The previous school year taught many lessons as educators converted in-person lesson plans into material for online classes. Administrators are carrying many of them into the current school year—whether online or in person. Here are just a few of the lessons learned:
News
Story by Michele Joseph
Driving on a Sabbath afternoon to escape the house she’d been in all week, Ruth-Ann Thompson had a moment of inspiration. The Columbus, Ohio, resident realized she wasn’t far from the home of fellow church members. She pulled over and sent them a text.
“I’m going to be pulling up in your driveway in about two minutes,” she texted. “I’m going to pray for you and your family, and be gone.”
When she pulled into the driveway, the family turned on their porch light, acknowledging her arrival.
Story by Adventist HealthCare Staff
On Aug. 25, Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center celebrated its first birthday and a year of providing care to its community through more than 51,000 total patent visits.
“White Oak Medical Center’s first year has been full of joy, excitement and blessings, as well as constant change amid the unprecedented COVD-19 pandemic,” said Anthony Stahl, president of Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center. The hospital opened on Aug. 25, 2019 after moving from its former Takoma Park location where it had been for more than a century.
Pennsylvania Conference Staff
A special constituency session of the Pennsylvania Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will be held beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 11, 2020. The subject will be a new Pennsylvania Conference office headquarters building on Blue Mountain Academy Campus. The meeting will be held by videoconference and teleconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Regular delegates and delegates at large for the 2018 regular constituency session will serve as delegates to this special session. Further information will be sent directly to delegates on how to connect to the session.
Gary Gibbs, President
The Visitor is now offering exclusively online classified ads on our website at columbiaunionvisitor.com/bulletin-board/online-classified. Previously, classified ads were only available for purchase in the print magazine.
The details are as follows:
Timeline
Once the ad and payment are submitted, the ads will be posted within five business days. Ads will remain online for a minimum of 30 days.
Rates
Rates are the same as in the printed Visitor:
$60 for 50 words or less; .75¢ for each additional word over 50.
Story by the Visitor Staff
Rob Vandeman, an administrator and pastor who has ministered for the Seventh-day Adventist Church for almost 50 years, announced his plans to step down from his role as Columbia Union Conference’s executive secretary at the end of the year.
Vandeman, who served in his current position since 2011, plans to continue working at the Columbia Union in some capacity until the union’s constituency session in July 2021.
“Rob has always been a champion for the grace of Christ and the mission of the Adventist Church in so many ways as pastor and administrator,” says Dave Weigley, Columbia Union president.
Story by WGTS Staff
At the beginning of this year WGTS set an ambitious goal to fill every food pantry in the Washington D.C. area with “Operation Fill the Pantry.” After getting off to a strong start, the initiative was put on hold because of the pandemic. Now “Operation Fill the Pantry” is making a successful return socially distanced, of course.
Story by Tamyra Horst
Happy 70th anniversary to David and Suzanne Elliott!
David and Suzanne Elliott were the first couple to be married at the newly built Silver Springs (Maryland) Seventh-day Adventist Church. The church sanctuary wasn’t finished by their wedding on August 24, 1950, so David built steps to the platform for his bride and folding chairs filled the sanctuary for their guests.
Suzanne recalls the first time the two met, “I was twelve and he was thirteen when he and his father came to the plumbing shop where I answered phones on Sundays. After buying some fittings, they left and he winked at me with those beautiful powder blue eyes.”