What's on Your List?
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
Do you like making lists of things that you want to do?
Maybe you have a bucket list of things you want to accomplish or do in this lifetime. You may even have a list of things that you want to ask Jesus when you get to heaven. I have a few things on both a bucket list for this life and for the next!
I am a list maker.
On my desk at home and in the office are list of things that are things to do. In my journal I keep a praise list. I have a petition list in my journal as well. I make the list on post it notes, on legal pads and the back of envelopes. At times I have to stop and combine all my list into one of them.
Making list each day is something that is a practice of mine. It is rewarding to be able to look over a list and check off the items that you have accomplished.
A study by Dominican University of California found that once you write something down you are 33% more likely to actually complete the item that you have written down. It can be as simple as cleaning the house to writing down that you want to take a trip to Australia and snorkel the great barrier reef (one of my personal goals).
There are a few things on the Washington Conference list.
One of them is found in Matthew 24:14 where it states,
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.
There are many of those very nations that are right here in the Washington Conference territory. Thus the first thing on the list is that we reach the Washington Conference with the gospel. That is our mission field. This is why we plant new churches and this is why we are focused on church revitalization.
It is why we are praying for every church in this conference to have a baptism this year. It is also why we are praying for an average of 8 baptisms per church in order to reach at least 1,000 baptisms this year. It is also why we support Adventist Christian Education because we want our young people in the kingdom.
Another thing on the list is found in Luke 11:13 where it states that God will send the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
You see as we pray for an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we will find ourselves fully committed in a covenant relationship with God.
Can you imagine what it would be like if every one of the members of this conference were fully filled with the Holy Spirit? Our church buildings would be full to overflowing.
So here is our mission in list form.
Let us prayerfully work together to fulfill this list with the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
ONE - The gospel to all of the Washington Conference.
- Every church a growing, revitalized church
- At least 3 new churches planted in 2023
- Every church experiences baptisms in 2023
- At least 1,000 baptisms this year (which is an average of 8 baptisms per church)
- Every school a growing, Spirit-filled school