The Michigan Conference (under Jim Micheff) issued a ban on September 3, 2024 to prevent Conrad Vine (president of Adventist Frontier Missions) from speaking anywhere in their state. This caused tremendous pushback around the world. There were well over 4 million responses and pageviews on YouTube in 2024 alone, more than 90% of them in support of Conrad Vine. As a result, Vine became a much sought after speaker, and is now booked almost two years in advance.
Micheff doubled down in 2024 by issuing a decree that Vine could also not speak at the Village Church where he is a legitimately elected elder. He also fired their pastor (Ron Kelly) when he believed Kelly stood in the way of removing Vine from his church offices. Obsession, anyone?
After acknowledging significant tithe losses last week, resulting from his treatment of the Village Church, Micheff tripled down today, by issuing a third edict against Vine. Here it is:
Observations:
The Church Manual states that an elder is free to teach and preach at his local church. More importantly, the Bible does too.
Micheff believes that a controversial clause voted into the Church Manual in 2022 gives him power to prevent Vine from speaking in his own church. This is pitting the Church Manual against itself.
“During a business meeting, the Village Church expressed an interpretation of the Church Manual that differs from that of the Michigan Conference.” True.
The Village Church read and understood these passages “The pastoral work of the church should be shared by the pastor and the elders” and “Authority to elect elders is inherent in the local church and not in the conference executive committee” (CM page 79). “Elders should be able to conduct the services of the church and minister in both word and doctrine when the assigned pastor is unavailable” (page 78).
Micheff wrote “The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates through a representative form of governance that includes local congregations, conferences, and unions, each with defined responsibilities within the mission and organization of the church. This differs from a congregational model in which governing authority resides entirely at the local church level.” This creates a logical fallacy. First he acknowledges the governance responsibility of the local church and their defined responsibilities, then he dismisses the local church’s responsibilities by saying they are not ‘congregational.’ He is carving out for himself the ability to cross lines of ‘defined responsibilities.’ This is essentially campaigning for a top-down leadership model that disrupts a fragile and essential ingredient in our church—trust.
Micheff interprets the Lake Union’s unwillingness to weigh in on the local elder issue as latitude to forge his own interpretation of the Church Manual, but he is unwilling to extend that same latitude to a local congregation.
Micheff references conference guidelines, but fails to define them. Post them, so all can see them, friend.
He misrepresents Conrad Vine’s campmeeting sermon in Maine, 2024 in several ways. He says Vine made statements against church leadership (presumably the GC’s handling of the Covid debacle). Vine did question the GC’s response to Covid and their motivations for doing so, through constructive criticism. And so did a million other people, myself included. He says Vine advocated for a para-church structure operating within the church’s environment but outside established denominational accountability. He did not advocate for it, but threw the possiblity out there IF the GC were to mismanage another liberty of conscience crisis like they did Covid-19. It was one of four possible hypethetical responses that Vine threw out there. Micheff says Vine “made statements suggesting the leveraging or redirection of tithe in ways that influence financial support toward individuals, organizations, or conferences aligned with his views.” He did not. He did say targeted giving could reward Conferences that remain true to the Word of God, with the possibility of “conferences who go woke might go broke.” If you are a conference who is woke, or you plan on becoming one in the near future, I can see where that might offend you.
Micheff says Conrad Vine refused to speak with them. This is not quite true. He did decline an offer to meet with them after they had besmirched his name, fired Ron Kelly, and damaged the Village Church; he made a video instead, responding to the issues. Vine made two formal requests to meet with the GC, pray together, and seek to resolve the disagreement resulting from liberty of conscience violations during 2020-2022. He was rebuffed both times. There was a third attempt in which he offered to take one or two others with him—Micheff included (Matthew 18:16). Micheff declined. Conrad gave a public defense of his position here. Vine also had a public conversation with Micheff at the Village Church Townhall in December 2024.
According to one conference official in a neighboring state, “The Village Church resolved this matter already in its business meeting when it invited the conference to bring its evidences against Vine, and in the end they voted not to place Conrad Vine under church discipline. That was the real end of the matter. The congregation did its duty. Now the conference [Michigan] is asserting a totally new authority to ban local elders.”
“While elders are elected by the local congregation to provide spiritual leadership and support the ministry of the church, the Church Manual places responsibility for pulpit participation within the framework of conference guidelines.” Here, Micheff / MISDA is determined to give the conference permission to invade the decisions and autonomy of the local church.
This has huge implications all around the world. Seventh-day Adventist churches everywhere are in danger of top-down encroachment if Michigan is allowed to violate the separation of powers that has made our worldwide church flourish for over a hundred years.
This is a huge power grab that could fundamentally change the church as we know it.
It is one of the ironies of the age if we, as a church, warn the world against a religious power that violated the consciences of men throughout the dark ages, only to become like it, near the Time of the End.
Discuss!
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“The plans upon which God wishes us to work have been laid down. Never should the mind of one man, or the minds of a few men, be regarded as sufficient in wisdom and power to control the work and say what plans shall be followed. The burden of the work in this broad field should not rest upon two or three men.
“The Lord knows the future. He is the One to lead, and trusted in to guide, to guard, and direct in the future development of the various branches of His work. For several years. I have been warned that there is danger, constant danger, of men looking to men for permission to do this or that, instead of looking to God for themselves.” (GCB, April 10, 1903).