LLU&MC Board chair conducts evangelistic meetings in Romania
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| Approximately 100 Romanians who are studying for baptism into the Seventh-day Adventist Church pose with Calvin B. Rock, DMin, PhD (second row, center), and his evangelism team, following an evangelistic meeting. |
Loma Linda University and Medical Center Board chair Calvin B. Rock, DMin, PhD, is not only an administrator who is a vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and chair of several boards, but he is also an evangelist!
"Evangelism is one of my first loves," Dr. Rock says. "In early April of this year, I had the opportunity to present a two-week evangelistic series in Bucharest, Romania."
The meetings--the first Dr. Rock has been able to conduct since 1992 because of his heavy administrative duties--were held in an auditorium in the center of Bucharest. Each evening the 500-seat auditorium was full and overflowing, Dr. Rock reports. "The local Adventist community of more than 4,000 members were asked not to come so there would be ample room for non-Seventh-day Adventists."
On Saturday evening at the end of the first week, Dr. Rock presented the Sabbath message to the audience. "We invited those interested to attend church services with us the on the following Sabbath. More than 100 accepted this invitation and are now studying for baptism," Dr. Rock says.
The associate evangelist for the meetings was Charles L. Cheatham, MDiv, secretary of the Allegheny East Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pine Forge, Pennsylvania.
In addition to a number evangelistic meetings held throughout the United States, Dr. Rock has held major evangelistic meetings in England, Ghana, Kenya, Russia, and Zimbabwe.
Prior to becoming a vice president of the General Conference, Dr. Rock was president of Oakwood College, Huntsville, Alabama. He has also pastored churches in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, and South Carolina.
The Romanian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is divided into six local conferences with 1,055 churches and a membership approaching 75,000. The Romanian Union Conference operates two educational institutions--the Romanian Adventist College of Health and the Romanian Adventist Theological Institute.