotonous to simply say that we should be praying for the outpouring of the Latter Rain. The full and final empowering presence of the Holy Spirit calls us to engage in a meaningful preparation of our hearts as we ask the Lord to grant us a deeper spiritual growth for us to recognize the latter rain of the Holy Spirit when it is falling on each of our lives and in our churches.

I draw my thoughts from a wonderful resource authored by Dennis Smith back in 2010 simply entitled 40 Days. Why 40 days? It appears that there is a biblical significance to this span of time repeated throughout the scriptures. Rain fell for 40 days during the Flood. Moses was on Mount Sinai in the presence of God for 40 days. The Israelite spies explored the Promised Land for 40 days. Jonah warned the people of Ninevah for 40 days…and converted the whole city! Now that’s what I call power-packed evangelism! Jesus spent 40 days of preparation for His ministry in the wilderness after His baptism. Jesus spent another 40 days with His disciples after His resurrection.

As we prepare for Pentecost 2025 – Let it Rain across the 179 churches and companies of North and South Carolina, I believe with all my heart that God wants to do something very special and significant in each of our lives and in each of His churches.

I appeal to all our prayer partners to consecrate ongoing periods of 40 days to prayerful and devotional reflections from God’s Word and the Spirit of Prophecy. Let’s prepare our own hearts as part of the family

of God for Christ’s Second Coming. Everything must begin and remain with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So during the next 40 days:

1. Establish a Prayer Partner

2. Discuss or share the blessings you’ve received from your study

3. Pray with and for each other

4. Encourage each other to pray specifically for 5 people. Ask God to show you whom you should be praying for during this first period of 40 days.

5. Remind each other to show these five people in various ways that you genuinely care for them.

In just a few more days during this month, the doors of our schools and classrooms will be open to receive the sacred trust of children and youth for another brand new school year.

First, let’s pause and praise the Lord for providing us with the needed teachers for each of our 20 schools across the Carolinas! Sometimes in our own human weakness, we may have experienced moments of anxious anticipation at what the Lord would do to fill those needed positions. But as always, God is faithful, and He never fails.

Join me this month and each month in praying for each listing of our Carolina Adventist Christian educators and their respective roles and schools. We praise God for these who have committed their hearts, talents, and energies to a ministry of education that will impact the lives of the students they serve for all eternity.

With each issue of our President’s Prayer Partners (P5), we continue to focus specifically on one of our goals and share some of the developments that are helping us in our journey toward accomplishing that goal.

This month, we focus on our second goal of intentionally engaging, empowering, and enabling our young adults in the mission of the church.

I am so grateful for the ministry and leadership of Pastor Cris Cazarine-Dutra, who serves as our Associate Youth Director and Director of Young Adult and Public Campus Ministries. Here’s her update on all that’s happening in our ongoing journey and commitment toward this goal:

“We have had an eventful and inspiring few months with our young adults, filled with activities that foster growth, connection, and spiritual development.

In June, we hosted the first Growing Together training for the Hispanic churches at Spartanburg Hispanic Church. Led by Pastor Cris Cazarine, this training was well-attended, with the majority of the church members participating. Growing Together is a transformative learning journey designed for local churches and leaders. Its goal is to build faith communities that not only survive but thrive in the years ahead.

This inter-generational movement nurtures relationship-building and cultural transformation, embracing young people and benefiting all generations within the Adventist Church.

Also, in June, we held our annual Adventist Christian Fellowship Institute (ACFI) meeting. ACFI is a network of Public Campus Ministries with chapters across the USA. Each year, we invite students from all campuses to gather for this event. While this event is usually sponsored by the NAD, this year, due to the International Pathfinder Camporee, each Union held their own meetings. The Southern Union, led by Craig and Kim Taylor, and Don Keele, Young Adult Director for the Georgia-Cumberland conference organized the event in Knoxville, TN. The Carolina Conference sponsored several students to attend, encouraging and supporting the creation of new chapters in the Carolinas. During the event, students were inspired by messages from Pastor Taurus Montgomery and participated in workshops on various topics, including starting a chapter, mental health, apologetics, and reaching other students on secular campuses, taught by our very own Pastor Cris.

In July, we held a Let’s Talk event at Winston-Salem First SDA Church. Conference officers Elder Louis, Elder Moyer, and Pastor Cris met with young adults to listen to their joys and concerns regarding the church. This open dialogue fostered a sense of community and understanding, allowing young adults to voice their perspectives and feel heard.

Looking ahead, in August, we will have two more churches participating in the Growing Together training. We are excited about what God is doing in the Carolinas and among our young adults. We look forward to a time when all our churches are thriving and growing, united with our young people in faith and purpose.”

​01 Protection from Satan Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8	02 Protection from Our Sinful Heart But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15	​03 Deep Spiritual Encouragement For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. Romans 1:11-12
​04 Wisdom If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5	​05 Doctrinal Faithfulness By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 2 Timothy 1:14	​06 A Healthy Body But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27	​07 A Strong Marriage & Family He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church. 1 Timothy 3:2-6

During this August issue, we begin our third cycle of remembering these departmental leaders and their ministries. Our purpose is not intended to report all that these departments have been or are accomplishing, but rather to simply uplift all our leadership team and their faithful service in the respective ministries that they oversee in our prayer. ministry of your Carolina Conference.

As we begin this third cycle of remembering our various departmental ministries, we begin by uplifting the Adventist Christian Book Center (often referred to as the ACBC).

This ministry serves the Carolina Conference membership and the surrounding community of Charlotte with published resources of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and a variety of vegan or vegetarian food supply options. We are most grateful to Stan Shireman for his dedicated and gifted leadership and hard work that have made this ministry both a financial success and a blessing to all who are

served by this department. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve got to come by and see our beautifully new and renovated store at the Carolina Conference Headquarters in Charlotte, NC!

Many ACBC’s across the North American Division have experienced financial losses and have sadly ended up by closing their presence in many of the 59 conference territories of our church. However, by God’s grace and blessing and the excellent management and leadership of Stan Shireman, his wife, Nyla and their faithful, but minimal team of workers, our Carolina ACBC has remained a strong and vibrant ministry

As a President’s Prayer Partner, we invite

you once again to be truly a people of the

Word. As Seventh-day Adventists, we adhere to

28 Fundamental Beliefs that are based solely on

the Bible. We began our third cycle of focusing on

these vital beliefs, which are centered in Christ as

both our Savior and Lord, in December of 2021.

Let’s continue to thoughtfully place His Word

in our hearts every day this month. I personally

carry a set of these passages in my car and recite

them aloud as I drive from one place to another.

My aim is to say one verse prayerfully at least

five times a day for a week, thus internalizing the

promise of God’s Word: “Thy word have I hid in

mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

(Psalm 119:11)

I encourage you to repeat these passages until they become a part of your very being. Of course, you’re always free to do more. Please consider, in a prayerful manner, how you can saturate your soul with His Word and make it a part of your heart every day.

Be part of God’s praying church across North America by uplifting these leaders of our church who guide God’s work in these territories of God’s vineyard: