The strength of the Gulf States Conference is in the members who sit in the pews on Sabbath and live missional lives during the week. The aim is to have members who share the love of Jesus with others at home, school and play.
With this in mind, as part of an initiative from the Southern Union, each year, leadership from the Gulf States Conference and other sister conferences in the Southern Union, visit the Loma Linda University Medical school with the intent of inviting the medical, dental and pharmacy students to consider living and working in the Southern Union region after graduation.
This year, Pr Martin Fancher, executive secretary of the Gulf States Conference, spent three days getting to know the Loma Linda Medical school students and acknowledging their call to medical ministry.
Pr Fancher shared with them that “since God called them, then God would empower them, and bless them, and see them through school.” He emphasized that God would open doors to guide the students on where they should live and practice and encouraged them to “consider becoming a part of the Gulf States Conference family.”
Over the course of his visit, Pr Fancher observed that one of the most frequently asked questions he received related to the students’ interest in church involvement for the students’ families. Many of them wondered if the Gulf States Conference churches would accept them and their children and allow their children to be a part of Sabbath services by helping to lead song service and read scripture.
Pr Fancher noted that many of them want to be medical missionaries in the communities in which they will ultimately live and work, and they expressed an interest in serving in their local church and training their children to be leaders in the local church.
Pr Fancher wholeheartedly shared that every Gulf States Conference church would accept them with open arms and would love to invite them into their church families. He added that their children would be encouraged to be a part of the church and Sabbath School services as well.
After his visit to Loma Linda Medical School, Pr Fancher expressed that he was so happy to be a part of this year’s ministry to Loma Linda University students. “I left blessed and spiritually filled, and I am so excited for the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Gulf States Conference because God is still raising leaders for such a time as this!”