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Adventist Small Business Group, ASI Annual Convention Convenes This Week in Cincinnati
Submitted: Aug 6, 2012
By AT News Team
It was once known as the association of “self-supporting institutions,” schools and other ministries which the Seventh-day Adventist denomination does not control and for which it takes no financial responsibility. It has become “ASI,” the Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries group, an association of “supporting ministries” or independent nonprofit organizations that are loyal to the denomination and small businesses.
Its annual convention attracts up to 3,300 people each year and its exhibition hall is noted for demonstrating the wide variety of causes and concepts that Adventists in North America are involved with. The 2012 event is in Cincinnati’s Duke Energy Convention Center and runs this week, August 8 through 11.
Last year Elder Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the General Conference, preached on Sabbath morning at the convention. This year’s speakers include Shawn Boonstra, evangelism coordinator for the Adventist Church in North America, and John Bradshaw, director of the It Is Written television ministry. The other speakers are not denominational employees—Dr. Neil Nedley, president of Weimar Health and Education Center; Frank Fournier, president of Eden Valley Institute; Steve Wohlberg of White Horse Media; Chad Kreuzer of Anchor Point Films; and Steven Grabiner, president of Outpost Centers International. No women are among the announced preachers.
A major activity at these annual gatherings is a large offering which is distributed among projects submitted by various independent ministries, all members of ASI. Last year the offering totaled $2.1 million, according to the organization. Several members told Adventist Today there are hopes of an even larger offering this year.
Although ASI is open to Adventists across the board, requiring only that a local pastor sign off on the membership application, it is widely known for attracting a more conservative mindset. For example, the most widely known member organization is the independent television network, Three Angels Broadcasting. It will broadcast live coverage of the convention each evening from 7 to 9 p.m. (Eastern Time), Wednesday through Friday; and much of the day on Saturday, August 11. The signal is available on the Web, as well as by satellite and a few local cable channels.
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I was sorry that 3ABN and ASI used this forum to air our dirty linen.
;-)
This reputation also closes the door to others who could be supporters. I am sorry they tend to hold only to one side of any issue and thus don't represent the whole church.
On the other side, those who may side with the more moderate/liberal/evangelical approach in the church need to recognize the good these organizations do and not categorize them. I hold Weimar Institute and some other similar organizations in high regard as they try to do what Western medicine has primarily failed to do. In the hands of a balanced leadership they have a great work to do for Christ in our society.
Ordination in the world church is highly subjective, and ASI members realize from their world travels that in some countries, men are ordained who are barely literate but have a gift for preaching and pastoring; in other parts of the world, extensive post-graduate training is recommended and generally required. Yes, gender is at issue here, but in the good ASI thinking I have seen, too much dictation to local fields and ministries from top-down is viewed with grave suspicion. In fact, ASI itself may be a fitting metaphor for those who wish to be "united" in purpose, but highly diversified in the ways they go about achieving those goals.