General Conference 2010 - #10

The highlight of the day was the West Indies College/Northern Caribbean University Junior Church reunion. I founded it in 1976 with Maxwell Blakeney as Associate Pastor and Marie-Lucienne as our assistant. Kerry Pryce coordinated the reunion. How great it was to also see Paul Pryce, Carl Henry, and Yolande Melbourne, as well as my daughter Natasha. Maxie, Marie-Lucienne, and I picked up where we left off 32 years ago! How much fun! As you see from the pictures (http://www.wallawalla.edu/campus-life/spiritual-life/gallery/general_conference_2010), there was a huge crowd there today, and they were not all in the Dome. Based on the amount of friends, colleagues, and students I saw, I wondered if a quarter of them were not from Jamaica, Puerto Rico, New York, Washington D.C., and Walla Walla! However, tonight at the famous Parade of Nations I had to question that assumption. I think that more than half of the Dome was filled with Jamaicans! When the Jamaican flag appeared on stage, the scream that arose to the roof was so loud and long that it took a while before the announcer could call out the name of the country. Over the years there seems to be a little rivalry between the USA and Jamaica as to who could scream the loudest when their flag appeared. USA usually wins (even though barely). But this year I think the prize went to the “bobsled” island!

And thus endeth my blogging for this sojourn in Atlanta. Much of what I have witnessed and experienced will be part of my lectures in a couple weeks when I teach a History of Adventism class at Walla Walla University. As I noted in an earlier blog I see Adventism in stages. Based on the past, and observing the cycles that we have gone through, I believe that we have begun a new cycle that will last between 10 and 20 years, if Jesus doesn’t come before then. As always, there will be positives and negatives; and the content of each will be viewed differently by opposing factions in the church. How marvelous it would be if we could manifest the spirit of Jesus Christ, even as we differ, as we enter this new era of Adventism. That’s my prayer.

Blessin’s

pedrito