Feb 20, 2019
By Jane Mackintosh
Conference President
In keeping with our emphasis on young people and children, Conference this year will be headed up primarily by young adults. I was concerned a couple years ago when one of our young adults expressed frustration that every time she asked someone where a committee meeting was, she was pointed to Children’s Conference to help there. I had already been asked to be Conference president, so my mind began spinning as I thought to myself, “Well, that’s going to change!” We have an amazing group of young adults who are ready and willing to be active in the Conference. If we intend to keep their enthusiasm and gifts, we had better get serious about putting them into places of influence (not just with the children). I have been encouraged over the past ten years seeing the addition of young adults to our boards and agencies—and I can assure you that the ones I had the privilege of working with and training in five years of SCSC staff are capable, mature believers, who are alive in their relationships with God, and ready to see SDBs make an impact on the world. They were trained in understanding their true identity in Christ, counseled through some very hard experiences and false thinking, and certainly still struggle, as we all do, but have tools in their spiritual toolbox to know when they are in over their heads and how to ask for godly counsel.
This said, at Conference this year, all committees will be chaired by young adults with more experienced adults to help mentor them through if they need it. Every evening and Sabbath morning speaker is under the age of 40, with most in their twenties. Our morning Bible studies will be led by Pastor Dusty Mackintosh, whom I know for a fact is in his thirties. Our choir director is Nathan Crowder, whose Bachelor’s Degree is in opera—so I think he understands a thing or two about music and he is under thirty. He has asked my fifteen-year-old granddaughter, Kayleigh Mackintosh, to be the pianist. I asked Lorelei Stall to be co-organist with her teacher, Kathy Hughes.
Every time I approached God about whom to invite as special non-SDB guests—like the ones we have had over the past few years who have helped us all look forward to attending Conference—I kept hearing, “Keep it in-house.” This puzzled me greatly, because I have been very vocal over the past twenty years, saying, “Seventh Day Baptists, we need to get out more, to see what God is doing in the rest of the Church.” I have been so encouraged to see that we have had outside speakers and have attended outside events regularly (like the Multiply Conference), so you can understand my “REALLY?” when God kept saying, “Keep it in-house.” So, I contacted Ben Calhoun to come spend a couple of days with us. He is coming as the Tuesday evening speaker, though he will probably do some singing, too! What most do not understand, I believe, is that Ben was, has always been, and still is a Seventh Day Baptist. He was recently licensed to preach by the Milton church and is in the SDBU program to study for the ministry. He calls himself a “musicianary,” which is what God has called him to be. He also told me that he loves to preach and clearly believes that is also his calling. He will lead a seminar on worship leading for those who want to learn how to do more than just lead songs and play instruments. Ben is one of the older participants, but still under the age of forty. I have asked him to share with us how we can participate in his calling as a minister of the Gospel through music, through prayer, and through financial support. I believe we need to get behind him.
Next month, I will have names of our evening and Sabbath speakers, our committee chairs, more of our seminar topics, and other ideas I have about how you can be an effective member of Conference 2019.