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.
Story by Chesapeake Conference Communication Department
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.
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.
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.”
Join the Year of the Bible Journey
To help you dig deeper into God’s Holy Word this year, we’re offering:
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.
“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.
Washington Adventist University's MusicFest 2021 "Virtual-oso Final Concert" features participating high school ensembles from around the Columbia Union schools and beyond. It culminates in a remarkable collaboration of Adolphus Hailstork's "He's Got the Whole World In His Hand."
Congrats to all the students who received music scholarships to Washington Adventist University during the event: