Adventists welcome 150 to tour airy church in W. Toledo

At First Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Rev. Mike Fortune speaks to the visitors as he stands before a 43-foot window that looks out on a lush patch of trees and Sylvania Avenue. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Rev. Fortune shows off the church's preschool area. It also has a school for kindergarten through eighth grade. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

About 150 people who visited Toledo First Seventh-day Adventist Church on Tuesday left with new insights and understanding of the denomination, as well as a "kindness to go" goody bag.

The Rev. Mike Fortune, senior pastor since 2006, welcomed guests to the brick-and-glass building on West Sylvania Avenue, the third stop on the 2010 Summer Houses of Worship Tour organized by Toledo Area Ministries.

This year, the 17th for the TAM summer tours, seven churches and a Hindu temple are opening their doors to the public each Tuesday morning through Aug. 17.

Seventh-day Adventists founded a mission in Toledo in 1886, furnishing a room at a downtown hotel for $4.82 for the task. Two years later, five Adventists organized the denomination's first church in Toledo.

The modern-style church, at 4909 West Sylvania, was built in 1984 on a four-acre lot for $1 million. The airy sanctuary, which seats about 500 on burgundy-colored, padded pews, features a 54-foot ceiling of ponderosa pine with Douglas fir beams.

Behind the lectern, facing Sylvania Avenue, a 43-foot-tall window looks out on a lush patch of trees. A circular panel inset with three angels - a symbol of Adventists - is etched into the glass.

The West Toledo church has hosted several popular series of classical and chamber-music concerts, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, drawing large crowds for the world-class performers.

Mr. Fortune said Adventists consider music to be a tool that should be used to glorify God. His church features piano, organ, drums, and other instruments in its services.

"I don't think we're a rocking church, but I think we are an authentic and genuine church," he said. In a talk that lasted about an hour, including questions and answers, Mr. Fortune quoted the Bible freely in explaining some of the denomination's fundamental beliefs:

• The sabbath should be observed on Saturday, the seventh day of the week.

• Jesus Christ's return is imminent.

• The Bible encourages vegetarianism.

• Humanity is involved in "The Great Controversy" - the battle between God and Satan, or good and evil.

After the lecture guests were taken on a tour of the facility that includes a preschool and a grade school for kindergarten through eighth grade.

The church traces its origins to the preaching of William Miller, a former Baptist from Washington, N.H., who believed he had unlocked Bible references that foretold Jesus' return in 1844.

"They were convinced they would be the ones when Jesus shows up. They were mistaken," Mr. Fortune said.

He cited a verse in Matthew 24 that says, "Nobody knows the day or the hour" of the Second Coming. Adventists still believe Jesus' return and the cleansing of the Earth are imminent, although the exact date is unknown.

The denomination was formally organized in 1863.

Mr. Fortune, who spoke for about an hour, including questions and answers, said one irony about Seventh-day Adventists is that they believe the world will end soon but at the same time they are "health nuts."

The church stresses good dietary and lifestyle habits and, like observant Jews, follows dietary guidelines from the biblical book of Leviticus. It teaches abstinence from alcoholic beverages and tobacco, considering the body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Mr. Fortune said he personally is "70 percent" vegetarian, abstaining from meat on weekdays but not weekends.

The church holds Communion services about once a quarter and also holds foot-washing services, modeled on Jesus' example of servanthood by washing the disciples' feet. In a baptistry at one side of the altar, the faithful are baptized by immersion.

Mr. Fortune said the denomination does not ordain women, a doctrine he personally feels should be changed. He has hosted public book discussions on popular titles. In September he will lead discussions on the book Hurt People Hurt People by Sandra Wilson.

By eating healthfully and shunning alcohol and tobacco, Adventists live an average of nine years longer than most Americans, Mr. Fortune said. "But it's not just a longer life, it's a longer life lived well. And if we all try to do a little better, than we have longer to tell the story of Jesus."

Membership at the Toledo church is listed at 377, but attendance is around 125 a week. Toledo First Seventh-day Adventist holds its services at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday.

Attendance has been declining in recent years, and the average age has increased to 56, Mr. Fortune said.

There are seven Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Toledo area and 90 in the state. All pool their funds and pay each Ohio pastor the same salary, Mr. Fortune said. Globally, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has nearly 16 million members, including a million in North America.

Visitors at Tuesday's church tour were presented gift bags containing evangelical tools - such as an eraser representing God's forgiveness - and a coffee mug and a booklet on doctrine that Mr. Fortune urged be given to strangers or acquaintances as a way of spreading the Gospel.

Marlene Harner, of South Toledo, a regular at the TAM houses of worship tours, said it was the first time she had visited the church and described the building itself as beautiful, especially the way it is set amid so many trees.

Cindy Carrothers, 74, of West Toledo, said the tour was "very, very interesting, and I really appreciate learning about how other people worship. You can have misconceptions, but when you go to one of these tours it helps put things in proper perspective."

The next stop on the 2010 Summer Houses of Worship Tour is CedarCreek Church's Whitehouse Campus, 6950 Whitehouse Square Rd., Whitehouse, at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Information: 419-242-7401.

Contact David Yonke at:

dyonke@theblade.com

or 419-724-6154.