PAGAF HOLDS FIRST RETREAT IN ARIZONA
By Isaac Amo-Kyereme/ September 2009
Ghanaian Adventists living along the Pacific Ocean in the United States have held their maiden annual spiritual emphasis weekend retreat in Phoenix, Arizona. Over 200 participants came from California, Texas, Minnesota, Nevada, Tennessee and Utah.
This historic meeting held under the theme ; "Faith Of Our Father's had Pastor Dr. Samuel Koranteng Pipim, Director, Public Campus Ministries, Michigan Conference as the guest speaker.
Pastor Pipim used the occasion to challenge participants to introspectively seek to analyse why Ghana (and Africa as a whole) after achieving 52 years of independence has still not achieved many of the goals the founding fathers set. Ghana the shinning star of Africa over the years he said had stopped shinning.
He identified greed, tribalism, corruption, jealousy and mediocrity as the main contributors to stalling the progress Ghana as a nation ought to have made. He said Ghanaians have forgotten the ideals and standards essential to nation building and unfortunately Ghanaians abroad seem to have not left those tendencies in Ghana.
He attributed the turmoil in some Ghanaian Adventist churches abroad to these tendencies.
Congratulating the planners for choosing such an appropriate theme for the retreat, he said if we remember to hold on to the faith of Our fathers, Ghana will not be the same.
He urged Ghanaian parents abroad to inform their children about Ghana and its history. He reminded members of George Santayana's quote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
In a short speech Dr Alex Clerk, a member of the organizing committee, directed attention to the aim of the organization. He stated the aim of PaGAF (Pacific Ghanaian Adventist Fellowship) is to deepen the Spiritual and Educational Development of all Seventh-day Adventist in their area.
This means PaGAF plans to make spiritual development central to all things but additionally will provide a special focus on education for the very young, youth, adults and for those who have never been to school. He called upon all members (including business and other professionals) to make themselves available to share their talents and skill as they participate in various workshops and provide professional mentoring to the youth.
It was no surprise therefore when two Ghanaian Adventist scholars Dr. Peter Okrah and Dr Patrick Bobbie led programs on youth education and on achieving success in the American educational system. Both programs had very fruitful interactive sessions that succeeded in educating participants on a lot of parenting and educational issues.
Sister Edna Donkor in leading a session challenged members to be friends of God. She reminded members of the abundant Grace of God that is always ready waiting for us to make use of it. God, she said, never fails and we should know and have our trust in the God we serve.
A major highlight of the retreat however took the form of a very special fundraising program that was led by Dr Isaac Fordjour. The atmosphere was extremely spiritual. After Dr Fordjour had reminded members of how generous the Lord had been with His people, within a period of about 30 minutes over $7000 was realised to add up to an earlier $3000 that had been raised through a silver collection.
In a related issue Dr Paul Yeboah on behalf of members at the retreat expressed the thanks of members to the Phoenix Ghanaian Adventist church for their generous hospitality shown in hosting the conference.
A special mention however was made of Mr and Mrs Odomse Akuoko for devoting their time and organisational skills to the service of God. The general assembly was informed that Phoenix Arizona had been chosen again as the host city for the annual retreat for 2010.
In a short interview at the end of the program, Elder Opoku Boateng, the elder responsible for the San Francisco Bay Area church and one of the key organizers of the program said, he was humbled by the success of this maiden conference. The Lord, he said, had indeed visited His people. He urged members who could not participate in this years program to begin planning for next years program from now.