On the morning of March 1910 in Dayton Ohio, The Wright brothers along with their father, Bishop Wright gathered to fly their newly invented aircraft. Though they had flown many times before, this day was different. The Wright brothers had pledged to never fly together in fears that if there was an accident and their lives were lost, the work of completing the aircraft would cease. However, now unhindered, having completed the project they were free to fly together. After the brothers finished their round, Wilbur and his aged father boarded the plane next and began to soar over the Ohio landscape. As they soared through the sky his father leaned over to say one word, “Higher Wilbur, Higher.”
What if we too, as believers realized our freedom in Christ. What if we found our chains to be broken, our fears dispelled, and the world before us as an open arena to serve God and our fellow men. What if we too aimed higher.
Last year a small group of Adventist youth sought to do just that. Gathering together early Sunday morning in the basement of a local church, though we all were from diverse backgrounds, shared one thing in common; a desire to experience God on a deeper level and share His love with others. Thus marked the conception of S.O.A.R.
Who: S.O.A.R. (School of the Adventist Remnant) is a group of Adventist youth who seek to do their best in fulfilling their God given mission and purpose to the world in earth’s final days. Driven by God’s grace we seek to learn how we can prepare ourselves and others for Christ second coming.
What: Meetings are held Sunday mornings and consist of exploring essential Bible topics; Righteousness by Faith, Hermeneutics, and Personal Spirituality to name a few. Service projects are conducted and allow members to grow together and live out their faith. Assignments are also incorporated into the curriculum to challenge members to practice and apply gained knowledge.
Why: “If God so loved us we also ought to love one another” 1 Jn 4:11
By God’s grace what started as a small group of several members has steadily grown into a broader community. As we look to continue growing this summer, prayers for our ministry would be greatly appreciated.
“Since I have attended SOAR it has completely changed they way that I view my status in the eyes of GOD. Being raised Adventist I have found that it’s really easy to become legalistic . During a study of the book of Romans I have begun to truly realize and accept that my Salvation comes by faith in Christ alone by the grace of Christ alone so that no wo(man) may boast. I have truly grown to love our early Sunday morning sessions”. Jasmine Simmons, U of M Dearborn
“I like S.O.A.R a lot because of the diversity of people. Learning a lot from different people helped me grow and see things differently from the Bible study. Sam Smith, student.
“SOAR has been a revival for me when it comes to bible study. It has pushed me to understand scripture on a deeper and more practical level. The tools I have acquired can be used throughout my life”. Daniel Barnes, Mechanical Engineer
Upuia Fineaso shares how the missionary intern class Contextualization by Pastor Conway opened to her to see a greater importance of doing ministry as a lay person.
by Bamiji Ibronke, Missionary Fellow 2020-21, Detroit Program
Of all the human senses, sight is arguably the most valued. Take any poll and one would probably find individuals who are willing to part with their ability to hear before losing their eyesight. In many ways, I too share the same sentiment. However, during a recent experience in ministry, I found sight to be less useful than usual, instead, it was the things that I heard, the sincere questions raised, and the resolute answers to appeals that I found to be most promising. As I spent time studying the Bible with Daniel, watching God prepare him for baptism, it was not seeing but hearing that fostered belief.
About halfway through preaching a sermon on Sabbath, I noticed a new face slip through the rear chapel doors and silently take a seat in the midst of the congregation. Daniel was easy to notice however, he was young, casual, and male, a unique guest amidst our predominantly formal and senior parish. As I neared the end of the sermon, I felt impressed to make an appeal for baptism to which Daniel responded. After the benediction, Daniel and I acquainted ourselves with each other and arranged for Bible studies in preparation for his baptism.
Bamiji Ibronke standing in the back giving a sign of peace posing with Pastor Steve Conway, Upuia Fineaso and others from Wayne State University.
The following Monday we met at the church for our first study. Though grateful for the opportunity, I determined to keep the study short fearing that the longer the study goes the more likely Daniel would be to lose interest. As we neared forty-five minutes, we discussed closing points and prayed. There was a strange and almost awkward silence. Daniel did not gather his belongings and leave as I imagined. Instead, he remained seated. I too waited completely clueless as to what this meant. The short silence was broken when Daniel asked a question which I was a bit unprepared for. “Is there anything else you want to say”?. Though I felt a bit caught off guard I did a decent job in not letting him notice. Daniel wanted to hear more of the love of Christ for man. More than my forty-five-minute time constraint allotted. After saying a quick prayer in my mind, I proceeded to elaborate on the love of God and his mission to save fallen humanity. Our conversation went well into the night and must have gone for a couple of hours since it was very dark when we left.
After bidding Daniel farewell and starting up my car I took a moment and reflected more on his question. “Is there anything else you have to say”? This apparently simple inquiry to me was indicative of a profound reality. The Holy Spirit was working on Daniel’s heart, creating in him a thirst for the Christ that I had not noticed. Through what I saw I assumed that he would be satisfied with merely an ordinary study on Salvation. However, from hearing his sincere question I realized that unbeknownst to me lied in Daniel’s heart an immense craving for the gospel. A craving imperceptible to the carnal eye but only discernible through the sense of faith. God was teaching me that rather than going off of what is seen, to instead listen for indications of the working of His Spirit.
Bamiji and Daniel standing together before Daniel’s baptism.
Over the next few studies, Daniel’s questions continued to impress and reveal to me that God was working on his heart. “Can you send me the notes”, “when is the next time we can meet”, “can we discuss how we know the Bible is true”? The Friday evening before his baptism scheduled date we found ourselves studying Community. Since we were unable to get through all the material we agreed that Daniel would look over the fundamental beliefs at home and then contact me if he had any questions. Admittedly I was nervous about not being able to go over all the material with him but planned to talk with him early on the following day.
Saturday came and I texted Daniel in the morning. I got no response. I hadn’t heard back from him since the prior night. Trying not to think too much of it I went to church to help prepare for the service. At church, I texted him again for the correct spelling of his name for the baptism certificate. I still got no response. It was approximately thirty minutes to the start of service and I hadn’t heard from him at all. A bit disappointed I pondered how I would explain to the church leadership that there would be no baptism that day while figuring out where things went wrong.
Christ once explained to Nicodemus that those who are born of the Spirit are like the rushing winds which can only be heard but not seen. He stated that as we hear the sound of the wind but cannot tell where it comes or where it goes so is every one that is born by the Spirit. During our Bible studies with Daniel, I had learned to not draw conclusions based on what I had seen. Multiple times God was showing me that the work of the Spirit is unpredictable and mysterious. It defies our logic and remains elusive to human reasoning. Further, as we cannot predict its coming neither can we predict its going. We do not know where it may take a man or the decisions it would lead one to make.
Daniel’s faith had been especially admirable. His sincere desire to know Christ had surprised me at each step. He had wanted to study longer, in more depth, and more often than I had assumed. His single question of “Is there anything more” stood as a constant reminder of the fallacy of my reasoning. Trying to predict Daniel’s spiritual state seemed to me as hopeless as trying to predict which way the wind blows. Christ was right. Here vision didn’t avail much. The most valuable conclusions came instead from those things which I heard. Watching God’s work baffled me at every step. It would seem that God was leading me to abandon any efforts to substantiate evidence merely through human reasoning. A greater method lied in drawing conclusions through faith.
Later that Sabbath Daniel and I eventually found ourselves in the Pathfinders room picking out his baptismal gown. He had explained to me that his phone was off and therefore didn’t see my text immediately. I was quite embarrassed about how easily I took his delayed response to mean “no longer interested” or “ I changed my mind”. There was the folly of trying to predict the work of the Spirit again. That day Daniel was baptized with his family supporting from the front stage. I eventually gave up trying to predict Daniel’s state based on what I was seeing and learned to listen more for the working of the Holy Spirit. After his baptism and voting him into the church body, I asked Daniel one final question. Turning to him and placing my hand on his shoulder I asked. Daniel “Do you love Jesus”? Daniel replied, “Yes”. His answer was more than convincing.
Upuia Fineaso, Missionary Intern 2020-21 Detroit Program
Upuia Fineaso watched her parents’ conversion into the Adventist Christian faith at the age of five. She grew up going to a church Sunday with her mom’s family, and then to church on Sabbath with her dad’s family. Her dad was a back-sliden Adventist. However, her mom responded when bible workers came to promote an evangelistic effort in Sacramento CA. Her dad slowly started coming and soon both her parents made the decision for baptism and rebaptism into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Although she had never felt a call to foreign mission, she always wanted to carry on what the Bible workers did when they helped her parents come into the church through inner city evangelism.
Upuia, the other interns and fellow with Dr Karl Tsatalbasidis.
Upuia enrolled at Hartland College, graduated in 2019 with a health ministry degree, and became more familiar with CAMPUS when Jermaine Gayle came as a Resident. Then her classmate, Grady Yonas came as a Resident. While Upuia was applying to nursing school, she attended GYC Louisville and was praying for God to open up opportunities for ministry. The morning messages were from Sikhu Daco, and one morning she spoke about taking a year to be a missionary. Sikhu also talked about the importance of ‘purposing’ in your heart as Daniel did to follow God. She asked her parents about doing OYiM+ and went to ask parents, and her parents told her to wait; she took the advice and admitted it was her biggest regret.
Mission work was not in her parents plans. However, when God desires for a person to be in missions, and that person desires to do His will, He will give that person another opportunity. At GYC Houston, Upuia was praying once again that God would lead her to a ministry. Pastor Steve Conway talked about starting a Center of Influence in Detroit near Wayne State University. Originally Upuia looked for an OYiM opportunity in her home Potomac Conference, but there was none. So when she saw Pastor Conway again at another GYC, she asked him about the Detroit Center of Influence. At the end of the conversation, she was led to fill out the application at the CAMPUS booth.
However, Upuia had to submit her application three separate times due to the application shutting down. The application usually takes about an hour to fill out due to the essay questions. CAMPUS nor Upuia could figure out why the application continued to shut down. So, she interpreted the difficulty as the enemy not wanting her to apply to the program. Upuia preserved and after a month she was able to submit the application.
Now, she had to tell her parents, but she waited until she knew she was accepted. After her interview with the Conways, they let her know she would receive an answer in two weeks. Two weeks passed, and God impressed her that she needed to tell her parents. However, she delayed another week. Her mom was out of town and when she returned, God gave her the courage to talk with her mom and dad about being a missionary at the Center of Influence in Detroit. Two days later Pastor Conway reached out and extended an invitation for her to be a missionary in Detroit as a missionary.
Upuia with Pastor Steve Conway and others from Wayne State University.
“This is the first time I have diverged from their expectation for me about the future.” She admits “They want me to serve the Lord, but they also want me to be successful.” Her parents are more content now, but there was a lot of denial from March until July. Then August hit and she made preparation for leaving. This is when the reality of her leaving settled into the home. Up to this time, Upuia was a full-time student at her local community college and working part-time as a barista. This allowed her to help around the house, care for her younger siblings homeschool, and transport her brothers to functions; both her parents work full-time. Upuia loves her parents and deeply appreciates their advice, yet she also realizes that God is the one who led her to come to Detroit to help establish a Center of Influence near Wayne State University.
Originally she understood that transportation would be provided and she would not need a vehicle. So when someone offered to give her a car to use, she declined. Then a month before she was to come to Detroit, she learned she would need her own car. She went back to the person who offered her the transportation, and the couple was happy to help her. Now she has been able to drive to and from ministry opportunities this fall. God worked out all the details. In reflecting on her decision she shared, “God was so clear, I could not question. I would have been a fool to stay home and ignore the facts of his providence.”
