Rob Appel
Executive Director
SR • February 2016
17
FOCUS
What is the most important thing
we do day in and day out?
Next Month - Kingdom Culture
In December 2015, I led off a four-month series about
General Council’s work on a “Vision Map” for Seventh
Day Baptists. This was rolled out last year in July at the
General Conference Sessions in Lancaster, PA. This
document laid out for the reader and viewer four distinct
areas that the General Council believes define and
move forward Seventh Day Baptists as we advance
God’s Kingdom. The four sides of the Vision Map are:
Mission — The reason for our existence
Core Values — Commitments that everybody
lives by — Our nonnegotiable
Focus — What is the most important thing we do
day in and day out
Culture — Society we must create to realize
our potential
This month we will explain the Focus.
Our organization’s central ministry focus answers this
question: “What is the most important thing we must do,
day in and day out, to best fulfill our mission?” This
question is not easy to answer, but it is critical.
In his book,
Leading from the Sandbox
, author T.J.
Addington explains Focus this way:
The central ministry focus does not identify the only way
to accomplish our mission. However, it should be the
most effective way to see and measure ministry results.
To get to the central ministry focus for Seventh Day
Baptists we answer these questions:
1. What is the single most important thing we
could do that would give us the most influence
in accomplishing our mission?
2. If there is one practice everyone in the Conference
needs to pay attention to, what would it be?
3. If we want to see the maximum ministry impact in
line with our mission, what is the one thing we must
do on a regular basis?
The General Council came up with this statement for
our Conference:
The SDB Focus
We must develop and support new and existing
leaders who will work through healthy local
churches. Leaders include pastors, as well as
people who have served, are serving, or desire
to serve in local churches.
This basically describes our current mission statement
adopted in 2005 at our General Conference sessions in
Holland, MI. That statement is this:
“The Seventh Day
Baptist Conference unites, encourages and equips local
Seventh Day Baptist churches in their endeavors to fulfill
the Great Commission.”
For over 300 years, SDBs have been commissioned by
Jesus Christ to use their gifts and resources to share His
gospel. Today, we continue to advance His mission in
North America in a unique way. We believe that this
Vision Map generally demonstrates the way in which
God has been and will continue to work through us to
make new disciples and transform us into greater
Christ-likeness.
SR
