At every time, in every place; through every means consistent with His purposes; on every media platform, the Spirit stirs the hearts of all who long for purpose and for clarity.
You know them well: the eager young couple in Apartment 3B, full of Jesus and fresh Bible promises, who invited you to join them at First Assemblies of God for the annual Christmas program. The graying colleague in the corner office who asks you—out of nowhere—what your faith tells you about how God looks at divorce. The sweating Tuesday regular at basketball who wants to know why you won’t play three-on-three on Friday nights.
At least a dozen times a week, in conversations large and small, we brush the lives of those who seek for God with hands outstretched, as though walking in a fog. And when our wits are with us—when we’ve gotten past surprise and strung some syllables together—we try to point them, gently, to the faith that won our minds and holds our hearts.
We play the “tapes” of these encounters endlessly, as though prepping for a follow-up we fear may never come. Was this the moment a thousand angels had spent months or years arranging—and was I ready for my part? Will there be another opportunity when we are less tongue-tied and more nimble, readier to give a reason for the hope that is within us?
This is the living edge of Adventism: not where we gather in our well-scrubbed temples of plush carpet and polished glass, but where we intersect and interact with all whom God is drawing.
And it’s time you had the tools to make those interactions winsome; easy; happy; fruitful.
At the Adventist Review we’ve recently reframed our ministry to match the ways that Jesus has been using for nearly 170 years to bring His people to this movement. From its earliest days, this journal was the tool to make Adventism intelligible to those whom God was drawing. First the Second Coming; then the truth of Jesus’ ministry in heaven. Sabbath next, and conditional immortality. Righteousness by faith, and caring for the hurting. Lives reshaped, reformed—revived—by time well spent with Jesus.
What began laboriously with hand-rolled ink and hand-cranked presses now flies off complex machinery at 20,000 copies an hour. These words are also read by tens of thousands who never hold a printed journal in their hands. They scroll through digitized articles on their mobile phone apps, or read the latest news and features on the Adventist Review’s robust and colorful Web site (www.adventistreview.org). Many thousands more find courage in the short and shareable videos—hundreds of them—now available on ARtv (ARtvNow.com).
Powerful, well-told stories of redemption, recovery, justice, and service now appear in print, on the Web, and via video to make the gospel walk and talk in Apartment 3B, in the corner office, and during water breaks on gym night.
These are the tools you need—and you deserve—to make your faith intelligible to those whom God is drawing.
You’ll notice in the coming months that this ministry, the oldest thing in Adventism, is also the newest thing in Adventism. This is the place you’ll find the best and most shareable content to start or keep the conversations with those responding to the Spirit. We preach and teach the same dynamic truth that God once used to gather the brave souls who founded this denomination. But now we do it through the media that make our world run. This is the faith that’s willing to explain itself, that seeks for common vocabulary rather than in-house jargon; that turns to also face the millions who know the Shepherd’s voice and follow Him wherever He goes.
So hand this journal to a friend—the one who has a heart for God. Post the www.adventistreview.org URL somewhere—say, on the office corkboard. Hit the “Share” button on the ARtv four-minute video that you know God can use to bring your friend to deeper faith.
Make the ministry you value valuable to someone else.
* Ellen G. White manuscript 44, 1900.