The New York Conference held its first quinquennial Constituency Session on Sunday, April 30, at Union Springs Academy in Union Springs, New York.
The delegates voted to elect Miguel Crespo, president; Claudio Gomez, executive secretary; Priscilla English, treasurer; Dan Whitlow, Youth Ministries Camp, Pathfinder, and Adventurer director; Reynolds Rodriguez, Youth Ministries Youth and Young Adult director and Pathfinder and Adventurer associate director; and Jeremy Garlock as superintendent of schools. All other ministries were referred to the newly-elected executive committee.
Delegates voted to add two new churches and one company: Buffalo Westside church, East Palmyra Bilingual church, and the Rochester Karen company. The East Palmyra Bilingual church emerged due to the merging of two churches: East Palmyra and Seneca Lake. The delegates also voted to close the Massena company.
Representatives from the Atlantic Union Conference who were present and participated in various aspects of the meeting include Pierre E. Omeler, president; Ted A. Huskins, executive secretary; Elias F. Zabala, Sr., treasurer; Jose Joseph, Haitian and African ministries vice president; Henry Beras, Hispanic and Portuguese ministries vice president; Marlene Alvarez, education director; Cynthia Huskins, Stewardship Ministries and Planned Giving and Trust Services director; and Debra Banks Cuadro, assistant communication director. In addition, Todd McFarland, deputy general counsel for the General Conference Office of General Counsel, served as the parliamentarian for the session. Gary Blanchard, Northern New England Conference president, presented the devotional. Representatives from the Greater New York Conference included Alonzo Smith, president, and Ariel Manzueta, executive secretary.
In his written report to the delegates, Crespo said, “There are times in our individual and collective experience when we are eagerly looking forward to [moving] on from the past and [stepping] boldly into the future. Considering what we have recently experienced as a nation, conference, and church family, I am eager to put the past behind and look ahead to 2023 and beyond. But it is not just to ‘put the past behind,’ it is to ‘look forward to the future,’ to what appears as the imminent, triumphant, and personal return of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
During the 2018-2022 quinquennial term, the conference presided over the construction of the Conrad Skantz Pavilion, a permanent structure built to replace the camp meeting tent used for more than 70 years. The pavilion allows the conference to have a facility that can be used for three of the four seasons of the year.
To maximize the benefit of property owned by the conference, they partnered with a green energy company to lease a 50-acre section of the property for solar power generation. The lease offers the opportunity to bring in more revenue for the mission of God’s church. “Today, we still have a portion of our property leased to a local farm (200 acres) but also a small portion (50 acres) leased for the production of solar power,” says Crespo.
In 2021, the then-conference executive committee voted to focus on three strategic initiatives, Mission, Mentorship, and Media. As the New York Conference focuses on the work that needs to be done in anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ, the president’s report indicated that they would like to expand the plan voted in 2021 into the new quinquennial term. The mission is to get every member involved in the work of evangelism (according to their individual calling) by providing theme-based training and promoting the work of evangelism throughout the NYC territory. The conference intends to have a more robust lay pastor training program. The recently launched Christian Leadership Academy gives lay members and pastors unique access to training and education to prepare them to be better leaders in their churches. The conference is also hoping to train 200 “digital missionaries” who will create digital media content to share the message of the gospel in the digital space and provide content for use by churches for outreach to their communities, including, but not limited to, digital evangelistic meetings, Bible studies, podcasts, and devotionals.
All of the items on the agenda were completed at the constituency session, including electing an executive committee, a constitution and bylaws committee, and a board of education, as well as receiving reports and voting changes to the conference’s constitution and bylaws.
The officers and directors elected to serve the New York Conference for the next five years will provide leadership to about 6,084 members, along with 65 churches and three companies, five elementary schools, one academy, one summer camp, and many community services centers.
