When North Pacific Union executive committee meets four times a year, the gatherings often become moments of praise as members share stories of God’s work in their communities. These testimonies set the stage for important ministry decisions and inspire new outreach opportunities.
One of the latest ministry initiatives in NPUC is the creation of a network of volunteer lay pastors to support local Adventist churches and church plants.
“The 16 million people in our territory need to know Jesus loves them and He’s coming again soon,” said Dan Serns, NPUC church planting and revitalization director. “It takes more than our pastoral team to reach this many people, and we need a volunteer team of lay pastors to join us in this work.”
VLPs can come from a variety of vocational backgrounds. They need to have a passion for the Adventist mission, demonstrate humility, healthy relationships, leadership skills and theological and financial integrity. They must be recommended to their conference leaders by a pastor in their conference. Typical responsibilities include preaching, communion, visitation, small group facilitation, evangelism and ministry planning, baptizing but not any counseling.
“VLPs can strengthen and support the wonderful work of our pastors,” Serns said. “We hope to add 50 VLPs this year in NPUC — half focused on growing churches and half focused on planting new Adventist work.”
Before beginning their ministry as a VLP, they must be ordained as a local elder and receive 20 hours of training. They sign a volunteer agreement and receive a VLP credential for one year that may be extended or discontinued by either party. Once installed, they report monthly to a supervising pastor. Throughout the year, they receive continued online training in theology and practical areas.
“The VLP program will put many more dedicated leaders into the harvest and open up more lanes for mission and ministry,” Serns said. “I see churches revitalized and churches planted as a result.”
“If there's anything that helps you grow as a Christian, it’s sharing your faith,” said Bill McClendon, NPUC vice president for administration. “We need more people to talk with their neighbors, host Bible studies and partner as VLPs.”
To become a VLP, talk with your pastor and let them know you’d like to be recommended to conference leadership as a potential VLP. God is calling for workers in His great harvest field (Luke 10:1–3).
Dan Serns, NPUC church planting and revitalization director, is providing a variety of trainings to help pastors, members and volunteers to be "Mobilized for Mission."
Additional Updates From March 5, 2025
Membership Update
In his executive secretary’s report, McClendon reported how 2024 accession levels — the number of baptisms and professions of faith — are back to pre-pandemic levels and trending upward. In 2024, there were 2,142 accessions from the following regions: Alaska, 109; Idaho, 177; Montana, 90; Oregon, 729; Upper Columbia, 450; and Washington, 587.
Additional membership metrics include 253 transfers into the region, 993 deaths, 186 members removed and 698 members missing with no viable way to contact.
Meanwhile, church attendance is a bigger concern in membership matters. A voluntary attendance audit in 2024 collected data from 81% of churches in the Pacific Northwest. Presently, 34% of members regularly attend church, and this number includes online viewership if reported. A decade ago, 44% of members regularly attended church. Conversations, research and plans are coming together for how to best address this concern.
Accession statistics track the number of baptisms and professions of faith.
Hispanic Ministries
Hispanic ministries in the Pacific Northwest continues to grow with 92 congregations, 39 pastors, 10 lay pastors, 17,276 members and 667 baptisms in 2024. Since 2020, there’s been a 136% increase in Hispanic baptisms, from 283 in 2020 to 667 in 2024.
Hispanic pastors make up 13% of the total number of pastors in NPUC. Hispanic churches account for 17% of the total congregations, 17% of NPUC’s membership and 31% of the baptisms and professions of faith produced in NPUC.
Peter Simpson, NPUC vice president for Hispanic ministries, reported how 75% of Hispanic churches are involved in Pentecost 2025 evangelism initiative plans. Most notably, 100% of Hispanic churches in Idaho and Washington conferences have Pentecost 2025 plans.
“I’d like to invite you to pray for the evangelistic campaigns that are happening in April in Idaho, in July in both Anchorage, Alaska, and Bozeman, Montana, and in November in Salem, Oregon,” Simpson said. “These churches are already praying for the souls God will bring them. We are praying and working for a standout year in Hispanic ministries and across NPUC.”
Hispanic ministries continues to find ways to engage in relational evangelism with a combination of small groups, district meetings and public evangelism.
Church Finances
When you give your tithe at your local church, it first goes to your local conference office with a portion for NPUC and division/General Conference in a remittance process. Across NPUC, tithe year-to-date through December 2024 totals $112,334,204.
This represents a decrease of 3.5% from the previous year, as all conferences had a decrease in various percentages with Alaska Conference having the largest percentage decrease of 7.36% and Oregon Conference having the smallest percentage decrease of 1.79%.
Brent Plubell, NPUC undertreasurer, shared how all levels of church treasurers base their 2025 budgets off a percentage of the previous year’s tithe levels. The NPUC budget, for example, is based on 98% of the average tithe amounts from November and December 2023 and January through October 2024.
The tithe levels also influence the number of appropriations that NPUC can give back to conference partners to help local churches, particularly with evangelism and education initiatives like Pentecost 2025.
Plubell provided a full report on fairly stable financial indicators and presented a balanced 2025 NPUC budget prepared by Mark Remboldt, previous CFO, just before his retirement.
The tithe you give supports local, conference, union, division and worldwide ministry as we all work together with the Holy Spirit to share the gospel message to our world.
Revolving Fund
In 2024, North Pacific Union Association reopened the Revolving Fund to accept new deposits of up to $5 million. To date, there are $758,200 in new deposits.
“The Revolving Fund allows us to provide economical building and capital improvement loans to Pacific Northwest churches and schools,” explained Jay Graham, association treasurer.
The Revolving Fund has approximately 80 active loans worth more than $20 million.
If you are interested in investing in the Revolving Fund to help more churches and schools, please call Graham, during business hours from Monday through Thursday, at 360-857-7000. Graham can walk you through more of the finer details of your missional investment opportunities.
The NPUC Board of Education convened March 6 for its biannual gathering, focused on shaping the future of Adventist education across the Northwest.
“We are continually growing our schools through academic programs, spiritual growth opportunities and overall school culture,” said Keith Hallam, NPUC vice president for education. “Teachers are ministers of the gospel in the classroom. I’m proud of our teachers. They are carrying responsibilities that they take very seriously to safeguard and nurture students.”
As part of this growth initiative, Adventist education recently partnered with John Hopkins to study school culture. The survey — completed by 2,300 students, 1,333 adults and 299 teachers — provided valuable insights, and researchers were so impressed by the results that they requested permission to share the findings with other school entities.
“We received healthy and encouraging numbers,” Hallam said. "It’s amazing data with great insight as we dive in to study the results. We hope to share more results in the near future.”
Currently, the school culture data is only accessible to superintendents and principals.
Beyond the school culture survey, growth initiatives are happening at every level, with continuous improvement in early childhood, elementary, secondary and higher education. A key example of this growth is the Prayeradigm Shift retreat, where students from multiple Northwest academies gathered at Camp MiVoden for a weekend of prayer and worship.
Early mornings were filled with passionate prayers and students heard a powerful message throughout the weekend: "If you love Jesus, share Him with someone else. Don’t just fill your own cup; fill another person’s cup."
Hallam recalled, “The room was packed, filled with youth eager to pray and connect. We’ve heard from parents and grandparents how their teenagers came home energized to share their faith. We are committed to fostering and expanding this culture of spiritual growth.”
As Adventist education continues to grow both spiritually and academically, the commitment to nurturing well-rounded, faith-centered environments remains at the heart of the ongoing efforts to equip students for life and ministry.
Northwest education leaders continue to pray for God's wisdom and discernment in leading Adventist schools. From left: Renae Young, NPUC early childhood education director; Michelle Wachter, Washington Conference vice president for education; John Winslow, Alaska Conference superintendent; and Patrick Frey, Idaho Conference superintendent.
