Editorial by Gary Gibbs
During this year’s Faith for Family door-to-door outreach, 2,073 members from across the state convened in Northeastern Pennsylvania to visit homes. (Our first effort began in 2016 with 1,340 people.) This united endeavor is having a major impact. For the first time in conference history, 500 people joined God’s remnant church, resulting in a total of 555 new members in 2017.
Story by Jerry Woods
More than 1,000 WGTS listeners came together at Potomac Conference's Sligo church in Takoma Park, Md., to hear about the hope that Jesus brings at the WGTS “Night of Hope.” In recent years as the WGTS 91.9 audience has grown, one of the ways the WGTS team reaches out to the 40 percent of listeners who don’t identify as Christians is through this event.
Read articles from the November 2018 Visitor:
Story by Michele Joseph
Now that the Priska Volpes’ children are grown, she participates in pastoral visits with her husband, James, at the Valley View and Beckley Seventh-day Adventist churches in West Virginia. They team up for health lectures, where she offers cooking demonstrations. She also has her own ministry. While reading Desire of Ages as part of her worship routine, she was struck with the idea to give out one Steps to Christ per day. The idea frightened Volpe, who is a shy woman and doesn’t like crowds. But she’s learned a lesson about God asking for what seems like hard requests.
“I have noticed when I do accept things, it is personal growth,” she said. “When I do something that is outside your comfort zone and stretch yourself, it helps you grow.”
5 Lessons Learned as a Pastor's Spouse
1. Be You.
“It’s OK to be you. I truly thought I was going to have to change my whole way of life. People truly appreciate me being me and not trying to be somebody I’m not.”—Kathy Pepper
2. Be Humble.
“[I’ve learned] humility, and how to [be] OK in a supporting role.”—Jeremy Wong
3. There’s Joy in Giving.
Interview by Alexis A. Goring
Seventh-day Adventists sometimes tend to “do life” in their own bubble of sorts—speaking their own church language (GC, haystacks, AY), socializing with people who believe like they do and even shopping in special stores, says Sung Kwon, executive director of the North American Division Adventist Community Services, and a member of Chesapeake Conference’s Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md.
In his book, Burst the Bubble, Kwon challenges Adventist readers to “burst the bubble” and engage the community in what he calls “life on life evangelism.”
Read more about his book in the interview below:
On November 6, 2018, the Executive Committee of the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted the following response to a General Conference vote taken at the 2018 GC Annual Council:
Editorial by Victor Zill
How often do you contemplate the blessings in your life? I firmly believe that focusing on the blessings God has given us—both individually and as a church—helps keep our priorities straight and our attitudes correctly tuned. Even if problems and tragedies run into us like a Mack Truck, with God on our side, there are plenty of things to celebrate.
Story by Bryant Smith
Story by Tiffany Doss
Members of the Southern Asian church in Silver Spring, Md., recently celebrated 30 years of God’s faithfulness. “Everyone joined to embrace the history and celebrate what lies ahead,” says Franklin David, pastor.
In the late 1950s, many Southern Asian Adventists migrated to areas in the Potomac Conference and held church services in their homes. In the 1980s, they approached conference administration with a request to establish a Southern Asian church. David established a company as a volunteer leader, and, within two years, the congregation grew to 250 members. Today the church is attended by more than 900.