Story by Mario Thorp

For this year’s spring evangelism series, Carlos Torres, the Personal Ministries director for the New Jersey Conference, and a team of 16 young adults, led the “Encuentros de Fe y Esperanza” (Encounters of Faith and Hope) program—a study of Jesus in the gospels and a doctrinal bridge to the Seventh-day Adventist message.

Each night more than 200 families across the United States and Latin America listened to the Word of God from their electronic devices. After the meetings, the viewers were encouraged to connect with Adventists willing to talk about any subject matter they wished.

Story by Tamyra Horst

Those who know Jeannette Dare can testify she has a love and passion for people and a desire to care for them in practical ways. Dare brought this passion and care to her work as Pennsylvania Conference’s Adventist Community Services director for the last 13 years. Since 2007 she has worked to equip and encourage churches to meet the needs of their communities in practical ways, believing this would open doors for sharing the gospel. She helped churches plan programs and events with low costs adapted to their specific location.

Story by LaTasha Hewitt

Earlier this year, the Yeboah family of Allegheny East Conference's Philadelphia Ghana church had their lives turned upside down when their 7-year-old daughter, Jayzlyn, was hit by a car after exiting a school bus. As a result, she suffered a major brain injury causing her to be hospitalized for six months.

Doctors said her condition was grim and she needed to be airlifted to another hospital. But the unfavorable weather stood in the way. Doctors told the family they would have to transport her via ground travel and would need them to sign a waiver. “That’s when we knew how bad she was,” says Dickson Yeboah, Jayzlyn’s father.

Story by Andre Hastick

In mid-March, teachers and students across the conference were unable to meet in their respective school buildings due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. To adapt to this new reality, educators in all 11 Chesapeake Conference schools began offering comprehensive distance learning experiences for their students.

“We saw it coming and prepared ahead of time,” says Janesta Walker, superintendent of schools for Chesapeake. “We met with the teachers right before spring break to discuss what school would look like in a few weeks, and started providing online resources such as Zoom, Google Classroom and Schoology.”