Story by Valerie Morikone
Rick Cutright, who retired in mid-June, was an underground coal miner for 22 years before accepting a call to pastoral ministry in 1997. He began pastoring Mountain View Conference’s (MVC) Buckhannon (W.Va.) church and later added the Glenville (W.Va.) and Braxton (W.Va.) churches. During Cutright’s tenure, his wife, Bonnie, taught at the Brushy Fork Adventist School in Buckhannon for more than 10 years.
Historia de la Conferencia de Nueva Jersey
Jorge Agüero, presidente de la Conferencia de Nueva Jersey, ordena a Joe Daniel Navarro, con su esposa, Tatiana, pastor de las iglesias españolas de Jersey City, La Esperanza, Union City y de la Compañía de Bayonne; y Anthony Baffi, con su esposa, Yayris, director de Comunicación y Medios de la conferencia.
Historia de Anthony Baffi
Estefany Flores, que asiste a la iglesia de Robbinsville de la Conferencia de Nueva Jersey, ha pasado por muchas luchas en su vida que han puesto a prueba su fe cuando se trata del tiempo de Dios.
Después de perder a su madre a una edad temprana, Flores tuvo que adaptarse a la ausencia de una figura materna. Empezó a encontrar consuelo en amistades y relaciones que acabaron en traición y desamor. Estas decepciones la llevaron a abandonar la universidad y empezó a cuestionar la presencia de Dios. No sabía que Él estaba a su lado, enjugando cada lágrima.
Historia de Anthony Baffi
El Comité Ejecutivo de la Conferencia de Nueva Jersey (NJC) ha elegido recientemente a Carlos Portanova como nuevo tesorero de la conferencia. Portanova aceptó el llamado y regresará a la conferencia donde anteriormente trabajó como subtesorero. Antes de su regreso, Portanova se desempeñó como tesorero y director de Servicios Donaciones Planificadas y Servicios Fiduciarios de la Conferencia de Oklahoma.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51:17, NKJV).
The morning after Tropical Storm Isaias brushed through my neighborhood, I went outside to check my garden beds. The soil along the slope of a small pine grove where the summer weeds were normally difficult to pull up was now unusually saturated, and the weeds came out easily.
I began pulling the weeds that had previously built strong roots within and around those beautiful evergreens. I thought about the “storms of life” that sometimes break us, revealing all of humanity’s weakness, and our need of a Savior whose everlasting arms are willing and able to pull us out of the gutter.
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26, NKJV).
“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24, NKJV).
As a child, I was desperate to know more about God. From what I can remember, I was introduced to God in grade school by neighbors. I proceeded to invite myself to many different church denominations with several of my neighbors and relatives. Looking back, I realize something was missing in my life, and I believe that, even as children, the Holy Spirit works to draw us closer to God.
“For with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27, KJV).
My husband and I received a call to be Bible workers in Florida. We rented a moving trailer and car carrier for our trip. On our moving day, it started to rain, and because our car sat low to the ground, we had trouble getting it onto the carrier. The moving company upgraded the carrier so that the whole car could go on top instead of just the front wheels.
For a half hour, the church’s head elder and I watched under an umbrella as my husband tried to drive the car onto the carrier. Seeing this, the gentleman from the moving company said, “It is impossible; you will never get the car on the carrier.”
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10, NIV).
College is a hard time for most young adults. Personally, that period of my life was lonely and discouraging, full of seemingly endless work on top of regular everyday life while figuring out how to be and act like an adult.
In 2017, the American College Health Association conducted a survey of nearly 48,000 college students that revealed 64 percent felt “very lonely” and 62 percent felt “overwhelming anxious” within the previous 12 months. For some students, college is just a bunch of lonely people together.
Words cannot express the loss and pain we feel in the passing of Henry and Sharon Fordham, president and first lady of the Allegheny East Conference. Few leader-couples have touched our lives as much as they did, and our hearts are with their family and conference family.
President Fordham was a quintessential Christian gentleman and friend who demonstrated genuine love for Jesus, for his dear wife, Sharon, for his family and for everyone he encountered.
He served with heart, led with humility and blessed countless lives.