What is the weather forecast for St. Louis in the month of May and June? Well, that might seem like a bit of a stretch to try to predict the climate that far in advance, but we can! It is going to rain. You see, the Seventh-day Adventist Church General Conference (GC) Session is just around the corner - June 6-11, 2022, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. A lot of preparation is being done in many facets and contexts. For example, many Seventh-day Adventist Church employees, leaders, and delegates are spiritually and physically preparing for their participation in this year’s significant event. This rain forecast was delayed for two years - it did not rain, well maybe literally but not the spiritual downpour we are speaking of coming up. This overdue weather system is moving in from the North! This is the first time in Seventh-day Adventist church history, that General Conference Session was weather permitting and cancelled twice due to the pandemic overcast. But heavy rain is coming!
Laypeople around our globe are also preparing for showers by uniting under the umbrella of prayer and learning more about church function and organizational processes and role in these end times. Special thanks to those who gave informational and motivational presentations to help us be more informed and involved church members.
Other missionaries are also busy doing a work of preparation for the rainfall. Med Missionary recently facilitated a Countdown to GC Prayer Rally - praying for our leaders and church gathering in St. Louis. Thank you, prayer leaders and participants, for your time and commitment to united prayer. During our prayers of praise, repentance, asking and yield (P.R.A.Y.), quite a few prayers were offered to God to receive the Holy Spirit’s Latter Rain necessary to complete our end-time work, through God’s power, representing Jesus Christ and His gift of Salvation. We are not told when the Latter Rain will fall, but we can pray for it.
Another group of missionaries, Streams of Light International (SOLI) Ministry, are also doing their part to change the climate in St. Louis. One way to share the loud cry message, is through literature distribution of the book, The Great Controversy. It is quite simple the way Pastor Oleg Locta from the Central California Conference explains it in his YouTube presentation called Shine in the Darkness (Med Missionary, 2022). When you lovingly hand out The Great Controversy book, you can respond to the typical question, “What is this book about?” with the uncomplicated reply, “It is a book about history and Bible prophecy. Consequently, people often engage!”
People are now ready to receive this book more than ever. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago at the Rolling Thunder Bikers’ Protest in Ottawa, I gave a French Great Controversy to a French-Canadian lady taking photos. She clasped the book in both of her hands in a praying position and thanked me repeatedly for the book! People want to know what is going on in the world, so SOLI is planning to let the residents of the populous city of St. Louis know what is really going on as prophesied in the Bible and reflected in this compelling book.
Strategically, SOLI organized the St. Louis Mission Trip to occur May 31 - June 5, hours before the commencement of our General Conference session on June 6. Full editions of The Great Controversy Books - 90,000 to be exact, are going to be distributed throughout the city by the SOLI Mission Team. The GC is going to be distributed before the GC! Identical abbreviations! Coincidental? I do not know, but it is interesting enough!
So, what exactly is the current climate in St. Louis? We can observe and suppose that like many other large cities of the world its climate is drenched in violence, sexual immorality, theft, corruption, extortion, exploitation etc. The city climate needs to change for the better. St. Louis’ spiritual rain will be accompanied by the lightening message of (King James Bible, 1769/2009) Revelation 18:1, 4, “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.” “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” We can read in The Great Controversy (White, 1858)
“This scripture points forwards to a time when the announcement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel of Revelation 14 (verse 8), is to be repeated, with the additional mention of the corruptions which have been entering the various organizations that constitute Babylon, since that message was first given, in the summer of 1844.”
Let us keep our dedicated and active St. Louis Seventh-day Adventist churches in prayer as they continually function as a lighthouse in a coming storm, a beacon of God’s light. Many local church members are involved in this project and need our consistent prayers as they will conduct follow-up work after this trip.
You know, most cities worldwide have similar societal patterns, some better, some worse but they all need to be reached by God’s spiritual rain because of the global spiritual drought of the Word of God. Please support our missionaries throughout the world. Look up the various missionary organizations within our church and support them in prayer and give generous financial donations before it is too late to get God’s work done.
When Med Missionary heard of this amazing mission trip to St. Louis, the prayerful decision was made to support this end-time initiative by helping recruit 150 volunteers and aiming to raise $40,000 towards this Great Controversy distribution. It is fascinating that seeds of truth will be sown by missionaries right up to one day prior to the commencement of our GC Session. Seeds of truth include the health book Thrive which will be given at residents’ doors.
Med Missionary has four participants from the Med Missionary community (that we know of) joining this trip: Faith Hoyt, Warren Adams, Randal, and Davina Peters. We are eager to attend and be a part of God’s work! I, would like to learn more about the canvassing process to help support my home church in literature work who is supporting me in this endeavor (thank you Perth Church) and learn methods to help develop Med Missionary’s canvassing arm of the training program, fusing medical missionary work with evangelism.
After Streams of Light mission team shares the written gospel and demonstrates it while engaging with locals, the very next day the GC session launches, and evangelism can continue as a living gospel as leaders, delegates and visitors walk St. Louis’ streets and interact with residents in stores, hotels, etc. as a living witness. Evangelism will continue throughout the metropolis.
This Great Controversy project is one of many, giving impetus to an upcoming denominational mass movement as announced at the Adventist-laymen’s Services & Industries (ASI) Convention (ASI, 2021) as “The Great Controversy Project 2.0”, an initiative of the General Conference to circulate the complete version of this timely, inspired literature. This distribution plan will span two years - 2023 and 2024. The plan is to give out millions upon millions of the Great Controversy books. SOLI desires every home in America to have that book so that people can access the full truth.
Let us do God’s work through His strength and help from heaven while we can, through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit who rains tongues of fire!
I conclude with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite missionaries, Ellen Gould White, “Get ready, get ready, get ready!”
Thank you, friends, family, churches, and ministries who have supported and will support the St. Louis Mission Trip, with your prayers and donations. God bless you!
We currently have a donor who will match donations up to $11, 000, so please consider donating. If you are interested in finding out more about this mission trip or would like to donate, please use the links below.
Davina Peters, B.Ed, M.Ed.
Davina Peters is part of the Med Missionary Team as an Educational Consultant. She resides in Perth, Ontario Canada with her God-fearing apprentice-carpenter husband, Randal. Their favorite Medical Missionary is Jesus!
References
1. Med Missionary (2022, April). Shine in the Darkness. [Video]. Youtube. .
2. King James Bible. (1993). Academy Enterprises, Inc. (Original work published 1769).
3. White, E.G. (1858/2005). The Great Controversy, p.603). Pacific Press Publishing Association.
4. Med Missionary. (2022, April). Group post promotional. [Private Group] Facebook.
5. Adventist-laymen’s Services & Industries. (2021, August). ASI Convention. [YouTube Video].
6. White, E.G. (1976). Maranatha, p.98). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
