wfn.org | Thousands Join Adventist Church as a Result of Net 98

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

December 31, 1998
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Thousands Join Adventist Church as a Result of Net 98
[98/38/01]

Silver Spring, Maryland, USA [ANN/APD] An anticipated 30-
40,000 will join the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a result 
of the NeXt Millennium Evangelistic outreach programs of Net 
98, according to latest Church estimates.

While reports are still coming in, and Bible studies are 
continuing in many parts of the world. The best estimate is 
around the 30-40,000 figure, according to Brad Thorp, 
director of Adventist Global Communication Network (AGCN).

"It is not possible to get an actual definite figure," says Thorp. 
"As best I can estimate from the reports coming to me there 
will be 30-40,000 baptisms world-wide from Net 98. It may be 
much higher than this, but I think this is a conservative figure 
from what I currently know."

For North America, the total accessions to the Church is 
expected to be around 8,000, reports Kermit Netteburg, 
communication director for the region.

"Nearly 8,000 baptisms and professions of faith will come 
from Net 98 in North America, according to a survey of 
participating pastors completed during the last week of the 
satellite-linked evangelism initiative of the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church in North America," says Netteburg. "The 
surveys also revealed that attendance on the opening night 
(October 9) was more than 161,000. About 36,000 of those 
attending on the opening night were not church members. 
The average nightly attendance throughout the five-week 
series has been about 80,000 people. About 25,000 of the 
average nightly attendance were non-members."

The NeXt Millennium seminars with evangelist Dwight Nelson 
ran for five weeks from October 9 through November 14. The 
live seminar program was uplinked to satellite from its host 
site at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and 
then downlinked to 4,600 locations in many countries world-
wide. Other sites continue to run the series using taped 
programs.