News

Ndubuisi Nwade, Thomas Quinlan, Columbus chief police, C. Shaun Arthur, and Keith Goodman

Story by Benia Jennings

Three pastors from the Central Ohio region of the Allegheny West Conference (AWC) recently met with Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan. The meeting, organized by C. Shaun Arthur, pastor of the Beacon of Hope church in Columbus, centered on discussing newly instituted police reforms, in light of the shootings of Andre Hill and Casey Goodson Jr. by local law enforcement. Keith Goodman, senior pastor of the Ephesus church in Columbus, and Ndubuisi Nwade, associate pastor at Ephesus, also joined the meeting.

Perspectives by Miya Kim

Over the past few years, I have been going on an identity journey. This journey has been revelatory in many ways. Very little is known about my origins and beginning. I know I was born in Korea and was in an orphanage in Incheon by the time I was 21 months old. There isn’t a trace of who my birth parents are, but a couple who hailed from the giant state of Texas came into the picture who wanted children but found it impossible to build a family traditionally.                                                                             

John Henri Rorabeck

Join Naturalist John Henri Rorabeck on a virtual walk this Sabbath at around 1:30 p.m. Weather permitting, he'll take us on a tour (via Instagram stories) of part of Patapsco State Park in Maryland.

He'll guide us on a nature walk full of examples of God's creativity and care. Follow the Columbia Union Visitor on Instagram at instagram.com/columbiaunionvisitor.

Email any questions you have for Rorabeck to visitor@columbiaunion.net or DM us on Instagram and he'll answer them on Sabbath.

 

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

Story by LaTasha Hewitt

Through one virtual appeal, Allegheny East Conference’s (AEC) Hispanic Ministries team baptized 214 people in six separate locations in one single weekend. In normal circumstances, AEC’s Hispanic congregations—consisting of 32 congregations and eight church plants—would worship together in one location for Fellowship Day. Due to the pandemic, however, they proceeded with a virtual joint service.

Students from the Mountain View Christian School in South Williamsport pray together.

Story by Shawn Shives

As we pray together, God promises to answer. Lives are changed, healing happens, people come to know God. Prayer is one of the most powerful things God’s people can do.

Recently, while I was leading worship at Reading Junior Academy (RJA), I was thinking about a meeting I was headed to afterward. I expected it to be a difficult appointment that wouldn’t end well. So I asked the stu- dents to pray for my meeting. They prayed for God to lead, and God heard their prayers and answered! The meeting went better than I could have ever imagined.

Story by Valerie Morikone

Tuesday morning, April 6, 2021, the Mountain View Conference (MVC) Executive Committee met to begin the work of selecting the next president, a position left vacant when Mike Hewitt accepted a call to the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference. Dave Weigley, Columbia Union Conference’s president, chaired the meeting at the Parkersburg (W.Va.) Seventh-day Adventist church. Thirteen committee members, along with department leaders prayed, discussed, and went through the names that had been submitted by MVC constituents and folks from other conferences. Elder Rick Remmers, Columbia Union Conference Executive Secretary, gave the devotional.

In Joshua 3, God promised that after the priests' feet touched the water, it was then that the water would be stopped and they’d see God had everything under control. Isn’t that the way it works sometimes? We feel the weight of the world on us, and obstacles before us seem too much to handle. But God says “If you step into the water, there’s rest on the other side.”

 

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Story by Anthony Baffi

Jonathan Carrillo joins the New Jersey Conference as the new pastor of the Camden Spanish, Pine Hill Spanish, Gibbsboro Spanish company and Mt. Holly Spanish churches.

Carrillo received his bachelor’s degree in theology from the University of Montemorelos (Mexico). He served as chaplain at the University of Navojoa and associate pastor in the Alamos church and the Central church of Navojoa before moving to pastor in the Rocky Mountain Conference.

Image from iStock

“And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him’” (Matt. 8:7 NKJV).

“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented” (Matt. 8:6, NKJV), the Roman centurion said to Jesus. “But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed” (verse 8), because he believed. The story ends by saying: “And his servant was healed that same hour” (verse 13).

There are two lessons I receive from this wonderful story: First, Jesus has the power to heal no matter the severity of the illness. And second, Jesus can use anyone to bless another person who needs help.