Story by V. Michelle Bernard
Tears streamed down Manny Scott’s face as talked to some 5,000 Seventh-day Adventist educators at the North American Division 2018 Teachers’ Convention in Chicago.
News
Dear Columbia Union Members,
This year’s Annual Council—the annual fall gathering of the governing body for our worldwide church—is scheduled for October 11-17 in Battle Creek, Mich.
Our Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee is deeply concerned about proposals that will be considered this year that are designed to bypass long-established church structure and create an overreaching arm that would facilitate increased control of any division or union action the General Conference leadership doesn’t approve going forward. The Union Committee does not believe this tactic will help to advance mission nor achieve unity.
Story by Janel Ware
Alumnus Joe Lowe (’86), the Potomac Conference Shenandoah Valley Academy’s (SVA) new recruiter and freshman Bible teacher, recently sat down with Janel Ware, SVA’s development and alumni director, to discuss the school’s impact on his life, how imperative an Adventist boarding school is for his sons and the desire God has placed on his heart for all teenagers to have this same opportunity:
Story by Betty Klinck
One in 10 people over the age of 75 have a leaky heart valve called mitral valve regurgitation. Adventist HealthCare Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Md., is the first hospital in Montgomery County to offer a minimally invasive heart procedure to fix the problem without surgery.
Read these stories from the 2018 October Visitor:
Story by Andre Hastick
Over the last year, Chesapeake Conference administrators have been on a journey, paved with an abundance of prayer and discussion. Members, pastors, educators, executive committee members, department directors and others engaged in a conversation about the mission of the conference. This prayerful dialogue refreshed the strategic ministry plan, officially voted in May 2018 by the conference executive committee.
“We are thankful for the input from throughout the conference and the careful consideration by the executive committee in developing the strategic plan. It will help to provide priority and guidance of the ministries during this quinquennium,” says Rick Remmers, president.
Story by LaTasha Hewitt
Allegheny East Conference's Delaware Korean church plant in Newark recently hosted a Happy House Program, a house repair service provided to Korean residents in the Wilmington, Del., area. To assist with the project, 26 students and two professors came from Sahmyook University in Seoul, Korea, as well as five volunteers from the Andrews Korean church in Berrien Springs, Mich.
After advertising the program to 850 Korean households in the Wilmington area, Seungho Park, pastor of Delaware Korean, visited each of the 16 applicants. After a careful review of their financial status and the level of family support, he selected eight families.
CUASI (Columbia Union Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries) members will gather November 1–3 for “Not Mine, But Yours,” a conference organized to help attendees grow in their businesses, connect with other business owners and worship together.
“Our goal is to encourage attendees to recognize that their business, ministry, profession was given to them by God to further His kingdom, and that they should use their sphere of influence to share the gospel,” shares Mark Brown, president. “We want attendees to leave with a recognition that they have been strategically placed by God for His purposes.”
Story by Visitor Staff
David Nazaire and Alexandre Inamasu, longtime members of New Jersey Conference’s Hackettstown Pathfinder Club, know how hard it is to fundraise for events such as the upcoming Chosen 2019 International Pathfinder Camporee in OskKosh, Wisc. To help their club and others like them, they recently launched pathfindermall.com, a site that sells Christian and Seventh-day Adventist-themed merchandise, including camporee gear.
Official Statement
October 2, 2018
An Appeal from the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee
The General Conference Administrative Committee’s proposed new system of committees to assure compliance and uniformity within the global church will not result in the unity it seeks. We find this approach to be deeply troubling for it will bypass established policies, protocols and processes and reach beyond longstanding governance practices that have contributed to the amazing growth of our diverse, yet united world church family. The global implications of this process are truly a matter of grave concern. In its present form, it appears to centralize even more authority and control in the hands of a relatively small group.