My journey to the 2025 General Conference session in St. Louis, Missouri, began with a road trip to which I was invited by a friend, which first took us to Springfield, Illinois, with a visit to the home and gravesite of President Abraham Lincoln, and later to the museum honoring his memory.
Our lodging experience along the way wasn’t the best—a testimony to the imperative of making plans further in advance! But our booth, “Last Generation for Christ,” was set up in good time, and was manned by a cluster of dedicated volunteers. More on that later.
What follows is a recap of what the present writer holds to be the most significant developments at the recent General Conference session, though what is shared below does not pretend to be a comprehensive review of what took place.
The Vaccine Controversy
The first noteworthy exchange at the 2025 General Conference session was over the 2015 immunization statement (reaffirmed in 2021), and the concern of certain delegates that “peer-reviewed science” had been cited by this statement as equally authoritative with Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. But during the subsequent twenty-four hours it was demonstrated by then-General Conference president Ted Wilson that what had heretofore been posted on the General Conference website did not accurately represent the statement voted by the General Conference administrative committee in 2015 and reaffirmed in 2021.
The Adventist News Network reported the issue as follows:
General Conference president Ted Wilson issued a corrective statement on Friday, July 4, 2025, clarifying remarks he made to delegates the day before, when he read from a 2015 General Conference Administrative Committee (ADCOM) statement about immunization:
Following Wilson’s speech on July 3, church officers were made aware that the immunization statement posted on the official Seventh-day Adventist Church website for the past 10 years was not the version actually voted in 2015.
In his speech on July 3, Wilson had read directly from the 2015 immunization statement voted by ADCOM, following a motion to add a review of the statement to the 2025 GC session agenda.
The following wording of the correct, voted statement shown to delegates and updated on the church’s website reads as follows:
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church places strong emphasis on health and well-being. The Adventist health emphasis is based on the Bible, the inspired writings of church co-founder Ellen G. White, and is informed by peer-reviewed scientific health literature. As such, we encourage responsible immunization/vaccination, and have no religious or faith-based reason not to encourage our adherents to responsibly participate in protective and preventive immunization programs” [1].
The earlier statement, which misrepresented the original ADCOM pronouncement as placing peer-reviewed science on the same level as Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, has now been altered to simply say Seventh-day Adventist teachings on health are informed by peer-reviewed scientific health literature, but not based upon it. Elder Wilson stated:
I hope no one anywhere around this globe will bring up again that the Seventh-day Adventist Church does not place the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy as the highest level of authority [2].
Despite the earlier misrepresentation of the ADCOM statement on the church’s website, it is difficult to understand how anyone could credibly allege that Adventist leadership would vote to place “peer-reviewed science” on the same level as the inspired text. Nothing in the official pronouncements of the worldwide Adventist body has ever equated the trustworthiness of uninspired scientific opinions or research with that of the written counsel of God (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11). The steadfast opposition of the recent GC presidential administration—and, we pray, that of the new administration—to the flirtation in certain denominational circles with non-literal views of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, offers decisive evidence as to the affirmation by these leaders of inspired authority as supreme above all scholarly assumptions in whatever field.
Proclaiming the Last Generation Message
The morning meetings with Elder John Bradshaw were very much a high point in St. Louis. All were powerful, but perhaps the final installment was the strongest, with its mention of the late Robert Pierson’s valedictory sermon at his retirement in 1978 [3] and the need for more sermons on such topics as standing without a Mediator after the close of probation [4]. The same message was given prominence in the August 2025 edition of the Adventist Review, distributed to all GC attendees on Sabbath morning, July 12. In that issue, an Ellen White passage from the Southern Watchman [##5|Ellen G. White, Southern Watchman, Jan. 24, 1905.##], almost identical to a statement from The Great Controversy [##6|——The Great Controversy, p. 425.##], focuses on the imperative of spotless, sin-free characters on the part of those saints who will live following the close of Christ’s intercession just before His second coming [##7|——”The Second Coming of Christ,” Adventist Review, August 2025, p. 13.##].
Readers of our website will note that we have republished that article simultaneous with this report [8].
One of the truly great joys of St. Louis was the ministry of the booth with which I was connected, called “Last Generation for Christ.” Several small booklets, one of them written by me, were distributed to hundreds, perhaps thousands in the exhibit hall, including many in responsible positions. Each of these booklets focuses on the summons of the Bible-based, Spirit-of-Prophecy affirmed teachings of Last Generation Theology to God’s end-time church, which—despite what some believe—is little more than the remnant-church theology under a different name.
We pray that the seeds thus sown will bear a bountiful harvest, and do much to break up fallow spiritual ground and prepare God’s people to be among His victorious 144,000.
The Presidential Succession and the Unfinished Reformation
For me, and for many others, the one sad note at the session was the decision not to re-nominate (and thus not re-elect) Elder Ted N.C. Wilson to a fourth term as General Conference president. This is not intended as a denigration or rejection of the one chosen to be his successor; God is still in control of His church, and all who seek and wish to share its future triumph must pray for Elder Erton Carlos Kohler as he shoulders the monumental, momentous task before him.
For the fifteen years Elder Wilson has served as president of the General Conference, he has pursued an agenda of revival and reformation through an unabashed return to the authority of Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy in denominational life. Though the progress of his initiatives appeared slow at times—like the sanctification for which so many of us struggle individually—the progress made has been very real, at the head of the work and in key institutions controlled by the General Conference.
Many were concerned that he had served in his position long enough, and that it was therefore time for a change. Credible reports indicate that this, rather than disagreement with his policies, was the principal concern of those choosing to replace him. For myself, I was more inclined to recall the slogan of the 1944 U.S. presidential campaign, in which President Franklin Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term on the slogan, “Don’t swap horses in midstream” [9].
But we in fact have chosen to swap horses in midstream. And the struggle for revival and reformation in contemporary Adventism is nowhere near where World War II found itself at the time of Roosevelt’s re-election in 1944. The quest for doctrinal and moral clarity—the driving force behind the mission of the church—is far, far from over. The reformation is very much unfinished.
The agenda launched by the Wilson administration must advance. Judging from Elder Kohler’s sermons in St. Louis, together with other public statements he has made, it appears this is where he too wishes to go. His initial slogans were encouraging:
Grounded in the Bible, focused on mission.
Distinct but not distant.
Feet on the ground, eyes toward heaven.
He will need the constant, earnest prayers of the striving faithful among us. And like his predecessor asked the church to do for him fifteen years ago, he must be held accountable for his faithfulness to the message, its application in denominational life, and its proclamation to the world.
Public Affairs and Religious Liberty
One very welcome change in denominational leadership in St. Louis took place in the department of public affairs and religious liberty. Without wishing to give credence to all the rumors and assumptions which circulated so widely regarding the ecumenical leanings of the former director of this department, it appears that enough was said and done by this individual which conveyed the impression of compromise, and thus cost him the trust of large numbers of faithful Seventh-day Adventists. Replacing both him and others on his staff has brought significant encouragement to those seeking greater clarity in the church’s public witness.
Next Stop: The New Jerusalem
The last Sabbath of a General Conference session is always the most glorious. Few experiences offer a more evident foretaste of heaven. The parade of nations is especially inspiring. I have been told that more flags can be seen at a GC session than at either the United Nations or the Olympics. As the thousands assembled in that arena joined together in singing, “We Have This Hope,” countless flags from numerous nations flew in the air, from those in the parade and elsewhere. A close friend who was staying in my motel room is from Zambia. He had his nation’s flag with him, and waved it high. In the row behind us we could see the flags of Botswana and the Philippines.
Elder Kohler said that if Jesus hasn’t come by 2030, the next General Conference will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana. I turned around to those standing behind me and said, “I prefer the New Jerusalem.”
Let us pray that the perfecting of Christian character which, through heaven’s all-sufficient power, will qualify us from citizenship in that eternal city, will be present in a sufficiently large group of people by that time so that our Lord can come at last.
At the end of the Passover Seder, and—in the Eastern Ashkenazic rite—at the end of the prayer service which closes Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the phrase commonly sung is, “L’Shana Haba’ah”—“Next year, in Jerusalem” [10]. When the investigative judgment in heaven ceases and probation comes to an end, the antitypical Yom Kippur will close. May the trials and triumphs of this new quinquennium be bathed in the glory of this blessed hope! May our transcendent agenda be the unbroken conquest of evil in our lives, and in the life of God’s corporate faith community, resulting in the glad refrain: “Next stop: the New Jerusalem.”
REFERENCES
1. “General Conference President Ted Wilson Issues Corrective Statement on Immunization Remarks,” Adventist News Network, July 4, 2025 https://adventist.news/news/general-conference-president-ted-wilson-issues-corrective-statement-on-immunization-remarkshttps://adventist.news/news/general-conference-president-ted-wilson-issues-corrective-statement-on-immunization-remarks
2. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ellen G. White, Southern Watchman, Jan. 24, 1905.
6. ----The Great Controversy, p. 425.
7. ----“The Second Coming of Christ,” Adventist Review, August 2025, p. 13.
8. Ibid (republished on ADvindicate, July 18, 2025) https://advindicate.squarespace.com/config/pages/51cb7fb7e4b0fd44824f2d1d
9. “List of United States presidential campaign slogans,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_campaign_slogans
10. “L’Shana Haba’ah,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Shana_Haba%27ah
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan