The Michigan Conference Executive Committee met yesterday for their regular February 11 meeting.
The meeting began at 10:30 AM. Some people didn’t leave until 11 pm. Big day.
The topic of Ron Kelly’s employment was discussed, and Ron himself was brought in to the meeting. After listening to Ron Kelly for a couple hours, the MISDA Committee voted 13-2 to terminate his employment.
****
I’m genuinely sorry Ron and the Village Church had to go through this.
Sometimes the only friend people have in life is Jesus, and that is just enough for us.
I firmly believe that the Lord will bring good out of this injustice (Romans 8:28).
We are told that the head elder of Village church has resigned. Tom Wilson is a wise older gentleman, whose insights helped guide the Village Church and the MISDA Conference on many occasions. His aging wife has been ill and this will give him more time. His voice and leadership will be missed, especially to a Church trying to function with a new head pastor placed in their midst by the conference.
The Village Church has been a model Seventh-day Adventist church; they are what all churches should aspire to be in North America. Millions of Seventh-day Adventists can see this, even if the Conference elites cannot.
Pray for the Village Church, that all the great work they have done in standing for truth will not come to naught.
Two positives from this Conrad Vine / Ron Kelly saga.
1) It alerts church members to the devastating control of the structural elites in our midst (Matthew 20:25). I believe God has exposed this dark spirit of oppression, where many leaders love the structure more than they love the people of the church. They fail to understand that if the people are healthy, the structure is usually healthy. They forget that inordinate love for structure resulted in the statement “It is better that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation [Judaism] should perish” (John 11:50).
2) The Lord now has an opportunity to provide somewhere else for Ron to serve Him. In a year’s time, I believe we will look back on this difficult period, and say “They meant it for evil, and God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
Take heart, friends. It’s not over. It’s actually just beginning (Jeremiah 29:11).
****