Ministerial Report

The Northeastern Conference Office of Ministerial is not a department but a resource to empower and equip pastors, elders, deacons and deaconess to become effective spiritual leaders in the local church and wider community by providing training, support, evangelistic tools, and opportunities for professional development.

Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, many church leaders and pastors realized that we had entered a new era in church ministry. Members had grown accustomed to watching services from home. Attendance was scanty and many wondered how the post-pandemic church would look. The so-called “pandemic pause” also caused many to start to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the programs that the church had offered for decades.

Along with the stellar team of Dr. Warner Richards, Dr. Ucall Harris, Pastor Michelle Mota-Poyser, Dr. Kendall Guy and Junia Boutros, we began to imagine reinvigorated churches which would embrace technology, reach the community, and could be excited about evangelism. Thus, we focused our energies upon the following.

Church Growth and Development

The Ministerial Office supports churches facing challenges in ministry and leadership. We provide training for local leadership, seek to resolve internal conflict and cast vision for a brighter future. However, realizing that professional clergy must partner with local leadership, with the experienced support of Elder Easton Bell, the President of the Elders, Deacons and Deaconess Council, we were able to bring valuable workshops to the field including:

• Healing the Dysfunctional Church
• Leadership in the Life Cycle
• Decoding the City for Effective Ministry
• Marketing Your Church through Authentic Ministry
• Building the Healthy Church
• Speaking to the Times
• Christ to Key to Biblical Interpretation
• Friendship Evangelism

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Evangelism and Church Growth

Through efforts of our Ministerial Office, Northeastern Conference ranked #2 in the North American Division with nearly 200 churches participating in Pentecost 2025. As early reports come in, Northeastern Conference is once again near the forefront of baptisms. Because we believe in leadership by example, the varied efforts of the just the office associates, over the quadrennium, have produced hundreds of converts to the Advent Faith.

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Pastoral support and services

Every pastor needs a pastor. The Ministerial Office supports our pastors and their families through some of the more challenging times of life: illness, death, district relocation. We provide access to practical materials, confidential counseling services, and initiatives focused on pastors' families and spiritual well-being.

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Encourage Professional Growth

We encourage our pastors to take advantage of educational opportunities to enhance professional competencies. As a result, Northeastern Conference has more pastors with dual degrees and/or doctorates than almost any other Conference in the Division. Our pastors have degrees in the following areas: law, counseling, education, social work, business. We boast several certified chaplains with many more in the pipeline under the new NEC Chaplaincy Program directed by Dr. Joshua Deonarine.

Monthly professional development webinars, examine such topics as communication in the digital age, preaching, artificial intelligence and ministry, family dynamics, church administration, and self-care as well as current issues of concern such as voting, immigration.

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Promoting Collaboration Unity in Diversity

The Ministerial Office is pleased not only to support unity in diversity, but also to service every sector of our diverse field, including our Thai, Filipino, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Haitian, Hispanic, Portuguese, and the varied English-speaking congregation from around the globe.

As we enter this new age of ministry, we do so with unwavering faith, undaunted commitment, believing that the Office of Ministerial has been, and shall continue to be, committed to producing the best professionally trained, theologically equipped, emotionally balanced, spiritually mature pastors in the North American Division,  equipped with 21^st century skills to meet the demands of our ever-evolving field.

We thank you for the privilege of serving your thought this closing quadrennium.

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