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What Does Your Gift Look Like?

Story by Kasper Haughton Jr.

When you give to your conference’s endowment funds, what does your gift look like?

At first, your gift may simply look like a check in the mail or a one-time online donation. It might look like an organization offering to match your gift or a small monthly contribution. But that’s only what your gift looks like today.

Tomorrow, it may look like a father and son deciding to get baptized together at summer camp. Your gift may look like students learning STEM skills needed for careers of tomorrow. Or your gift can be used for new generations of leaders to grow churches together in faith.

Chesapeake Conference Directors Appointed to Lead Youth Programs

Shawn Paris and Kenia Reyes de Leon are the new directors for Chesapeake Conference’s Youth and Young Adult Ministries Department and the Children’s Ministries Department.

Story by Evan Knott

The Chesapeake Conference Executive Committee recently approved a reconfiguration of the conference’s Youth and Young Adult Ministries Department and the Children’s Ministries Department. The committee appointed two new directors: Kenia Reyes de Leon as Youth and Young Adult Ministries director and Shawn Paris as Camp Ministries and Missions director. Ann Reynolds will now serve exclusively as the Children’s Ministries director.

Adventist HealthCare Promotes Children’s Mental Health

Artem Kniaz/Unsplash

Story by Adventist HealthCare Staff

Adventist HealthCare The Lourie Center for Children’s Social & Emotional Wellness works to improve the social and emotional health of young children and their families through prevention, early intervention, education, research and training.

To support this powerful work, a group of high-achieving, professional women formed Champions for Children in 2021 to help raise awareness about the crisis in children’s mental health and trauma.

The Inside Edge for the New Year

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Editorial by Jerry Lutz

If you’re thinking that things in this world don’t appear to be making much sense these days, you’re not alone, and it’s because they don’t. The confusion and societal upheavals we are witnessing and experiencing today—which may seem new and unheard of—are just the current versions of what has been going on long before any of us came onto the scene. The difference today is that, unlike previous generations, we have instant, digital access to virtually everything in real time, including what’s happening around the world.

Spring Valley Academy Senior Named in National Merit Scholarship Program

Story by Vicki Swetnam

Ohio Conference's Spring Valley Academy is pleased to announce that senior Rebekah Shull has been named as a 2023 semifinalist from among the 1.3 million program entrants that entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP). By taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants, Shull is among the nationwide pool of semifinalists—representing less than one percent of United States high school seniors, which includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

Three Ways to Increase Your Church’s Evangelism Reach Online

Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay

Interview by Visitor Staff

Potomac Conference churches recently had the opportunity to receive funds to enhance their Media Ministries. (Read more here.) The Visitor staff interviewed Richard Castillo, Potomac’s Media director, for tips that all churches can use to improve this vital ministry. 

Visitor: What is the most important thing (social media-wise) churches can do to increase their reach? 

Fourth Street Friendship Members Make Christmas Special for Those Without Homes

Fourth Street Friendship members with with Buffalo soldiers volunteers at an event for those experiencing homelessness

Story by V. Michelle Bernard, with reporting by Rocky Twyman / Images by Tijuana Griffin

Members of Allegheny East Conference’s Fourth Street Friendship church in Washington, D.C., operate a soup kitchen every Sunday, and this past Christmas, which fell on a Sunday, was no exception.

An estimated 50 people experiencing homelessness attended the event to enjoy a gourmet holiday meal and free winter caps, gloves and thermal underwear to prepare for the cold months ahead. 

Potomac Conference Offers Funds to Expand Utilization of Media in Churches

Image by 350543 from Pixabay

Story by Potomac Conference Staff

During the 2022 opening address of North American Division's (NAD) year-end meetings, G. Alexander Bryant, NAD president, encouraged leadership across the division to explore opportunities in which “we can maximize and expand our utilization of media.” This need became acute during the pandemic and challenged church members to find their church outside their physical buildings. 

Charles A. Tapp, current Potomac Conference president, was a senior pastor at Sligo church in Takoma Park, Md., when the pandemic hit. Like most pastors across the spectrum of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Tapp gathered his resources and began preaching to empty seats each week.