Aug 29, 2016
By Nicholas J. Kersten
During the afternoon activities at General Conference, the SDB Council on History was allotted 45 minutes to honor and celebrate a century of ministry of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society. The Society was merged with the General Conference in April of this year, but not before the Society entered its one hundredth year of preserving and promoting Seventh Day Baptist history.
Director Kersten awarding Gold Headed Cane.
The current members of the Council on History celebrated the many people who undertook and represented the Society over its one hundred years of ministry — including the many directors and officers of the Society, its employees (Historians, Librarians and other staff), the many donors who supported the work over the years, and the recipients of the Gold Headed Cane (awarded by the Society to honor those who made especially notable contributions to the work of the Society and the preservation of SDB history). The program made it clear that history, while directed and shaped by God, is ultimately made through people: for one hundred years, the Society was all about the people.
Wayne C. Maxson, receives special award.
As part of the celebration of the Society’s work, a special award was given to Wayne C. Maxson, who has long served the Society in a variety of roles including as a trustee, an advisor, and a consultant — in addition to his many other contributions to the work. Wayne was on hand to receive his award and to celebrate the day with us!
During the awards time, the Council on History also had the privilege of awarding the Gold Headed Cane to Rev. J. Paul Green for his eighteen years of service to the SDB Historical Society as a director and treasurer. Paul was not present to receive his award, and so arrangements are being made to present it to him formally after Conference.
In addition to the celebratory program and awards, the Council on History was able to introduce a new video which promotes the importance of SDB historic preservation in local churches. It also gives the history of the Historical Society’s ministry and encourages giving to the Society’s Centennial Fund to provide for future historic preservation efforts. The video can be found on the SDB history webpage at http://www.sdbhistory.org/centennial-fund/bulletin-inserts-promotional-materials. The entire run of bulletin inserts is available, which you or your church can use to continue to celebrate historic preservation work among SDBs! The bulletin inserts are available in English and Spanish, though only the first few inserts are already available in Spanish.
Current Historical Society Members
We encourage you and your church to celebrate the successful century of the Society’s ministry for the remainder of this year — as you consider the role of your local church in the broader scope of our history!
