The Advent Christian Church has been around for 166 years.

And in all that time we have never once officially required a pastor to affirm the Trinity before he stood in one of our pulpits.

Not once.

This August that changes — or it doesn't.

The 2026 Declaration of Principles is coming before the Triennial Convention in Ridgecrest, North Carolina and it is the most important theological document this denomination has ever produced. It puts the gospel first. It puts the Trinity first. It gives the Advent Christian Church a floor to stand on that it has never had.

Today I sit down with Tom Loghry — the pastor who built this document from the ground up, fought for it when it wasn't popular, and is bringing it to the floor this August.

We talk about what's been broken for 166 years. We talk about what the Declaration actually says. We talk about why the top-down leadership argument is wrong. And we talk about what happens to this denomination if we let this moment pass.

This is not a comfortable conversation.

But it is a necessary one.

And it is long overdue.