Through the efforts of Pastor Stephen Bohr, Secrets Unsealed has become—in my opinion—one of the foremost Bible teaching ministries in the entire Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Thus it comes as a surprise to learn that Secrets Unsealed—who was an exhibitor at the 2017 Adventist Ministries Convention in Tuscon—has been denied exhibitor space at the 2019 Convention in Albuquerque, NM. Here’s how it happened.
On September 5 of this year, Secrets Unsealed staff received a notice from NAD Media office, informing them that registration was now open for the 2019 Convention. It read:
“Act while you still have time for the Early-Bird Registration. Deadline approaching soon.”
Secrets Unsealed staff tried to register online the very day of the notice. It wouldn’t go through. They called the NAD several times between September 5-13, only to be told that exhibitors are “by invitation only, and the request would be sent to the person handling the booths. So they waited. No answer.
Secrets Unsealed made one last attempt this week by sending an email directly to Brad Forbes of Advent Source. Brad was the person who helped them register for the 2017 Convention.
He (Brad) wrote back and said their request to exhibit was denied. Not denied by him, but by the "event leadership." The only explanation given was that it is by invitation only, and the initial email was not an invitation. So an email announcement that registration is open is not an invitation to exhibit?
It should be noted that Secrets Unsealed has been an ASI member in good standing since 2008. They donated items to be given away during their fiesta time in the exhibit area at the last Convention in Tuscon.
Secrets Unsealed has not been told the real reason why they—a supporting ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist church—are being denied access to participate as an exhibitor.
Statement from Secrets Unsealed
Secrets Unsealed is not concerned about the 'sales' in the exhibit hall. This was not a money-making event for us. But we are in the NAD, and we do like to participate in Adventist conferences when we can to create awareness of the awesome materials we have available for Pastors and lay people to take their personal Bible studies to a deeper level. Oh and by the way, just in case anyone is wondering...in 2017 we did not have anything in our booth on the topic of women's ordination.
That’s the scoop.
****