SAM Conference: A Truly Pentecostal Time

Bob Cook felt it from the moment people began to arrive — a sense of growing excitement and genuine anticipation seemed to be palpable as seniors began to trickle, then pour into the convention hotel in Branson, Missouri, for the Senior Adult Ministries Conference.

Cook and his wife, Sherilyn, national leaders of the Assemblies of God Senior Adult Ministries (SAM), spearheaded the biennial national convention held Sept. 4-6. Themed “Fresh and Flourishing,” the conference, by all accounts, lived up to and far exceeded its theme.

“We had over 800 seniors from 37 states and two foreign countries in attendance,” Bob Cook says. “We had people driving over 1,000 miles from Washington state and Oregon as well as coming from Florida, Texas, North Dakota, Massachusetts — so many states — to attend . . . and what was amazing to me was the level of excitement and anticipation; we had people lining up to attend the opening service 45 minutes before the doors opened!”

Cook says the Lord blessed the efforts and responded to the intercessory prayer that led up to the convention.

“It was just a joyous crowd,” he says. “The worship leaders, Louie and Kathy Salazar, did a fabulous job . . . the songs we sang, some of the old favorites of seniors, it’s hard to describe — the volume of the singing was just overwhelming. You could hear the celebration and appreciation in their voices!”

Cook says the speakers for the event — Malcolm Burleigh, Elly Marroquin, Doug Clay, Richard Exley, and Martha Tennison — were “absolutely phenomenal.”

“I’ve heard them all speak before, but there just seemed to be an extra anointing on each one of them,” Cook says. “Numerous people later came up to me remarking how powerful and on fire they were!”

However, on Thursday evening, General Superintendent Doug Clay was the speaker. Cook says what was experienced that night was truly a time of Pentecost.

“Superintendent Clay’s message was so on point — he was truly our Sunday Evening Service pastor that night,” Cook says. “That evening, we had a prolonged altar service. He invited the 16 district senior adult leaders and their spouses to come forward as altar workers, and then he opened the altars up — people flooded forward.”

As inspirational as it was to see hundreds of seniors come to the altar, what caught Cook’s attention and filled his heart with a combination of amazement and joy was a bunch of college students.

“The Evangel University Chorale had performed three songs for us that evening,” Cook says. “While Superintendent Clay spoke, they were sitting off to the side. But during the altar time, they saw that the district leaders and other AG leaders assisting were not going to be able to pray with everyone. So, the students came out of their seats and permeated the entire altar area, praying for the seniors . . . it was one of those times when people weren’t in a hurry, and there was a special visitation of God’s Spirit that night!”

Cari Henders, who attended the conference with her husband, Duane, agreed, posting, “The speakers were excellent and what a blessing it was to see God work among us during the worship services!”

A ministry tangibly blessed through the convention was Light the Way, the missions program for AG Women. Nonda Houston, national director of AG Women, shared about the missions ministry, which exists to “unite women around the cause of missions giving for the victimized and marginalized.” Following her message, an offering was taken and nearly $12,000 was raised.

In addition to main services, the conference offered 16 breakout sessions designed for seniors — all of which (main and breakout sessions) will be available on the SAM website in the near future. The sessions covered a variety of topics, including grandparenting, passing on the legacy of faith, demonstrating love to those struggling with sexual orientation/gender identity, navigating generations and generational change, and many others.

“All the workshops were so well done, but the one many found particularly interesting — and maybe a little embarrassing — was the one on helping seniors avoid scams and fraud,” Cook says. “Rollie Dimos (the former director of Internal Audit for the AG) led that session.”

“I think it was pretty much eye-opening for many seniors that they’ve nearly all fallen for a scam,” says Dimos, now president of Administrative Consulting Ministry. “We went through the top 10 scams (session audio available on the SAM website soon) that seniors often fall for . . . and what to look for to tell when something is a scam.”

Many of the attendees were at first embarrassed to admit they had fallen for a scam, but by the end of the presentation, people were sharing their stories with each other. Dimos believes awareness of scams — sharing experiences — is a key to helping prevent seniors from being taken advantage of by a scammer.

Darrell Beebe, and his wife, Sherri, drove nearly 1,800 miles from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to attend the conference — they said the event was worth every mile.

“The conference was outstanding,” Darrell says. “The main sessions were inspiring and very relevant. The breakout sessions were very helpful because we work with seniors in our church . . . we’re looking forward to attending again in the future.”

Cook says that currently plans for the next SAM Convention are still fluid, but with the overwhelmingly strong response to this year’s convention, he is looking toward September 2026.

Perhaps an online post by Trudy French best captures the spirit of the 2024 SAM Convention: “God showed up. My heart went away full!”