Read and Share Articles from the January/February 2023 Visitor:
News
Editorial by Charles A. Tapp
For the past several years, our mission here at the Potomac Conference has been to grow healthy disciple-making churches. That is because we believe our denomination’s foundation lies within the local church’s success. That, in a nutshell, is the reason we exist.
Recently, we have adopted the motto “Moving Beyond the Walls” because, regardless of how good a mission statement might be, success might easily evade our grasp without a way to achieve our goal. Moving beyond the walls means that here, in the Potomac Conference, we are no longer content that our churches merely have services inside its walls; instead, we are encouraging them to seek creative ways to assist others by moving beyond their walls. As devastating as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, it has provided us with the necessary “push” to go into our communities as never before so that we might become the salt and light that Jesus has admonished us to be. As we all know, salt is only effective when it leaves its shaker.
By God’s grace, this year we are determined to move beyond the walls and to do it as a TEAM: Together, Everyone Achieves More! We believe this mission should not be left up to our churches alone; to make this a reality, it will take a cooperative effort from our schools, conference administration and every member. Let’s achieve this goal together!
Story by Christina Keresoma
Kettering Health physicians and the Kettering Adventist church teamed up to teach members and the community how to live healthier lives.
Cardiologist Harvey Hahn, MD, has a strong passion for healthy living and promoting a healthy lifestyle. So much so, he created a community initiative called Health Night. Health Night is a series of health-related talks Dr. Hahn started in late 2021. Since then, attendees have learned about intermittent fasting, exercise, sleep, skin, stress and anxiety, and building better habits.
Story by WGTS Staff
WGTS 91.9 is headed to the silver screen. Writer/Director Anthony Hackett chose WGTS 91.9 as one of the key sets for “The Perfect Christmas,” which will be released during the 2023 holiday season.
Story by Rob Gettys
When you visit Highland View Academy’s (HVA) campus or website, it’s hard to miss that the school is “Educating for Eternity.” In other words, HVA prioritizes the gospel blueprint, laid out by Jesus in Matthew 28:19–20.
Editorial by Gary Gibbs
After entering church leadership years ago, I realized something vital was missing in my spiritual life. The spark just wasn’t there. As I prayerfully considered this, God directed me to a principle of spiritual vitality from Ellen White: “Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted to others, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 47, author’s emphasis). In the busyness of administration, I had stopped personally sharing the gospel. The result was lukewarm faith.
I asked God to help me find others who were interested in studying the Bible. Within a week, He had led me to Al and Billie. We began studies that resulted in their baptisms—and to my faith reigniting. That’s when I discovered this dynamic reality—if each member reaches one person a year for Jesus, we will not only come alive spiritually, but we will double the number of people in our churches!
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.
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.
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.
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.