Andrews University

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Institute of Archaeology, Andrews University

Drinking from a Ebrik

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Payday

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Guided Tour for volunteers on first Day

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Lillian Foster Dumping Pottery

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Pick And Trowel

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Sifting Soil

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Back view of American community school

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Pottery Pottery Registration Room

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Numbering Saved Sherds

Francis, Andrew

Andrews University 
Digital Commons @ Andrews University 
Lake Union Herald Lake Union Herald 
9-2024 
Lily Foundation Gifts Seminary and Local Pastors 
Andrew Francis 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/luh-pubs 
30 |  SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024  |  Visit LakeUnionHerald.org
NEWS  |   EDUCATION
Lily Foundation Gifts 
Seminary and Local 
Pastors
The Center for Community Change (CCC) in the Seventh-day Adventist 
Theological Seminary at Andrews University is all about pastor and church 
revitalization, community social impact, innovative community projects, a 
healthy cycle of evangelism, and establishing pastors and church leaders 
as mentors. 
This all started hands-on in 2023 with 
pastors and is part of a $5 million grant 
from the Lily Endowment. The new initia-
tive expands the rich history of Andrews 
University’s 150-year impact on communi-
ties around the globe.
“Lilly Endowment, LLC, gave us the mon-
ey for transactional community projects, 
and we have changed the focus to be a 
transformational approach,” says Ignacio 
Goya, CCC director. The CCC enters Phase 
Three in a multi-year donation cycle, which 
itself has a three-phase process. The CCC 
partnered with 18 United States confer-
ences in 2023/2024 including Illinois, Lake 
Region and Michigan, to provide pastors and 
churches with leadership training. Once a 
pastor begins this journey alongside CCC, 
the goal is to heal and transform both the 
pastor and their congregation, added Goya. 
This first year saw 84 pastors impacted. In 
2024 they expanded globally adding 32 pas-
tors and their churches.
According to Goya, equipping pastors 
in a three-phase process includes an offi-
cial memorandum of understanding (MOU) 
outlining expectations and responsibilities. 
Phase One is leadership transformation, 
Phase Two is community engagement, and 
Phase Three is discipleship and evange-
lism. The CCC team recognizes that each 
community is unique, so training programs 
are customized with one-on-one men-
toring of pastors with the CCC and their 
partnering organizations. Some of the 
North American CCC partnerships include: 
ADRA, Andrews University Department 
of Social Work, Kettering Health Network, 
AdventistHealth, AdventHealth, Adventist 
HealthCare, Adventist Family Ministries, 
Versacare Foundation, Adventist Learning 
Community, Adventist Community Services, 
Mission Disruption, NADMin and Adventist 
Leadership Institute.
In total, the Lily Endowment has provided 
the seminary with several grants that total 
over $6 million to build curriculum for current 
students and equip future pastors. The three 
phases correlate with the Lilly Foundation’s 
grant-giving phases. Andrews University’s 
first gifted grant began in Phase One that 
created a $50,000 grant for research to de-
termine how best to proceed to train pas-
tors. Phase Two was a $1 million grant that 
focused on urban pastoral ministry training 
and it brought a new Master of Divinity with 
a concentration/online certificate in urban 
ministry and an urban clinical pastoral edu-
cation (CPE) program. Phase Three is where 
the CCC comes in as it was established to 
provide training and mentor experiences for 
pastors and church leaders. A 2023 Barna 
study noted that pastors only feel 52% satis-
fied with their role (Barna Group 2024). Tina 
Leonor, CCC program coordinator, says the 
goal is to assist pastors in “reimagining their 
ministry to engage their churches in innova-
tive and evidence–based programs that ad-
dress challenges facing their communities.”
Goya and his team of associate directors, 
Claval Hunter and Vadim Dementyev, know 
the local church pastor is the best place to 
begin. A 2021 study of 720 North American 
pastors verified this finding, sharing that 
59% of pastors need enhanced cultural 
learning, 52% said they want a practicum 
in community service, 54% seek mentors in 
urban or rural areas, 45% desire community 
engagement courses, and more than 50% 
felt a need for continuous education in rural 
and urban ministry areas. 
E Ignacio Goya, CCC director, training pastors at the Upper Columbia Conference in Spokane, Washington
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Visit LakeUnionHerald.org |  SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER  2024  |  31
NEWS  |   EDUCATION
Once training begins, CCC collaborates 
with pastors and church leaders on commu-
nity engagement using the Lily Endowment 
funds for community projects. Next, CCC 
creates customized training for the church 
leaders and pastors empowering them to ac-
tion. Finally, CCC shares its partner network 
to connect pastors and church leadership 
and establish a healthy cycle of evangelism 
tailored to their community.
CCC seeks to use Christ’s method from 
Ellen White’s “The Ministry of Healing,” 
saying His method alone gives true success 
in reaching out. “The Savior mingled with 
people as one who desired their good. He 
showed sympathy for them, ministered to 
their needs, and won their confidence. Then 
He invited them, ‘Follow Me’” (MH, Page 73).
Phases One and Two saw volunteers serv-
ing in local community organizations such as 
Neighbor to Neighbor, a local family service 
center and thrift store in Berrien Springs, 
Michigan. Laura Meyer, the executive 
director until recently, says seminary stu-
dents worked on community-based intern-
ships. The interns typically served in the 
thrift store. Meyer said, “They offer to pray 
with people, they offer to listen.”
Meyer added that this ministry is impact-
ful, “sending the message that we care and 
that we are here for you. We are here to meet 
physical, spiritual and emotional needs,” she 
adds. Neighbor to Neighbor wants to one day 
provide more programs to help customers. 
Cedric Vine, director of the master’s pro-
gram in religion and seminary affiliations 
and extensions, served as the project di-
rector for the Phase Two grants, saying that 
assisting urban churches and communities 
was an emphasis.  
“The problem that we addressed with 
Phase 2 was to strengthen urban pastors,” 
says Vine. “North American churches are 
weak in the inner cities and in the small 
towns and rural areas.” He shared that 
many church members move to the suburbs, 
depleting the resources of inner-city church-
es. Many of the urban church communities 
and pastors are ethnic minorities so it was 
important to better equip future seminary 
graduates with urban-focused ministry train-
ing and relevant curriculum. 
This desire to help inner-city communi-
ties also manifested in the city of Benton 
Harbor, Michigan, with the Boys and Girls 
Clubs. Arline Wilson, Fettig Clubhouse Youth 
Campus branch director, shared that vol-
unteers have been a big help academically. 
“They help out with something called ‘Power 
Hour,’ which is our academic hour for our 
members,” she said. Tutoring helped chil-
dren strive for academic skills at or above 
their grade level and volunteers assisted 
with math and reading. 
To learn more about the CCC, visit 
communitychange.world. P
 
Andrews Francis is a junior digital communication major 
at Andrews University.
In case you’re not aware of the revolving 
fund, here is some background information.
In 1993, the Lake Union Conference es-
tablished a valuable ministry, a monetary 
fund called the revolving fund, which allows 
our members to take their personal financ-
es and deposit them into this investment 
fund, receiving quarterly interest. Your lo-
cal church can participate, as well. This 
may seem like an ordinary savings account 
with your local bank, but there’s nothing 
ordinary about it. By depositing into the re-
volving fund, your dollars are assisting local 
schools, churches and even your local con-
ference with ministry projects necessary to 
grow God’s mission. Therefore, while your 
deposited funds are in an account receiving 
interest, those same funds are being used 
Access to Lake Union 
Revolving Fund Now 
Available 
We are pleased to announce the arrival of the Lake Union Revolving Fund 
online portal. You’ll be able to access your account from any computer or 
other smart device. You can open an account, make deposits and transfers, 
track your history, even assign beneficiaries, all in minutes—anytime and 
anywhere. It’s highly secure, using today’s leading security standards to 
protect your information.
to help build a church or school in the Lake 
Union territory.
So, take the next step and partner with the 
revolving fund. Depositing your funds, main-
taining access at any time, earning quarterly 
interest above-typical savings account rates, 
all while allowing your funds to support and 
enhance local churches, schools and area 
conferences.P
Jermaine K. Jackson is associate treasurer and stew-
ardship director for the Lake Union Conference.
