Unity and Diversity
In May 1888, an organizational meeting was held in Springdale, Arkansas, for the purpose of establishing a state conference.2 The Arkansas Conference was officially organized by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on May 21, 1888, with ten churches, 226 members, one ordained minister and two licensed ministers.3 In 1902, Arkansas, along with Texas, and the then-known Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory became part of the newly organized Southwestern Union Conference. In contrast to the rural beginnings of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Arkansas, the early efforts in Louisiana centered mainly in the city of New Orleans. New Orleans was a port city with ships coming from all over the world, making it an ideal location to send workers and tracts to many other countries. Taking advantage of the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition that was to be held in New Orleans from 1884 to 1885, and seeing the opportunity to contact many people with the Gospel, the General Conference sent Texas Conference President Robert M. Kilgore to open a city mission in New Orleans.4
By 1887, there were two churches in Louisiana, neither of them very strong, with only two colporteurs for the entire state. By the end of 1889 there were three successful companies, which were the direct result of canvassing.5 The Louisiana Conference was organized on August 1, 1901, with six churches, including one African American church in New Orleans, one company, 178 total members and two ordained ministers. The Louisiana Conference became part of the Southern Union Conference. When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, the church’s work suffered from severe reductions in tithe and other income. The 1931 Fall Council of the General Conference Committee suggested extensive administrative and territorial changes in several unions across the United States. These changes reduced the number of union conferences in North America from twelve to eight and the number of local conferences from 58 to 48.6 On February 23, 1932, Louisiana, with its members and churches, was transferred to the Southwestern Union Conference to join with Arkansas.7 Leaders from the Southern Union visited about 85 percent of the Louisiana members, explaining
the change to them. Although the members said they were willing to accept it, the change was still very difficult for them.8 In the new ArkansasLouisiana Conference, there were now 33 churches, with 2,078 members, nine ordained ministers, three licensed ministers, 18 teachers and 11 colporteurs.9 When the Southwestern Mission (now the Southwest Region Conference) was organized on January 1, 1947, 13 African American churches and 829 members were subtracted from the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference. The conference president referred to this separation as “divorce proceedings,” feeling keenly the loss of the cordial relationship that had been maintained.10 When the new Arkansas-Louisiana Conference was organized in 1932, Louisiana had been part of the Louisiana-Mississippi Conference since 1920, with headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi. Headquarters for the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference were in Little Rock, Arkansas, so members in southern Louisiana were far removed from their new conference headquarters. Finally, in 1959, land was purchased in Shreveport, Louisiana, for a more central location. It is 350
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