On Sabbath April 19, 2025, Village SDA Church voted a new Head Elder, John Dronen, and additional Elders Daniel Bacchiocchi, and Andrew von Maur by a vote of 610 to 85.
Sunday, April 20, in a 6 hour marathon Business Meeting, Village SDA Church undertook the following actions. This meeting was long overdue:
Voted to reaffirm the medical clinic construction and go forward with the medical work as previously voted. 241 YES, 21 NO
Village SDA Church voted to reaffirm the following six areas of mission:
Religious Liberty
JAWS (Jesus and Wholistic Sexuality)
Medical Mission
Education Reform
Discipleship
Local and abroad Mission Projects
176 YES, 7 NO’sVoted to adopt the SDA PEARL platform rejecting the ADCOM Statements including the 2015 Immunization Statement and 2021 Reaffirmation Statement, as well as the 1995 Climate statement
162 YES, 15 NOVoted to affirm the board action of calling for a Special Constituency Meeting. YES 153, NO 15
Voted that the VSDA Pastors, Elders, and Board Members seek reconciliation with the Michigan Conference regarding the situation of the ban of Conrad Vine by June 30, 2025. Should the conference not be responsive to such efforts, to consider in a future business session, the reinstatement of Conrad Vine to all rights, privileges and duties of Eldership within VSDA. 138 YES, 16 NO
Dr Vine sent a letter which was read in business session prior to the discussion and vote regarding Dr Vine:
Dear brothers and sisters of the Village SDA Church,
I write with Christian love for each and every one of you, mixed with sorrow for what the MISDA Conference has brought upon our congregation. I am preaching in OR this weekend, so have asked Brother Dronen to share these thoughts with you.
When my family and I came to Berrien Springs in August 2011, we prayed and asked for guidance concerning which congregation to join. We laid out a fleece: whichever congregation asked us to serve first, in whatever capacity, would be our new congregation. After visiting some local congregations, we came to Village SDA. On the way out the door after the 2nd service, Elder Larry Lichtenwalter, then the senior pastor, asked if I could teach the earliteen SS the next week. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over the past 10 years there have been two dominant narratives in the NAD and GC: cultural Marxism; and the false COVID narrative. Village SDA Church has stood as a beacon of light and hope for Adventists worldwide, as we refuted cultural Marxism in favor of a biblical worldview, and rejected coercion of conscience in favor of liberty of conscience. Because of this, Village SDA Church became the most influential SDA congregation in the world, with our programming and preaching lifting Jesus high and bringing encouragement to members worldwide.
After my Broken Bride series of 4 sermons at the Caribou camp-meeting in August 2024, including the now infamous sermon, “Regime Church,” the MISDA Executive Committee met and voted to authorize the MISDA President to ban me from all MI pulpits subject to the outcome of a private conversation with me. In early September 2024, I met with Elders Micheff and Ringstaff, together with Elder Kelly. The meeting went well. Questions were asked. Answers were given. At the end of the meeting, Elder Micheff informed me that he had been given the discretion by the MISDA Executive Committee to ban me if he was not happy with the outcome of the conversation, and he had decided to ban me from all MISDA pulpits.
The Church Manual gives guidelines for visiting speakers, and pastors may invite guest speakers from outside a congregation subject to guidelines provided by the local conference. However, the Church Manual does not give any administrators the right to ban a local elder from preaching and teaching in their local congregation. Only the local church, in business session, may censure a local elder and remove that individual from the pulpit.
Elder Kelly repeatedly made this point to the MISDA leadership, inviting them to come and press their charges against me before you, the members of the Village SDA Church, but the MISDA leadership refused. They wanted Elder Kelly to unilaterally censure me and remove me from being an elder an the elected Religious Liberty leader. A by-product of being censured is an automatic global preaching ban across all SDA pulpits worldwide, which is what I believe the GC, the NAD and the MISDA leaders want.
If the MISDA Conference can unilaterally set due process aside for me, they can do it for any member. I am humbly requesting that the Village SDA Church in business session votes as follows:
“To request the MISDA President, Elder Jim Micheff, to come and present his case against Dr. Conrad Vine at a business meeting to be held no later than June 30th for the Village SDA Church to make a determine of whether Dr. Conrad Vine should be banned from preaching and teaching at Village SDA Church. Should Elder Micheff not appear before the appointed time, then the Village SDA Church affirms that Dr. Conrad Vine continues as a member in regular standing, and authorizes him to preach and teach at the Village SDA Church.”
Such a vote will uphold the due process rights of every member of the Village SDA Church, and protect every member from arbitrary punishment by MISDA in the future.
Some of you may be asking if I am still a member of the Village SDA Church. I am! Village SDA Church has voted twice for my transfer to Corina SDA Church, Northern New England Conference, and the Corina SDA Church has passed their first vote. However, they are holding off indefinitely on the 2nd vote as we wait to see what happens with MISDA and whether or not MISDA will continue to pursue arbitrary and tyrannical measures against Dr. Conrad Vine. For now, I intend to remain an active member of my beloved Village SDA congregation.
This struggle is not about any one individual. We are voting to uphold due process for every member of the Village SDA Church, and we are giving Elder Micheff ample opportunity to make his case as required by the Church Manual for a voted elder to be banned from the pulpit in their local congregation.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration of this matter!
Dr. Conrad Vine.
These are the highlights of the 4-20-2025 Village Church Business meeting. Thank you for reading, and may God bless you.
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