March 11, 2011
Ohio Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
2 Fairgrounds Road
Mt. Vernon, OH 43050
Dear leaders,
I post this letter in such a public fashion because you have not taken my concerns nor the concerns of others seriously. You continue to move in a direction that is not in accordance with the will of God. Before I get to the specifics, let me draw your attention to volume 2 of the Testimonies, pages 14 and 15. In these pages, Mrs. White relates an experience in which she publicly addressed the wrongs of a certain person. Both James and Ellen White indicated that since the wrongs committed affected the entire church, it was completely proper to address the issues at hand publicly. The wrongs committed had not been aimed at James or Ellen personally, but rather they had impacted the church at large. Mrs. White indicates that this placed the situation in a different category than that which Jesus addressed in Matthew 18, which involves personal grievances.
Therefore, I do not believe that it is wrong to address what I consider to be departures from the will of God, because these departures have impacted the Ohio membership in general. These are very much public issues, and they deserve to be addressed in a public fashion.
Last year I presented an appeal paper to you entitled "Synopsis and Appeal." In that paper I laid out my concerns, dealing with areas such as The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Christian Lifestyle (including Sabbath observance issues), The Right Arm of Our Message, and The New Spirituality/Emergent Church (Conference on Innovation). You have not addressed the serious issues raised in that paper. Nor have you listened to others who have shared with you their heartfelt convictions.
1. You continue to present an incomplete Gospel in your meetings. Even in the December pastors’ retreat, the grace of God was portrayed as a justification-only work of Christ. I have never heard you teach that the grace of God includes also the power of God for a changed life. Never have I heard you teach that it is imperative that we cooperate with Christ in our daily lives, so that He can reproduce His character in us. This incomplete presenting of the Gospel of our Lord is the most serious of my concerns.
2. For six years in a row you have continued to invite unbiblical teachers to address our people and our pastors at your Annual National Conference on Innovation. Even though there were members expressing their concerns with you all during this time, you continued to plow straight ahead with your plans, which are clearly outside the will of God in Scripture, and the Spirit of Prophecy. We have been given a wealth of information and guidance regarding our ministry to a secular world. We have no business asking a fallen system to instruct us or guide us in our methodology. We do not need to drink from broken cisterns when God has given us contemporary guidance that we do not even follow. We were warned about the dangers of mysticism and spiritualism. Through the pen of inspiration, God has seen fit to guide us away from the modern manifestations of Satanic deception. But you have not listened to the voices of reason that have attempted to draw you back to the safety of God’s will. You have run roughshod over these attempts. You have even turned a deaf ear to our world church leader in this regard.
3. And now you have decided to completely dismantle the bivocational pastor program in this Conference. You have claimed that there is no other way to be compliant with the Department of Labor than the discontinuance of your program. This is not at all necessary however. You do not need to discontinue your program; you merely need to pay your bivocational pastors the minimum wage for a small stated number of hours per week. This is the issue that the Department of Labor is concerned with. Why don’t you show us the evidence from the Department of Labor that indicates that they are actually concerned about part-time and full-time pastors taking the same number of hours to prepare a sermon, for instance? Where is that evidence? And why do you not share the entire letter that Elder Bryant sent you? Why do you share just the portion that seems to strengthen your position?
The people of Ohio deserve a full disclosure from you. They deserve the opportunity to meet with you in a general meeting so that they can share their concerns. You may think that the three elders’ meetings will suffice. But this is not enough. We want complete openness and full disclosure concerning your decision to discontinue the bivocational program. In the business world, there are protocols in place that promote such openness. Should not the church of Jesus Christ be completely transparent in its dealings?
4. You have borne false witness against our hometown camp meeting, “Forward to Zion.” Elder Hallett, you wrote two separate letters to Elder Artur Stele, concerning this camp meeting. We were trying to follow basic protocol in asking you for a letter of approval, so that Elder Stele could speak during the Sabbath worship hour at our camp meeting. The first letter of December 2, 2010 was a positive invitation. Here is an excerpt:
“The Ohio Conference has encouraged local congregations to hold local area Camp Meetings the past couple of years. We have received a note from one of our bi-vocational pastors, David Sullivan, that he has requested your presence at their local camp meeting in 2011. He has told me they will be renting the Allegheny West camp grounds due to the fact that several of our Ohio Conference pastors will be holding a camp meeting geared to youth at Mount Vernon Academy, our traditional location for camp meeting in Ohio, on the same dates.
You are more than welcome, and we invite you, to join with this local congregation in their local camp meeting gathering in June of 2011.”
Then, on December 6, you wrote these words to Elder Stele:
“Elder Stele,
I sent you a letter dated December 2, 2010 concerning a local camp meeting being held
June 8-12 in Ohio. It is a local event being held at the Allegheny West Conference camp grounds. David Sullivan is the bi-vocational pastor who is organizing it.
At our staff meeting at the Conference Office this morning, new and more complete information was shared which changes the picture a bit. I must now inform you of these changes. First, we had understood it was to be an event focused on the congregations supporting it. Attached is a copy of the website they have created which makes it a meeting for “all” Ohio church members. This was brought to our attention by one of the full time pastors who was concerned about the drawing away of his members when he is sponsoring a home town camp meeting in Columbus, Ohio at the same time. Our goal with these home town camp meetings was to have more people participate, more local involvement and more invitations to the communities where the event is being held. Thus, a larger sharing of the Gospel and evangelism in the community.
Second, over the weekend I learned of reservations from two of the churches being listed as sponsoring congregations as they have learned more about what is to happen. One was considering withdrawal of their support.
Third, given the above information as well as other information which is too much to write here, it was clear that this is not a camp meeting being supported, approved, voted, nor endorsed by the Ohio Conference.”
You mischaracterized our camp meeting greatly. Your negativity caused Elder Stele to change his mind about coming to speak for us. The fact is, our camp meeting is indeed a hometown camp meeting, sponsored by several local churches. We have marketed the meeting in a similar fashion as the other hometown camp meetings. They also have been marketed all over Ohio. But we realize that we will get mainly attendees from central Ohio. You have maligned our meeting in such a way as to cast it in a negative, disloyal, light. You have intimated that our meeting is somehow not what it purports to be. You have twisted the facts concerning the sponsoring churches and their plans. And you have indicated to a high-ranking Adventist leader that the Ohio Conference does not support or approve of our hometown camp meeting. You have singled us out, and you have spoken out of both sides of your mouth. First you approve, then you malign. This duplicity is dreadfully wrong.
Please understand that when you attack our camp meeting you are attacking a good number of people in Ohio. When you malign our meeting you are hurting many honest-hearted members who love the Lord dearly. If you do not like our choice of conservative speakers, just say so. If you do not appreciate the traditional nature of our camp meeting, just say so. But please do not continue to malign a perfectly noble meeting that will uplift Jesus Christ, and equip God’s people for service.
I highly recommend that you call a general meeting, and invite the entire membership of Ohio to attend. Set the ground rules and inform people that all will be done in decency and in order. Give God’s people a voice. Hear what they have to say. Answer their questions fully and completely. And if there are areas in which you need to adjust, do so willingly and humbly. But to continue to give the impression that you are closed to full communication will not be productive at all. This is 2011. People do not just sit on their hands when they have concerns. They speak with their feet, their wallets, and their fingers.
Whatever you decide to do, you can be certain that God will take note of it all. There is a limit to what He allows in His remnant church. He is jealous for His church, and He will easily override plans that are not in accordance with His will. As for me, I would much rather be ridiculed for standing for the right, than praised for promoting evil.
My prayer is that you would give the people a voice, and that you would be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. There is a bright future for all those who truly submit to the Lord’s leading.
In truth,
Pastor David Sullivan
Delaware Seventh-day Adventist Church
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