AY Story

THE AY STORY
A BRIEF HISTORY OF YOUTH MINISTRY IN

THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
GENERAL CONFE RE NCE YO UT H

MINISTRIES DEPA RT MENT
ii
THE AY STORY
A brief history of Youth Ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
PROJECT EDITOR
ROBERT HOLBROOK
With Foreword by
O RV I L L E PA R C H M E N T
Assistant to the President of the General Conference
COLLEGE PRESS
COLLEGEDALE, TENNESSEE
iii
The AY Story
2005 by the General Conference Youth Ministries Department
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the Publisher.
Credits
Compiled and Edited by Robert Holbrook
Cover by Lulleither Walker Massiah
Layout and designed by Maria Dunchie
Copy edited by Rob Conway
Typesetting by Lulleither Walker Massiah
Contributors to this updated edition of the Story of Youth Ministry in the Seventh-day
Adventist Church are:
The Youth Department Team: Baraka Muganda, Alfredo Garcia-Marenko,
Robert Holbrook, Silvia Sicalo, Maria Dunchie, Lulleither Walker Massiah
Arnold and Dixie Plata, North American Division Pathfinder Historians
Cindy Tutsch, Associate Director, White Estate
Dana Pridie, First Romanian Pathfinder Club Director
Earlier editions 1922, 1963 by the General Conference Youth Department
First Edition 1922: Missionary Volunteers and Their Work by Matilda Erickson
Second Edition 1963:The MV Story by Nathaniel Krum
ISBN 0-9707651-5-0
Printed in the United States of America
iv
Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word,
in conduct, in love, in spirit, if faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention
to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you,
which was given to you by prophesy with the laying on of the hands of the
eldership. Meditate on these things: give yourself entirely to them, that your
progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.
Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those
who hear you.
I Timothy 4: 12-16. NKJV
PAT H F I N D E R S I N C U B A
EGYPT YOUTH CONGRESS

vi
CONTENTS
Foreword .............................................................................................. ix
Introduction ......................................................................................... xi
1. Our Beginnings (1800-1900)............................................................ 1
A young persons story: J. N. Loughborough
2. Exciting Expansion (1901-1915)...................................................... 9
A young persons story: W. H. Branson
A countrys story: RomaniaDana Pridie, Primary Contributor
3. A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)............................................... 21
Time Line part 1
A young persons storyRichard Hayden
4. Grand Plans and Fast Growth (1928-1957).................................... 39
Time Line part II
A young persons storyPedro Mamani
5. The Good Old Days (1957-1970)................................................ 57
A young persons storyTitu Ghejan
6. Changes Blowing in the Wind (1970-1990)................................... 69
Time Line part III
A young persons storyCraig Luecke
7. Todays Adventist Youth Movement (1990-2005+)....................... 79
Time Line part IV
A young persons storyMartha Yeseya
8. Foundation Stones for Future Youth Ministry ................................ 97
(New Millennial AY)Baraka Muganda
Appendix:
I.
Summary of General Conference Youth Department Personnel ....109
II. Comparison and Contrast of SDA Youth Societies................115

III. Footnotes to Chapter 1.........................................................119
IV. Pictorial of Contributors to the production of this book .......121
V. Pictures of Youth Around the World.......................................122
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viii
F O R E W O R D
The Story of Adventist youth is one that should be told in all of our
churches. It is a story of Gods guidance for our youth who are anxious to
be incorporated into the fabric of their churches, and who are zealous to
share the good news of the gospel as their aim indicates The Advent message
to all the world in my generation.
It is quite evident that our youth want to be challenged to take positions
of responsibility, even positions of leadership, in the ministry of our local
churches. However, one of the obstacles that we face is the unwillingness of
some adults, who are in leadership, to allow our youth to become involved.
Could it be a matter of trust? We have an awesome resource of talent.
It has been said that our youth are not the church of tomorrow but the
church of today. I encourage you to make this a reality. The Seventh-day
Adventist Church started with youth taking an active role in ministry and
today we see this trend continuing in some parts of the world. Let us be
intentional in making this a reality everywhere the gospel is preached.
Orville Parchment
Assistant to the President
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church
September 2005
ix
The first story of Seventh-day Adventist youth history,

Missionary Volunteers and Their Work by Matilda Erickson. 1922.
The second effort at telling the story of youth ministry was
The MV Story by Nathaniel Krum, 1963.
I NTRODUCTIO N
YOU HOLD IN YOUR HANDS A STORY OF ADVENTIST YOUTH
(AY). It begins over 125 years ago along a dusty country lane in Michigan
with two young boys kneeling in prayer. (Well, perhaps it began even before
that when a small magazine began publication in 1852.) Today that dusty
lane has become a world-wide web of highways that links over 7 million
Seventh-day Adventist young people in nearly every political entity on every
continent of the globe. This story comes in every hue of the rainbow; it is
filled with extremes of exhilaration and mountaintop experiences, as well as
deep sadness and unfulfilled dreams. It is the story of Gods leading a fascinating army down through the battles of the great over arching conflict that
is life as we know it now.
Twice in our past brave writers have undertaken the task of putting this
story into print. The first was Matilda Erickson, the first secretary in the first
youth department working with the first director, Elder M. E. Kern. This
was in 1913 or 1914 and carried the title History of the Seventh-day Adventist
Young Peoples Work. It was a small (15 cm x 8.5 cm) 40page pamphlet that
cost a whole 4 cents. The material was later (circa 1922) incorporated into a
larger work titled Missionary Volunteers and Their Work, which was also the first
complete administrative manual for youth ministry. Then, again in 1963 a
historian by the name of Nathaniel Krum, under the guidance of the newly
elected world youth director Theodore Lucas, tried to put this story between
book covers and called it The MV Story. In these two books one finds two
exciting, contrasting periods of the Adventist youth story. One only wishes
that so much more could have been told if space would only permit.
You hold in your hands a third attempt. The sad part is that no matter
how hard one tries, the story gets abbreviated, lost in time, fuzzy and less
precise the further away from reality time takes us. History too easily gets
reduced to a few names and dates. We forget that these were/are people;
people who loved life; people who loved God; people who had hundreds
of exciting moments, difficult moments, shattered moments, moments we
could all learn such valuable lessons from, except that theyve disappeared
under the dust of time and been reduced to brief-passing name-date-event
sequential facts. However, the world keeps changing. People come and go.
Our past must go on record and not be totally forgotten, lest we thereby also
lose sight of the road ahead.
xi
xii
AY STORY
Of course, the true heroes are the youth of the past, present, and future
who follow our aim, The Advent message to all the world in my generation. So, to those who wrote, are writing, and will write this continuing
story in real life is this effort dedicated.
Note: Throughout this book information has been taken and adapted
from The MV Story and Missionary Volunteers and Their Work without specific
footnoting. Those books are carefully referenced to original sources. Events
not found in those two books are taken from original materials found in the
General Conference Archives and the memories of persons involved. (Chapter One is the exception and is footnoted in the appendix.)
The Youth Department Team
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
2005
AY AIM:
The Advent Message to All The World in My Generation
AY MOTTO:
The Love of Christ Constrains Me.
AY PLEDGE:
Loving the Lord Jesus, I promise to take an active part in the
youth ministry of the church, doing what I can to help others
and to nish the work of the Gospel in all the world.
xii
THE AY STORY
A B R I E F H I S T O RY O F YO U T H M I N I S T RY I N
T H E S E V E N T H - D AY A D V E N T I S T C H U R C H
xiii
1
OUR BEGINNINGS
(1800-1900)
(Primary contributor to this chapter: Cindy TutchWhite Estate;

footnoting is referenced in the appendix).
Much can be said about the founding process of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church and the involvement of youth in that process. Joseph Bates was often called Father Bates for a very good reasonhe was the oldest, therefore a father figure, among those early pioneers. The others were literally
all youth. James White was likely the second-oldest, being in his twenties,
Ellen Gould Harmon (White) was
a teenager, John Nevins Andrews a
junior, John Loughborough a teen,
Uriah and Anne Smith were both in
their early twenties, and so on went
the list. By the time the movement
saw needs to institutionalize and
become a church, a legal entity
and not a hodgepodge of little organizations with quasi-legal representation, these young upstarts had
become mature adults with a rapidly-growing following of young and
old scattered across a continent and
then around the globe. By force of
time alone leadership transferred from
young to old, and the young began
to feel like tagalongs instead of on the
cutting edge. James White recognized
1
T H E AY S T O R Y
a need and sought to solve it in a manner he knew best howpublish. So

he began a special magazine for youth called the Youths Instructor. The first
issue appeared in 1852.
This was followed by a magazine for the younger set Our Little Friend
in 1890, with W. N. Glenn as editor. In some circles ultraconservative
adults with misconceptions of leadership, authority, and mission tried to
stifle any youthful creativity and involvement until
God stepped in and began
His own work in mysterious
manners.
Although primary-source
material is limited, historical
consensus gives the teenagers Luther Warren (14) and
Harry Fenner (17) the honor
of originating the first Adventist Young Peoples Society
in 1879, conceived from a
desire to help their young
friends experience spiritual
birth or revival. They initially met in the unfinished
upstairs floor of the Warren
family home in Hazelton,
Michigan.
The passion for evangelism that spawned leadership
skills in teenagers Luther Warren and Harry Fenner seems to have been
kindled or nurtured by their local congregation there in Hazelton. According to the Trustees Record Book of the Hazelton church, a special day
of prayer for the salvation of the churchs youth had been declared early in
1879.1 Luthers role in that church seems to have been one of influence
even though he was young. His biography describes his leadership role with
examples of his interest in the spiritual welfare of others, states that the
church recognized his role as big brother to the other youth attending, and
describes how he would invent little games to teach the other youth to be more
alert to Gods wonders of creation. It is in this milieu of adult concern and support for
Our Beginnings (1800-1900)
youth that these teens initiated Adventisms first youth

organization for evangelistic
outreach, which seems to
have included strengthening
friendship bonds through
social activities to which
they could invite their nonAdventist friends.2
Teenager Meade MacGuire,
who was later to develop into
a prominent Adventist leader
and author, organized a second Adventist youth organization in Antigo, Wisconsin
in 1891. Several of his friends
had attended evangelical
youth meetings, such as the
Christian Endeavor Society
and the Epworth League,
and MacGuire felt the need
for something similar within
Adventism. MacGuires proHarry Fenner and Luther Warren, young pioneers and coposal met initial firm refus- founders of the Adventist Youth Society. Russell Harlan,
al, until an elderly saint
stepped forward in support. The thirty members of MacGuires Wisconsin
Youth Society focused on hymn- singing, testimonies (all were expected to
regularly testify), Scripture study and intercessory prayer for the salvation
of their peers.3
The first known testimony from Ellen White urging workers to do something definite for youth came from Australia in 1892 and was read to the
General Conference Council on January 29, 1893. Included in the testimony was understated affirmation for the fledgling youth organizations:
We want [the youth] to act a part in well-organized plans for helping other youth.3
A short time before the 1893 General Conference session, Elder A. G.
Daniells had organized a Junior Youth Society in Adelaide, South Australia.4 This marks the first efforts specifically targeting junior youth involvement in the church.
T H E AY S T O R Y
The Young Peoples Society of Christian Service was organized in College View, Nebraska, in 1893 at about the same time that the Young Womens Dorcas Society emerged in Battle Creek, Michigan. As young men
were enlisted to split wood and help in other ways, the group in Michigans
name evolved to Christian Help Band.5 The College View group met for
the purpose of securing increased spirituality in the young people and enlisting them in missionary activity.4 The dual focus of the Young Womens
Dorcas Society was outreach to the poor and marginalized, along with
seeking the Lord in prayer.6
The next year, 1894, Luther Warren, now a young adult of 29, had
moved to South Dakota, and there organized Sunshine Bands. By 1896
the Sunshine Bands had proliferated sufficiently to warrant a Sunshine
Band Convention, held in Bridgewater, South Dakota.6 The purpose [of
sunshine bands] was to direct young people in missionary work.5
The Ohio Conference organized the first formally recognized youth society on a conference-wide basis in 1899,7 followed by Iowa in 1901. These
organizations existed until they were assimilated in 1907 by the newlycreated Young Peoples Department of the General Conference.8 Adventist
Youth Societies became international with the creation of a German Youth
Society in 1900.9 By 1907 a number of leaders from both the Ohio and
Iowa Youth Societies were already working in foreign fields.10
The year 1901 would be pivotal for Adventist Youth Societies. Although many societies had sprung up in various places due to the spontaneous combustion of youthful energy, zeal and sense of mission, combined
with the support of many adults who shared their vision, there seemed to
be obstacles to further growth without some form of central organization.
Those obstacles included the extreme differences in the Societies due to
varying maturity levels of local membership, zeal of individual leaders, attrition rates of Adventist youth from the church, and the objections of
some conservatives11 who saw no need for a church within a church
and even saw Young Peoples Work as productive of evil results.12 In
an apparent effort to show support and strengthen the scattered Societies
through the seal of official GC approval, the General Conference of 1901
approved a recommendation to organize an official Young Peoples Department of the GC.13
In a subsequent meeting of the General Conference Committee, a committee under the auspices of the Sabbath School Department was asked to
actually assume responsibility for the Young Peoples Department, rather
than establish a separate GC entity.14 (The separate entity none the less
ultimately emerged in 1907.)
General Conference directives to the Sabbath School Department included the need for a rousing public relations campaign which would promote awareness of and participation in the Youth Societies. This proved
more easily requested than done, since only three of the fifty North American Conferences even had a young peoples secretary (youth director).15
Conference Sabbath School secretaries (directors) were drafted to do double duty, a coercive measure that doubtless hastened the election of official
young peoples workers!
By 1903 there were enough Societies in California to warrant two young
peoples conventions, attended by three or four hundred youth.16
The report of the Societies, now called Young Peoples Work, given by
the secretary of the Sabbath School Department at the General Conference held in Oakland, California in 1903, was an evidence of progress.17
The last General Conference laid the foundation for an organized movement
in behalf of our young people...We have an actual record of 186 societies, with a
membership of 3,478.18
Although the Young Peoples Work in North America and Australia had
begun almost simultaneously, and the German Society sent in reports as
early as 1903, the Societies would not really begin to proliferate outside of
America until 1905. Nevertheless, a new Youth Society era that included
censustaking had begun!
Even when the grass roots Societies were taken under the umbrella of
the General Conference Sabbath School Department in 1901, the stated
purpose of official organization was for more effectual missionary service.7
This resolution was preceded by an impassioned speech by Luther Warren
in which he quoted from the messages concerning the Societies sent by
Ellen White from Australia in 1893 and which he said had been sent again
and again during the last eight years. The quote reads, Young men and
young women, can you not form companies, and as soldiers of Christ enlist in the
work, putting all your tact and skill and talents into the Masters services, that
you may save souls from ruin? Let there be companies organized in every church
to do this work. Young men and women, come to the work in the name of Jesus...
[Unite] together upon some plan and order of action. Let there be a company
formed, somewhat after the order of the Christian Endeavor Society8
The first published devotional lessons for the Societies appeared in the
Youths Instructor dated June 27, 1901. An interesting side note on these
T H E AY S T O R Y
devotionals is that they were written by Miss Grace Amadon, a 29 year

old bacteriologist who had just returned from a 7year tour of teaching
at Claremont Union College in South Africa (later Helderburg College),
where she taught Greek, Latin, math and music. Back in America she
took up teaching biology at Chicago Veterinary College and worked as a
bacteriologist in a public health lab, as well as doing research in Biblical
chronology. Two weeks before, the June 13th issue of the Youths Instructor carried the first of a new continuing column referenced as The Young
Peoples Work.
Although the Young Peoples Societies were to grow almost exponentially (considering the total SDA membership) between 1879 and 1903,
from the first they were characterized by careful observance of parliamentary procedure and evangelistic fervency, including the expectation that all
faithful members of the youth societies would sign temperance and mission
pledges.9 Having the Societys general management taken over by professionals did not seem to dilute its original purpose of organizing youth for
service, at least through 1903.1
A Three Dollar Bill Story J. N. Loughborough
This three-dollar bill was issued by the Bank of Hudson, New York in 1816.
During this period, the U.S. Government authorized individual banks to draft
paper money based on their liquidity. Banks issued notes of many unusual denominations. Their face value diminished the farther away from the bank of
origin they were spent due to mistrust and expense in redeeming them for real
money coins.
Yes, there was a time when there were three-dollar bills. J. N. Loughborough tells the following story (condensed somewhat) in his autobiography:
[As a youth of 16, he had contracted to do carriage work at a shop which]
stood close by the Erie Canal, and most of our customers were canal drivers.
Instead of learning anything about carriage work, I was set to pulling horse shoes,
clinching nails, filing and finishing hoofs, etc. During all those three months there
was not a wheel carriage in the shop. Since I received no carriage work as promised, I broke off my contract, and received for the three months work my board
and lodging, and a calf-skin leather apron.
Now penniless, I returned to my mothers home in my native village. There I
soon began to reap the results of my summers exposure to the malarial atmosphere
on the canal and the frog pond. I began chills...I thought my life was doomed.
When the chills began upon me, I was...impressed that it was my duty to go
out and preach to others the precious truths... but I tried to throw off this conviction with the thought that a boy not yet seventeen was too young to preach.
Then again, I had not a penny of money and my clothing was about ready to
discard... So on the day I had two chills in one day, I said, Lord, break these
chills and fever and I will go out and preach as soon as I can...The chills ceased
that very day.
T H E AY S T O R Y
After the close of nine weeks of malaria, I was weak physically, but fully
determined... to go out in ministerial work. I was given a job of cutting wood. In
a few weeks I had saved one dollar above expenses. That would get me where I
wanted to go, but what about clothing? The neighbor for whom I was working
gave me a vest and a pair of trousers, partly worn; but as he was a man much
taller than I, these garments, after cutting seven inches off the trousers, were far
from being a nice fit... My brother had given me a double-breasted overcoat...
which had been cut off. With this curious outfit and the $1.00, I decided to go
into some area where I was unknown and try to preach. If I failed, my friends
would not know it.
One day Caleb Broughton came to me and asked what I thought of doing
that winter. I had longed for some way to open, to let my feelings be known, but
I did not dare say anything for fear I was mistaken. I replied, I have thought the
Lord wanted me to preach, but perhaps Im mistaken.
Thank the Lord, Brother John! he exclaimed. Ive been watching you for a
long time, and it seems to me that it is your duty to preach. Ill do anything I can
to help you. He then gave me a $3.00 bill, my first gift for such a purpose.
Just after Christmas, 1848, I went by train to Rochester, walked 12 miles to
Adams Basin, spent the night at my brothers, then walked to Kendall Corners
where I knew not a soul in the place. With $5.00 worth of books which had been
given me to sell and use the proceeds, I neared the place, lifting my heart to God
that He would open the way.
_____________________
Thus began what was to become an illustrious long career of one of our
church pioneers. J. N. was also the first to write a history of our church:
The Great Second Advent Movement
2
E X C I T I N G E X PA N S I O N S
(1901-1915)
The new century dawned on the church with a sense of urgency and excitement. Major time events always seem to be met with great fanfare and
celebrations. At these times prognosticators like to display their wisdom
or supernatural capabilities by painting the pictures of the new tomorrows.
No doubt none of this was missed by our pioneer church, but it translated
into something quite different than might be expected from the lives of the
general public. In the church, a historic vote was taken recognizing the
importance of a specialized work needed for young people. It gave a face to
youth ministry and placed the special burden on the Sabbath School Department. Mrs. Flora Plummer, the Sabbath School Department director,
took the assignment to heart and stirred up so much commotion and interest, in spite of natural local resistance and
other obstacles, that soon the work seriously
needed some full-time staff. Luther Warren
was brought into the department to focus
exclusively on youth ministry. The Youths Instructor ran a special series of lessons based on
the book Steps to Christ. It also began a special
section devoted to news and information for
local youth societies. (See page 6.) By 1903
there were 186 societies reporting, including
the first European one from Germany. Societies were formed in England by 1905, followed
immediately by Cook Islands, Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, Canada, and Australia. An administrative council for countries of eastern
Flora Plummer
10
T H E AY S T O R Y
Europe met in Brasov, Romania in 1907 and determined that their youth
needed special attention and training. This led to the first MV Societies
in that country by 1909 (as an example of all this rapid growth, read the
special compilation about the beginnings in Romania at the close of this
chapter), and the list went on expanding every year around the globe.
The report to the 1905 General Conference session stated: Since the
last General Conference the number of societies has practically doubled, and
hundreds of young people who are too far from a society to belong to it or to
meet with it are doing substantial missionary work. At present we have more
than three hundred fifty well-organized societies, with a membership of fully five
thousand. This is the beginning.
Of interest as well in the report at this session is the Summary of the Young
Peoples Reports ending December, 1904. In it are listed many of the activities these fledgling societies were involved in, such as missionary letters
written, cottage meetings, papers mailed or given away, hours of community
service, offerings, etc. Also listed were the total expenditures for supplies. It
seems that back then, as now, youth had little to work with when it came to
finances. With seven unions reporting, only $25.71 (U.S.) total was spent on
supplies for the 130 reporting societies! Three unions spent nothing, while
the Central Union (U.S.) spent the most$12.99. The Central Union also
contributed the most in offerings, with $102.43 (U.S.)
Then came 1907. It was a year for thinking outside of the box in numerous ways. The General Conference committee decided to hold their
mid-term council outside of the United States for the first timeat the
churchs sanitarium at Gland, Switzerland. A
major item on the agenda was the burden of
the future of our youth and their preparation
for Gods service. Much constructive discussion took place until finally a resolution was
spelled out and voted:
Resolved, that, in order that this work may be
properly developed, and thus an army of workers
be properly trained for service, a special department, with the necessary officers, be created, the
same to be known as the Young Peoples Department of the General Conference.
M. E. Kern, a teacher at Union College in NeMilton E. Kern braska and longtime advocate and promoter of
Exciting Expansions
Matilda Erikson-Andross
and Husband
11
youth ministry, was elected to direct the

new department. Matilda Erickson was
appointed secretary. A sevenmember
advisory committee (expanded to thirteen later) was also named.
Perhaps more important, however,
was the reaffirmation of a committee
action that had been taken back in February of the same year voting to hold
a special convention two months after
this council at Mount Vernon, Ohio.
This meeting was to comprise both the
Sabbath School Department and the
new Young Peoples Department. Its
primary focus was the formulation of
plans and policies for the new departmentgive the skeleton the muscles to
work with.
The Gland Council had sparked the
idea; the Mount Vernon Convention provided the marching orders. More than
one hundred delegates attended this convention, representing nine unions. In addition there were eleven general delegates,
including the president of the General
Conference, Elder A. G. Daniels.
Elder Daniels spoke to the gathering about his understanding of why this
convention had been called and the significance of the role of the new department. It was his conviction that so far
as its purpose, character, and far-reaching results are concerned, this meeting
will take its place among the most important meetings in the history of our
cause. He re-emphasized that it is our
mission to proclaim the third angels
message to every kindred, tongue, and
12
T H E AY S T O R Y
people. He believed that the youth of our church must fully understand
the third angels message and know that it is grounded on the truths of the
Bible. They need to be taught that their mission as individuals must be
the mission of this whole people; namely, to give the third angels message
to all the world.
Luther Warren (still a total youth at heart), who twentyeight years
before had begun the first young peoples society in Michigan, spoke several times during the convention. He stated, This is the most interesting
meeting I ever attended. I have expected that the time would come when
our leading brethren would lay aside other burdens and responsibilities and
give special time to the study of this work for our young people. Later
he continued with a theme still heard today: Three things are absolutely
necessary to have spiritual life: one is daily prayer; the second is the daily
study of Gods Word; and the third is daily work for others. Today we
would summarize that view by our key words in youth ministry , Salvation
and Service.
M. E. Kern also spoke of something which is still true today, youth
and a piece of the pie. He stated that it is in the very nature of young
people to want to do something, to have a share in what is being done. He
continued, The possibilities of our youth are limited only by their consecration and the provision the church makes for the training and directing
of this great army of unemployed helpers. It sounds very much like something which might have been spoken at a very recent youth convention
and not 100 years ago.
Elder Kern and his small team had a major challenge ahead of them as
they sought to develop those tools most appropriate to the needs of the
youth in attaining their potential in both spiritual growth and service to
their communities. Among the tools implemented immediately were the
Reading Course, Standard of Attainment, and Morning Watch. The first
listing of the Reading Course appeared in the Instructor of October 1,
1907. The Standard of Attainment (a series of studies that were the precursor to the AY/Pathfinder classes) appeared in the same year. In 1909
Jamaica surprised the youth department staff by requesting their first eleven certificates. The first generallyused Morning Watch Calendar came off
the presses in January of 1908. It consisted of a years worth of morning
devotional Bible texts chosen especially for youth. (The idea originated
the year before in the Central Union.) These text calendars evolved into
devotional reading books supplying start-your-day early morning inspira-
Exciting Expansions
13
The Central Union Morning Watch of 1907
tion for youth around the world. The church also voted to hold the first
Young Peoples Day, held on the 26th of January, 1907. It was changed the
following year to Missionary Volunteer Day. (The Central Union had
already set aside a special Sabbath for youth as early as 1905.) This day
became the forerunner of the Pathfinder Sabbath. An educational feature
developed at this time was the Missionary Volunteer Leaflet Seriessmall
leaflets covering hot topics for youth which were both instructive and inspirational. At one time there were over forty topics covered by these
concise inexpensive little tools.
14
T H E AY S T O R Y
Just as an example of the immediate growth response to all the new

leadership: The Morning Watch Calendar jumped from a circulation of
6,000 to 33,000 in about four years. By 1909 it appeared first in German,
then Japanese, then many other languages. While up to 1907 the largest
number of societies reporting were 272, with a membership total of 5,400,
by the close of 1912 there were 519 societies reporting, a total of almost
11,000 members. Offerings had jumped to the point of catching the eye of
treasurers. The youth were now contributing about $20,000 (U.S.) a year.
Matilda Erickson labeled the General Conference Session of 1913 by
saying: What a good Conference that was! Back in 1909 the department was the new kid on the block with both friends and foes and an
uncharted road ahead. Now they came with experience, lots of good stats
and unstinted cooperation from workers everywhere. Also, another person
had been added to the team the year beforeMeade MacGuire. It was
recognized that persons with special qualifications should lead our youth,
and that there was a growing demand for this special kind of person in this
special kind of ministry. So, the voted Whereas began by stating that
Missionary Volunteer leaders must be especially qualified; that there was
a growing demand for wellqualified leaders; then the Resolved proceeded to open the way to solutions by encourage[ing] promising young
people to prepare for this line of the Lords work we encourage some
form of special training And, one more new thought was introduced:
the Junior Missionary Volunteer SocietiesJMV.
Setting goals had not entered the minds of leadership until the 1913 session, when someone thought it might be good to extend a clearlydefined
challenge to the youth of the church by setting goals in youth converted,
offerings raised and programmatic certificates issued. The challenge was
so readily accepted that most all goals were almost immediately reached
or surpassed, and those not reached still pushed the rate of success well
beyond anything done heretofore. By 1914, the number of youth converted more than doubled the two previous years combined; the Standard
of Attainment Certificates issued more than tripled the combination of the
previous two years, and so on it went.
All this growth and enthusiasm led to a strategic planning council held
up in the mountains around Pacific Union College at St. Helena in June of
1915. What Mt. Vernon was to youth ministry beginnings, this mountaintop experience was to the new stages ahead.
Exciting Expansions
15
A PRESIDENTW. H. BRANSON 1887-1961

Much has been said about the youthfulness of our founding pioneers.
But this burden of leadership also rested on young people well after the
passing on of all of our founding guides. William Henry Branson, born
into a Primitive Baptist family in the state of Florida, joined the Seventhday Adventist Church as a child along with his mother and at the age
of thirteen left home for Battle Creek,
Michigan to study. He earned his keep
by working in the kitchen. Two years
later (1902), at the age of fifteen, he
was tent-master for Luther Warren with
some tent meetings in Nebraska, did
one more year of study, and, except for a
little correspondence work, that was the
end of his formal education.
He returned to Florida and at a campmeeting met and fell in love with Minnie Shreve. At age seventeen they married and moved to Utah, where William
worked in a health-food restaurant. Although he was a gourmet chef (a favorite
pastime the rest of his life), he wanted to
be more involved with church work, so
in 1906 they moved back to Florida to work selling books. After two years,
the Florida Conference put them on a regular salary of $8.00 per week.
Their first child had died in infancy; their second child was now two years
old. At $32.00 per month, they decided they could and would make the
adjustment. Thus began a career of church leadership unequaled in the
20th century church. In 1910, at age 23, he was ordained to the gospel
ministry. The next year he became president of the South Carolina Conference; two years later he transferred to the Cumberland Conference as
president. In 1915 (age 28) he assumed the presidency of the Southern
Union, and five years later the African Division selected him as president
(now age 33). In 1930 he was asked to join the General Conference as
a vicepresident, also served as president of the China Division, and in
1950 he was chosen as president of the world church. A close associate
once wrote, His brain is like William Marshal Bullittsa famous lawyer
who made as much as $100,000 in one fee. I have never known anyone
W. H. Branson
16
T H E AY S T O R Y
more prolific and versatile, and withal a genial disposition. Branson never
hesitated to express a conviction, yet was also one of the bestloved administrators in our history.
MISSIONARY VOLUNTEERS IN ROMANIA
(Information researched by Dana Pridie and Medana Croitoru,

members of Romanian Union Pathfinder Committee)
Among all European countries, Romania was one of the most receptive to the advent movement, due to a number of factors: the influence of
the German colonies, a formalbutstrong godliness among believers in the
local, historic Christian churches (the Orthodox, Catholic and Reformed
Churches), and lack of economic means. This was an environment in
which the Adventist message was wellreceived and quickly spread. Further, Transylvania was an oasis of religious liberty, and many of the Adventist pioneers had a strong sacrificial spirit.
The Youth Movement is first documented in 1907, when the Mission
for the Balkans and Austro-Hungary, in a meeting in Brasov, decided that
by special instruction, the children and youth should learn the present
truth. For the first time, this area was given special importance. Two years
later the first Romanian Youth Organization was established in Transylvania, developing programs for youth, opportunities for learning, and meetings in which the youth could discuss age-specific problems.
The Balkan War came, and until 1918 the youth work stagnated. In
1920, after the end of the war, the Romanian Union was formed, covering
the reunited territory of the country. The Literature Evangelism Service
and Social Service Tabitha were formed, and the youth were actively
involved in missionary activities. As a result of the outstanding success
of the Great Day of Colporteurs in May 27, 1922, a Department of Missionary Volunteers was formed to facilitate the involvement of youth in
missionary activities.
In order to advance the youth work, in 1923, at the Conference Elective Meetings, youth secretaries were elected. The first conferences to
have this department were Moldavia and Muntenia, and the first persons
responsible for this department were Eufrosina Tudorache and Dumitru
Florea. Later, the picture was completed by the appointments of Br. Johann
Baurer in Transylvania and Constantin Tolici in Banat.
Exciting Expansions
17
Young Colporteur Tra i n e e s

The organizations goal was to help the youth, to save them and then
enroll them in that work for which they have abilities. The department had
eight well-stated objectives for organizing the young people into groups for
missionary work, under a motivating motto, planning youth activities and involving all the youth. Meetings were held regularly, usually on Sabbaths, when
the youth studied methods of working with people and prayed in groups. As a
result, within one year, the number of youth circles and members doubled.
Monthly, the church magazine published a guide for the Youth Hours
and included notable experiences from the field, ranging from colporteurs suffering insults and abusive arrests to people physically and mentally abused for
daring to share their faith, and children memorizing Bible verses and selling
magazines (one six-year-old girl sold 43 magazines in one day). These experiences brought the youth closer to God and to one another, encouraging and
motivating them to continue missionary work. From time to time news about
youth around the globe was also published. News about their goals and victories
contributed to a feeling of unity with Adventist youth in the whole world.
18
T H E AY S T O R Y
In July 17-22, 1928, the Congress of Adventist Youth was held in Chemnitz,
Germany, under the motto Saved to save. Among the 3,000 participants from
26 European countries there are seven delegates from Romania, led by Petre
Paunescu, the Secretary for Youth at the Union level, who was invited to present a speech. The participants returned to their home inspired by the message
of missionary sermons and the experiences of missionaries covering the globe.
Less than one year after the congress the desire to save souls led Constantin
Tolici to take his family and leave as a missionary to Madagascar. Thirty years
after the advent message had reached Romanian soil, Romanians were taking
the message beyond their borders. The photo on the next page depicts the
Tolici family and some of their Madagascar converts.
In 1930 there were about 11,000 Adventist members in Romania, but the
total number of children and youth between one and 30 years was 10,430.
Of these, 52% were 1-10 years of age, 30% between 11 and 20 years, and
18% between 21 and 30. Of the total number of youth, 20% were baptized,
48% were preparing for baptism, and 0.7% had left the faith. 84% of the
youth participated in the church. At the beginning of 1931, in the Romanian
Union there were 166 Missionary Volunteer Societies, with a total of 4,500
registered members.
Among the most efficient means of promoting the work of the Adventist youth in Romania were Youth Day and Youth Week of Prayer; on these
occasions the church magazines published lengthy articles. Beginning in
1931, the Workers Review is published, with a special section for Missionary
Volunteers, publishing youth Bible studies, church history, programs for the
Youth Hour for each Sabbath that month, instructions for the leaders of the
Missionary Volunteers groups, and a Juniors Corner with Bible lessons
adapted to their age and interesting stories.
One of the greatest joys of youth in those years was the Youths Friend magazine, publishing articles about building character, interesting news, skits, a
childrens corner, songs, stories, family games, crossword puzzles, biographies,
articles about music, and even comic strips. The magazine published very many
photographs of nature scenes, youth groups both from the country and beyond
and their activities. For a long time these magazines offered the basis for youth
hours and subjects for discussion and good nature in youth meetings.
In Stupini, from July 4-10, 1934, was celebrated the first Romanian Youth
Congress, which was thought by the church leaders of that time the most
important church meeting in the first decades of the Romanian Union.
Exciting Expansions
19
THE TOLICI FAMILY AND SOME OF THEIR MADAGASCAR CONVERTS

In a church in which the youth were the majority, the multiethnic meeting of July 1934 was an opportunity for the 1,300 participants to rediscover
themselves. This was a key moment for the history of Adventism in Romania
and changed many lives.
The youth movement started yielding moreandmore visible results.
Seminars, workshops and youth weeks were organized. The musical tradition strengthened, and nearly every local church had a choir and an orchestra, striving to become a second home for the youth. Unfortunately, the
economic crisis drives some youth to work on Sabbath. At the same time,
many children were persecuted or even expelled for skipping school on Sabbath. Many were arguing that it was a necessity of the times that Adventist
children attend school on Sabbath.
When Carl II established his dictatorship in 1938, Romania entered a
dark time of political, social and economic instability ending in war. For Adventists this meant death, mourning, tears, persecution, hunger, fear and
insecurity.
War led to a Communist takeover. After Communist rule began, the freedom of self-expression was gradually reduced. The childrens activities were
prohibited, as were childrens Sabbath School and Youth Missionary activities. Some elements remained to preserve the youth community: mountain
20
T H E AY S T O R Y
THE FIRST ROMANIAN YOUTH CONGRESS

hikes and camps, visits to other local churches, weddings and social meetings, bi-weekly musical programs in the church on Sabbath afternoons. These
musical programs included reciting poems, choruses or musical groups, short
Biblical lectures presented, and personal experiences.
Looking back, it can be said that Romanian Adventism was born and grew up
because of its youth. Todays Romanian Adventism still relies on its youth
Exciting Expansions
21
3
A D U R A B L E F O U N DAT I O N
(1915 - 1928)
As people work along from day to day, attempting to accomplish that

which God has scheduled just for that day, it is easy to overlook those moments that become major billboards of progress. It is possible that many,
who attended the St. Helena (California) Council for those ten days during
the month of June, 1915, wondered whether anything of use was accomplished. Perhaps votes didnt go their way, and so perhaps some cynical remarks might have been made as
they traveled home. The expression is quite true, Hind-sight is
always 20/20 and such was to
be the case now.
We quote here from one who
was present at the landmark St.
Helena Council in order to get
a better understanding of its impact at the time. It was in June
of 1915 that Missionary Volunteer and educational workers
from all over North America
met away up in the beautiful
mountain home of the Pacific
Union College. Doubtless, were
the gift of speech imparted to
the many secluded nooks about
the school home, they would tell
of quiet discussions, of strenuous
21
22
T H E AY S T O R Y
committee meetings, and most of all, of earnest seasons of prayer; for those
were busy days, and there was much need of personal communion with the
Master for divine wisdom.
The theme of the meetings points to the focus taken: Consecration
and Efficiency. Numerous resolutions were voted during the several days
of meetings. Since the department was still very young, a number of resolutions dealt with turf issues. In other words, how this department was to
relate to the other departments such as the Sabbath School Department,
from which it had been separated, also the department known today as the
Personal Ministries Department, the Education Department, and others.
There were also resolutions regarding specific program development concepts, which included membership in the Standard of Attainment (a precursor to the Pathfinder/AY Classes), promotion and observance of the Morning Watch (daily devotional plans for youth), outreach ideas for youth, and
many others. However, the steps which would make the greatest impact on
the future were taken in the areas of junior youth ministry and the development of job descriptions for the Union Youth Director level of operation.
Up until this time the General Conference Youth Department had dealt
directly with all local conferences on all matters pertaining to youth ministry, even including the issuance of all certificatesthe reading courses and
the Standard of Attainment. Now the department would have representation at the union level, which would share in the load of detailed work as
well as provide other aspects of leadership and mentoring for each region.
The evolutionary tree of youth ministry had a new budding branch junior youth ministry begin to take on a clearlydefined form as several items of
note were determined: they were given separate goals, their own Junior Reading
Course (1908), Junior Standard of Attainment (1915). Campmeetings began
holding special junior meetings. A series of leaflets dealing with instructions to
volunteer workers who wished to specialize in this age category, which was then
determined to be 8-14 years of age, came into print, along with some inspirational subjects. (It wasnt until several stages of evolution later that Adventurers
and Pathfinders came along, both splitting and adding to those ages, making
two groups of 6-9 and 1016 yearolds.) Junior Youth were finally recognized
as a specialized area of ministry with leadership, curriculum, and inspiration
suited to their needs. Educational superintendents and youth directors were
often the same person and, if not, were encouraged to work closely together in
the planning of junior work. Reports of Junior Societies were to be sent to the
Youth Department, with copies going to the Education Department.
A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)
23
Until this time no one had even considered asking about the number of
youth in the church, but now the question came up repeatedly. What are
we actually working with? How many are there? How much of a program,
therefore, is necessary? In 1916 the Youth Department launched a careful,
serious census campaigna first. The results were quite surprising. The
youth of the church were a much larger group than anticipated. They represented approximately 18 percent of the total baptized church membership.
By 1917 the Youth Department, in collaboration with the Education
Department, introduced an 8hour course on junior methods to be given
in summer schools as a required subject. Thus did the precursor to the
Pathfinder Staff Training Course arrive. Shortly, Miss Ella Iden joined the
General Conference Youth Department and produced a small Manual on
Junior Methodsa forerunner of the Pathfinder Administrative Manual.
The Junior Bible Year was introduced in January of 1917, and in October
the Primary Reading Course began (at the same time, workers in Haiti introduced the first French Reading Course for their youth). By 1918, new revised
manuals for the Junior and Senior Standard of Attainment came off the
presses. There were 62 leaflets on various youth-related topics in circulation
and the Morning Watch was being produced in Swedish, Finnish, and Portuguese. An interesting note of observation: the Senior Standard of Attainment Manual listed a total church membership of barely 141,500 around the
worldabout as many as some of our Unions have today. Yet, we were working in 92 countries with 9,476 employees (1 in 15 members were employed by
the church); 2,000 missionaries (1 in 71 members was a paid missionary); we
had 759 schools (a school for every 186 members); and 40 hospitals.
In the secular world life was taking a very difficult turnwar broke out
in Europe. It quickly spread so far that people began calling it the Great
War. Our youth in Europe found themselves caught in very difficult decision-making positions. Youth in America were soon drawn into the conflict as well. Very early in our church history the denomination had taken
an official stand with relation to military service, thanks to the Civil War
and work done by J. N. Andrews. Now, with this new and wider conflict,
those principles needed revisiting, sharpening, and sharing on a much wider basis. A special series of leaflets were prepared for our youth in uniform
that gave them principles and guidelines on how to conduct themselves.
A special edition of Steps to Christ was printed to be used for personal devotions and faith development. But, the war really did little to hinder the
rapid continued growth. By June of 1918 the MV Department was able to
24
T H E AY S T O R Y
report a total membership of 24,634,

and by 1920 that figure stood at
41,916 (a 70% increase in 2 years) and
up to over 22% of the rapidly growing
church membership. Today, while
individual country percentages vary
and run as high as 80%+ youth in the
total membership, the global average
is approximately 70%.
A statistical comparison between
the year 1907at the beginning of the
youth departments history and ten
years laterin the 1918 reports, gives
a glimpse of the tremendous changes
which occurred during this time of
foundation building.
1907
1918
Increase
Number of societies reporting
461
1,230
almost 3x
Mempership in reporting societies
8,933
24,638
almost 3x
Hours of Community Service

average hours/person
Offerings for outreach ministry
average contribution/person
31,161
3.4
$7,361
$0.82
860,986
34.9
$215,241
$8.74
over 27x
over 10x
over 29x
over 10x
Matilda Erickson wraps up the chapter on this time period by listing

some of the reasons for the success and progress seen in youth ministry.
While a number of technical improvements contributed, she states that
which is still true today: Leadership is the great secret of success or failure. Because of good leadership the work in one conference has succeeded,
while in another equally promising field where efficient leadership has not
been secured, it has failed. Our greatest problem is still a problem of leadershipThe greatest drawback all along the way has been the lack of strong
leadership and the lack of the continuity of such leadership in the various
local conferences But drawbacks cannot keep the work that God blesses
from prospering
25
Elder M. E. Kern put it rather bluntly at the annual council in 1915:

The procession of secretaries (youth directors) passes along. The Yearbook
is out of date before it is off the press. This is partly due to the lack of wellqualified leaders, perhaps; but I think the failure is largely due to the fact
that many conferences do not recognize the importance of continuity in this
work. It is true; we have few welltrained [directors]. This work is new, and
we must train them in the field. How important, then, that one who gives
ordinary promise of success should be retained in the office long enough to
get a training and make a success of the work! It seems to me that this question of leadership is one of the greatest questions confronting us today in all
departments, and especially in the Missionary Volunteer Department.
Does that sound like it might have been said in a committee meeting
somewhere around the world church just a few days ago? Not all speeches
were negative, however, and there obviously was great success. By the General Conference session of 1918 three more staff members were voted to join
the department at the world level, including one whose primary focus was
to reach the German-speaking youth of the church.
We pause here to assemble a brief summary of youth ministry as it began
to permeate the world church. From this point on, the story becomes much
more difficult to trace in a coordinated fashion, as it spreads out from its
North American roots and becomes truly global.
North AmericaWhile nearly all the story so far centers on this continent, it might be of interest to note that of the nearly 20,000 youth society
members reporting in 1918, about 8 % reported as having read the Bible
through, 20% reported having followed the Reading Courses and obtained
their certificates, and they raised an average of $3.54/person for foreign
missions through their societies (this figure is apart from any other funds
turned in, such as for Sabbath Schools, etc.).
EuropeThe First World War played a very large part in affecting youth
ministry all over Europe during this time. Many young men were conscripted into military service in every country. Churches were destroyed, memberships scattered, meetings banned; yet youth ministry managed to find much
to be thankful for. Where young men were not able to be involved, the
young women took over; societies increased and prospered. The concepts
and programs developed by the General Conference Youth Department
were translated, adapted, and implemented. The first society organized in
central Europe was at the newly established school at Friedensau, Germany
in 1900; Hamburg followed shortly after. Transylvania had their first society
26
T H E AY S T O R Y
by 1909, and Budapest, Hungary had a society by 1913. By 1918 there were
about 100 members involved in language teaching. It was discovered that
this was a good method for reaching youth outside the churcha precursor to todays language schools that operate in many countries around the
world. Romanian youth had become the large majority of the church and
were carrying heavy responsibilities during very trying times. Scandinavian
youth had early visions of Global Mission by sending and supporting a
young missionary among the Lap peoples of their farnorth regions.
South PacificThe entire membership of the church only reached 6,000
during this time, yet the youth societies had a membership of 3,000. Societies
were reporting from Australia, Cook Is., Fiji, Norfolk, and other islands. Two
of the Australian societies were listed among the aborigines. Morning Watch
calendars were being published and sold to the public in large numbers, and
the youth raised about $10,000 to outfit and send a schooner, the Melanesia, to work among the islandsanother early Global Mission project.
IndiaThe General Conference Youth Department office received a surprise letter one day in 1916 asking for seven Standard of Attainment Certificates. The seven youth who had completed the course represented five languages! Young men were going out weekly to give out pamphlets, sell Bible
portions, and preach. The young women at first thought they could not do
that as culturally unacceptable, so they spent their time making small craft
items to be sold in support of the young mens efforts. But when they had
raised a fair sum of money, they decided better to use it for pamphlets for
themselves to try and give away. They grew bolder and stood before crowds
of people, sang songs, and told them the age-old-story.
South-east AsiaBy 1917 Singapore had three societies, each reaching
their own language youth: English, Chinese, and Malay.
PhilippinesIt seems the Filipino people have always been the same
very enthusiastic about any new and good ideas. Though the diversity of
peoples, islands, and languages might have proved a great obstacle for many,
they have only been interesting challenges to the youth of this country. Bible Reading and Doctrines, Church History, Morning Watch, and personal
evangelism have always marked the societies since their beginnings. This
has created a large force of youth willing to fan out in all directions spreading the gospel, and the results are quite self-evident even today as the Philippines continues to lead in Global Mission projects and participation. The
earliest reports sent in regarding youth ministry in this country are dated
1912, and written trip reports by church leaders dated 1917 give glowing
27
accounts of the zeal of the youth in their witnessing efforts.

ChinaIn July of 1914 local leadership in China held a joint Sabbath
School and Missionary Volunteer Convention in Shanghai. Reports continued to tell encouraging stories of outreach and conversions, of spreading MV societies and program development throughout these early years.
Unknowingly, a strong base was established which would have to weather
decades of future isolation.
JapanThe Morning Watch Calendars were first printed in Japan in
1909; however, other printed materials were very few and far between.
Translators were few to nil, and the translating process came very slowly.
Pastor H. Kuniya wrote in 1913 about the difficulties of establishing any
organized work for the youth, yet at the same time expressed positive attitudes about what had been done under trying circumstances as he taught
the youth just by wordofmouth and about the bright future he saw for the
youth of this great country.
KoreaNearly simultaneously, two societies were organized in different
parts of the country during the early months of 1911, one at a girls school
in Soonan and another one in a church in Seoul. Korea was an isolationist nation known as The Hermit Kingdom during these years, so reports
leaking to the rest of the world were few and far between. Yet by the close
of 1912, Miss Scott, the missionary and teacher at the Soonan School who
also served as youth director for the country, could report that there were 10
thriving societies scattered across the landscape.
South AmericaIt is perhaps hard to believe that the early years of the
church in South America were extremely difficult, especially when one thinks
in terms of what has been happening there over the past few decades. While
today the backbone of the church on this continent is made up of its youth,
there was a time when youth ministry received very little if any support. As
early as 1909 the Morning Watch Calendar was being published at least
sporadically in German, Spanish, and Portuguese, and there was a reading
course offered in Spanish, but there wasnt much more for quite awhile. By
1918 one worker wrote, It will require much patience and diligence to lead
young people on in the regular organized line of Young Peoples Work. At
the session of the General Conference in 1918, the needs of the youth of
this continent were given special consideration and a leader chosen for the
youth of what was then known as The Neglected Continent.
AfricaA conference president in East Africa was able to report in 1915
that the M. V. Society at Solusi station (today Solusi University, Zimbabwe)
28
T H E AY S T O R Y
was perhaps the only society with more enrolled in the Standard of Attainment class than in the MV Society itself, such was the interest and enthusiasm for the program and focus of their youth ministry.
CaribbeanThis region holds the distinction of having the first societies outside of the United States to send in reports of their endeavorsin
1905according to Matilda Erickson. A 1915 report lists 200 young people
converted and $500 in offerings gathered for outreach projects.
While all these reports seem so small compared to the current youth
work, the enthusiasm that permeates them and the commitment to the influence of the Holy Spirit of the hands-full of youth scattered everywhere
across the globe are, to a large degree, the reason why over 70% of the multimillion membership of the church today are still youth. One can only wish
to hear and know the thousands of stories of Gods guidance in the lives of
these who began that which we today are beneficiaries of. Small would
soon become an antiquated term in youth ministry.
New ideas and new horizons were opening up. Leaders such as C. Lester
Bond, Julia Leland, Guy Mann, and J. T. Porter in California; J. C. Nixon in
Iowa; Wilbur Holbrook and T. S. Copeland in Wisconsin; Gordon Smith,
Roy MacKenzie, and Grover Fattic in Michigan; Harriet Holt and Harold
Lewis in the Mid Atlantic; A. W. Spaulding in Tennessee; and Milton Robison in Nebraska were creating new approaches to youth ministry in general and junior youth ministry specifically. The term Outdoor Education
was unknown in those days; yet the concepts were beginning to take hold.
Camping, hikes, outdoor games, crafts were seen as excellent tools to teach
youth. In 1919 A. W. Spaulding started a Mission Scouts organization
in Tennessee (not to be confused with the secular organization by a similar
name) complete with a Pledge and Law which became the basis for todays
Pathfinder Pledge and Law. The next year, many of the above persons met
during the annual fall council to further study the matters pertaining to junior youth ministry and what could be done by the organization to expand
this facet of work. Due to the study presented, the General Conference
voted to ask Harriet Holt to be in charge of the new work assignments. The
following year, this same group met again with the new department personnel and proceeded to give shape and substance to junior youth ministry. At
this time the Pledge and Law were adopted as we know it today, only utilizing the terms of reference for the junior organization as it was known:
29
PLEDGE:
By the Grace of God,
I will be pure, kind and true.

I will keep the Junior Law.
I will be a servant of God and friend to man.
LAW:
The Junior Missionary Volunteer Law Is for Me to
Keep the Morning Watch.
Do my honest part.
Care for my body.
Keep a level eye.
Be courteous and obedient.
Walk softly in the sanctuary.
Keep a song in my heart, and
Go on Gods errands.
An entire chapter could be written on the significance of each part of
these two statements that are memorized by Pathfinders and other junior
youth the world over. In fact, whole books have been written. The first,
titled Ideals for Juniors, was written by C. Lester Bond back in 1938. Then
Lawrence Maxwell wrote The Happy Path in 1975.
It has gone through several reprints over the decades since. More recently Finding the Right Path
was written by Jan Doward (1990).
Harriet Holt was an adventuresome lady, especially considering the times she lived in. Her
letters in the GC archives tell of her experiments
with a small club of girls near her home in Maryland as she developed the requirements for what
would become the curriculum for the new program. The canoe trips and storms, camping under quite primitive conditions with little foreknowledge or expert advice
available, the fun of various crafts learned, and other activities which were
so new and unprecedented in church- related work. By 1922, she was ready
to introduce a radical new concept in junior ministryJMV Classes for ju-
Harriet Holt
30
T H E AY S T O R Y
niors, and a Comrade Band for leadership. The JMV Classes were two at first:
Friend and Companion. There were a number of requirements, including ones
in spiritual development, fitness, hobbies, and adventure. Leaders could join
the Comrade Band and work on two levels of leadership trainingthe Comrade
(later Guide) followed by the Master Comrade (Master Guide). Requirements included following the Bible Year, completing the Senior Reading
Course, several leadership requirements and completing of several requirements that later were related to the
Honors. Special scarves were used for
the two organizations, and small pins
of different colors and designs were
given upon completion of a given set
of requirements. These new classes
were such a novel idea that the investitures in them were mentioned in the Youths Instructor as news from around
the world. In 1928, Harriets husband was called away from the East Coast,
so she traveled with him, and in her place C. Lester Bond was called to take
over the junior ministries of the world church.
Summer Camp. Just speak the words and floods of all kinds of fun memories fill the brain of those who have spent at least one summer at one of
our church resorts during their life-span. But resort camping as we know
it today has not always been; in fact, it is but a very recent mode of summer
camping. There are still those who recall the good old days of summer
camps when the event took place at the far end of pastures with hot, heavy
canvass tents, swimming was done in ponds, food was served outside from
big blackened pots... ah... the memories. Summer camps began during the
20s, and its quite likely that the final word on the precise beginnings (who
was first) will never be known. Camps were born out of a combination of
several trends of the age. (1) International Scouts were expanding globally, and with them went the idea that camping could be done for fun, not
just for necessity. (2) There were several rugged naturalists (among them
Sam Campbell, whose books later were wellknown among Adventists) especially in North America who were writing books on the adventures and
spiritual blessings of camping. (3) Numerous individuals within the church
had been experimenting very successfully with camping as a means of reaching the hearts of the youth of their local churches.
For several decades the first official, conference-sponsored camp has
been considered to be one held at Town Line Lake, Michigan during the
31
summer of 1926. It was directed by the East Michigan Conference Youth

Director, Grover Fattic and a select team of daring adventuresome men who
were willing to risk a lot of negative PR on behalf of their children. The
names of most of the 16 boys who participated are still known and found
in other source materials. Among this select group was the author of the
1963 book The MV Story. Among the other leaders were A. W. Spaulding and Gordon Smith. They were soon joined by Roy MacKenzie of the
West Michigan Conference, E. W. Dunbar of the Chicago Conference, and
T. S. Copeland and Wilbur Holbrook of the two Wisconsin Conferences.
Wilbur Holbrook went on to work with summer camp ministry for nearly
6 decades. There seems to be some confusion, perhaps, as to sequence or
year because Harriet Holt of the General Conference describes in a letter
her participation at a girls camp held
in Wisconsin for a few days after campmeeting from which she then went to
visit the outstanding pioneer camp...
held immediately after this in Michigan. From her letter it would seem
that the girls camp was held first, followed by the boys camp in Michigan.
However, she may also have been referring to the following summer but had
forgotten which year it was. The letter
does not leave matters totally clear.
Regardless of all this, more recently
Australia has placed a bid for holding
the first summer camp down under
in 1925; however, very little additional
information has been uncovered regarding the event, its organizers or participants. In spite of criticism against
camping, swimming and other related
activities which at times became quite vocal, the idea spread rapidly. By
1928 the idea had gone coast to coast in North America and into other countries
as well. Camps normally ran ten days each at a cost of $10.00 per person.
Camp Wawona (now inside Yosemite National Park) is today the oldest
summer camp facility in the church. It was founded in 1929. It includes
property donated by the first woman Park Ranger with the National Park
32
T H E AY S T O R Y
Pictured here is Wawonas summer camp band circa 1954
Services, a Seventh-day Adventist lady by the name of Clare Marie (Hodges)

Wolfson, who was also the first camp naturalist at Wawona.
It was at one of these summer camps held in Southern California (1928)
that A.W. Spaulding, camp story-teller, told of a famous American frontier
explorer and Civil War hero by the name of John Fremont, alias Pathfinder. His adventures sparked the imagination of the boys around the
campfire. His nickname caught on and became the name of the camp. Then
it became the name of a local church junior club directed by John McKim
and eventually turned the JMV society into the club we know today. But
that story is for the chapters ahead.
This brings to a close the first phase of youth ministry in the Seventh-day
Adventist Church (Chapters 1 to 3). It is, therefore, a good place to insert a
summary of key dates/events before continuing the story.
TIMELINE PART I
1879
First Young Peoples Society organized
1892
E. G. White calls for a specialized work for the youth

A. G. Daniells organizes a Junior Youth Society in South
Australia
33
1893
Nebraskans organize a Young Peoples Society of

Christian Service
1894
Luther Warren organizes Sunshine Bands in South Dakota
1899
Ohio organizes a youth department for the conference
1900
Youth work is organized in Germany
1901
Youth work is placed under the Sabbath School

Department of the General Conference
1904
A small manual on young peoples work is published

Mount Vernon Convention
1905
First published summary report of youth work

Jamaica sends in first report from outside the U.S.
1906
Australia, Canada, Britain, Hawaii send in first reports
1907
General Conference Youth Department created

Africa and Guyana send in reports
Standard of Attainment and Reading Course created
Central Union, U.S. introduces Morning Watch program
1908
Junior Reading Course adopted

Raiatea, Tahiti, Singapore, Norfolk, Fiji, and Portugal
send in first reports
1909
Pitcairn, Society Islands, Scandinavia send in first reports

Morning Watch published in German and Japanese
1910
First Societies in Transylvania and Bermuda send reports
1911
Japan, Germany, Cook Is. report

Two societies organized in Korea
German Reading Course begun
W. H. Branson becomes president of the Carolina
Conference at age 24
Takoma Indians, a boys club organized in Takoma Park, MD
1912
Philippines, Central and South America report
1913
Korea reports
Spanish Morning Watch and Reading Course begun
GC Session recommends the organization of JMV Scieties
34
T H E AY S T O R Y
1914
Danish-Norwegian and Swedish Reading Courses begun

Norway and Australia publish Morning Watch
China MV Convention in Shanghai
1915
Senior Bible Year

Korea and England publish Morning Watch
Junior Standard of Attainment begun
1916
Unions incorporate Youth Departments
1917
Junior Bible Year begun

Eight-hour training course for youth ministry developed
French Reading Course in Haiti
1918
Junior and Senior Standard of Attainment Manuals published

Morning Watch in Tagalog
Junior Manual published
1919
Mission Scouts organized in Tennessee by A. W. Spaulding

Pledge and Law forerunner written by Spaulding
Junior Missionary Volunteer Manual for Teachers and
Leaders, by Ella Iden
1920
Harriet Holt becomes first Junior Youth Director at the GC
1922
Friend and Companion become the first two JMV classes

Comrade Band formed with two leadership classes:
Comrade, Master Comrade
1923
Home Nursing Course developed as forerunner of Honors

Messages to Young People idea born
1924
MV Week of Prayer initiated
1925
First Junior Camp in Australia
1926
First Junior Camp in North America
1927
Junior Manual in Chinese and Spanish
1928
Junior Manual in Portuguese

16 Vocational Merits offered (Honors)
C. Lester Bond becomes second Junior Youth Director at GC
Spaulding tells campfire story about John Fremont
Mr. Pathfinder
International Youth Congress, Chemnitz, Germany
35
PIONEER MISSIONARYDICK (PAPA) HAYDEN

With the rapid expansion of the church from the turn of the 19th century into the early decades of the 20th century the ideas of adventure for
God sparked the imagination, emotions, and energy of our youth. Some
were of particularly such a personality that it was a foregone conclusion
they would dedicate their lives to service in these new lands. Others were
less obviously inclined; yet when God called, they dropped all their dreams
and aspirations and left to serve without regrets. Among them were young
couples like the Haliwells in Brazil, Millers in China, Robsons in Tanzania
and the Haydens in Bolivia and Peru.
Dick and Jo Hayden spent their honeymoon on the boat headed for
mission service in the Amazon jungles, where they would join the famous
Missionary to the Incas Fernando Stahl. The Stahls had retired from
their decades of service in the Altiplanos of Bolivia and Peru, but instead
of taking a Permanent Return to their homeland, they chose to explore and
spread the gospel along the Peruvian Amazon. The work there grew rapidly,
and soon it became evident that more help was needed. Enter the missionary lives of Dick and Jo, or as later generations of missionary kids would
know them, Papa and Aunt Jo. While they served many decadeslong
past normal retirement just like the Stahlstheir original life goals had nothing to do with mission service, at least not Dicks.
As a big, athletic young man in high school, Dick dreamed of becoming a
professional American football player. He had the size, weight, and strength
to play in the big leagues, and everyone in his school knew it. His senior
year he led his school all the way to the California state championships and
the final playoff game. He and his brothers, against Dads wishes, traveled
to the weekend celebrations being held some distance from home.
The game was on Sabbath, but that didnt matter too much to them.
The glory, the crowds, the praise, the girlfriendsthose were what mattered
most until near the end of the game. Dick was carrying the ball and knocking down opposition right and left. The winning score was in his power and
grasp. The next thing he knew he woke up in a hospital. His team had won,
but he was not there to celebrate.
When his mother had died some time before, he had made some glib
promises. Now he had lots of time to think about them during the slow,
painful recovery of a broken leg. The career in pro football was out the window. God had other plans for this young man. His cheering stands would
36
T H E AY S T O R Y
consist of thousands of other young people far from the field of sports,
youth who would dedicate their lives to God because of Papa Haydens
kind, soft smile and dedicated 24/7 service to Gods cause for well over a
halfcentury. He never made it to a football Hall of Fame, but theres no
doubt in anyones mind that he is in another, much higher hall of fame.
All others pictured need identifying. Send information to www.youth.gc.adventist.org
Front row: Matilda Erickson, Harriet Holt, H. T. Elliot, M. E. Kern, Meade McGuire, Ella Iden, unknown
M V DEPARTME NT COUNCIL, MILWAUKEE, WISC ONSIN, 1926

37
38
T H E AY S T O R Y
Illustrated here are eight of the original patches

matched with todays counterparts
39
4
GRAND PLANS AND
FAST GROWTH
(1928 - 1957)
As the men and women of the General Conference Youth Department

worked and prayed together they set goals and dreamed of an expanded
work for youth throughout the world. As you read in the last chapter, in
1928 C. Lester Bond was elected the director of Junior Youth, a post he held
until 1946. During his tenure he traveled extensively throughout the world
sharing Gods and his own love for youth. As was the norm for those times,
most of these trips were made via steam ships, since the times were yet lacking the airlines of today.
During his travels Bond
wrote additions to manuals
and daily worship books
especially for junior youth.
Back at the office Matilda
Erickson and Arthur W.
Spaulding, with the help
of capable lay people, were
putting together the finishing touches on Harriet
Holts work on the first
Vocational Merits16 were
introduced in 1928. The
following year the name
was changed to Vocational
Honors and 19 additional
ones were added to this
T HE B ONDS ENJOYING A CAMPOUT .
fastgrowing program.
39
40
T H E AY S T O R Y
The original 16 Merits (Honors) are listed here:

Automobile Mechanics
Bird Study (changed to Birds)
Christian Storytelling
Colportage (changed to Literature Evangelism)
Star Study (changed to Stars)
Flower Study (changed to Flowers)
Tree Study (changed to Trees)
Health and Healing
Laundering
Needlecraft
Photography
Poultry Raising
Radio
Cooking
Shoe Repair
Gardening
These were creative people, used by God to provide the means of changing the windows to the world of each junior youth. The idea of honors has
passed a test of time. Specifically designed to change the windows from
which we view our world, today there are over 200 of these specialized topics
in 8 categories, many with additional advanced levels of challenges.
The story picks up here from the close of chapter three. As early as 1929
the name Pathfinder was used in southeastern California when John McKim, a Seventh-day Adventist scout master became the director of the first
known Pathfinder club for boys and girls. Elder Guy Mann, conference
youth director, assisted Mr. McKim in organizing this club in Anaheim,
California with Mrs. Willa Steen as girls director. Supportive help for the
Pathfinder club came from their spouses, Bertha McKim and Dr. Claude
Steen. The youth worked on various honors, completed the Friend and
Companion classes, and were involved in community service.
By 1930 Lester and Ione Martin were directing a Pathfinder club, which
met in the home of and with help from Dr. Theron and Ethel Johnston in
Santa Ana, California. The Santa Ana and Anaheim clubs met monthly to
work on Honors and practice choir music. Lead by Willa Steen with Bertha
McKim at the piano, they formed the Orange County Youth Choir. This
club also worked on Friend and Companion class work, completed honors
and socialized. Because of pressures brought on by church members who
did not understand the value of what was being done, these two clubs eventually stopped, but the ideas lingered in the dreams of a few to explode just
over a decade later into a worldwide organization.
Through the years numerous programs and helps were added for youth,
which would be a guide for both youth and their leaders. In 1930 pre-JMV
Grand Plans and Fast Growth (1928-1957)
41
classes (now know as Adventurers) were developed for younger children, 1st
through4th graders, which were called Busy Bee, Sunbeam, Builder and
Helping Hand. Children by the thousands were guided by the requirements
that enhanced the learning experience and brought youth closer to Jesus.
Ellen G. White (1827 1915) often wrote for and about youth. The
youth department commissioned a compilation of these writings, and in
1930 the book Messages to Young People was published. This became a timeless treasure for youth, a guide to strengthen the ideals of Christian youth
everywhere. Arthur W. Spaulding wrote Camping with JMVs (Junior Missionary Volunteers), and the first Camp Leaders Handbook was published, as
well as yearly junior devotional books. Reaching the hearts and minds of
youth, for God, was the objective of these dedicated youth leaders.
As the youth groups grew within Seventh-day Adventist churches and
church schools the programs were expanded to include materials for youth
as well as handbooks for leaders. More than fifty years later these books,
revised and frequently updated, are an inspiration to Christian youth leaders. The insights and instruction therein have guided many to be dedicated
leaders and to have a closer walk with Christ. When one thinks that all this
was before telephone conference calls, FAX machines, computers and the
Internet, it is a wonder how so much was accomplished.
In the fall of 1933, Dr. Everett
Dick asked Dr. M. L. Andreasen,
who was president of Union College, to present a need for military
training for our youth to the annual
council of the world church. This
need could be met through a special
military medical course under the
direction of the Missionary Volunteer Department. At the council it
was decided that the program was
not feasible at the moment. So
when Elder Andreasen returned,
he presented the decision and then
recommended that the program be
developed at Union College, that
very same school year. Dr. Dick
was given a committee to work
42
T H E AY S T O R Y
UNIONS MCC BUGLERS, CIRCA 1944 AND MAPLEWOOD ACADEMY MEDICAL

CADET CORPS CIRCA 1943-45
with; a Major Burgher of the Army was contacted to help develop the curriculum. Dr. Dick was given the green light to take charge of the program,
and the first course of what was called the Union College Medical Corps
met beginning in January of 1934. Soon other schools began asking about
the program, and in 1939 the first summer camp for nonstudents was held
on the Union College campus with about fifty boys participating. It was
the first military training camp ever conducted by our church. That fall the
annual church council met in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the delegates were
given a demonstration of the training being given. It was then voted to officially adopt the program and the term Medical Cadet Corps (MCC) was
made official, as well as its incorporation into the MV Department. This
program taught young men and women the skills needed to be good medical soldiers for their country and to remain a part of Gods Army. What
a blessing for the young people to have training that would fit them to be
responsible, knowledgeable and faithful workers. Clark Smith, a graduate
of the Union College program, began the program at Emmanuel Missionary
College in 1940 and then wrote a specialized drill Manual for MCC in 1945.
During the 1940s several of the pioneer youth leaders, including Harry
Fenner (May 24, 1940) and Luther Warren (September 29, 1940), were laid
to rest, and their mantels were passed on to new leaders, including Eldine
W. Dunbar, Theodore E. Lucas and Laurence A. Skinner. After their retirement, when these dear Christian men were interviewed, one common
thread came through when asked What were your hobbies? The answer
43
was always Telling youth about Jesus. Their lives were dedicated to sharing Jesus love wherever they were, giving time and talents to sharing Gods
love with youth around the world. New programs were born including Share
Your Faith, Voice of Youth, The Character Classics and the Pathfinder Club.
In 1946, encouraged by a mothers request for yearround summer
camping activities, Elder John H. Hancock started a club for boys and girls
in the Riverside Church, with La Sierra College ministerial student Francis
Hunt as the director. Before long the Pathfinder Club idea mushroomed in
California,with clubs springing up within Seventh-day Adventist churches and
church schools. Soon, Elder Hancock, a professionallytrained commercial
artist, designed a Pathfinder emblem in the form of a triangle, with a sword
and shield representing the Word of God and the faith of the believer. He
asked Elder Henry Bergh to write a song
suitable for a junior club full of the spirit
of adventure for Christ. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit the Pathfinder Song
was born.
A side note here is of relevance. Why ask
Bergh to write the song? He had never written
a song and did not even consider himself a musician. Hancock was a professional accordion player
and composer. Yet, while on his way to church one
Sabbath morning, poetic words entered the mind of
Bergh. They began Oh, we are the Pathfinders strong
He pulled off the road, took out a piece of scrap paper from the back of his
Bible, and wrote them down. Then, without another thought about it all,
he went on to church, spoke for the service and headed home again. He felt
pretty good. It had been a beautiful day, the services had been well attended,
and he began to whistle some unknown notes and tune. As he whistled
he noticed a sequence coming along and immediately stopped the car and
pulled out the poetic words he had written earlier. He didnt know how
to write musical notes, so he jotted down the sequences on another piece
of paper. Later he would do a more careful transcribe, and asked a real
composer to fix it up a bit. Word came back that no fixing was neededit
was perfect. Bergh has always believed that the Holy Spirit was the actual
composer of the Pathfinder Song.
Good news traveled fast, and before long the leaders of the youth department of the General Conference asked the youth men of the Pacific Union
44
T H E AY S T O R Y
to write out their Pathfinder Program ideas. In the spring of 1949 organizational meetings were held that included Union youth director J. R. Nelson and
Conference youth directors, Miller BrockettSouthern California Conference, John
H. Hancock Southeastern California Conference, Clark SmithNevada/Utah
Conference and Henry Bergh Central California Conference. John Hancock and Miller Brockett worked on compiling the How To Start A Pathfinder
Club Manual, using papers written by Henry Bergh and Lawrence Paulson.
Clark Smith and Henry Bergh worked together on writing a Pathfinder Drill
Manual, just for Pathfinders, which Henry strongly urged to be kinder and
gentler than the Army or MCC drill manuals.
In 1950 at the General Conference Session at San Francisco the Pathfinder Program was accepted worldwide. Elder Laurence A. Skinner was
elected the first World Pathfinder Director. (1950 1963) During this time
Pathfinder materials, including a Staff Manual, Master Guide Manual, How
To Start A Pathfinder Club, Drill Manual and other helps were put in the
hands of leaders.
45
PATHFINDER PIONEER SUMMARIES:

Laurence A. Skinner was the first
World Pathfinder Director (19501963).
Under his leadership the program, which
began in California, expanded throughout
the world. Laurence was a man to look up
to, a man of honesty, integrity, and a true
friend. He set the standard for the Youth
Men that would follow him through the
years. He was truly selfless and loved the
Lord and his work with and for young people of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
A youth leader visited with Elder Skinner
shortly before his death when he was ninety-six years old and commented
after the interview that one could easily tell why he had been a beloved and
respected leader. He loved God and youth and continued to pray and share
his faith whenever he could. Whatever hardship he may have endured to
share Gods love with youth around the world was worth the cost.
John H. Hancock, who was, in 1946,
a youth leader in the Southeastern California
Conference, and had been an art major in college, designed the Pathfinder Emblem, which
is still proudly worn more than 50 years later.
His enthusiasm put a spark in the program
that helped ignite a flame that spread around
the world. Elder Hancock also wrote numerous
songs that were loved by Seventh-day Adventist
youth around the world. Songs such as Well
March Along Together and Ill Share My Faith,
became favorites. Elder Hancock became the
second World Pathfinder Director, traveling well over a million miles with
his trusty accordion to share Gods love with youth everywhere. Elder Hancock was fond of saying that his squeeze box could play in every language
and played in dozens of countries as he traveled as World Pathfinder Director (1963-1970) and as World Youth Director (19701980). John Hancock
46
T H E AY S T O R Y
was often called the man with the accordion and was known to many as
Uncle John. He was dearly loved and respected by those that knew him and
worked with him.
Miller Brocket, youth director of the

Southern California Conference, encouraged
Lawrence Paulson, a layperson, to begin a Pathfinder Club in Glendale. Another layperson, Dan
Palmer, helped with activities, being especially
good with camping and wildernessliving skills
and nature honors. By the first anniversary
these energetic men and their dedicated staff
had a club of 150 members. Mr. Paulson also led
out in Master Guide Clubs, helping to prepare
hundreds of Conference pastors, secretaries and
Lawrence Paulson 31
church leaders to become Master Guides. Lawrence started a dozen Pathfinder clubs through the years and was truly Mr.
Pathfinder, giving guidance at Pathfinder Leadership Conventions as well
as mentoring numerous leaders and youth through the years.
Henry T. Bergh was youth director in

the Central California Conference in 1948
when he began Pathfinder programs, and within a short time 23 clubs were up and running
in his conference. He started the Pathfinder
Area Coordinator program that same year. Elder Bergh wrote a paper that became a booklet
titled How To Start A Pathfinder Club and
held the first Leadership Training Camp the
summer of 1949. That year he also wrote The
Henry T. Bergh
Pathfinder Song, which he always stated was
given to him, words and music, by God. Henry designed the first Pathfinder
flag, which Helen Hobbs sewed into reality. It was later adopted by the General Conference for worldwide use. In 1950 Henry Bergh started Evangelist
Meetings with young people as speakers, using sermons prepared by H. M.
S. Richards Sr., a real Voice of Youth effort. In 1951 Elder Bergh held the
47
first Pathfinderfair in Dinuba, California. Elder E. W. Dunbar was the

General Conference representative in attendance. Many of Elder Berghs
achievements in youth work would not be known if in later years his grandchildren hadnt asked their Grandpa to write for them his life story. This
dear, dedicated Christian man was never known to blow his own horn.
His story tells how he and his dear Miriam worked tirelessly for God.
During the 50s the Pathfinder club program
spread throughout the North American Division
and into the surrounding countries. It is believed
that Eliezer Melendez organized the first
Pathfinder club outside of the US in the Inter
American Division 1950 in Puerto Rico. Elder
Melendez eventually became the IAD youth director, and even after retirement over 50 years after
that first effort he still continued in Pathfinder
leadership. Other countries to also get clubs
started that year were Mexico and Aruba. The
Elizer Melendez
dedicated leaders were part of the group of pioneers that deeply felt a need of an active Christ-centered program for youth.
What a testimony to the leaders and staff that caught the vision of a mighty
army of youth.
In some countries there is a childrens holiday around the last day of
October. Its origins date back to the Middle Ages, when poor people would
go from door to door and ask for a small donation of money. There were
overtones of witches and goblins and tales that if one did not give, there
would be dire consequences. The modern version has kept the spooky side
but watered down to the innocence of children going out asking for sweets
in the early evening. In1951 a Mrs. Julius (Auntie Gertie to the children
of her church) suggested that the children should do something constructive on Halloween instead. Thus, the Halloween foodcollecting idea was
born in the little Adventist church of Wadena, Minnesota (membership 72).
Students from the Wadena Junior Academy, with their sponsors went out
to trade a little song for dried fruit, soap, pins, needles, clothing, or money
to buy commodities to help folks who are not so fortunate as we are. They
called themselves the Dorcas Scouts. The list of donated items was quite
interesting: 375 coat hangers, 40 bars of soap, 5 pairs of overshoes, 10 pairs
48
T H E AY S T O R Y
of shoes, 2 baby blankets, 43 articles of baby clothing, 14 pairs of stockings,

2 pairs of mittens, 13 tins of canned goods, 4 sets of window curtains, 2 lace
panel curtains, 1 bath towel, 3 washcloths, 3 tablecloths, 2 centerpieces for
table, 30 articles of childrens clothing, 9 coats and jackets, 1 mens suit, 4
mens shirts, 63 other articles of clothing, 10 spools of thread, 8 pillowcases,
2 sheets, $4.48 in cash. Their report closes with They enjoyed it! From
there it spread the next year to Wisconsin, and soon this program was endorsed by the world Pathfinder Club whose members have gone out to collect canned goods for needy families instead of playing tricks and collecting
goodies for themselves.
October of 1953 the first Pathfinder Camporee was held at Camp Winnekeag,
along the shores of beautiful Lake Winnekeag at Ashburnham, Massachusetts.
The second Pathfinder Camporee followed in the spring of 1954 in southeastern California. There were many other
firsts and countless men and women who
have followed in the footsteps of the pioneers
and have given
selfless years of godly leadership for Pathfinder youth throughout the world.
October 7, 1953 the first issue of the Junior Guide magazine appeared for
Junior Youth. Lawrence Maxwell, son of famed story-teller Arthur Maxwell,
was its editor. This paper was loved by thousands of Junior Youth and was
eagerly anticipated, not only for the continued stories and nature nuggets
but also for the Bible lessons therein. Junior Guide became a great bulletin
board for Pathfinder activities and helped to encourage clubs throughout
the world. The magazines name was shortened to Guide in 1964 but remained an important guide for junior youth.
The first three clubs in the Regional Conferences were started in 1954, with Earl Calloway as director of the Shiloh-Chicago, Illinois Club, Mary Church the director of the
Temple-Detroit, Michigan club and A. W.
Williams as director of the Hyde Park, Hyde
Park, Illinois Pathfinder Club. But it wasnt
until Daniel L. Davis became the youth director of the Alleghany Conference that Pathfindering among the Afro-American churches
really caught fire. Danny as most know him
was another of those Mr. Pathfinder kind
49
of guys serving at Conference and Union levels and even a time in Africa.
When he took office he found 3 small clubs in his conference, but not for
long. From small beginnings the programs, with dedicated leaders, quickly
grew. By the year 2000 there were more than 16,000 African-American
Pathfinders in North American Division Pathfinder Clubs.
In 1955 the first North American Spanish Pathfinder Club began in
Santa Ana, California with Connie Perez, a dedicated Christian leader, as
the director. Lawrence Paulson helped with some activities for this club and
encouraged and trained the leaders. In 1975 Connie was chosen to be an
area coordinator, a post she was still holding in 2004, for the Southeastern
California Conference. The Santa Ana church has not been without a club
since that first Tuesday evening meeting September of 1955. The year 1955
also witnessed the first South American club of Conquistadores begin in
the Miraflores church, Lima Peru with Nercida de Ruiz as director. Donald
J. von Pohle, Inca Union College president, and Pedro P. D. Leon, Union
youth director, provided the initial leadership training. It was her club that
selected the Spanish term Conquistadores that is now used throughout
Spanish-speaking Latin America.
Nercida received special recognition from Erton Kohler, South American

Division Youth Director at the third SAD Camporee, Brazil, 2005.
50
T H E AY S T O R Y
By 1957 the MV Honor program had grown to include 150 honors plus advanced work to encourage involvement by senior youth. Also in 1957 the Explorer class was added so that seventhgraders would have special curriculum to
enhance their learning. The JMV Pathfinder Day was officially voted into the
Church Calendar as God blessed the Pathfinder program beyond the wildest
dreams of our pioneers.
Junior youth ministry had taken on a life
of its own. Leaders who were willing to dedicate themselves to this special assignment became highly trained and continued to refine
the program. All along this same timeframe,
senior youth ministry was likewise evolving
and seeking better ways to reach those in
their late teens and early twenties. So we take
a step back in time and follow that ministry.
In Europe, leaders experimented with
gathering large numbers of young people
from a wide area and hold spiritualstrengthening weekends. The first of these innovative
congresses was held in Chemnitz, Germany
in July of 1928. They were wellrewarded
when three thousand young people showed up representing most of the countries of Europe from Scandinavia to Italy, and from Britain to the Baltic Republics and Romania.
The momentum was slowed down by the Great Depression and the turmoil
that led to World War II, but the impact of that first congress remained in the
minds of leadership. And the war was no sooner over and a North American
Youth Congress was held in San Francisco, California (1947) with an attendance
of twelve thousand. The Share Your Faith slogan and project was introduced
at that time. This was followed by two European Congresses held in 1948 in
Prague (then capital of Czechoslovakia) and Watford, England.
Again in 1951, yet a fourth congress was held in Europe, this time in Paris,
France. Six thousand youth attended from twenty-five countries. This congress
was led by Elders J. J. Aitken, E. L. Minchin, and W. Raeker of the three European Divisions functioning at the time. The pageants, music, faith-sharing experiences told, along with Bible-centered preaching all showed that enthusiastic,
energyfilled dynamic that has been so typical of big youth events since those
days. The youth involved returned to their home countries with a renewed and
51
expanded vision of their role in the mission of the church. Many would soon
find their enthusiastic faith tested to the maximum as Communism enveloped
the Eastern countries of Europe.
The year 1951 also made history with the introduction of a small pocketsize magazine called M.V. Kit, which was to run for over three decades, providing youth leadership with guidance and programming ideas. This little
magazine had three editors over the years who became household names in
youth ministry: Mildred Lee Johnson (1951-1957), Don Yost (1957-1961),
and Lowell Litten (1961-1969). Litten then became Editor of the Junior
Guide magazine. James Joiner took over the Editorship of the Kit until it
was discontinued and replaced by the Youth Ministry Accent begun in 1985
and continues today.
Fifty years had flown by since the Youth Department of the church began. It was now 1957 and time to celebrate what God had done. By interesting coincidence, July 13 fell on Sabbath in 1907 as well as 1957, so on
the weekend of July 12 and 13, on the campus of Mount Vernon Academy, Ohio, where (and when) it all began, the General Conference and the
Columbia Union joined in planning and carrying out a special celebrative
memorial service. Several thousand attendees sang two martial songs, the
traditional Onward Christian Soldiers and the newly written The Captain Calls for You. A trumpet fanfare follows, and Elder Theodore Lucas,
World Youth Director, welcomes all in attendance to the Golden Anniversary celebration. And a celebration it was! To the left of center-stage there
was a large 10-foot (3-meter) replica of the Master Guide emblem. The gold
center began to revolve, and Elder Lucas introduced an elderly white-haired
gentleman to the audienceElder Meade MacGuire. When asked How
do you feel about being here? his answer brought a hush to all who were
listening. I wish we were all in heaven instead of here at Mount Vernon.
Through a renewed dedication to our task, I verily believe we will soon be
in our heavenly home.
Other pioneer leaders were introduced, and then the gold center of the
emblem opened one last time. From it stepped Elder M. E. Kern, whose
services to the world youth leadership role had spanned from 1907 to 1930,
now a mere eighty-two years of age. And what do you think of young people
today and the Missionary Volunteer work? asked Elder Lucas. The response
came as no surprise to those who knew the elderly gentleman: I believe God
led in organizing the department in the beginning. What He begins, He is
able to finish The ideals we possessed at that time are still the same.
52
T H E AY S T O R Y
Present at the celebration: M. E. Kern, H. T. Elliot, A. W. Peterson, E. W. Dunbar, T. Lucas.
Youth ministry, which had begun with but nine young men in a small
country church during the previous century, had during the past fifty years
grown to encompass the world with 406,415 members. Of note during this
celebration is an observation made by Elder Lucas during his introduction
of the Sabbath sermon guest speaker. He observed that at the organizational meetings held fifty years before in the same place, the president of the
General Conference, Elder A. G. Daniells, presented the Sabbath sermon.
Now, at this anniversary celebration, Elder R. R. Figuhr, President of the
General Conference, was the presenter of the Word at the same service.
Another highlight of the weekend came during the Sabbath afternoon
activities. A commemorative monument was unveiled, financed and erected by the youth of the Columbia Union, in honor of the pioneers of the
MV movement, many of whom were there present for the dedication.
53
Looking back, this celebration seems to be a highway marker along the

road of youth ministry. Following the ebb and flow of society, this anniversary also marks the entrance to the proverbial 60sthat age when the
baby-boomers began to make their mark on society and the world. The first
post-WWII generation is old enough to recognize it has an influence.
TIMELINE PART II
1929
First Junior Missionary Volunteer Handbook published
1930
4 Pre-JMV Classes of Busy Bee to Helping Hand

introduced
Messages to Young People published
1932
First Summer Camp property purchasedIdllwild,

California
1934
MCC organized by Dr. E. Dick, Union College, Nebraska
1939
Youth Congress at Avondale College, Australia
1946
First Conference-sponsored Pathfinder Club,

Riverside, California
1948
Pathfinder song written by Henry Bergh
1950
Pathfinder Club officially recognized by world church

First Pathfinder Club in InterAmerican Division,
Puerto Rico
1951
Master Comrade becomes Master Guide

Halloween food collection begun, Wadena, Minnesota
1953
First Pathfinder camporee, Camp Winnekeag, Massachusetts
1954
MV Voice of Youth Evangelism adopted
1955
First PathfinderConquistadoresClub in
South America, Lima, Peru
ITS THAT GOD OF HIS-- PEDRO MAMANI
Pedro lived in the high altiplano of Bolivia. During the years of his youth his
countrys political environment was one of constant change. Revolutions and
change of governments were occurring on an annual basis. The military was in a
54
T H E AY S T O R Y
world of its own, sometimes serving as the lawful upholders of order, sometimes
in rebellion against the government in power, sometimes in conflict within itself.
The drafting of young men to serve consisted of occasional trucks that would
drive into a village, armed soldiers would jump out and grab any and all young
men they could fit onto the truck and drive off to boot camp.
On one of those cold days in February 1940, Pedro, 21 years old, had the
misfortune of walking down the main street of his village when a truck pulled up
and hauled him off with many others. Already, while on the truck he decided,
Joseph-style, to be absolutely loyal to his God during the upcoming two years of
his service to an anarchical system of government. So, immediately upon arrival
at boot camp (Oruro, at 3,800 mts.) he headed for the first officer-type he could
find, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention so as to explain his situation, especially with regard to Sabbath observance. He was brusquely rebuffed,
so he proceeded to look for someone who appeared more important. He had
never been instructed in military ranks and procedures, so his shoulder tapping
only brought further rebuffs and growing frustration. He finally thought to himself Well, if they dont want to hear, then I shall just have to take care of myself
when the time comes.
That first Sabbath, he stayed in his bunk and read his Bible. By the second
Sabbath, the whole camp knew there was one of those Adventistas in camp.
When he prayed, boots would come flying through the air. When he read his Bible, loud music was played on the radio. When he woke up in the morning, garbage was piled around his bed. He was finally put in the camp prisonwhich was
a real reliefnow he could read his Bible and keep Sabbath without interference.
So he was thrown out of prison. This went on for quite some time (it seemed like
years but was just over 8 months actually) till one day word arrived that there were
too many young men in camp and some would have to be let go. Who would be
released was to be determined by the drawing of names from a hat. Word spread
rapidly, and when line call was made all were buzzing with excitement about the
prospects. Then the commander thought of a brilliant idea: Why not have Pedro
be the one to draw the names? All knew how badly Pedro would love to leave.
When his name was called out Pedro Mamani, Front and Center! all knew
what was up, and whispers and smirking ran through the assembled. Pedro reported, saluted, and received his instructions to begin drawing names. He offered
a silent prayer and with shaking hand reached into that hatful of hundreds of
names and drew out the first name. He read out loud: Pedro Mamani. handed
the paper to the commander, saluted, turned about and walked out of camp. As
he departed, he heard the commander say Its that God of his.
**For a larger version of this photo, and to help us fill in the blanks or help with corrections visit: www.youth.gc.adventist.org
1st. Row: J. R. Ferren, Walt Howe, G. W. Chambers, G. Eric Jones, R. A. Nesmith, Don Hunter, Ted Lucas, E. W. Dunbar, L. A. Skinner, Frank Yost, J. R. Nelson, G. R. Fattic, E. A.
Robertson, O. S. Hershberger, L. M. Nelson, Arthur Roth, W. G. Soloniuk. 2nd Row: Lora Clement, ?, ?, ?, Marjorie Marsh, ?, ?, Harry Bass, wife and daughter, Mrs. L. E. Smart, L. E.
Smart, Lee Carter,?, Romeo Hubbs, Glen Fillman, Walter Haas, E. J. Barnes, ?, ?, ?, Miller Brocket. 3rd Row: ?, Herb Nelson, Donald J. Von Pohle, ?, K. D. Johnson, Clark Smith, Wayne
Foster, Gerry Lien, Wilbur Chapman, ?, ?, Bill Burns, Tom Willey, ?, ?, John Hancock, W. C. Loveless, Vern Hoffman, Opal Hoffman. 4th Row: Henry Bergh, Ward Scriven, Harold
Jewkes, I. V. Stonebrook, Warren Whittenberg, Cree Sandefer, Francis Milliard, A. J. Wearner, John Knipschild, John Miklos, Jim Mead, Willis Hackett, A. J. Patzer, J. A. Iversen, F. W.
Bieber, ?, __ Stockton. 5th Row: ?, ?, A. V. Pinkney, ?, ?, ?, Johnathan Roache, ?.
GE N ER A L CONFERE NCE SE SSION LINCOLN, NEB RA SKAMA RC H 1949

55
56
T H E AY S T O R Y
Four-year reading that combines the Bible and Conict of the Ages set of Ellen White books.
5
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
(1957 - 1970)
If there is one constant in spiritual growth and church life, it is the term
change. Nothing should ever remain static otherwise there would be no
growth. Having said that, change should be guided and purposeful not helter-skelter and disorganized. Change should not take place solely for the
sake of change. As the M.V. and J.M.V. societies grew and matured in their
curriculum, they provided positive nourishment for the youth of the church
in four general areas: devotional growth, educational enrichment, outreach
opportunities, and fellowship. Each of these four areas saw numerous programs
and concepts develop and get implemented which strengthened the overall
spiritual development of the young person. Just a few of these were:
Devotional: Morning Watch, Bible Year, Character
Classics, Weeks of Prayer, and Legion of Honor.
Educational: Leadercraft Courses, M.V. Book Club,
M.V. Honors, and Master Guide Clubs.
Outreach: Voice of Youth, Share Your Faith, Sunshine
Bands, Ingathering Bands.
Fellowship: Congresses, Music Festivals, Outdoor
Clubs, socials-to-save gatherings, teen clubs, and other
similar activities.
Major changes began to take place in Western society during the late fifties and early sixties. These changes were, quite naturally, reflected within
the church as well. Materialism and its demand on a persons time spent at
work; role changes with mothers entering the work force in ever increasing
57
58
T H E AY S T O R Y
numbers; changes in understanding of vacation and use of free

time; all impacted the church
membership sometimes positively
but most often negatively. These
changes were soon reflected in the
time available for dedication to
the various activities of the M.V.
Societies. The programming was
there for whoever wished to avail
themselves of it. The structural
concept of societies being composed of specialized small groups of
youth who enjoyed specific types
of outreach activities and other
unifying interests was still there.
However, the Societies increasingly became little more than Sabbath afternoon filler; a way of assuring that the Sabbath hours not
be broken; a third general meeting for those who wished to sit yet
another couple hours. Canned,
scripted entertainment-type programming took the place of activity oriented
styles that required pre-planning and was more time consuming. The youth
soon found other means of entertaining themselves and attendance at the
M.V. Society consisted primarily of adults. Not so gradually, the societies disintegrated and in many churches disappeared for lack of interest. The mission of the society had been lost. Boarding Academies were able to fill the
void with their diverse weekend programming but the youth who remained
in their local churches were often left to swim on their own. In those parts of
the world where materialism had not taken control, the M. V. Societies made
a smooth transition into the newer expanded and revitalized A. Y. Society
which has enabled and even spearheaded explosive church growth creating
a majority of youth in the total membership of the church. In the case of
J.M.V. Societies, survival came in the form of the Pathfinder Club that was
able to pick up its age category, provide that which ten to fifteen year-olds
needed and truly blossom.
The Good Old Days (1957-1970)
59
A grassroots, unofficial movement was born during this time that within
a couple decades was to catch the imagination of senior youth the world
over. It began small and inconspicuous enough on the campuses of some
colleges in North America when in the early 1960s Student Missionaries
were sent out to spend 6 months to a year on a volunteer basis to serve in
some developing countries. Columbia Union College was actually the first
sending their first student in 1959. The following year Andrews University
and Walla Walla College sent someone. Each year another college joined in.
By 1975 all North American colleges had joined the program and were sending out a total of over 180 SMs each year. Today it would be very difficult
to tally the number of young people who spend time ranging from a couple
weeks on special projects to a year or more teaching or performing other
valuable service around the world coming from many countries and going
to many countries, all on a volunteer basis. Individuals, churches, schools
are continually searching out new ways to fulfill Gods command to spread
the gospel via community service. This concept in involvement expanded
through the next decades till by 2003 it became the focus of the first world
youth conference specifically targeting community service held in Bangkok,
Thailand with over a thousand youth and youth leaders from the worldwide
church attending.
Another program that flourished then faded into oblivion during this
time was the Medical Cadet Corps--MCC (see chapter 4 for its beginnings).
While it was born between the World Wars, it had not expanded much beyond the North American Division
until the 1950s. At that time, it
expanded into a large number of
countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, even into Africa and other
regions of the world. Then almost
as quickly as it flourished, changing world scenarios in the late sixties, brought about its collapse and
almost total disappearance. The
training and jump start it provided our young men during the years
known as the Cold War was of
great value to young soldiers-to-be
and collectively to the church. It
60
T H E AY S T O R Y
gave the church a visibility in a realm that was different, unexpected and
very positive in that it focused on the civic responsibility and concern of
the church and its members.
Utilizing the MCC program as a basis, for several years a special military-type summer camp was held at Grand Ledge, Michigan named for a
WWII veteran who received the highest medal awarded by the U. S. government, an Adventist medic by the name of Desmond Doss. Camp Doss
trained hundreds of young military-aged men in basic medical emergency
treatment and military protocol in an effort to give them an advantage
when drafted to serve their country. A military uniform was used with
specialized MCC insignia.
5 th Company Camp Doss, 1963 with Cpl. Desmond Doss CMH

(center), officers and military visitor.
Ranks were assigned to conference and union youth directors and other
support staff and cadets earned cadet ranking from private all the way to
lower level commissioned officers with the rank of Captain being the highest rank ever presented to a cadet. The last nation-wide camp was held
around 1966 and was replaced by Union-wide events such as the one the
Central Union Academies participated in, at Omaha, NE in 1967.
61
Two other challenging awards were introduced to the youth of the

church during this time. In 1958 the high school-aged youth were introduced to a combination physical, mental, cultural challenge known as the
Silver Award. And in 1959 college-aged youth were given the next level
challenge known as the Gold Award. These two programs provided activity that would test the physical capabilities of the youth to their maximum.
Following the concept introduced in the Biblical scenario of Daniel and his
three friendsphysical and mental excellence being interrelated and as a
result of following Gods health principlesthese awards were not easy to
complete, were not for just anyone and everyone, but were for those young
people who truly wanted to excel as athletic, physically fit Christians. A
major component of all youth congresses, be they local conference, unionwide or larger was the performance show-and-tell of candidates for investiture in these awards and the award presentations themselves. While perhaps somewhat forgotten in some countries today, these awards, updated and
freshened, continue to inspire and challenge youth around the world.
Pathfinder Camporees had been going on since 1953 at the local conference level, so it seemed only natural that sooner or later some one would
think of doing one at a Union level. That time finally arrived on April 11,
1960 held by the Pacific Union at Lone Pine, California. In 1962, what
was then called the Central Union (later merged with the Northern Union
to form todays Mid-America Union) held their first Camporee at Glacier
View, Colorado. Many others soon followed.
62
T H E AY S T O R Y
A sad note of the passing of time occurred when Elder M. E. Kern, our
first World Youth Director was laid to rest December 22, just 3 days before
Christmas, 1961.
Elder John Hancock, who along with Elder Skinner had been the primary
mover to put Pathfindering on the map, was elected to replace Elder Skinner
when he retired in 1963. Hancock spent the next seventeen years traveling
the world with his trusty accordion, visiting nearly every
country that had an SDA
presence encouraging the
youth of the church to stand
firm till Christs return. The
first seven of those years were
as World Pathfinder Director and the last ten as head of
the youth department. During his tenure as youth leader,
both Pathfindering and Senior
Youth received the benefits of
his creative abilities through
expanded programming, expanded departmental production, staffing and events.
Numerous Honors were
added to the MV Handbook
along with new classes and their advanced levels; youth congresses were
being held all over the worldespecially Europe saw several of these such
as Austria (1967) and Switzerland (1969).
The year 1970 seems to have been selected somewhat arbitrarily as
a break point in the chapters of youth ministry, yet perhaps it was not.
Around this time, the youth of the 60s begin to take over leadership
some might prefer to say they began to infiltrate leadership. Certainly,
The Good Old Days were gone with the winds of change. John Hancock
became the World Youth Director with a full staff of 28 persons (compared
to 6 in the department by the year 2000) and Leo Ranzolin From Brazil took over as World Pathfinder Director becoming the first non- North
American in that post.
Even in retirement, Leos warm smaile always draws a crowd of Pathfinders.
63
64
T H E AY S T O R Y
UNDER COMMUNISMTITU GHEJAN

Under communism many young people discovered that living the Christian
life was a very difficult problem. This is but one of many stories: When I was 13
years old, in the sixth grade, a particularly severe teacher began teaching us some
folk dances. While all the rest of the children were learning to dance, I refused
and withdrew. The teacher came to me, pulled my ear and hit me, shoved me
back in line with the others. He continued to hit me and I started crying. When
he insisted on my telling him the reason I refused, I made the mistake of telling
him I was an Adventist, and therefore could not dance and I added - thinking I
was doing well that my father would not allow me. Then the violence ended,
but soon my father was called to the Secret Police; for three days he was subjected
to questioning and investigation. He was threatened that, under accusation that
he did not allow his child to participate in the cultural-education activities of the
school, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison. When he returned home, my
father did not scold me but he told me firmly: whatever you do in life, do it out
of your personal conviction, on the basis of what God says in His Word, never
because of what someone else says. Though I faced problems in high school and
college, too, this principle was of particular significance to me during my military
term of duty.
I was conscripted in October 1974; I was 25 years old and had just
married that very spring. For two months I participated in all the military
activities, instruction and so on, except for the Sabbath day.
The first problem was with the food. Because all the food was prepared
with pork or grease, I ate food brought from home: bread, honey, nuts and so
on. The commander summoned me and informed me that my refusal to eat
the food offered was an expression of contempt for the food offered by the
military. We came to talk about the problem of the Sabbath day and noncombatance. I told him that since the military oath called me to act on the
commands of my superiors, and I cannot work on the Sabbath and under no
circumstances will I use weapons to kill anybody, I cannot take the oath since
it would mean lying promising something I knew very well I could never do.
Things progressed to the point that on the date of 23 December 1974,
upon my refusal to pledge, I was arrested. I was sentenced to 4 years in
prison for insubordination. In court I declared that I could take the oath
and do all I could as a soldier and citizen, but I could not do two things: kill
and work on Sabbath. I knew what our church has to say on this subject,
and I knew that worldwide, with the exception of a few European countries, the
non-combatance principle was well understood and lived.
65
In prison, for six months I was not required to work on the Sabbath. However,
in June 1975, a terrible escape took place, and the entire leadership of that penitentiary was changed; the most ruthless officers in Romania were brought there.
A terribly severe program was put in place, and I was required to work on the
Sabbath. When I refused, my feet were put in chains, handcuffed, and transferred
to the prison cell called isolator. This was a room 8 feet wide and 13 feet long,
with concrete walls and a window 2 feet wide and three feet long, covered
not by glass but by thick bars spaced half an inch apart. Even during the
summer it was very cold
here, but during the winter the cold was so bitter,
that you could not stand
still for 5 minutes, because
you would freeze. I would
receive food only once every two days, and then only
half the normal portion.
The time spent there was
five days of half-fast, alternating with five days of
complete fasting. At night,
at 10 oclock, they would
bring us wooden benches.
After a long day of standing and walking around
with the chains, we would
drop to sleep immediately,
but wake up in 15 or 20
minutes because of the
dreadful cold. After the
ten days, when I was taken
back to the construction
TITU GHEJAN AND HIS WIFE
site to work I was so weak
that I could only walk by holding on to the wall. Amazingly, by midday
my strength returned and I could work in constructions. Apart from the
punishment in the isolator I was also denied other rights, including visits,
so that for 8 continuous months I did not speak at all with my parents or
my wife.
66
T H E AY S T O R Y
Being a college graduate I only had to serve six months in the army,
and I had already served two of them. The officers told me: go, serve in
the army for four months, and you will be free from four years in jail. My
answer always was: its better to be in jail for four years, however hard that
might be, but with God, than 4 months, in freedom, without God.
One night, a sergeant came to the room and in front of the 30 inmates,
roared that my wife was at the gate and tells you that unless you give up
this foolishness she will divorce you. All my roommates were stunned. I
told him my wife was free to do anything she wants, for I cannot give up
obeying God. I paused for a few moments, and the sergeant cried You lost
your freedom, now you lose your family, what will you come to? You will
die here! Then I added: I think that my wife is indeed outside but waiting to see me not divorce me. I think that if I stay here 4 years or 20, she
will not divorce me. In the end, I found out that it was all just a device
to frighten me.
At one time I was transferred to the brigade of the most brutal guardian. On the first Sabbath, he drove me from the room beating me cruelly
with his club, handcuffed me and made me climb in the bus to go to the
construction site. It was wintertime and until evening he let me stay in the
cold, my handcuffs very tight. From time to time, he passed by me, asking
if I was ready to work, so he could take my handcuffs off. When I told him
I could not work, he hit me with his baton and when the blows fell over
the handcuffs (these were toothed) the pain was unbearable. Though I
suffered dreadful hunger, cold and battering, this situation gave me the
most terrible pain I had ever felt. When I returned, at the gate we met
the deputy commander who supervised the brigades arrival. When he saw
what I looked like, he ordered the guardian to take my handcuffs off. With
considerable difficulty I brought my hands in front of me, and when I saw
them I was dreadfully alarmed: totally benumbed, covered with sweat, they
were swollen to almost three times their normal size and almost black. It
took several weeks for sensation to come back to my fingers. After they took
my handcuffs off I was sent to the isolator: more cold, hunger and chains.
Another guardian who was much kinder, but no less determined to
make me work on the Sabbath, asked me to come to the construction site
on the Sabbath. I refused, explaining that it is useless to come if I cannot
work. I finally went there, under the arrangement that I would stay in a
shed. When we came there, he asked me to walk with him through the
site. Stopping by a 10-yard long railroad rail, he called a team of convicts
67
and ordered them to carry it to another place. When these lifted it up,
he told me: come, it is heavy, they cannot carry it, they need your help.
I told him: If it is too heavy, tell them to lay it down; as for me, I cannot help them today. Well, he said, come with me, lets walk past them.
I answered: I cannot work and neither can I pretend to work. Then
he lost patience with me and began beating me with his club, enraged,
screaming like the other officers: You are indeed crazy! Later, when we
had returned to the penitentiary, I and my roommates were shocked by
the deputy commanders praise: Bravo, Ghejan, Im glad that you have
your wits back. To clarify the situation, I asked him what he was talking
about. What do you mean? He said, The sergeant told me you went
today to the construction site and worked. It would have seemed wise to
shut up and enjoy the unexpected relief from another stay in the isolator,
but I told the commander that I had not worked that Sabbath, as I had
not worked on any of the other Sabbaths. Shortly, the sergeant appeared,
furious, shouting what I had expected: You are not only crazy, but stupid
also! And, of course, I was sent to the isolator.
As a result of a letter sent by Brother Alexandru Gheorghe to Radio
Free Europe, the administration of the penitentiary was told to punish only
by cutting away the right to receive things from home and visits and four
months later on May 10, 1977, by a special pardon decree of our communist
leader, Ceausescu, after 2 and a half years in prison, I was finally set free.
I spent more than 170 days in the isolator, at times alone, other times
with one, two or three other persons. These asked me to sing to them and
I talked to them about my faith and about salvation. I think that never afterwards have I felt such joy as I had in the isolator. Over twenty-five years
have gone by, and I enjoy better health than before, though I endured terrible cold dressed only in summer military clothes which were threadbare. I
learned that you can conquer every situation by the power of God. He can
give you strength so that, although you still feel the physical and emotional
pain, you can conquer it by the joy of His presence and salvation, so that
like the martyrs you can sing at the stake.
68
T H E AY S T O R Y
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6
CHANGES BLOWING IN
THE WIND
(1970 - 1990)
Todays church leadershipits youth leadership were formed by the winds

that blew during the 60s on into the 70s. How has this affected the youth
of the church? Experimentation could easily sum up in a word the answer
to that question, yet it would not be adequate. Certainly leaders did not see
their roles in youth ministry in the same light as their predecessors; that cannot be disputed. Risk taking, a phenomenon in society, was reflected as well
in youth ministry to levels never dreamed of before.
As was the case in the secular world, negative influences that grew out of
the 1960s drug and hippy scene and the Vietnam War was on an increase
on Adventist College campuses as well. Most of our colleges especially in
North America found themselves full of unrest and revolt. Then something
happened. On a small campus of a small Methodist college in a small town
in Kentucky, a revival broke out. This was no ordinary revival. Protestant
leaders picked up on what was going on; Adventist campuses wondered and
at first resisted but then Andrews University chaplain Gordon Paxton invited E. L. Minchin and Mike Stevenson of the General Conference Youth
Department to be guest speakers for a student leadership retreat. Even
though very ill, Minchin went and spoke on effective prayer, Mike gave his
testimony of Gods leading in his life, and there began a revival that soon
spread across Adventist Campuses in North America and abroad on both
college and academy levels.
In 1967, the Christian Record Braille Foundation began an experiment
that by the 70s expanded to nearly every youth camp in the churchthe
National Camps for the Blind. Who would ever have imagined prior to this
69
70
T H E AY S T O R Y
Since National Camps for Blind Children began in 1967 with 23 campers, over 47,000
campers have experienced the joy, affirmation, and challenge they find at these camps. NCBC
camps are an integral part of Christian Record Services goal: to help the blind see Jesus.
time that blind kids could enjoy campbut they did, they do; and this idea
has dramatically changed the lives of literally thousands of young blind persons over the past few decades.
Camporees at the Union level were big and required a lot of unusual management skills. No one really imagined that such an event at an International level (Division level) would really work successfully. The issues involved
for accommodating thousands of juniors in a camping scenario for multiple
countries, cultures and languages seemed a bit farfetcheduntil 1971 when
J. P. Sundquist of the Northern Europe-West Africa Division decided to try
it in Sweden, then the following year, Nino Bulzis in the Euro-Africa Division tried it in Austria, and Pathfindering has never been the same since. (It
needs to be mentioned that Paul Steiner held a Southern Europe Camporee
in1961 but some how it was nearly forgotten.) A new world of adventure,
discovery, and fellowship was opened up to our 10-16 year-olds that has created events larger than nearly any other kind of event the church organizes
and certainly with more complicated logistics than any other event, yet so
awesomely successful. In 1975, the Australasian Division (todays South
Changes Blowing in the Wind (1970-1990)
71
Leo Ranzolin with club at Bangalore Camporee, India78
Pacific Division) held their first Division-wide Camporee at Yarramundi near

Sidney. Clem Christian and his associate Ken Martin developed the idea and
had 2000 in attendance. In 1974, the Southern Asia Division celebrated
its first-ever Division Camporee under the leadership of W. J. McHenry. In
1983, both the Inter-American and South American Divisions held their
first Division-wide Camporees led by Claudio Belz in the South and Israel
Leito in the Inter-American. Likewise, the Australasian Division held that
year what was nearly a Division Camporeea Combined Union event at
Brisbane River, Australia that had 4,000 participants and was the largest
such event outside of North America for over a decade. The organizer behind that one was a man who 3 years later would become the 5th in the line
of World Pathfinder DirectorsMalcolm Allen.
It was in 1985 that North American youth leaders were authorized to try
their hand at these kinds of events. Camp Hale, Colorado brings fun memories to most all participants except perhaps Les Pitton, the Division youth
director, and his team of organizers. The logistics to pull that event off were
incredible headaches compounded by those caused just by the altitude of
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T H E AY S T O R Y
the camporee site itself. Budgeting went out the window mostly because no
one had ever tried anything similar before. But if one would ask any of the
thousands of kids and adult staff who attended, it was certainly a resounding
success. This event not only caught on quickly, but after more tries by Ron
Stretter and Ron Whitehead it became kind of the premier such event in the
world of Youth Ministry once every 5 years drawing over 30,000 attendees
from around the world and staffed by a thousand volunteers who willingly
pay their own way and all expenses just to see the incredible positive impact
on the lives of the Pathfinder Club members.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Youth Camps in 1976, many special
events were realized at camps around the world. And to speak of risk-taking, just one example: A hardy club of
nearly thirty would-be Master Guides
in Lima, Peru, set up a camp at Ticlloover 4,850 meters elevation (over
16,150 ft.) making it the highest youth
camp in the world. From nature they
focused on the plant life and bird life
of those elevations, for spiritual growth
they restudied the last chapters of the
Great Controversy and how their lives
might be impacted trying to survive at
those elevations.
Modified Youth Congresses under new evangelistic creativityFestivals
of Faithwere celebrated first in the Inter-American Division (Panama,
1977) then North America (1978), and then Europe and the Philippines
(1979). In 1986 the first Pan-African Youth Congress was held in Nairobi,
Kenya with 1,500 delegates attending from 34 countries. This congress was
a sampling of the new formats to be seen at these major events with its programming full of community outreach and specialized training seminars on a
multitude of church leadership-related topics which provided youth with the
tools to actually manage local church life in all of its departments.
During the mid-1970s the church shifted its direction in regards to its
public image. Up to that time, most of its schools, hospitals and other institutions that were quite in the public eye, did not carry the name of the
church as part of its name. Rather there was often a small sub titling that
said something to the effect of owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. During this time, it was felt that the church had obtained
73
a degree of respectability; we had come of age, and were no longer viewed by

most as a sect. Therefore names began to change to reflect a more visible
and socially involved church. Colleges added the word Adventist to their
name, many hospitals and other institutions also incorporated the church
name. The youth of the church had since their early years been known as
Missionary Volunteers. When confronted in public, the question was always
asked so whats that? The political world was also changing during this
time; the colonial empires were dissolving as former colonies either won or
were given their independence. These new nations sought to disassociate
themselves from all that which even sounded colonial. The term missionary carried with it strong colonial overtones due at least in part to attitudes
some missionaries had brought with them. So, in 1979, the General Conference Youth Department chose to join the rest of the churchs trend and
selected the term Adventist Youth and Adventist Junior YouthAY and
AJY to replace the official reference (MV and JMV) to their young people
and any organizations stemming from them. Although the change occurred
quite some time ago now, the old timers still fondly call themselves MVs recalling a time in their past which has now lost its dark times and only remain
in memories as the good old days.
In 1980, halfway through this period, John Hancock, retiredin theory
onlyhe actually went to work with the White Estate to help focus that
entity towards youth. When he did so, Elder Ranzolin became the first nonNorth American to head up the General Conference Youth Department
and Mike Stevenson from South Africa with extensive work in Europe and a
previous stint as an associate in the GC Youth Department was brought back
in as World Pathfinder Director.
For some decades the first four grades at schools had been working with
a youth related curriculum often referred to as pre- JMV and Pre-AJY.
MIKE STEVENSON
4TH WORLD PATHFINDER DIRECTOR
MALCOLM ALLEN
5TH WORLD PATHFINDER DIRECTOR
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T H E AY S T O R Y
75
The class levels offered were the Busy Bee, Sunbeam, Helping Hand, and
Builder. There had been several pilot programs run by different persons, but
most of these seemed to be lacking elements that would spark something
long-lasting until finally the Oregon Conference hit on to a very good combination of concepts during the early to mid 80s. By 1986 when Malcolm
Allen (an Australian) became the World Pathfinder Leader, the Oregon program was beginning to receive wide support across North America. At the
same time, the awards program for this age level that had been developed
earlier in the Euro-Africa Division was noticed and Elder Allen merged the
two and introduced officially for the world the Adventurer Club in 1989.
This club was designed to meet the psychological needs of the 6-9 yearolds by being very much parent-child orientedfamily ties strengthening.
It was/is not just a preliminary step to becoming a Pathfinder (a kind of a
mini-Pathfinder idea). It is a fully independent curriculum with it own
special objectives tuned to the developmental needs of that age group. Only
superficially, by the use of similar type uniform emblems does it resemble in
any way the Pathfinder Club.
From the very beginnings of youth ministry, leadership training has always
played an important role. M. E. Kern had developed training concepts well
before the 1920s. Then Harriet Holt formalized the training through the
development of the Comrade Band. By the 1950s the Master Guide recognized two tracks of leadership training, one specialized in Junior Youth and
one in Senior Youth. By the 1970s the Senior Youth track was given it own
complete life apart from the Master Guide as the Youth Leadership Award.
Yet, more was needed and sought. In some countries national law began
to require some form of continuing education for anyone who worked
with youth be they paid or volunteer. All this brought on the Pathfinder
Leadership Award and Advanced Pathfinder Leadership Award (Pathfinder
Instructor Award in some areas) which were introduced in 1991, not as additional classes, but as two levels of continuing education for Master Guides.
Today, a young person interested in honing his or her leadership skills can
begin through a special Teen training such as the Teen Leadership Training
(TLT) and the Guide class and, four to six years later, emerge at the other
end with skills and experiences that will provide opportunity for a rich and
fascinating life of church leadership.
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T H E AY S T O R Y
AYL
PLA
APLA (PIA)
TIME-LINE PART III

1958
Advanced Classes and Silver Award introduced
1959
Gold Award introduced
1960
First Union Camporee, Pacific Union, Lone Pine, California
1961
1st Bible Conference for Senior Youth

M. E. Kern dies December 22
1st Southern European Division Camporee
1962
Pathfinder Field Guide
1970
Leo Ranzolin becomes first non-North American in the

Youth Department and World Pathfinder Director
1971
First Northern European Camporee, Vasterang, Sweden

(todays Trans-European Division)
1972
Second Division Camporee for the Euro-Africa Division,

Villach, Austria
1974
Melvin Gadsby, introduces the Blue Jays in Trinidad

and Tobago (a forerunner of the Adventurers)
First Division Camporee for Southern Asia Division,
Karnataka, India
1975
First Division Camporee for the South Pacific Division

The Happy Path, Lawrence Maxwell
1976
Highest Master Guide Camp in the world, 4,843 meters

at Ticllo, Peru
1977
Festival of Faith, Inter-American Division, Panama
77
1979
1980
MV changed to AY; JMV to AJY; Pre-AJY to Adventurers

Les Pitton becomes first North American Division Youth Director
1983
Adventist Youth Leader class separated from the Master Guide class
First Division Camporee for Inter-America, Oaxtepec, Mexico
1985
1989
1990
First Division Camporee for South America, Iguazu Falls, Brazil

First Division Camporee for North America, Camp Hale, Colorado
Adventurer Program accepted by world church
Finding the Right Path, Jan Doward
SEARCH AND RESCUECRAIG LUECKE
The evening news is interrupted by an announcement of a major disaster

that has just occurred. Federal offices in Oklahoma City, USA; a massive
earthquake in Turkey; a volcanic eruption in the Philipines; a typhoon in
Japan; and the announcement is often followed up immediately by a statement the US government is sending the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue
team. Soon images of the destruction are being broadcast and the rescuers
are on site beginning their often gruesome work of searching for survivors in
all the rubble. We are even given images of what it looks like deep inside the
rubble piles as rescuers crawl and snake their way under extremely dangerous
conditions under piles of unstable concrete hoping to find persons trapped
but alive. It is a desperate rush with high risk in search of unknown lives of
persons who might soon bleed to death, crushed to death, or die of starvation
and dehydration or exposure. The cameras keep trying to tell the story as
best they can, but they dont tell all.
Why the Fairfax County team? This is a team of rescuers who live along
the mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia but are
trained and operate out of headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. They are the
elite among the elite when it comes to search and rescue. The US government has spent millions in their training and equipping and often sends them
out to potential disasters even before anything happens.
Who are they? Well, one of them is Craig Luecke, a young Seventh-day
Adventisthes the one that has a camera mounted onto his helmet and
sends out the images we view of the rubble passages in the deep searches for
victimshes the first to go in looking for survivors. He was a Pathfinder
of the 80s. He was not just any Pathfinder either. He was a member of
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T H E AY S T O R Y
the Spencerville Polar Bears in the Chesapeake Conference and was voted
Pathfinder of the year. He was such a gung-ho kind of Pathfinder that he
also served as a model for the boys uniform in an edition of the Pathfinder
Administrative Manual. He also fell in love with the Basic Rescue Honor. It
opened up a whole new world for Craigthe kind of world where he realized
he could make a positive contribution to society while practicing his religious
beliefs to their maximum. Everyone on his team knows hes a Seventh-day
Adventist. The governments, the victims and the victims families admire
his willingness to risk all in an effort to save persons hes never met, and will
likely never even learn their names. Craig, one of those millions of Adventist youth that led the way into the new Millennium.
The 1980 Team of Youth Leaders working at the General Conference: Standing in
Back: Leo Ranzolin, Charles Martin, Mike Stevenson, Clark Smith, Desmond Hills.
Front: Richard Barron, Les Pitton, James Joiner, and Norm Middag.
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7
TODAYS ADVENTIST
YOUTH MOVEMENT
(1990 - 2000+)
This period of our history might best be divided into two parts: a summary of some key
events and a few observations of trends that may be seen as relevant to youth ministry.
EVENTS:
It is relatively easy to write about the past. Hind
sight is generally 20/20. Major events, trends that
made an impact, people, dates; all are fairly easy to
pin-point. But what will be seen as important from
today? We would like to think that we (those of us at the time of this writing) have made major contributions via important events on special dates
with well-known people in attendance. In 1998, South America held the
first Division-wide Master Guide Camporee in Pucon, Chile, under Jose
Maria da Silva; later the same year, North America held the first Divisionwide Master Guide Convention in Los Angeles, California under Willie
Oliver and Norm Middag. These two events and
other Master Guide events that followed brought
in a new approach to leadership training which
developed a wider uniformity of objectives in
youth leadership roles. At the time of this writing the church has 13 Divisions (6 of them have
over 1,000,000 members each along with youth
ratios running from 60 to 80 %); we have over 100
Unions, and over 520 local conferences, missions,
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80
T H E AY S T O R Y
A SOUVENIR FROM YOUTH OF A CHURCH IN PERU ATTENDING THE YOUTH CONGRESS
or fields. All have their histories but we can only tell those that are communicated to us and even then are limited by time and space.
We hold big Youth Congresses. This period opened with the 3rd South
American Youth Congress that was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This
city was selected due to its being one of the last empty spots on the continent. While there are many Adventists in the city, it is comparatively
empty when matched to the other metropolitan areas of South America; it
is a very secular society. Youth came form all eight countries of the Division and camped in one of the main central park areas of the city and used
the vantage point to witness every day all day all over town. The year 1996
saw the first ever youth congress in the Euro-Asia Division at Kaluga with
1000 delegates participating from all over the former Soviet Union. In
1997 the South Pacific Division held their first Division-wide Congress in
Brisbane that made a special effort to bring the entire Division together
quite a feat when one considers all the islands involved as well as Australia
and New Zealand2000 delegates attended. Also down under we tried
an Olympic Outreach with some 300 young people participating which
was a new form of evangelistic outreach connected to the Sidney Olympic
Games in the year 2000. In 1998 there were two big congresses held, one
in the Philippines on the MT. View College campus with over 10,000 delegates and one in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania with over 7000 in attendance.
Then there were others like the one in Lisbon, Portugal in the year 1999
with 4000 delegates and the theme Two Thousand Reasons to Believe;
and the 7000 delegate Congress in Chile near Santiago for South America
Todays Adventist Youth Movement (1990-2005+)
81
in 2001 where the concept of Super Mission was introduced; the all-Europe event in Wralaw, Poland in 2004 with 3000 delegates from all over
both Divisions of Europe. The Super Mission idea is a community project
based idea that has spread to nearly all congresses in recent years. Delegate numbers seem to be governed only by the size of facility usedhold
a meeting and it will be packed. Youth Leadership Certification Courses
sponsored by the General Conference were held Division-wide in three
Divisions. North America held Division-wide Youth Leadership Conventions every couple years. Nearly all these mega-events also included baptismsoften large baptisms. Most of them also included large numbers
of community outreach and development projects running parallel to the
general programs. Young People did not gather just for fellowship, spiritual inspiration, and rededication, they came together to work. Each and
every event enabled our youth to get out of the normal negative provincialistic thought patterns and realize that they are not alone in
this world, others are also involved, others also have similar obstacles, and others also
have found ways of living and
sharing their faith. This list of
events can go on and we are
not even including the hundreds of youth-related conventions, congresses, and
campmeetings being held
by Unions, National levels,
and local fields. How will all these weigh in when history is far enough down
the road to look back without biased eyes? What is the impact of these events
on the lives of our youth right now? What kinds of changes in lifestyles and
dedication take place? In 10 or 20 years, where will those young people be?
In 1994 the East African Division held its first Division-wide Camporee
with an attendance of 7,000 near the spectacular Victoria Falls, Zambia;
participants attended from as far is Papua New Guinea. This camporee was
held during one of Africas most difficult timesthe genocides of Rwanda
were in full force and the words of the visiting President of Zambia were
significant: You are a living testimony that in diversity lies added strength
and harmony. The theme carefully chosen by then Division Youth Direc-
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T H E AY S T O R Y
tor, Baraka Muganda was We are Family. (The next year, Elder Muganda
would bring that concept to his new role as the World Youth Director.)
The political whirlwinds that surrounded this camporee
have also impacted the church and its youth. But to what
extent? The Mission President in Burundi was quoted as
saying half the church in our country are now Pathfindersbecause the older generation are all dead.
We held the first-ever Pan-African Camporee in Nairobi in 2003 under
the guidance of Eugene Fransch and Jean Pierre Mulumba. The North
American Camporees directed by Ron Whitehead and James Black at
Oshkosh, Wisconsin literally became world events attracting over 30,000
from nearly 100 countries. In January of 2005, South America held its largest Camporee up to this time
(and the largest such event
outside of North America)
at Sta. Helena, Brazil with
22,000 under the guidance
of Division Youth Director,
Erton Kohler and his team.
Considering they had over
165,000 Pathfinders in the
Division, they had to place
very severe restrictions in
S O U T H A M E R I CA N D I V I S I O N C A M P O R E E an effort to limit the numbers to that which the venue could hold. An interesting modification of events
at this camporee was the baptismal event that took place each day as part of
the morning and evening general programs. A number of Divisions now hold
major International Camporees every three to five years; (The new West Africa Division celebrated their first ever such event in Lome, Togo, 2004, under
The 3rd leadership of Pastor Nlo Nlo and with the full support of the governmenta country where until recently total church membership was measured
only in dozens.) Unions hold camporees with attendance numbering as high
as 10,000 or more; local conferences hold camporees ranging from under a
hundred to several thousand every year all around the world. Countries where
the church has had a strong presence for a century, camporees celebrate 50th
Anniversaries; new countries just getting started celebrate 10th Anniversaries
(like Romania and Bulgaria) and even first ever kinds (like Latvia and the
Sahel Union) are celebrated during these years.
83
USHUAIA, TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ARGENTINA

Pathfinders are now found from Hamerfest, Norway to Ushuaia, Argentina; from
St. Helena Island in the South Atlantic to the tiny Atols of the South Pacific; from the
few churches in Hong Kong, China to the hundreds of churches in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
ST. HELENA ISLAND, SOUTH ATLANTIC
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T H E AY S T O R Y
General Conference Sessions, held

once very five years
are no longer just giant gatherings of the
churchs leadership
and selected delegates from around
the world, the youth
have invaded these
events with Impact
activities bringing the
host citys streets to
focus on the convention. Impacts began with the Session in Utrecht, Holland in 1995,
carried over to Toronto, Canada in 2000 and St. Louis, USA in 2005. Several hundred youth paid their own way to attend and blanket the city with
all kinds of special projects like cleanups, street preaching, puppets and
mime, tutoring music, health, caf, drama, homeless outreach, F.L.A.G.
85
(Fun Learning About God) Camps and Vacation Bible School, orphanage
visits, prison visits and much more. While the local impact of these events
served as great publicity for the Session and drew the attention of the general public to our church in unique ways, it also served as a training ground
for youth to replicate the activities back home.
At the General Conference Spring Council in 1997, a document called Youth in
Mission was voted as a renewed vision of Youth Ministry for the church. Out of that
came the slogan Salvation and Service that has permeated all of the departments
activities since. It is a slogan that actually takes us all the way back to the primary
focus of that very first little group in Michigan in 1879. It also led to major
world-wide annual programming focusing on every aspect of evangelism
and youth spiritual development through such multi-media package programs as Heart, Hand, and MindYouth in Missions. As follow-ups to
the mandate of that document, we gathered as Youth Leaders from around
the world in Aguas de Lindoya, Brazil in 2001 for the first ever World
Youth Leadership Convention; we held a World Youth and Community
Service Convention in Bangkok, Thailand 2003, both under the leadership of Baraka Muganda and his team. By the year 2002, the General
Conference Youth Department had launched a web site full of resources
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T H E AY S T O R Y
available free for downloading as well as a web store which helped improve
availability of all supplies around the world. Within a matter of months
the site was receiving many thousands of hits per month as youth and leaders found resources and information useful to them.
Elder Robert Folkenberg, General Conference President, began this period of intensive activity by declaring in his Inaugural speech at the Indianapolis G.C. Session (1990) that the time had come for youth to have
their piece of the pie. Soon many administrative committees saw young
people being voted in as full committee members. Elder Jan Paulsen, the
next President beginning in 1999, continued and enlarged that theme by
introducing in 2004 a series of live TV broadcasts of a Town Hall nature,
and beamed around the world via the churchs satellite broadcast system
dialoguing with youth called Lets Talk and by the end of 2004 had even
turned the concept into an Internet question-and-answer forum where
youth could have direct access to church administration.
Today all these events, all this energy output seems very impressive
we love big things, big numbers; massive administrative processes gives us
adrenalin rushes and we would never want to downplay our efforts. But
decades later, what will be seen as important from this time period?
While there was much to celebrate during these years, there was also a
time to mourn. Two of the founding minds in Pathfindering, Elders Skinner
87
and Hancock were laid to rest. Also, Mike Stevenson, the fourth World
Pathfinder Leader; Jose Figols the Euro-Africa Division Youth Director;
and Kare Lund, known as Mr. Pathfinder in Norway and all over Northern Europe, all met untimely deaths. With these and others of our past
giants passing on, we are reminded that we have nothing to fear for the
future except as we forget our past and how God has led us thus far. And,
life is short, life isnt fair, but God is good.
Elder Jan Paulsen, President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church does

his part during a Romanian Youth Congress event that wrote the entire
Bible in 28 minutes. Thousands of participants had each memorized portions equaling 14 minutes of writing time but a few delegates didnt show
up so others had to write a second portion thus completing the task in the
28 minutes, a first and a record. Later both in Chile and Brazil the record
times were re-set in similar events.
TRENDS:
There are strong currents in Youth Ministry and in the world around us
during these years. Will these currents rise to be the defining elements of
the Adventist Youth Story of these times? Malcolm Allen wrote a small
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T H E AY S T O R Y
book seen by some as a red flag of warning just a year

before he retired from Youth Leadership at the General Conference. It was titled Divine Guidance or
Worldly Pressure? Not many took the time to read
it although at least one Division did translate it into
some of their languages. It was printed in 1995; will
it become, with time, almost a prophetic beacon that
will be considered of importance?
1. Merging with secular organizations: In some
areas of the world, due in part to national laws and in part to a loss of the
original objectives of Pathfindering, this club was merged with the secular
organization known as International Scouts. As early as February, 1928,
Elder M. E. Kern, in an article dated the 16th published in the Review and
Herald, cautioned the churchs youth leadership about connecting with
the Scouts. While they certainly have laudable objectives and activities
that often mirror those of JMVs (Pathfindering), their and our reason for
existence are not the same, therefore even in content that appears similar,
the focus is quite distinct. He closed his article with this plea: The call
of the advent message is away from the world. Shall we, then, permit
our boys and girls, the most susceptible and easily influenced part of our
membership, to unite with and be trained by these organizations outside
the church? Such a step is the less excusable since our Junior Missionary
Volunteer organization provides for an all-round training, spiritual, intellectual, physical, and social. Christs prayer was that although we are in
the world, we not be a part of the world.
2. Next level organizations: Several Divisions
instituted youth clubs geared to segments of the
16-20+ year-olds and by 2005, the General Conference introduced a world-wide third level club to act as an umbrella for
all these and more thus providing an avenue to guide Senior Youth in their
search for answers and place in the church during those critical years.
3. Unity in Diversity: One often hears this catch phrase. A very laudable
thought considering we are over 10 million young people scattered throughout
every nation, kindred, tongue and people. However, the fractionalization of
society too often is reflected in opinions, attitudes, words, and votes causing an
emphasis of actions on the term diversity and little more than lip service to
the word unity. Voting is done following cultural, color, or language blocks.
89
Youth events are at times organized competitively under National flags or

based on particular cultural concepts. There are bright examples of what
unity could indeed be if we all chose to emphasis it, like the Communion
Service held at the Egyptian Youth Congress where youth of Arabic and
Jewish heritage celebrated the ordinances together.
4. Music: has become another
tool used to win some to Christ or
create division in the church. Music is often seen as a strictly cultural
issue. Articles are written stating
that musical notes are nothing in
and of themselves; they are neither
good nor bad. Other articles are
written strongly pushing opposite
views, each determined to push a particular view of the evils of some one
elses music or of the greatness of the music the author prefers. Music
divides youth, local churches, conferences, regions, cultures. Individual
tastes become more important than broader issues particularly as they refer
to that music which is used for worship to God.
5. Organizational structure changes: In 1985 the world church decided
to try an experiment in the management of its infrastructure by consolidating most of its departments under one overall department called Church
Ministries. The effort came out of a building frustration over multiplicity
and overlapping of programs being developed by highly creative personnel
who interacted very little if at all with other departments. The concept
was an effort to streamline internal church ministry. It succeeded in a few
places. However, the overall effect was not one of providing smoother more
efficient service to the church but one of eliminating much of the food a
church member had available and therefore stifling his abilities to grow and
function as an effective church member. It was seen by most as a great opportunity to cut expenses only, at whatever costs. The youth suffered the
most with career-tract youth ministry becoming almost non-existent.
6. Restricted funding and emphasis: Youth Ministry is often a step-child
in local fields, a department tacked on to the assignments of a person who
already has several other assignments. Persons are assigned this leadership
role for reasons other than youth mentoring skills; therefore there is also a
very high rate of turn-over inhibiting any continuity or skill development.
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T H E AY S T O R Y
Prior to 1985, the Youth Department at the General Conference level had
as many as 28 staff at times. When it was reorganized in 1995, restricted
budgeting allowed for a staff of 6 with yet similar expectations.
7. Emulating other entities: During this same time, the Protestant
world saw a surge in youth ministry brought about through the development of a generic Christianity approach to youth ministry via such entities
as Youth Specialties and Group Magazine. Adventist youth leaders with
little background and with dwindling or vanished resources to guide them
began turning to these fountains to get their water. Success encourages
copying and absorbing. However, as one church leader pointed out if doctrine fades, supplanted by experience, alone or primarily, the end product
is generic, and not necessarily Christian. One of these entities published
an article looking into a near future that saw youth ministry as the catalyst
for ecumenism because youth leaders are not tied to their denominational
pay-checks and sooner or later wed all be either Catholic or Orthodox
anyway. This clearly flies in direct opposition to our church position.
RESOURCES FOR ADVENTIST YOUTH LEADERS PUBLISHED BY

THE GENRAL CONFERENCE YOUTH DEPARTMENT
8. Virtues vs. personality ethics: Tom Osborne, former university

football coach with the Nebraska Huskers wrote a book titled On Solid
Ground focusing on the difficult decisions that coaches (and by extension,
all youth leaders)have to make at times. He points out an interesting trend
in books that have been written dealing with the subject of success. A re-
91
view of 200 years-worth of books was done some while ago. The first 150
years of printed materials defined success within such virtues as integrity,
humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty and the golden rule. The more recent 50 years saw a trend
change away from these lofty virtues to what might be called a personality
ethic. Materials have focused more on public image, positive mental attitude, or even methods of deception. In other words, the shift was from
issues of character to issues of personality and appearance. One wonders
how this shift might impact on our youth ministry.
9. Media: The fascination with the media industry (movies, videos,
DVDs, CDs, cassettes, radio or whatever else may be produced by the
time this is being read) is another contributing influence on the youth
of today. Its influence is greatly expanded by the fact that youth leaders
today readily use it in all its forms in youth ministry in spite of the fact that
even secular newspaper columnists refer to the industry by the use of terms
for fecal material because, as they put it, those involved in its production
areterms used for the same substance. Much time and money are spent
by the youth of today on these to receive their influence. Is the term GIGO (garbage in- garbage out) valid?
10. Theory vs. practice: the development of a cultural phenomenon
that some call the knowing-doing gap seems to be growing within certain
circles particularly in Western society. Another term for this recent development is the cult of knowledge management. In industry, it is seen in
the form of immense effort and funding expended on consultants advising
procedures from an intellectual point of reference but never actually implementing anything
even the so-called expert consultants never
have actually put anything they say into practice. People get paid
more for talking about
things than they do actually doing them. Everybody wants to build
an organization that
learns and works yet no
one actually wants to
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T H E AY S T O R Y
learn or work. Companies confuse talking with doing and assume planning is the same as doing; giving presentations is the same as doing; making and voting a decision to do something is the same as doing it. In reality
enlightened trial and error outperforms the planning of the flawless intellects. In religion, we can make the application in that theology does not
become biography. You know: walk the talk. mentoring.
11. High Tech: One last area of thought: technology. There are those
who would have us believe that technology is an invention of the devil.
Yet it is impossible to imagine the incredibly high tech systems God must
have at His disposal. All technology out there from early radio to todays
Internet has been, is, and can be used in positive ways to further the Gospel commissionour primary assignment here on earth in this time. But
as in the case of every good thing, Satan can and has usurped its use to further his cause as well. Technology is supposed to be here to facilitate mans
life, not take over the control of his life. It is supposed to play a secondary
role in support of primary roles. It is never to become an end in itself. Yet,
it seems that such is exactly what is happening. Gods primary means of
reaching into our hearts and minds has been through His act of creation.
Romans chapter one tells us that all that we can learn of God and His
character are to found in the natural world around us. Yet, for too long we
have chosen to ignore most of that world He created for us and now with
the advancement of technology, we are further isolating ourselves from
His designs. It is fast reaching the point that if a person does not have a
working knowledge of high tech; he is left as a discard along the highway
of life. Particularly the youth are being impacted by this new approach to
life to the extent that it has reached the point that some kids are no longer
interested even in summer camps because there wont be any computer
games there. Guiding statements in Ellen Whites writings such as If the
frivolous and pleasure-seeking will allow their minds to dwell upon the real
and true, the heart cannot but be filled with reverence, and they will adore
the God of nature. The contemplations and study of Gods character as
revealed in His created works will open a field of thought that will draw the
mind away from low, debasing, enervating amusements (4T 581) should
still have validity.
Todays youth are certainly not a group to be generalized about. They
are too many, in too many countries, with too many individual characteristics, visions, and energies to try and lump them all together. Todays youth
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I A D Y O U T H S A T E L L I T E E VA N G E L I S M T E A M
are involved in service like never in the history of the church. Youth raise
more money for worthy projects, put more time in total committed service
in difficult corners of the earth, reach out to more other young and old,
memorize more of their Bibles, and are true as the needle is to the pole
the likes of which has not been seen in recorded history. In spite of all the
currents pulling them in all directions, there are those youth who know
clearly where they stand, they have seen Gods guiding hand in their lives,
and they understand their mission on this earth and long for the final days
and Christs return. We could easily fill volumes with their storiesif we
could get some one to give them to us. While they are true heroes for God,
they view themselves as totally ordinary persons only doing what comes
naturallywhat God expects of them. They do not see that their story is
worthy of any notice and are reluctant to share in a published manner that
which they feel is common and a part of all who fear and love their Lord.
Even the stories weve included in this book were obtained with reluctance
on the part of the individuals sharing.
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T H E AY S T O R Y
TIME-LINE PART IV
1993
1994
Special Youth Edition of Steps to Christ published

First East African Division Camporee, Victoria Falls,
Zambia
1995
First Youth Impact Evangelism, GC Session, Utrecht

Baraka Muganda becomes the first
non-Caucasian World Youth Director
First Euro-Asia Division Youth Congress
First Division Master Guide CamporeeSAD,
Pucon, Chile
World Youth Leadership Advisory, Brazil
First Pan-African Camporee, Nairobi, Kenya
1996
1998
2001
2003
World Youth and Community Service

2004
2005
Convention, Thailand
First West African Division Camporee, Lome, Togo
Third South American Division Camporee,
Sta. Helena, Brazil
to be continued...see: youth.gc.adventist.org and click history
AN AWESOME MEMORY
A GIFT FROM GODMARTHA
Our Church History books like to point out that our pioneers were very
well versed in the Bible. Many could recite from memory large portions
of Scripture and among them J. N. Andrews likely was champion having
memorized the entire New Testament.
Down through the decades of our church we have been known as the
people of the Book. In general we know our Bibles better than any other
body of Christian believers. We encourage our children to memorize daily
95
devotional texts and weekly Sabbath School memory verses. Our Adventurer and Pathfinder Clubs include in their curriculums the memorization
of key Bible texts. Yet in all this milieu of Biblical knowledge and heritage,
one little girl stands out.
Martha first came to the attention of
the world church when she was but 15
years olda Pathfinder in Malawi. From
a very early age she took all this Bible
memory work seriously. At a Malawi
Union Pathfinder Camporee which was
attended by Division and General Conference Youth Department personnel,
Martha Yeseya was asked to challenge
the several thousand campers in a most
dramatic manner. She provided the Sabbath afternoon program in a very simple
straightforward format. She simply stood
in front of the entire Camporee crowd
and was bombarded with requests for
M A R T H A Y E S E YA
various Bible chapters which she recited
from memory. For well onto an hour or so, Pathfinders called out various
chapters of the Bible and she responded from memory. To add interest,
where there was dialogue in a chapter (i.e. God speaking to Moses) then
her voice would change inflection to match the different persons speaking
in the chapter. After the program finally came to an end with due amazement of all attendees, she was interviewed about her God given gift. Have
you memorized the entire Bible? she was asked. Her response was a very
shy well, no, I was just lucky no one asked a chapter I didnt know. And
what percent of the Bible do you not yet know? I dont know, I never
thought of it that way. Well, how many chapters of the Bible have you
not yet learned? Oh, I think maybe 10 or 12. My little sister is catching
up with me though. Only a dozen chapters scattered among the 66 books
of the Bible left to have memorized the entire Book and only 15 years old!
Martha, a shy teenage instrument in the hands of God.
THE 1995 NEW GC YOUTH TEAM: MALCOLM ALLEN, RICHARD BARRON, BARAKA MUGANDA, DAVID WONG
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T H E AY S T O R Y
8
F O U N DAT I O N S T O N E S F O R
FUTURE YOUTH MINISTRY
(New Millennial AY)
By Baraka G. Muganda (World Youth Director,
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists)
As we look ahead to the future, my vision for Seventh-day Adventist

youth ministry is challenging and yet very promising We have nothing to
fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and
His teaching in our past [youth ministry] history. Testimonies to Ministers
by Ellen G White, page 31. Youth Ministry can be a huge blessing to the
church and society, a catalyst for change, and a refuge fortress for young
people who are looking for some help other than the dying world. The challenges demand a degree of openness and risk taking not seen in the church
for years.
Looking into the future of Seventh-day Adventist youth ministry we need
to be inspired by the past to shape a stronger future ministry for our youth.
The Same vision that inspired Harry Fenner (17) and Luther Warren (14)
in 1879 must continue to guide youth ministry in the future. Our challenge
now, is to build on what these pioneers started to meet the needs of todays
and tomorrows generations. The approaches may be different but Biblical
principles should never be compromised, and the main reasons for having
youth ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church must always remain
the same.
Youth Ministry today in some quarters of the church face a great shake
up. Some churches have questioned the need and purpose for youth ministry. Some churches have completely done away with it or made some radical
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T H E AY S T O R Y
changes to accommodate the few youth who do not like to be challenged.

Churches have turned youth ministry into a program to baby sit youth in the
church. But it should be remembered that the future belongs to our youth.
It is time for the elderly to step aside, with our deepest gratitude and thanks.
We must keep on asking ourselves, how might our youth organize for the
future while handing on the best of the past?
IMPORTANCE OF YOUTH MINISTRY
If the church believes in its youth, and that they are the church today
and tomorrow, then a top priority in how we lead Senior Youth, Pathfinder and
Adventurer ministries must be seen. We must walk the talk. Youth Directors
should be given only one assignment of taking care of youth. Youth Leaders
at all level will need to be given maximum support from administrators. The
Youth Department should not be an appendix to other assignments. Professional youth leaders must be provided to serve as spiritual youth leaders.
INCARNATIONAL MINISTRY
As we face the future, young people will be fully secularized, personal

experiences will be their sole measure of reality. They will all have little sense
of whats holy, but its absence will drive them toward whats spiritual.
Foundation Stones for Future Youth Ministry
99
Adventist Youth Ministers who successfully reach these kids will be trustworthy and accepting. And they must prove these graces in concrete, everyday experiences. Communicating the gospel will mean risking oneself
ones dignity and ones comfort. You will have to let go of some familiar faith
symbols and traditions and use youth symbols, issues, challenges and schedules to reach them. But in the midst of it, Jesus Christ his story, his life, his
work must continue as your ministrys focal point. Salvation and Service
will continue to be the motivating force in Youth Ministry! No compromise.
RELATIONAL MINISTRY
Young people will live in a world which does not trust any relationship.
Most of the youth will be psychological orphans. In their short life they
would have seen their parents divorce and living with single parents. These
will, need caring, listening, stable people and communities to help ease their
adoption into Gods family.
Youth Alive (Youth to Youth) ministry will be the most important vehicle
that helps youth stick with the church as they mature. Youth who model
positive values, attitudes and behaviors will create a counter-culture community for their spiritually hungry peers.
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T H E AY S T O R Y
Meanwhile adult faith-mentors will be more important than ever. When

youth go to a youth group, they must receive significant contact with adults.
Every church will need to appoint mentors for young people growing up in a
world of no guidance. Youth Ministry will be the father and mother of these
youth.
MUSIC MINISTRY
The church will continue to face the issue of music in the local churches
especially among young people, with the introduction of none-traditional
Seventh-day Adventist music within the church. The only way the church
can help its youth discriminate between good Christian music and destructive music is to be informed. This is how the church will help them learn
how to think about what they listen to to evaluate it against the values
they cling to as Seventh-day Adventists.
The church will need to give youth the chance to use contemporary
Christian music to share their faith with their peers but will need guidance
from the church as a whole. In all programs and events the traditional hymnals and contemporary songs should have a place in worship. Youth will need
to be reminded where the church has been, and how the Lord has led us,
and where the church is now. Youth Ministry will need to help youth appreciate the breadth of church music and to avoid the limitations provided by
some contemporary chorus styles. Youth Leaders themselves will need to be
knowledgeable in good Adventist music. Principle guidelines that have been
deliberated on and voted on by the church must always be referred to.
YOUTH AND FAMILY MINISTRY
Families in the future will still be critical to our youths psychological,

social, moral and spiritual development. And since facilities will be more exhausted, overextended and fragmented than they are today, successful youth
workers will have to draw families under their ministry umbrellas.
For some young people, friendly congregations will be the only real family or intergenerational community they will ever know. Caring adult
church members and peers can become surrogate grandparents, parents,
uncles, aunts, cousins, sisters and brothers.
Though difficult, one of the most important tasks in ministering to Seventh-day Adventist youth will be equipping their parents for parenting. Nothing will shape the faith and attitudes of young people more than their parents
self-esteem, parenting styles, moral stances and faith. Youth ministries can
101
offer events and programs that strengthen family well-being, marriage relationships, family communication, discipline, faith-sharing and moral values.
YO U T H - L E D S E RV I C E I N
RUSSIA
YOUTH-FRIENDLY CHURCHES
Churches will need to be youth-friendly. Youth will either experience

life in a churchs worship and mission or, as one teenager I know put it, do
that which doesnt matter, using language and activities we dont understand. Youth-friendly churches will have a conspicuous youth presence.
Young people will both lead and participate in worship, using their music and
their symbols and addressing their concerns. They will get involved in intergenerational Bible Studies, life-issue seminars and community events.
Youth-friendly congregations will value young people. They will listen
to them and support them with prayers, time, facilities and money. These
congregations will respond to youths needs and see them as a critical
component in the body of Christ.
DISCIPLESHIP
This word has become an icon in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And in the future it will be more and more used than ever before. Unchurched, secularized young people will need youth ministries that focus on
the basics of the Christian faith and the fundamentals of leadership.
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T H E AY S T O R Y
Young men and women will be seekers. And the gospel message will be
foreign and intriguing. So small group Bible studies, life-support groups, issues research or skills training seminars, outreach activities and public advocacy will give kids the chance to care for one another, mature in their faith
and prepare for leadership. Youth emphasis must underscore the importance
of developing youth in the image of Jesus Christ. A Christ-like character
must be the focus of discipleship. Youth should not only know about God
but experience Him in their daily walk. This must be a balanced combinationexperience and knowledge.
ADRA
SERVICE
B O X E S B E I N G PA C K E D B Y A Y O U T H G R O U P
Many young people will desire to participate in service oriented programs

within their communities or even beyond. More and more youth will find
joy in serving others. Youth Ministry at the local church will need to make
Service one of its top priorities. Salvation and Service go hand in hand. In
the future a youth ministry without this component to augment the component of Salvation will be seen as a ministry not for the youth. Youth will be
challenged to take part in service events, some will set aside time to teach
103
their friends basic life skills while telling them about Jesus Christ. The
future will witness the deep satisfaction of serving others filling up empty
places in the hearts of youth. Youth Ministry will become more and more
community based.
DIGITAL AGE
The pace of technology will continue to move very fast in future. Mobile
phones, PDA, e-mail, web, wireless gadgets, iPods, mp3s and digital cameras
are just some of the tools that youth leaders will have to be aware of. Despite
the technology advancements of our world, young people will always need
relationships. This is crucial and may be enabled by technology but will
never replace face to face connection with another human being.
But as youth leaders for the future, we need to be aware of the changes
and embrace them in a meaningful and positive way. The future will certainly be fast and visual and media will be extremely accessible to everyone,
so leaders better start thinking about how they can engage effectively with
it. High technology will occupy a great part in Youth Ministry. Young people
naturally engage with visuality, this is their time, their culture and the present and near future is and will be very visual. Youth Leaders will need to
spend time with high tech to get acquainted with todays ever changing gadgets in this area. A youth leader without a clue in high tech will be lost in
working with young people. High tech will be the future language for youth
within and without the church.
CULTURAL TRENDS
The church will be called to minister to youth with an awareness of cultural trends and their effect on youth. The driving forces in our society
will look much like they do today, only magnified. We will live in a secular,
materialistic, relativistic and self-absorbed culture. Adventism as we know it
will be an alien world to them, and they wont know much about the Bibles
story or message. Our denominational history and the place of the Spirit of
Prophecy within the Seventh-day Adventist church will need to be given
ample emphasis in Youth Ministry.
Life will grow even more complex, fast paced, desperate and violent. Because of this, the transition from childhood to adulthood will be longer, more
treacherous and full of risk. The church is under attack and the only way
we can confront that is by way of building a strong youth ministry to face
the cultural trends that will threaten to destroy the church. Seventh day
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T H E AY S T O R Y
Adventist Youth Ministry must be the vehicle to assist the church to produce
strong Adventists with a strong Biblical foundation.
If you dont give youth a road map to help them find their way in life,
someone else will. And there is a good chance that someone else, will not
lead youth in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6).
MOLDING VS. ENTERTAINING
With the fear of losing the youth of the church, some churches will be
tempted to introduce into the Youth Ministry entertaining approaches to
hold youth in the church and not to rock the boat too much. This fear
will create dangerous inroads into the Youth Ministry that this church has
enjoyed in the last 100 years. In the future Youth Ministry must not be seen
as an entertaining ministry or baby sitting. Youth Ministry in the future
should continue to challenge youth to be like Jesus. Molding the character
of young people into the image of Jesus must be the key reason of having an
Adventurer Club, Pathfinder Club, Senior Youth or Young Adult programs
in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. To achieve this objective, dedicated
and Bible based youth leaders and youth ministers will be needed to lead
the way, who will keep the focus of youth ministry on recreating the image
of God in Seventh-day Adventist Youth. Youth will need to be challenged
continuously to love God and be like Him.
REAFFIRMATION
105
Youth Ministry in the future will continue to reaffirm the basic reasons
why Youth Ministry was founded in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
saving youth and involving them in the mission of the church. Every church
youth ministry program must be a refuge place for saving our youth and challenge them to participate in the mission of the church. The church must
create opportunities for the youth in which they can share the love of God
to the dying world. The mission of proclaiming the third angels message to
every kindred, tongue, and people, must be given much emphasis.
We have taken a short glimpse of our past. We have opened our present
for assessment by the future. We have tried to see ahead through the fog of
finite eyes. What will Jesus find when He comes? The Lord has appointed
the youth to be His helping hand. T 7 64
With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon coming Saviour
might be carried to the whole world! How soon might the end come.the
end of suffering and sorrow and sin! How soon, in place of a possession
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T H E AY S T O R Y
here, with its blight of sin and pain, our children might receive their inheritance where the righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever;
where the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick, and the voice of weeping
shall be no more heard. MYP 196
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to
those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will
come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save
you. Isa. 35:3, 4
S O U T H A M E R I C A N Y O U T H D I R E C T O R S AT I G U A U F A L L S
WITH ELDER MUGANDA
108
APPENDIX I
A . W. P E T E R S O N
L. RANZOLIN and
J. H. HANCOCK
M. E. KERN
H . T. E L L I O T
E. W. DUNBAR
T. L U C A S
B. G. MUGANDA
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX I
WORLD YOUTH DIRECTORS
1907-1930
1930-1934
1934-1946
1946-1955
1955-1970
1970-1980
1980-1985
1985-1995
1995-
Milton E. Kern
Henry T. Elliot
Alfred W. Peterson
Eldine W. Dunbar
Theodore Lucas
John H. Hancock
Leo Ranzolin
Church Ministries Super Department
Baraka G. Muganda
ASSOCIATES
1924-1927
1924-1930
1931-1943
1943-1946
1943-1946
1946-1955
1954-1962
1958-1982
1960-1966
1963-1974
1967-1976
1968-1970
1971-1975
1975-1982
1975-1986
1980-1985
1980-1985
1986-1989
1986-1993
1990-1998
1993-1997
1998-2005
Meade MacGuire
Henry T. Elliot
D. A. Ochs
Denton E. Rebok
Eldine W. Dunbar
Theodore Lucas
E. L. Minchin
Clark Smith
J. R. Nelson
Lawrence M. Nelson
Charles D. Martin
Paul DeBooy
Michael H. Stevenson, Sr.
Desmond B. Hills
Richard E. Barron
James Harris
Les Pitton (1985- 1st NAD Youth Director)
Israel Leito
Richard E. Barron
David Wong
Alfredo Garcia-Marenko
109
110
APPENDIX I
WORLD JUNIOR YOUTH/PATHFINDER DIRECTORS

1920-1928
1928-1946
1947-1963
1963-1970
1970-1980
1980-1986
1986-1996
1997-2005
Harriet Holt
C. Lester Bond
Laurence A. Skinner
John H. Hancock
Leo Ranzolin
Malcolm A. Allen
Robert W. Holbrook
ASSISTANTS
1951-1954
1954-1957
1957-1969
1957-1961
1961-1969
1969-1972
1970-1980
1972-1975
1975-1985
1980-1985
Rodney Finney
Kenneth J. Holland
Mildred Lee Johnson
Donald Yost
Lowell Litton
James Joiner
Jan Doward
Donald John
James Joiner
Norm Middag (1985- 1st NAD Pathfinder Director)
SECRETARIES*
1907-1924
1917-1930
1924-1926
1926-1927
1928-1936
1936-1950
1946-1948
1946-1948
1947-1966
1947
1947
1949-1956
1949-1950
1949
1950-1951
Matilda Erickson Andross (18 yrs)

Ella Iden-Edwards
Uthai Wilcox
J. F. Simon
Emma Howell
Marjorie Marsh (15 yrs)
Jewell Hatcher
Jane Kerr
June Vogt (20 yrs)
Grace Coil
Mable Mulholland
Corinne Wilkinson Russ
Villa Houghton
La Verne Maynard
Alberta Stone
APPENDIX I
1950-1956
1956
1950-1952
1951-1957
1952-1956
1956-1957
1956-1961
1957-1960
1958-1964
1958-1959
1958-1960
1958-1980
1958-1959
1960-1966
1960
1960-1963
1961-1965
1962-1965
1963-1999
1964-1975
1965-1966
1967-1968
1967-1976
1967-1969
1967-1968
1967
1967-1972
1968-1970
19681968
1970-1974
1970
1971-1973
1970-1973
1971-1973
1971-1973
1973-1981
1974-1979
1975-1978
Carol Russ
Arlene Sweeney
Esther Hare
Mildred Lee Johnson (19 yrs**)
Phyllis Ball Clendaniel (17 yrs)
Ingrid Beaulieu
Esther Hare
Maurice Godwin
Peggy Stahl
Joan Jones
Shirley Reading
Frieda White (23 yrs)
Violet Wilcox
Ruby Phalen (11 yrs)
Betty Cooney
Veda Doyle (Bottomley)
Diane Karshneski
Daphene Reeder
Betty Brooks (37 yrs)
Phyllis Ball Clendaniel (17 yrs)
Judy Olson
Judy Reed
Celia Cleveland (10 yrs)
Alice Hansen
Vesta Geli
Rosemary Bradley
Sue Jensma
Pat Wendell (Clements)
Linda Greeley
Laurice Armstrong
Beverly Rumble
Ilene Clanton
Susan Pettibone
Shirley Welch (Mulkern)
Elizabeth Varga
Meredith Torres
Louise Corbin (Morrow)
Diane Medlock (Musten)
Violet Wilcox
111
112
1975-1984
1975-1976
1977
1977-1978
1974-1980
1973-1974
1977-1978
1977-1979
1979-1981
1979-1982
19801980-1991
1981-1985
1981
1979-1983
1981-1985
1983-1984
1983
1983-1987
1990-1993
1984-1985
1984-1988
1986-1989
1988-1992
1991
1991-1995
1993-1998
1996-1999
1998-1999
1999-2000
1999-2000
1999-2003
200020022003-2004
2004-
APPENDIX I
Sylvia Dennis (10 yrs)

Julie Lantry (Masterson)
Leanne Garrison
Kathleen Ojala
Naomi Perez (Vega)
Barbara Stevens
Connie Saxton (Hovanic)
Rosellen Kimbrough
Rachel Child
Loleta Thomas
Elsie Russell (Retired 1996 but continues part-time) (17 + yrs)
Clarice Antor (Everest) (12 yrs)
Ruby Phalen (11 yrs)
Eldine Fredrick
Pearly David
Lillian Elliot
Ann Newton Stavenhagen
Ruth Strassburg (Stavenhagen)
Sheila Matthews
Faith Bosley
Rachel Child
Wanda Tate
Eldine Fredrick
Shirley Moyer
Dolores Allen
Leona Ganson
Lois Covarrubias
Regina Hayden
Norma Nashad
April Williams
Alicia Valencia
Ludi Leito
Maria Dunchie
Lulleither Massiah
Juli Blood (continues on part-time contract)
Silvia Sicalo
*The years in the Department listed include partial years; some information is based on
memories and incomplete records; and there may be further adjustments as more accurate
information comes to our attention.
** Includes years as an Assistant Director.
APPENDIX I
L AT V I A N P AT H F I N D E R S
AT T E N D I N G T H E I R F I R S T E V E R
YOUTH
AT T H E
CAMPOREE
IN
N O RWAY , 1998
C A R R I B E A N Y O U T H C O N G R E S S , 2003
113
114
A P P E N D I X II
APPENDIX II
115
APPENDIX II
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST OF ADVENTIST YOUTH SOCIETIES

AND CURRENT TRENDS IN ADVENTIST YOUTH MINISTRY
(from a paper presented by Cindy Tutch at Andrews University)
Although nearly every facet of youth ministry todayPathfinders, shortterm mission trips, youth camps, youth and young adult retreats, youth
campmeeting programming, could be said to have evolved in some way from
Warren and Fenners dream in 1879, there are differences between the beginnings of Adventist youth organizations and youth ministries today.
In the early years of Adventism, youth work was often initiated by youth
for the purpose of sharing Christ with their friends, first in their own communities and then extending to the world. The Societies emphasis on personal
revival combined with regular missionary activity buoyed the members, providing a strong sense of purpose, structure, and community.
Todays youth programming and ministries are usually adult-initiated and
administered. Although there is still an underlying aim of evangelism, that
focus is usually centered on evangelizing the youth of the church, rather
than for the conversion of non-Adventist youth. In addition, the methodology for achieving the salvation of Adventist youth is more entertainmentoriented than it is organizing with the purpose of providing opportunities for
youth to do sustained, systematic evangelism.
Youth Societies in early Adventism sprang up as youth-initiated and
youth- managed organizations in response to Christs clear mandate to evangelize the world. (Matthew 28:19-20) Although the response to the call to
witness and save souls was strengthened, perhaps even awakened, by adults
in Adventist congregations who shared this passion for the lost and by Ellen
Whites messages on youth organization, early Adventist Youth Societies
were largely the outgrowth of youth commitment.
116
A P P E N D I X II
Toward the end of the period surveyed, adults took over the management
of Youth Societies. Although every organization goes through periods of
growth that includes some degree of institutionalization, this growth need
not stifle the initial purpose for the organization if some plan is kept in place
whereby the original purpose and vision is not obscured by bureaucracy or
programming that is not contributive to the founding purpose. In the case
of Adventist Youth Societies, the vision of reaching the world for Christ appears to have remained intact throughout the period surveyed.
Central organization of youth work could have produced lasting benefits,
including reducing the disparity between youth groups, by providing a structure, educating and training youth and their leaders for evangelism, providing relevant and practical resources, and keeping youth groups aware of the
soul-winning activities carried out in many areas.
Unfortunately, however, personal proclamation and verbal witness have
been in serious decline in evangelical churches influenced by a post-modern
culture. Adventist youth ministries may now be in danger of not only a loss
of mission but a distortion, even reversal, of the original purpose for the establishment of youth groups.11
In 2002, with occasional exceptions in the Hispanic and African American culture, there are no Youth Societies, no Missionary Volunteer Societies,
and even Adventist Youth Societies are largely defunct. With the exception
of student literature evangelism programs, on-going, non-anecdotal, systematic organization of youth, for the purpose of working for the lost, is largely
missing from Adventist youth ministries. Though there is some evidence of
informal small Bible study groups within the Adventist youth culture, much
of todays youth ministry focuses on youth rallies, camporees, retreats, forums and campmeeting programming featuring dynamic preaching, drama,
and culturally relevant gospel music, with little or no emphasis on organizing
and training for soul-winning.
For a long time, some leaders and analysts within Methodism have regretted the unfortunate tradeoffs experienced when Methodism went a
whoring after the respectability of the Presbyterians and Episcopalians and
shifted its accent from lay ministry to professional ministry.12
Although the transfer of youth ministry from youth to professionals may
have affected the paradigm shift from evangelism to entertainment, that
shift may not have been inevitable. Youth professionals could successfully
repristinate evangelism in youth ministry if they again see themselves as
APPENDIX II
117
coaches and mentors, training youth for actual soul- winning, rather than
seeing themselves as primarily programmers of inward focused ministry. It
seems evident from this study of youth groups in early Adventism that todays Adventist adolescents need more than entertainment or fast- moving
programming to anchor them to Christ and to His church body.
The problem with most Christian young people is that they have no
game. We keep giving them all the things they need to do as Christians: read
the Bible, have devotions, study, pray, do Gods will, do the right thing; but
they have no reasons to do all that. Theres no game to use it in. They need
a mission. . .13
The reason todays young people do not appear to have the same appetite
for evangelism as evidenced by the members of early Youth Societies may
be that theyre getting little exercise in evangelism. Adventist youth in the
21st century, particularly in western culture, are often spiritual couch potatoes--over-entertained and under-challenged, bored, apathetic if not overtly
rebellious--and filled with spiritual junk food. To appreciate the meat of the
Word and the beauty of a living relationship with Christ, they must once
again organize and seek training in order to experience the rejuvenating reality of evangelism.
It is yet possible that this generation of youth will re-capture the vision of
early Adventist youth societies and become that segment of laity who model,
lead, and inspire the church at large to re-engage in evangelism.
118
A P P E N D I X III
APPENDIX III
119
APPENDIX III
Footnotes to Chapter 1:
Warren, Luther. Our First Young Peoples Society,Youths Instructor,
24 April 1917, 4.
1
Youngberg, John B. A Second Look at the Beginnings of the SDA Youth
Movement, Review and Herald, 19 August, 1976, 4,5.
1
1
____________, Youth Ministry Accent, 2nd Quarter, 2001, 5.

MacGuire, Meade. Early Experiences in Young Peoples Work, Youths Instructor,
24 April, 1917, 4.
3
MacGuire, Meade. Early Experiences in Young Peoples Work, Youths Instructor,
24 April, 1917, 4.
3
General Conference Bulletin, 29,30, January, 1893, 24.
4
Erickson, Matilda. Missionary Volunteers and Their Work, Washington DC:
Review and Herald,. 13, 55.
5
Ibid., 13,14.
4
Erickson,. 13.
6
Ibid. 14
6
Ibid., 14.
5
Ibid. 14.
7
From the Work in Ohio, Youths Instructor, 14 April, 1899.
8
Erickson, 15.
9
Erickson, 55.
10
Erickson, 15.
11
Erickson, 16.
12
Erickson, 68.
13
General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 332.
14
General Conference Committee Bulletin, April, 1901 20.
15
Erickson, 19.
16
A Young Peoples Convention, Youths Instructor, 13 August, 1903.
17
Erickson, 20.
18
Plummer, L Flora. The Young Peoples Work, General Conference Bulletin, 1903, 122.
7
GC Bulletin 1901, 332.
8
GC Conference Bulletin, 1901, 331.
9
Warren, Luther. Our First Young Peoples Society, Youths Instructor, 24 April 1917, 4.
2
1
120
A P P E N D I X IV
III
Erickson, 19,20.
Donald Dayton, Discovering an Evangelical Heritage, Lombard, IL: Henrickson
Publishers, l944, 122.
12
James Logan, ed., Theology and Evangelism in the Wesleyan Heritage,
Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1994, 18.
13
Kevin Ford. Battle for a Generation, Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press,
1998, 112.
10
11
COMMUNITY SERVICE HEALTH PROJECT DURING THE WORLD YOUTH AND

COMMUNITY SERVICE CONVENTION, BANGKOK, THAILAND, 2003.
A P P E N D I X IIV
II
121
APPENDIX IV
Contributors to this updated edition of the Story of Youth Ministry in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church:
GC YOUTH TEAM: L TO R: FRONT ROW: LULLEITHER MASSIAH, SILVIA SICALO, MARIA

DUNCHIE, BACK ROW: ROBERT HOLBROOK, BARAKA MUGANDA, ALFREDO GARCIA-MARENKO.
ARNOLD & DIXIE PLATA

NAD PATHFINDER HISTORIANS
DANA PRIDIE, 1ST ROMANIAN

PATHFIDER CLUB DIRECTOR
CINDY TUTSCH
EGW ESTATE
122
APPENDIX V
Todays Youth in...
BANGLADESH
CHINA
APPENDIX V
FIJI
K E N YA A F R I C A
123
124
APPENDIX V
GERMANYEUROPE
SOUTH AMERICAPERU
APPENDIX V
BEING RECOGNIZED
BAPTIZED
125
126
APPENDIX V
P R AY I N G
CAMPING
APPENDIX V
SINGING
RE-ENACTING
127
128
APPENDIX V
EXPLORING
WORSHIPPING
APPENDIX V
FELLOWSHIPPING
WORKING
129
130
T H E AY S T O R Y
NOTES
O N YO U R L O CA L
AY
H I S T O RY
131
T H E AY S T O R Y
NOTES
O N YO U R L O CA L
AY
H I S T O RY
132
T H E AY S T O R Y
NOTES
O N YO U R L O CA L
AY
H I S T O RY

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What is the overall history of youth ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

What is the overall history of youth ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

How did Pathfinders first start?

How did Pathfinders first start?

THE AY STORY

A BRIEF HISTORY OF YOUTH MINISTRY IN

GENERAL CONFE RE NCE YO UT H

A brief history of Youth Ministry in the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Printed in the United States of America

EGYPT YOUTH CONGRESS

Summary of General Conference Youth Department Personnel ....109

II. Comparison and Contrast of SDA Youth Societies................115

The first story of Seventh-day Adventist youth history,

(Primary contributor to this chapter: Cindy TutchWhite Estate;

a need and sought to solve it in a manner he knew best howpublish. So

Our Beginnings (1800-1900)

youth that these teens initiated Adventisms first youth

Our Beginnings (1800-1900)

devotionals is that they were written by Miss Grace Amadon, a 29 year

Our Beginnings (1800-1900)

A Three Dollar Bill Story J. N. Loughborough

Our Beginnings (1800-1900)

youth ministry, was elected to direct the

The Central Union Morning Watch of 1907

Just as an example of the immediate growth response to all the new

A PRESIDENTW. H. BRANSON 1887-1961

MISSIONARY VOLUNTEERS IN ROMANIA

(Information researched by Dana Pridie and Medana Croitoru,

Young Colporteur Tra i n e e s

THE TOLICI FAMILY AND SOME OF THEIR MADAGASCAR CONVERTS

THE FIRST ROMANIAN YOUTH CONGRESS

As people work along from day to day, attempting to accomplish that

A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)

report a total membership of 24,634,

Number of societies reporting

Mempership in reporting societies

Hours of Community Service

Matilda Erickson wraps up the chapter on this time period by listing

A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)

Elder M. E. Kern put it rather bluntly at the annual council in 1915:

A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)

accounts of the zeal of the youth in their witnessing efforts.

A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)

By the Grace of God,

I will be pure, kind and true.

A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)

summer of 1926. It was directed by the East Michigan Conference Youth

Pictured here is Wawonas summer camp band circa 1954

Services, a Seventh-day Adventist lady by the name of Clare Marie (Hodges)

First Young Peoples Society organized

E. G. White calls for a specialized work for the youth

A Durable Foundation (1915-1928)

Nebraskans organize a Young Peoples Society of

Luther Warren organizes Sunshine Bands in South Dakota

Ohio organizes a youth department for the conference

Youth work is organized in Germany

Youth work is placed under the Sabbath School

A small manual on young peoples work is published

First published summary report of youth work

Australia, Canada, Britain, Hawaii send in first reports