BY GRUSHENKA
DIABLO VALLEY—A recent Revelation seminar in Diablo Valley SDA Church concluded with the baptism of one individual. The series wasn’t elaborate with the church spending a total of $25,000 on flyers, banners, posters and mailers. Many members were skeptical about the series due to the investment in comparison to the relative size of the church.
“Initially, we were concerned that the $25 grand wouldn’t yield many new souls. Many of us felt that one baptism was a pathetic return. But this was before I got to know the convert further,” stated Jack del Rio, a board member at the church.
Michael Ha, the convert, is the founder of ConnectYou.com, a networking site that was recently purchased by Apple for $2.3 billion. He had been struggling for meaning and was relieved to find a church that he felt answered life’s hardest questions. Ha embraced all 28 Fundamental Beliefs and decided to practice them before his baptism. This caught the church’s attention.
“We were delighted and pleasantly surprised that Ha was faithful in all aspects of church doctrine,” shared del Rio. “I’m fine with converting only one person. Remember Luke 15? ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”
Ha was initially under the impression that tithing was the only aspect of stewardship but church members quickly disavowed him of that notion by teaching him about being faithful in offerings too.
An elder, Rachel Rawlins also voiced her concern with the seemingly poor yield considering the amount the church invested. After learning about the convert however, Rawlins changed her mind.
“I wanted to know why we wasted all that money on one soul. Throughout the whole series, I tried to convince the other members not to waste any more money on these useless evangelistic campaigns. But after I found out that Ha was worth at least $1.25 billion before stock options, the Holy Spirit impressed me that every soul is precious and worth the cost.”
