Back in February of this year, the Oregon Conference announced that they needed to cut 20% of their budget to ‘Make ends meet.’ That resulted in cutting about 30 pastors and office staff in April.
In May, the Oregon conference executive committee accepted Dan Linrud’s resignation, after 20+ churches called for a special constituency meeting.
It looks like their financial troubles are not over. This week, there was a conference townhall meeting in Portland. Conference administrators announced another cut of 15 FTE’s from the conf office. They are not disclosing who all will get ‘cut.’
They cut the long time Young Adult Director, the Outreach/Evangelism Director and thirteen others.
They only have about 5.5 days of capital for operating expenses and that’s after they got a loan from the NPUC.
Through September 30, 2024, the change in net assets statement shows a loss of over $6 million year-to-date.
It appears that they may no longer have a Pathfinder Director. Daniel Ortega, Associate Director of Family & Children's Ministries was cut as well.
They are now ‘crowdfunding’ for 2025 campmeeting. 2025 Campmeeting won’t happen if they can’t get 450k by March. (Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture or event). It’s a sad scenario. Here is an article they sent out last week.
Timeline
October 22, 2015 — The Oregon Conference Executive Committee votes to allow female commissioned ministers to perform all of the same functions of male ordained ministers.
In 2016-2019, the Oregon Conference resisted the 2015 GC Session decision regarding the unbiblical practice of ordaining females. They urged non-compliance.
In 2019, the Oregon Conference held a two day meeting, titled “Loving Well” to promote Bill Henson’s NAD supported LGBTQ+ book “Guiding Families.” Henson is a non-Adventist author and speaker. Fulcrum7 published a review of this NAD book in September, 2018. In this review, the author expressed concerns that freedom from sin in Christ was missing from Henson’s material.
In June 2020, Oregon Conference president participated in a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest, and waxed eloquently about it in this article. He demonstrated zero discernment about the dark anti-family, pro-LGBTQ+, defunding police, Marxist foundation agenda of BLM.
In 2021, Oregon Conference Seventh-day Adventists participated in a state discussion to make wearing masks permanent. They were pro-mask mandates.
In 2020-2021 The Oregon Conference, under the direction of mostly woke Dan Linrud, was pro lockdown and pro vaccine & mask, even requiring speakers in their churches to wear masks, according to a February 10, 2021 ‘guideline.’
2024. Now the Oregon Conference is in significant financial dire straits (not the music group) and blaming everything but themselves. The term “Go woke and go broke” certainly applies here.
2024. Don Livesay is interim President of Oregon Conference. He was brought in to make cuts. John Corder is interim treasurer. John McVay will be President after January 1.
Many Oregon members are concerned that John McVay is too liberal. We have heard from several of them. McVay used to be the Walla Walla University president. McVay defended (in a Spectrum article) certain SDA spiritualists who were immersed in the Emerging Church and spiritual formation. To many concerned SDA members in Oregon and across the NAD, it seems SDA institutions just recycle people in the Adventist food chain. The members are hungry for new leaders with fresh ideas and an upbeat conservative commitment to the Advent Message.
Let us pray that the Lord will bring good out of this trial, and sincere self-examination to Oregon Conference Administrators. Laymen, too. The Adventist Message is too compelling and urgent to give our time to cultural agendas and woke ideas.
The sooner we learn this in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the better.
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“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:28-29).