Southeastern California Conference
Two Southern California Conferences Sponsor Leadership Training Event
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he recent Empower Ministry leadership event, held in Palm Springs, focused on seminars to empower, equip and enable youth and young adults for leadership and service in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “I believe that the goal of Empower Ministry was to have people leave the place feeling equipped with tools to take back to their own church and neighbors,” said Ahrom Kim, a member of the Loma Linda Korean church. The theme for the weekend was “Learn. Live. Lead.” The event was cohosted by the Southeastern California and Southern California conferences, Aug. 30 to Sept. 1. Tuua Teleni, Santa Ana Samoan church youth director, said, “I have been a leader for the youth group of Santa Ana Samoan church for four years, and every year that I come to the Empower leadership conference, I gain a new perspective, a different understanding and a
Jose Vicente Rojas, president of MOVEmentum, plays his guitar during one of the general sessions.
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challenging vision about effective leadership. I am excited to share everything, not just with our youth ministry but with our entire church.” On Sabbath, Sandra Roberts, SECC president, opened the event welcoming attendees and appealing to youth and young adults not just to not leave, but to lead. Then Jose Vicente Rojas, president of MOVEmentum, presented one of his general session talks on leadership and asked attendees to give their lives to Jesus. During the conference, Rojas spoke several times, including general sessions, devotionals, presentations and a break-out session, all with his guitar at his side. Other speakers included Richard Choi, chair of the New Testament department at the seminary at Andrews University; Jonathan Henderson, Pacific Union College chaplain; Roy Ice, associate pastor at Loma Linda University church; and Dan Jackson, North American Division president. However, lay leaders from various churches, including Azusa Indonesian, Inland Empire Filipino, Loma Linda Filipino, Living Water Fellowship, Loma Linda Korean, The Blessing, Vista Samoan and Yucaipa Samoan, ran much of Empower Ministry. “I was intellectually stimulated by Dr. Choi’s presentations in particular because he offers an alternative leadership model to consider. I
Roy Ice, associate pastor at Loma Linda University church, enages participants during a general session.
appreciated his critique of the current poweroriented ideology of the church,” said Norman Yazid, associate pastor at the Loma Linda Indonesian church. On Sunday, participants attended a devotional service before breakfast. Then Rojas began the day with the first general session. After a brief break, participants attended two more general sessions, one by Choi and the other by Henderson. Later, participants selected breakout sessions to attend. These included “Mobilizing People,” by Rojas; “Leadership in the New Testament,” by Choi; “How to Motivate Young Adults,” by Ice; and “Urban Ministry,” by Henderson. Attendees were then served dinner
The attendees of Empower Ministry pose for a group photo.