The second day of GAiN Europe 2024 started with a personal testimony by Corinna Wagner, ADRA Europe’s fundraising coordinator, who shared her story, describing how God called her, in an unexpected way, to use her talents and gifts for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).
“I didn’t expect to work for my church, but God did!” Concluding her moving testimony, Wagner shared her personal vision: “I dream of an active youth, who discover their call and use their talents for God”.
Trans-European Division’s (TED) Communication Director, David Neal, introduced group discussions by inviting participants to think on how they experience the grace of God in their life. “Sadly”, explained Neal, “Christians preach grace, but are very often not able to love ‘others’…”
After sharing some thoughts from group leaders about the topic of grace, Paulo Macedo, EUD Communications Director, David Neal, TED Communications Director, and Vanesa Pizzuto, TED Communications Associate Director, introduced a special moment of appreciation for an outstanding Adventist journalist, Marcos Paseggi.
Marcos Paseggi is a journalist with Argentinian origins, living in Canada and serving currently as a correspondent of the Seventh-day Adventist flagship magazine, Adventist Review.
The GAiN organizers invited to the stage the Global Communications Director of the Adventist Church, Williams Costa Jr., who handed over the award to Paseggi, highlighting Paseggi’s outstanding and self-sacrificing service for the Church.
Justin Kim, editor of Adventist Review, sent a message of appreciation to Paseggi: “Paseggi helped the Adventist Church understand what God is doing locally. The World Church is deeply grateful for his dedication.”
The Sabbath Worship
Jonatan Tejel’s devotional was introduced by some beautiful songs, led once again by some musicians from Serbia and Poland, Vestige Group. Tejel is currently serving as EUD Youth Director.
Tejel’s reflection was based on John 15:1, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.’ “God is the gardener, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. If we do not stay connected to the vine, we will die spiritually”, so Tejel. “If we, on the contrary, stay connected to Jesus, our lives will be transformed; we will be Christlike and bear many fruits – the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5: 22)!” stated Tejel.
He then explained: “When Jesus was giving the metaphor of the vine and the branches, he was walking to the Gethsemane with His disciples. He was delivering the last message to them before he would be crucified. On their way to the garden, they passed in front of the temple, where golden grape vine clusters adorned the columns of the temple. The gold was of great value. It was the result of donations from people that wanted to see their names imprinted in the gold clusters. The Jews often spent everything they had to adorn the temple,” continued Tejel.
“Jesus wanted the disciples to focus on the true vine, in contrast to the artificial golden vine put on the columns of the temple,” continued Tejel.
“We often focus on religious symbolism, on golden and artificial symbols,” concluded Tejel. “We sometimes focus more on the rituals than on the reason of the ritual - Jesus Christ! Through rituals, we lose focus on Jesus. Let’s abide in Jesus. He makes us fruitful. Broken branches die; fruits develop because of the vine (Jesus) and the gardener (God).”
‘Be the branch, be transformed, abide in Jesus, have Joy.’
Cross-Media Projects
GAiN leaders explained that, since 2014, Adventist communication leaders were dreaming of working together in Europe. A few years later, European church communicators moved from ideas to action as they launched the Rest project in 2016, in partnership with Hope Channel, Inc. The fledgling initiative, which sought to motivate audiences to reflect on the meaning of Sabbath rest, energized communicators across Europe to keep exploring ideas for collaborative multimedia projects.
After a momentous GAiN Europe conference in the United Kingdom in 2017, where communication leaders established the foundation for greater collaboration, they developed the 2017-18 project, This Is My Mission. In February 2019, during a worldwide GAiN convention in Jordan, GAiN Europe communicators introduced Fathers, which became an award-winning documentary and a book.
After Fathers, the communicators decided to explore the notion of Uncertainty.Little did they know, when they chose that project, how relevant it would become a year later, as the COVID-19 pandemic brought worldwide worry, anxiety, and a lot of uncertainty. That collaboration kept the teams busy from 2019-21. And in 2021, during a virtual GAiN Europe conference, the group decided to focus on the notion of happiness.
During GAiN 2024, organizers presented the latest project ‘My greatest purpose’, featuring athletes, musicians, and academics who decided to choose Jesus over career opportunities, despite the challenges, temptations, and difficulties.
Beyond Borders
What began as a mostly European idea soon crossed borders to include productions from other countries such as Brazil, South Africa, and South Korea. As of 2022, 26 countries have participated in producing spots or clips, 27 countries have collaborated to produce documentary films, and 21 countries have provided authors for the printed resources.
“Our goal has been to create the environment, the spirit, and the community that will think more as ‘we’ and less as ‘I’,” Adrian Dure, Hope Media Europe producer and coordinator of network projects, said during the presentation. “We keep creating a community that is willing to work together.”
Aguska, a champion for Christ
One of the top highlights of the afternoon was the presence of Aguska Mnich, professional football freestyler, six-times World Champion and Guinness World Record Holder. Coming from a last-week win in Italy, Aguska is one of the protagonists of the ‘My greatest purpose’ movie-series.
“I had a difficult life. I was desperate and lonely. I used to drink alcohol and [held bad company],” shared Aguska.
“One day, I cried out to God, seeking for help, and He delivered and saved me. He gave me a purpose in life,” continued Aguska. “I discovered my football freestyle talent and worked with confidence to develop my gift. Now I am a world-renowned athlete, and I don’t lose any opportunity to testify about my faith and glorify God,” concluded Aguska.
In the end, Aguska offered a short show with her husband, Patrick Bäurer, in front of the GAiN audience.
Youth for Mission side-event
Since the 2022 edition in Romania, several young participants in GAiN Europe have come together to share their ideas and experiences. The group has grown significantly and is making an important contribution to the event through a young, dynamic, and creative perspective.
In this edition, more than 40 young participants came together, bringing a practical and concrete aspect to the organization’s aim: to encourage the use of social media for mission by young Adventists.
Pictures: Adventist Media Exchange, Andreas Mazza
