Jan and I are ending our tour of the Holy Land as we have celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary. (Picture was taken outside the wall of the old city of Jerusalem.) Rev. Lee Welkley and Rev. Steve Epting served as our hosts and coordinated the tour for fifteen of us from Maine, Florida, California, Illinois and North Carolina. It has been a wonderful and meaningful time spent with some new friends and long time ones as well. We will be leaving for home 1:00 am on Thursday and should be back in the office Friday afternoon.

KENYA
We recently sent funds to aid in hunger relief and school fees for the orphans in Kenya. They are suffering from a famine in their country. The response & pictures below were received from Simeon Rianga, the A.C. Conference President:

Mission Conference
McAlpin Advent Christian Church will Host mission conference in January.  The Rev. Dr. James and Mrs. (Eleanor) Gustafson will be teaching and preaching at the McAlpin church at both the adult Christian education Classes at 9:45 AM and the morning worship hour at 10:50 AM on January 10 and 17. He will also preach at the 6:00 PM evening service at the Advent Christian Village Church (ACV) in Dowling Park on January 10. Dr. Gustafson began his bi-vocational career as pastor of the West Congregational Church in Haverhill, Massachusetts in the late 1950's and still serves there in various capacities. He earned degrees from Wheaton College and Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Gustafson earned his PhD from Boston University and has taught philosophy at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill since 1968. He has served as adjunct professor at Scott Theological College in Kenya and New Theological Seminary in India in addition to several colleges in Romania. Mrs. Gustafson has written four novels. The latest, called “The Stones”, is about the life of King David. She has done extensive research and will present a book review and signing at the class on January 17. She will also make a presentation at the (ACV) book club on Monday, January 18 at 1:30 PM. The book is available at the Live Oak Public Library and the ACV library. All proceeds from the sale of books are donated to Kerygma, Inc., a non-profit corporation founded by Dr. Gustafson and Pastor Bertolino in support of mission work. Pastor Paul Bertolino stated, "We're very fortunate to have such a wonderfully gifted ministry couple here in Suwannee County. Every session is open to community residents". The McAlpin Advent Church is located at 17214 89th Road. Contact the Pastor for further information at 386-658-1048.

FROM THE WORLD OUTREACH DIRECTOR

I learned a valuable and interesting lesson over the Christmas holidays, one that seems to fit quite well with my understanding of what it means to be a believer.