Walla Walla University is the new home of a contact center for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Adventist Information Ministry (AIM) serves as the central contact center for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the public, and opening a center at the university will allow them to more easily support ministry along the West Coast.
For 42 years, AIM has partnered with Christian students to staff a contact center that supports evangelistic outreach by answering questions, taking requests for Adventist literature, praying with callers, and even connecting them with pastoral care.
New projects in digital evangelism, including partnerships with the Central California Conference and the Upper Columbia Conference (UCC) are requiring better support for callers on the West Coast. These conferences and others are partnering with AIM on pilot programs for digital prayer campaigns. Social media ads offer to pray with and for people in the community. AIM employs students to respond to the requests in a timely fashion and connects them to local churches for continued follow-up.
The digital prayer campaigns have found strong initial success. “Last September, we had a lady who reached out by chat on a website we support, and within 15 minutes, we connected her with a pastor who was able to reach out and set up Bible studies with her. She was baptized in six months,” said Brent Hardinge, AIM director. The WWU call center will support these invaluable interactions and allow the UCC to further their focus on prayer as a form of ministry.
Around 15 Walla Walla University students will be hired to work at the new center. AIM focuses on training them to minister effectively in these interactions. “We see the value in this because these are young people who eventually leave school and go out into the work field, and who will end up in a local church where they can use these skills to support their church,” said Hardinge. “This gives them a taste of ministry and how that can change their lives.”
Students interested in working at the new center should visit www.adventistinfo.org/wallawalla or contact the Office of Student Employment at WWU.
Posted May 2, 2024.
