Nothing to Fear

By Elton DeMoraes

Alot has changed over the past four years. After 11 years of faithful service, former Texas Conference President Carlos Craig was elected Southwestern Union Conference president during its constituency session in April 2021. The following month, on May 6, the Texas Conference Executive Committee extended a call for me to serve as its president. Having served most of my ministry in the Texas Conference, I was humbled and honored to accept the call.

Soon after my appointment, virtual listening sessions with staff, pastors and teachers, as well as conference-wide town hall meetings, helped chart the course for our conference. These sessions made it apparent that we needed to focus on:

Unity

Evangelism

Communication/Innovation

Youth/Youth Adults

Adventist Education

Lake Whitney Ranch

A common theme in the listening sessions was the importance of unity. Wondering how we could accomplish that in our vast territory, we realized the answer was prayer. J17:21, Together As One, became an initiative based on John 17:21 that foresees the Texas Conference united and ignited by the Holy Spirit, praying together passionately, powerfully and perpetually for specific and strategic needs in the local churches, schools and throughout the Texas Conference. Through this initiative, we have experienced churches and schools coming together like never before.

Texans dream big, so as a united conference family, we aim to double our membership in the next 10 years. Together As One, we can do it!

We now have two full-time evangelists dedicated to achieving this dream. Byron Corbett serves our English-speaking churches, and Amado Sánchez assists the Spanish churches. As they share the good news around the conference, many baptisms occur because of the messages and local church connections with their communities.

In addition to meetings conducted by conference evangelists, churches are strongly encouraged to hold their own meetings. Every year more than $1 million is allocated for local church evangelistic efforts.

Seeing the need for more pastoral leadership, we expanded our Volunteer Lay Pastor program from five to 45 individuals. These lay pastors are essential to our team to help us reach more people for Jesus.

As membership grows, so does the number of our churches. The North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists recognizes the Texas Conference each year for the highest number of churches planted. We are now expanding the Church Planting | Volunteer

Lay Pastor area to include Church Revitalization. We want to be intentional in helping struggling churches find growth again.

Another way to grow our membership is through communication and innovation. When churches had to close during the pandemic, our communication team transformed the conference worship room into a studio. Through technology, the team witnessed to thousands from a room where previously only a small group had gathered.

Communication & Public Relations continues to provide a service that impacts our field through the recently acquired mobile studio. Our training events and other programs can now be recorded or shared via livestream to reach a wider audience.

Our monthly program TEXTalk shares the news and progress of our conference, to foster transparency and accountability. We now have a brand-new conference app, TXSDA, to provide reliable and accessible content.

Youth & Club Ministries and Young Adult Ministries are as active as ever. The saying “They are the future of our church” doesn’t apply in Texas. Here, they are the church working alongside all generations, Together As One.

I am so proud of our education staff. They’ve worked so hard every day, especially through the pandemic. Their effort is paying off, as most of our schools have seen an increase in enrollment since the pandemic. That speaks volumes to the quality they are providing their communities.

The Determined Cycling campaign continues to promote health and encourage giving for a $1.5 million endowment. We want every student who wants to attend one of our schools to be able to financially afford to do so.

Lake Whitney Ranch is another area showing great strides. Leaders Hector and Anabel Perez have made many new improvements to the ranch, including bath and shower houses for club ministries. They have increased the lodging capacity and have plans for more projects as funds allow, including an open pavilion for 5,000 people. Special thanks to our pastors, teachers and members for diligently serving the Lord, for returning your tithes and being generous with your offerings. The Texas Conference could only survive and thrive with you.

It is a joy to work with our executive officers and vice presidents, the ADCOM team. My executive administrative assistant, Nilsa Johnson, has a wealth of knowledge, having worked for the Texas Conference for over 30 years. My wife, Alessandra, my partner in ministry, has the heart to serve the ministerial spouses so eloquently. Texas Conference Receptionist Doug Denny is dedicated to customer service as he assists those who call or visit.

As I close, I am reminded of the words by Ellen G. White, “In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what God has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history,” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 31.