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Gilbert Talks
September 8, 2018, 3.30 PM-4.30 PM
FreeExplore with Dr Gilbert Valentine the leadership tension framing John Andrews’ mission to Europe and how this complicated the assessment of his legacy to Seventh-day Adventism
Title
“Leadership conflict and the beginnings of Adventist mission.”
Summary
Vigorous public criticism voiced by General Conference leaders surrounded the birth of Foreign Missions in Seventh-day Adventism. Why had John N Andrews, Adventism’s first official missionary, not followed the tried and tested “American Model” for his mission? Why did baptismal results come so slowly and cost so much? Dr Gilbert Valentine will explore the leadership tension framing Andrews’ mission to Europe, Andrews’ defence and a subsequent formal evaluation by the General Conference. He will also explore how the publication of the audit’s positive assessment stands in tension with Adventist pioneer Ellen White’s last letter to Andrews and how this has complicated the assessment of Andrews’ historic legacy to Adventist mission.
Presented by Sydney Adventist Forum and Avondale College of Higher Education.
Sydney Adventist Forum collects a freewill offering to support its ministry.
Biography
Dr Gilbert Valentine is a recently retired Professor of Leadership and Administration at La Sierra University (Riverside, California, USA). His pastoral career included congregational and corporate youth leadership roles in his homeland, New Zealand, and in Australia. Mission service took him to teaching and senior administrative positions in Seventh-day Adventist higher education in Pakistan, England and Thailand. He has written extensively about Adventist history and about Adventist pioneer Ellen White. He is author of W. W. Prescott; Forgotten Giant of Adventism’s Second Generation (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2005), The Struggle for the Prophetic Heritage: Issues in the Conflict for Control of the Ellen G. White Publications, 1930-1939 (Institute Press, 2006) and The Prophet and the Presidents (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2011), a study of the political influence of Ellen White. In 2014, he co-edited with Dr Woody Whidden a festschrift for Dr George Knight entitled Adventist Maverick. His new biography of John N Andrews, Adventism’s first official missionary, is currently in preparation at Pacific Press Publishing Association. Gilbert is married to Dr Kendra Haloviak Valentine and lives in Riverside, California, USA, where he enjoys cycling around the citrus groves in his neighbourhood.
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