In this influential region, we have five Fields and one Union, with a total membership of 1009, and 1408 Sabbath School attendees. The work force includes 26 ministers, 14 elders, and 20 workers. Currently we have 65 places of worship.

In the Western North American Union, there are lots of programs going on which draw our young people together. One such program is the media used in production projects in the Northern California Conference where our young people are actively engaged in the Lord’s business. We are encouraged by their seriousness about God’s business while still in their youth.

There is an overall progress in the Lord’s work, both in membership as well as in spiritual lines. Even though we have reason to be concerned about the spiritual well-being of our people, the Lord has thus blessed us with His sustaining grace.

Sadly, we recently lost four senior ministers, Bro. Francisco Devai, Bro. Alfons Balbach, Bro. Daniel Dumitru and Bro. Chong Kyu Chang. Since they were laid to rest in the Lord, we have missed their valuable experience and contribution. The loss of them as pillars in the temple of God reveals all the more the importance of involving the next generation—the future of the church. The fledgling missionary program, Plymouth Leadership College, is currently underway to achieve that aim.

The East Central U.S. Field was recently blessed with a much larger building with 3 acres in Indianapolis, thus facilitating their ability to host outreach programs. There are a lot of young people attending our church there and the number continues to grow. Camp meetings and other events held in this Field, and a layman in Maryland has volunteered his time to develop an excellent series of Bible topics on YouTube, delivered by a variety of talented young speakers.

The Eastern U.S. Field also hosts camp meetings and other activities in their Massachusetts facility. The brethren in the East Canadian Field likewise regularly hold events with a lot of emphasis on nurturing the youth.

The Southeast U.S. Field has hosted music camps, which are an effective way to reach the heart through the discipline and spiritual benefit of learning sacred music as a bulwark against the prevailing current of the world. An ongoing missionary seminar program, along with canvassing, health, and other outreach programs are being held as well.

Overall, while we reckon the work the Lord has wrought through us in the North American Region, we feel that we could do a lot more to advance His cause. We need more workers. More outreach programs should be conducted. Plans should be made to evangelize all the unentered areas in this vast region in the upcoming years. May we come with the commitment to evangelize the midwest United States, which can be considered as largely unentered territory.

We need many more laborers, and all must have a spirit of self-denial in order to provide facilities for carrying the message forward into new Fields.

“I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

“There is a work to be done, and let every heart as well as every hand be engaged to do this work. . . . We are called now to be educated, that we may do the work that God has assigned to us, and it will not crush out our life. The humblest can have a share in the work. . . . It is not more mighty men, not more talented men, not more learned men, that we need in the presentation of the truth for this time; but men who have a knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Personal piety will qualify any workers, for the Holy Spirit takes possession of him, and the truth for this time becomes a power, because his everyday thought, and all his activities are running in Christ’s lines. He has an abiding Christ; and the humblest soul, linked with Christ Jesus, is a power, and his work will abide.”1

“The world is to be warned. Field after field is to be entered. The command given us is: ‘Add new territory; add new territory.’ Shall we not as a people, by our business arrangements, by our attitude toward a world unsaved, bear a testimony even more clear and decisive than that borne by us twenty or thirty years ago?

“Upon us has shone great light in regard to the last days of this earth’s history. Let not our lack of wisdom and energy give evidence of spiritual blindness. God’s messengers must be clothed with power. They must have for the truth an elevating reverence that they do not now possess. The Lord’s solemn, sacred message of warning must be proclaimed in the most difficult fields and in the most sinful cities—in every place where the light of the third angel’s message has not yet dawned. To everyone is to be given the last call to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

“In proclaiming the message, God’s servants will be called upon to wrestle with numerous perplexities and to surmount many obstacles. Sometimes the work will go hard, as it did when the pioneers were establishing the institutions in Battle Creek, in Oakland, and in other places. But let all do their best, making the Lord their strength, avoiding all selfishness, and blessing others by their good works.”2

May the Lord help us to take hold of His work as we have never yet taken hold of it!