20 August 2009

Literature evangelists meet in NZ

Christchurch, New Zealand
Adele Nash

Literature evangelists from Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia gathered in Christchurch recently for their annual Literature Evangelist Congress. The congress was held at the Living Springs Conference Centre from July 20 to 26. A number of literature evangelist managers from the Pacific Islands also attended the congress, as they were in the region for leadership meetings.

With the theme of "Trust the Lord: Never, never, never, never give up," attendees were "inspired" by devotionals, meetings and workshops. Guest speakers included Pastor Lawrence Tanabose, general secretary for the Adventist Church in the South Pacific, who took the morning and evening devotionals; Cameron Johnston, speaker, stress fitness coach and co-author of Cooling Down Teen Stress, who presented a number of seminars; and area managers, who took sessions on a variety of topics, which Terry Goltz, director of Adventist Publishing for the South Pacific, describes as "the nuts and bolts of our programs."

A team of representatives from Signs Publishing Company also gave presentations, sharing information about the future of Signs.

Literature evangelists from Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia met in Christchurch for their annual congress in July.

Mr Goltz says, "The literature evangelists expressed their appreciation for the Signs folk attending congress. They're excited about the Adventist Media Network's plans to increase book production, as well as the investment in a new press for Signs. They're very positive about this aspect."

RECORD editor Nathan Brown spoke to attendees about the change in his role and Adventist Media Network's renewed focus on book publishing. He invited input from literature evangelists regarding resources they would like to see and received their feedback from their interactions with people they meet on a daily basis.

According to Mr Goltz, one of the highlights of the congress was the attendance of the administrator for the New Guinea island province of New Ireland New Britain, Simeon Malai, and his wife, Delmai.

Mr Malai spoke about how his local government has heavily invested in books from the literature evangelist service. The government plans to put half a million Kinas' worth of books into schools there over the next 12 months. Mr Malai believes better education can prevent a life of crime. He said, "We spend a lot of money on prisons and prisoners but we want to steer young people in the right direction before they come to that. We've decided the best plan is to work on prevention, rather than ‘cure.'"

He also shared his testimony about becoming an Adventist.
Mr Goltz says, "It was an honour to have Simeon there."

Congress attendees also took the time on the Thursday night of the congress to celebrate the work Mr Goltz has done with literature evangelism. Mr Goltz will retire at the end of the year, after working for 39 years in literature evangelism, including 11 years as its leader for the South Pacific. The tribute to his work included speeches and sharing stories. Mr Goltz worked in the South Queensland, North New Zealand, South New Zealand and Greater Sydney regions prior to his current role. He snaps his fingers and says, "It sounds like a long time but it seems it went by just like that."

The congress attendees also had a day out at Hanmer Springs, with jetboat rides and soaking in the hot pools. Some of the literature evangelists also braved bungee jumping.

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