NICOLE STEVENSON | Co-Host, Former Adventist Podcast
Today is the day after the 2025 Former Adventist Fellowship Conference. Many who travelled to attend have now boarded planes bound for home. Others have begun family vacations here in sunny Southern California. Many who live locally are returning to normal routines while marveling at how quickly the weekend passed. Those who tirelessly served us in love are finally resting. And the Life Assurance Ministry team is already dreaming of ideas for the 2026 conference.
Today always holds a special kind of rest for me. The Lord always feels nearer somehow— though, I know He’s always here. I suspect it’s my heart that’s been drawn nearer to Him after a weekend of such concentrated worship. I’m encouraged and renewed in my commitment to serve the body of Christ in this unique and often difficult area of ministry—the Lord wastes nothing of our efforts.
In the quiet moments of the days after the conference, my mind drifts back to all the ways the Lord glorified Himself and magnified His faithfulness in and to His children. I’m honored to have had the opportunity to see what He’s been up to in the lives of those I’ve never met. Sisters and brothers who I always pray for and long to serve, travelled from all over to come together and praise the Lord for His faithfulness. The Lord blessed me and encouraged me through each person I encountered and I’m thankful for all of you who came and encouraged us all at Life Assurance Ministries!
Healing Our Sense of Terminal Uniqueness
This kind of fellowship and encouragement is profoundly needed in our community. It’s easy to feel terminally unique after coming out of a cult and being placed into the body of Christ (and the passage of time won’t automatically fix this). When we’re born again and believe God’s word we know that we need to find a body of believers where we can live out our faith in fellowship with others and use our gifts as God asks us to. Yet moving from Adventism and into a new community that doesn’t understand our past can be extremely challenging and leave us feeling terminally unique and alone in our grief.
…former Adventists have been preemptively discredited among Christians by the spirit of Adventism.
The cultural chasm Adventism created between Christians and Adventists does not simply go away because we are born again. There is much about the Adventist culture that takes time to unpack and let go of. Worse than the seemingly meaningless details of vegetarianism, weekly schedule adjustments, and the need to relearn Christian history is the fact that former Adventists have been preemptively discredited among Christians by the spirit of Adventism.
Seventh-day Adventist leaders intentionally deceived Christian apologist Walter Martin so that many Christians do not believe former Adventists when they tell them that Adventism is not Christian. Often, in the name of “unity in the church”, mature believers will avoid listening to the warnings and pleas of new former Adventist Christians who desperately need help learning the Bible and being discipled in every area of life. Too often mature Christians will correct formers who seek to be heard and helped and will tell them they are being divisive.
As a result, former Adventists who leave for Jesus can find themselves isolated even from the body of Christ in the very places they need help most. Isolation in grief is not something the Lord wants to see in His church, but it’s a very real experience for far too many former Adventists who are not understood in their churches and who must endure alone their profound losses and family shunning because of their faith in Christ.
By the grace of God there are well-taught churches with a high view of Scripture and a deep love for evangelism who know that Adventism is a cult. For those churches I praise God! Even so, an understanding of this reality in the leadership doesn’t always translate to the people in the pews. There is a great deal of work ahead of us if we are going to help educate the body of Christ and protect them from Adventism while equipping them to disciple former Adventists who’ve been saved.
This is why every Former Adventist Fellowship conference I’ve been to has been described by those who attend as a great family reunion. These weekends offer us a place to come together and build into one another the truths and lessons we’ve learned over the last year of learning to walk in faith as God redeems our past and teaches us His Word. It’s a place where we can pray and talk about our common struggles; where we can help those newer in the faith see sooner the doctrines that perhaps took us so long to grasp. It’s a time where we truly experience the reality that a burden shared is a burden lightened, and when we can part company renewed and empowered to carry on in the strength of the Lord even if we are misunderstood where we live most of our life.
Highlight From the Conference: The Church Being The Church
It’s hard to choose a favorite moment at the conference, but one that stood out to me and will stay with me happened on Saturday evening. While the conference isn’t over until Sunday after church and another meal together, the general sessions and breakouts are completed by the end of Saturday. On Saturday evening all of the displays need taking down so that the rooms can be reset for church and Sunday School. As soon as our evening testimonies ended and the last meeting closed, the room busied itself with this process of break down and set up.
…every Former Adventist Fellowship conference I’ve been to has been described by those who attend as a great family reunion. These weekends offer us a place to come together and build into one another the truths and lessons we’ve learned over the last year of learning to walk in faith as God redeems our past and teaches us His Word.
After packing up the magazines and taking down the tables where they were displayed I turned around to see that most of the room was already reset with rows of seating for the service in the morning. The communion table was set up front, and some people were busy vacuuming the aisles. The room was also filled with different groups engaged in excited conversations.
While I’m not always comfortable around a lot of noise (especially when I’m tired) this “noise” was different. I began to make my way through the church looking for a place where I might be needed. As I made my way slipping around different groups of people talking, I rounded corners to find new pockets of conversation. The halls, aisles, and doorways were filled with people laughing, crying, and sharing.
Upon entering the kitchen I found it picked up and filled again with more people connecting and sharing contact information. Turning around and making my way back through the hall and into the worship room to see where else I might be needed, I began to notice phrases that are unique to former Adventists unpacking their past. “The investigative judgement… 144,000 remnant Adventists!…Jesus only!” Often these phrases were met with hearty agreement or embarrassed laughter. “I’m so sorry… I know, I really get it…” Others stood encouraging and comforting each other. My heart was full; by God’s grace we had the honor of providing a space for His hurting and rejoicing children to come to be heard, to be known, and to be encouraged— a place to know that they are not terminally unique.
After weaving through the church again I found the locals I had been looking for working together to pack the book table that once held piles of Dale Ratzlaff’s books. They stood together in an assembly line with boxes and piles of books, each loading up what was remaining and carrying them into the next room where they’d be picked up later. I turned again to see members of Redeemer Fellowship (where the conference was held) finishing up their reseting and cleaning of the church, and I saw again the conference attendees talking in small groups all around, fully expressing their joy and their grief together.
That’s when I saw it. I saw the church being the church. They were serving, fellowshipping, encouraging, equipping, burden bearing, and loving in Christ. It was beautiful. I was surrounded by a Love Feast.
That’s when I saw it. I saw the church being the church. They were serving, fellowshipping, encouraging, equipping, burden bearing, and loving in Christ. It was beautiful. I was surrounded by a Love Feast. I saw love that looked like shared grief, love that looked like encouraging and rejoicing together, and I saw love with its work boots on. Everywhere I looked I saw those who love the Lord and who love His truth simultaneously—in different ways—loving His people. The love of Christ moved through the room in each conversation and act of service. Tears filled my eyes, and as if I were alone for a moment with the Lord, I thanked Him for all He has done and is doing in His people.
You Are Not Alone: Join us Next Year!
Brothers and Sisters, our Lord who rescued us out of Adventism has a place for us in His body. The deceptive spirit of Adventism may have complicated our process of integrating in the local church, but it cannot remove us from the Body of Christ. We have a work to do—for each other, for our families, and for those who will come after us. We may be scattered, but we are not alone. We may be lonely sometimes, but we are uniquely gifted to minister to one another (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). And we are uniquely gifted to help others who need to know about the dangers of Adventism.
If you missed the conference this year, you can still view all of the general sessions and three of the four breakout sessions on the Former Adventist YouTube channel. You can see all of the past conferences there as well. Just know that while all of that content is so helpful and important for former Adventists to see, there is something extra special that is offered to you when you come in person. Not only will you experience the fellowship of those who know your journey, you will also have the opportunity to love those who need to hear from you personally.
I don’t know what the topic will be for the conference next year. I don’t know who will speak or how many will plan to come. What I do know, is that these weekends are more special than I can put words, and if you come I can promise you that you will be loved well, and you will be taught well. You will know deeply that you are not terminally unique, and you will leave walking back into your life with renewed hope for your future, a renewed joy in the Lord, and a renewed sense of being an important part of the people of God.
With that being said, I hope you know that you don’t have to wait for a Former Adventist Fellowship conference to connect with Life Assurance Ministries. There are many ways to get connected both with Life Assurance Ministries and in the Former Adventist Fellowship weekly Bible Studies. While Life Assurance Ministries is supported by donations, all email subscriptions, articles, podcast content, and conferences are offered free of charge. If you haven’t yet, I do hope that you’ll reach out and find your place in this community of those who know what it is to lose everything for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. †
—Photo by Dave Card
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