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Print magazine

Getting Involved and Experiencing Changed Lives

By Cheri Gatton, August 29, 2023

Ezra and Tre were struggling with the idea of commitment — not because they disagreed with what they had learned during the Parma Adventist Church evangelistic series, but in fact the opposite.

Revelation 2.0 afforded the Ezra and Tre the opportunity to dig for answers to their questions. They were very excited to keep the Sabbath and Ezra has already made a stand.

"I was going to fix the water heater on Saturday afternoon," he said, "but then I realized, 'Wait, it's Sabbath!’" When he shared that with the church at the Saturday evening meeting, they all cheered him on for his commitment to "Remember."

The third visitor who came every night was Dylan, a polytheistic Norseman. He has attended every gathering Parma Church has had since the beginning of the year: The Great ReSet, Sabbath School, prayer meetings and worship. He was the church's audio-visual manager for each of the meetings this time, and took notes at most of them. Dylan loved John Bradshaw — "the Kiwi," as he called him.

Dylan had a spiritually abusive father and found pagan theology as an escape from Christianity. He has come a long way in believing there are actually good Christians, and that what they preach is reasonable and different from what he learned as a kid.

Dylan has softened remarkably over the last month of meetings, leaving his ax and pagan books at home. He even jumped into greeting one Sabbath at church. The church solicits everyone's prayers for the miracle of Dylan's conversion.

Parma Church members have also experienced a significant revival through these meetings; two of their members have requested rebaptism, and three more visitors have attended every meeting and received a certificate of completion of the studies.

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Author

Cheri Gatton

Idaho Conference women's ministries director
Section
Ministry
Tags
Ministerial

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The Gleaner is a gathering place with news and inspiration for Seventh-day Adventist members and friends throughout the northwestern United States. It is an important communication channel for the North Pacific Union Conference — the regional church support headquarters for Adventist ministry throughout Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The original printed Gleaner was first published in 1906, and has since expanded to a full magazine with a monthly circulation of more than 40,000. Through its extended online and social media presence, the Gleaner also provides valuable content and connections for interested individuals around the world.

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