This week on ANN. The Adventist Church began its Annual Council business meetings, starting with the LEAD Conference late last week. LEAD stands for ‘Leadership, Education and Development.” The Department of Adventist Mission presented the conference this year, focusing on “Through the Storms: Mission During Crises.” The Annual Council is one of two yearly meetings of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church’s Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is the second-highest governing body of the denomination. It is second to the delegates of the General Conference in Session, which takes place every five years. This year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Annual Council meetings are taking place both in-person and online. Newly elected Secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church, Erton Kohler, opened his secretariat report to the 2021 Annual Council. During the Secretariat Report, Kohler gave many examples of the amazing work the Adventist Church has done globally during the 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Director of the Adventist Archives, Statistics, and Research department, David Trim, told attendees that there can only be one topic: “The impact on the church of the COVID-19 pandemic—what has happened; and what the statistics suggest might happen in the near future.” The 2021 Annual Council Secretariat also focused on Mission. Even during the pandemic, the Adventist Church continued to train and send missionaries, including International Service Employees (ISE) and Adventist Volunteers worldwide. While methods have been updated because of the pandemic, Adventists everywhere are still answering the call “I Will Go.” Adventist Volunteer Services (AVS) also continued to engage volunteers and service. AVS launched a new website and “Passport to Mission” online course updated in collaboration with the Institute of World Mission. AVS also expanded the One year in Mission project to include the community where the volunteer is located. The final segment of the 2021 Annual Council Secretariat Report focused on the Mission. Director of Adventist Mission, Gary Krause, started his report saying, “We are praying for a mission that is stronger than crises, and we’ve seen in the past year through the pandemic that Adventist Mission has continued going forward because of people willing to say ‘I Will Go.” A Mission Priority System is now working to help prioritize mission projects based on mission challenges and unreached people. Treasurer of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Paul Doulas, opened his inaugural Treasury Report to the 2021 Annual Council’s Executive committee with some good news. He said, “ In looking at the state of our finances at the end of August, I can report that the financial picture is much stronger today than it was a year ago,” Douglas told the hybrid of in-person and virtual delegates. While many things contributed to the positive financial outlook for the Church, including cash and investments increase, account receivable decrease, and notes receivable decrease, Douglas reported tithe being ahead by 5.2% compared to last year. The financial markets have provided positive results for us so far this year. Looking to the end of this year and into the next, Douglas believes the positive trends will continue. During the Treasurer’s Report, Undertreasurer of the World Church Ray Wahlen reported on budgets and tithe. Wahlen said the approach to the 2022 budget would be with a storing emphasis on Mission. In the past, the Adventist Church has usually set the income at 100 percent of the actual tithe and world mission offerings from two years before. Due to the current state of the world and to avoid taking undue risks, the Church will use 100 percent of 2019’s actual income, which will strike a balance between the risk of overstating income potential and the possibility of faster economic recovery. President of the Adventist World Church, Ted N.C. Wilson opened the Annual Council session on Leadership, Education, and Development (LEAD) Conference this year. He asked delegates to “lean on the Master of the universe in times of trouble…and not take your eyes off Christ or His goal for the Church.” This sentiment was echoed throughout the conference, which centered on the theme “Through the Storms: Mission During Crises.” This theme was divided into two sections: “Storms from the Past,” presented Thursday night, October 7, and “Current and Future Crises,” presented Friday morning, October 8. For the latest news and current events within the Adventist community, visit Adventist News Network. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-UDZh7FNz8