The North Pacific Union executive committee met Nov. 13 in College Place, Washington, for its fourth and final meeting of 2024.
Global Missions
Duane McKey, Adventist World Radio president, shared with NPUC committee members during worship about how God moved through a five-year span of small group Bible studies to yield more than 300,000 baptisms in Papua New Guinea. Initial evangelism plans were delayed by the pandemic.
Groups of 10 were allowed to gather under pandemic regulations, so small Bible study groups kept multiplying and deepening. McKey remarked how it was amazing to see how “people kept coming” forward to be baptized to the point where leaders had to cut off the number of baptisms at various sites because they were at capacity. Each of the individuals who wanted to be baptized had their requests honored in time.
Mark Remboldt, NPUC chief financial officer and treasurer
Impending Retirement
Mark Remboldt, NPUC chief financial officer, is retiring after 21 years of service at the NPUC office and additional years of financial ministry service elsewhere at the end of January 2025. This meeting was his last executive committee, and members acknowledged his history of clean audits and financial acumen.
EuGene Lewis, a long-time regional leader in the Pacific Northwest, is the new NPUC regional vice president beginning in January 2025. He steps into this role following the dedicated service of Byron Dulan, who recently retired.
New Vice President
EuGene Lewis, long-time leader in the Pacific Northwest African American community and beyond, will be the new NPUC vice president for regional affairs. He is following in the ministry footsteps of Byron Dulan who recently retired from this role. Lewis has 30 years of history in Washington Conference with additional ministry experience in Upper Columbia Conference and at Oakwood University Church. His specific ministry portfolio will be defined in the coming weeks.
Get to know Lewis and how God has led him on an incredible journey of faith.
Dan Serns, well-known church growth leader, is returning to NPUC beginning in January 2025. He will be leading efforts for church growth and revitalization, church planting and lay member training.
Returning to NPUC
Dan Serns, pastor, evangelist and ministry trainer, is returning to the Pacific Northwest after his recent ministry work as Central California Conference president. Serns will be focusing on church planting, church revitalization and lay pastor training. He will be joining the NPUC team in January 2025.
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Membership Data
The Adventist Church world family is comprised of 23 million baptized members in an even larger family of faith. North American Division has 1.2 million members, 5,775 churches and 894 companies. The average median age of members is 49. There is a 3.09% accession rate (members joining the church) for 2023 in North America — one of the highest in recent history. Notably, the average age of members was recently recalculated with a better formula. This new calculation brought the average age down from 59 to 49 years of age.
Pentecost 2025
Here in the Pacific Northwest, 214 churches and schools are currently registered to participate in the Pentecost 2025 evangelism initiative. Washington Conference leads the way with 53.7% of northwest participants. The total expected budget is $2.2 million and the total requested funds are $630,200 to support local church and school evangelism. More than 3,800 churches across North America are currently registered.
Building Faith
Alex Bryan, Walla Walla University’s newly inaugurated 24th president, shared that 188 freshmen currently on campus are from NPUC territory.
“We need people here around the table (in ministry roles), and how we get them here is to educate them on this campus,” he said. The university is seeing consistent and growing academic quality; strong student spiritual and social experiences; strong parent satisfaction; rising faculty and staff morale; high alumni achievement; and overall impact in local churches.
Union and conference administrators participated in the largest meet-and-greet in recent history with Walla Walla University's School of Theology students in November 2023. This gathering one year ago gave church leaders an opportunity to meet future pastors, chaplains and NextGen leaders to hear their stories and answer questions.
NextGen Scholarship
Now in the third year of a four-year trial, NPUC and WWU have partnered together for the NextGen Scholarship to fully fund tuition for qualified theology and education students. Designed to equip future pastors and teachers, this scholarship fosters growth in key ministry areas to strengthen the pipeline in anticipation of upcoming retirements. Its continuation, however, depends on future support still to be determined by interested donors.
Discover more about this scholarship’s impact and how you can donate
Ordination Requests
Two conferences brought ordination requests. There were no commission requests this time. David Jamieson, Upper Columbia Conference president, presented the name of Stephen Farr, Pendleton and Pilot Rock pastor.
Rick Jordan, Oregon Conference ministerial director, presented the names of six pastors for ordination: Evan Davies, Meadow Glade and Castle Rock associate pastor; Gemedi Geleto, Oromo pastor; William “Billy” Hungate, CLEAN ministries pastor; Tanner Martin, Central Point, Valley View and Ashland pastor; Oleksandr Skibelskyi, House of Peace pastor; and Troy Wallace, Crosspoint and Hillsboro pastor.
All requests received an affirmative vote and conferences will soon schedule these ordination services.
Union Finances
NPUC financial statements show good indicators through September 2024. Tithe year-to-date is down 3.83% across the union, which frequently happens in this season of the year. Each of the conferences, except Washington, have a year-to-date tithe decrease through September. Your faithfulness in supporting God’s work through your tithe, offerings and ministry involvement is greatly appreciated.
Financial Assistance
The Revolving Fund is a low-interest loan program for churches and schools to receive funding assistance for facility and capital improvement projects. The Revolving Fund is currently reopened for new deposits with a goal to raise $5 million to help with future anticipated project requests. So far, $624,400 has been received as new deposits toward this goal.
Contribute to the Revolving Fund, which is currently open for new investments
Loan Request
Oregon Conference previously requested an initial Revolving Fund loan for $3 million during the discovery phase of their financial challenges. The conference requested an additional $1 million to be added to this loan with the same interest rate terms over a five-year period. This request was approved.
Leadership Evaluations
NPUC is one of the few unions who provide the executive leadership with a mid-term evaluation. G. Alexander Bryant, NAD president, shared leadership evaluation reports for three active administrators: John Freedman, NPUC president; Bill McClendon, NPUC vice president for administration; and Keith Hallam, NPUC vice president for education. Evaluations were not provided for retiring vice presidents or incoming vice presidents.
“It’s good to see the focus on mission and the camaraderie that exists between the board and the executive team,” Bryant noted in his remarks. “The numbers in these evaluations are among the highest I’ve seen. Leadership has never been easy. It’s important to encourage them and pray for them as they lead and guide us.”
