News | Seventh-day Adventist Church

Chesapeake Conference Adventist Community Services Responds to Pandemic

Story by Andre Hastick

As the COVID-19 outbreak quickly emerged, the Chesapeake Adventist Community Services (ACS) Department mobilized trained volunteers and partnered with the American Red Cross, state organizations and local churches to provide crisis care to communities across the Chesapeake territory.

Through these partnerships, Chesapeake ACS established the following: a network of 16 church-based food pantries; an emotional and spiritual care hotline; and four personal protective equipment (PPE) donation centers, in collaboration with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.

A Lesser-Known Civil Rights Hero

Story by Celeste Ryan Blyden

Irene Morgan Kirkaldy (1917–2007), a Seventh-day Adventist from Baltimore and one of the lesser-known civil rights heroes, was recently recognized with a new highway marker in Glouchester, Va., honoring her story. In 1944, while traveling home from Virginia, she was arrested for refus-ing to give up her seat in the colored section of the bus to a white passenger. She took her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declared interstate transport racial segregation unconstitutional.

Salut Les Enfants ! Trouver Victor !

Histoire par V. Michelle Bernard

Les 15 premiers enfants qui trouvent, dans ce numéro, Victor, la souris de Visitor, si vos parents ou tuteurs se prennent en photo avec vous et suivent le magazine Visitor sur les réseaux sociaux, vous recevrez un puzzle de LivingWell, à Silver Spring, dans le Maryland. Bonne chasse !

Hey Kids! Find Victor!

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Be one of the first 15 children to find Victor the Visitor mouse in this issue, get a parent or guardian to snap your photo with him and tag the Visitor on social media to receive a puzzle from LivingWell in Silver Spring, Md. Happy Hunting!

Drawing People to Christ

Feature by Edwin Manuel Garcia / Photos by Crissy Musick

Chris Trent truly understands church members who are struggling with issues, big and small.

“My childhood was rough. ... My sister was abused, so I guess she passed some of that abuse to me,” says the pastor of Mountain View Conference’s aptly named Grace Outreach church in Logan, W.Va., and the Grace Community church in Williamson, W.Va. “I was taken to church quite often when I was a kid, so I thought there was a God, but, at the time, I didn’t have a need for God.”

Trent is a former Marine who owned a tattoo business for 13 years. “And in between,” he adds, “I was married and had three kids by a woman who was kind of wild. We were into drugs a little bit.”

Pastor Chalks the Walk, Thinks Outside the Mailbox

Story by Ricardo Bacchus

“I don’t really consider myself an artist, but I do enjoy dabbling in what I call ‘art therapy,’” says Kandace Zollman, the pastor for nurture and visitation at Chesapeake Conference’s Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md.

She recently took this “art therapy” to a whole new level. Each Sabbath since social distancing started due to the coronavirus, she has put her talents to work by “chalking” God’s love on her driveway.

“I really wanted to send some kind of message of hope to the people around me. I decided that the message that I left would be the words of God Himself to people who are struggling,” she says.

101 Classes Introduce New Hobbies to Members

Joanne Goodwin, treasurer for the Charlottesville (Va.) church, demonstrates the basic steps needed to bake homemade bread.

Story by Tiffany Doss

You don’t need to be enrolled in college to take a 101 class in the intricacies of gardening, maneuvering remote controlled helicopters, creating stained glass or baking bread. Members at Potomac Conference's Harrisonburg and Charlottesville churches in Virginia have been tuning in weekly via Zoom to discover what hidden talents fellow Potomac members have and are sharing with one another.

Dog and Owner use Zoom to Provide Stress Relief to Medical Staff

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Swiffer, an approximately 5-year-old Great Pyrenees/Labrador/mix, and his owner, Sarah Porter, a member at Chesapeake Conference’s New Hope church in Fulton, Md., have provided pet therapy to medical staff with Pets on Wheels since 2018. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, their visits to local hospitals stopped.

Perspectives: One Day at a Time

Perspective by Pastor Will Johns

How do you make summer plans right now? It is very difficult to plan anything because so much is unknown about what restrictions will or will not still be in place. And so we must deal with the loss of future expectation. I don't know about you, but I like having things to look forward to. I love it when I have some family vacations scheduled on the calendar. I have had to cancel two trips for this summer already and that is disappointing. I'm sure most of you are in a similar situation. So how do we respond?

As Pandemic Hits Home, Members Adjust to New Normal

Adventist HealthCare workers pray during the Coronavirus pandemic

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

With all churches across the Columbia Union Conference physically closed due to the coronavirus, pastors and members changed—seemingly overnight— the way they minister. In addition to offering livestreamed or pre-recorded services, many churches and conferences moved planning meetings, Sabbath School classes and Bible studies to Zoom, Facebook Live or other digital video platforms.