Senior Pastors and Associates Serving in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe Meet

by Melvin Rhodes

The home office was the venue for the second annual Senior Pastors' Conference, Nov. 1 and 2. The first one, held a little over a year ago, was just for the U.S. pastors with responsibilities as senior pastors in Africa. This year's conference was broadened to include David Baker, senior pastor for Asia, and Victor Kubik, senior pastor for Estonia and other countries in Eastern Europe. Attending with Mr. Kubik was Johnnie Lambert, an elder from New York who has been assisting him in that area.

The senior pastors for Africa are Melvin Rhodes (Ghana), Fred Kellers (Nigeria) and John Elliott (East Africa). Joel Meeker also attended the meetings since, as director of the French work, he travels extensively in Africa.

Fred Kellers has been assisted for some time by Mark Mickelson, while Tom Clark has recently been appointed associate senior pastor for Ghana. As of the date of the meetings, no associate senior pastor has been appointed for the areas administered by Mr. Elliott.

Also present were the president of the United Church of God, Clyde Kilough; Jim Franks, operation manager for Ministerial Services; Tom Kirkpatrick, treasurer; and Dave Register, director of Education Programs, including the United Youth Corps, which is actively involved in helping to serve at camps across Africa.

Inspired by Africa's dire poverty and the limited resources of the Church, the theme of the conference was "Silver and Gold Have I None..." Lectures were given to those present on "Using Our Limited Resources Wisely in the Third World" (Joel Meeker), "Arranging Travel Plans/Getting the Most out of Each Trip" (Dave Baker), "Budgets and Good Works Programs" (Tom Kirkpatrick), "Managing the Feast of Tabernacles in Africa/Asia" (Doug Horchak) and "Youth Camps and Youth Corps" (Dave Register).

Other topics included "Working With Other Groups in Third World Countries" where a number of other churches have contacted us with a request to join United. This presentation was given by Jim Franks and Doug Horchak since both were involved in the process of leading the Remnant Church of God in Ghana to membership in United.

Doctrinal issues were also discussed. Marrying outside the faith, polygamy and Sabbath observance were all covered.

Developing countries have unique challenges that are totally different from anything in the United States or other Western nations. It is difficult serving people in these regions because of travel difficulties, hygiene problems (those present shared accounts of health problems that have arisen due to their travels) and general uncertainty. How best to help members in circumstances of great deprivation was another subject that required a great deal of discussion. By sharing experiences and ideas, waste can be avoided and greater progress made.

In contrast, Estonia has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, but members there are scattered and their needs are also unique. UN