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The World is Our Classroom

Story by Darren Wilkens

Mark Twain famously wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

At Spring Valley Academy (SVA), we take the truth in this quote seriously. We believe education must be global, not provincial. The only way to acquire those “charitable views of men (and women) and things” is to go and meet them on their home turf.

Pastor Says Goodbye After 40 Years in Ministry

Story by Tamyra Horst

Bob Williams pastored more than a dozen churches, helped start a school and served on numerous conference committees and boards in his 40-year career with the Pennsylvania Conference. He and his wife, Amy, raised three daughters, all Blue Mountain Academy graduates, during their ministry in the conference.

WGTS 91.9 Listeners Say Thanks to Capitol Police for Heroism

WGTS listeners sign a card for capitol police

On Wednesday, June 14th a group of Republican lawmakers were practicing in a quiet Alexandria, Virginia neighborhood for the annual Congressional baseball charity game when things took a scary turn as a lone gunman attacked them.   Five people were injured, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.  Officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey with the U.S. Capitol Police were both hurt while defending the congressman and other guests at the practice.

Aching for Our World

Photo by Giselafotographie on pixabay

Editorial by Heather Crews, pastor of Courthouse Road church

Wander into the world of social media and you will find it colored with grief. We are reeling and pained by the actions of terror in our world. To try to fathom the loss of one life, and then to multiply that in order to understand the loss here is staggering. And so we post a new profile picture, filtered through our grief. We do this seeking to connect with the world and find hope. In a world getting-smaller-every-day we desire to share our pain. Then in that connection to find a spark of hope or a breath of peace for the day ahead.

Bullying in My Church? No Way!

Image by Wonkandpix

Story by Gerry Lopez, pastor of Children and Family Ministry at Sligo Church

A parent told me recently that their child didn’t want to come to church because they got bullied by the other children at church. This wasn’t at school or online; this was happening at church! 

These are statements that as a children’s pastor I don’t want to hear, but I need to be aware of them! I thought to myself, no not here in church; not in this place where we all should feel safe and loved! It blew my mind and made me ask, am I doing enough to make sure this stops? Sadly, I realized that I am not. But why not?  I’ve known that bullying behavior has been around for a while but I have put the matter on the back burner.

Why Go to Church?

Editorial by Rick Remmers

We live in a fast-paced digital age. News is distilled into soundbites. Thirty-second commercials leave us feeling that a two-minute video is long. We expect our internet service to be max speed. We grow impatient even as our microwave ovens quickly warm up our food. Electronic devices are all around us—we use them for work, play, learning, relaxation, communication, relationships and even worship.

General Conference President Attends Final John Nevins Andrews School Graduation

Ted N. C. Wilson speaks to John Nevins Andrews School graduates, staff and graduation guests.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

The John Nevins Andrews School (JNA) in Takoma Park, Md., recently hosted its last graduation ceremony. JNA, a school in Potomac Conference, has been educating young people for the last 110 years. For many of those years, the school was located less than a mile from the former world headquarters of the General Conference and Review and Herald Publishing Association.

Two Historic Elementary Schools Merge

Takoma Academy Preparatory School logo

Story by Oksana Wetmore

With long and distinguished histories of their own, two Takoma Park, Md., Seventh-day Adventist elementary schools are merging to become one. John Nevins Andrews School (JNA), established in 1907, and Sligo Adventist School, established in 1917, will merge to become the newly named Takoma Academy Preparatory School. The merger will take two exceptionally diverse entities and form an institution that upholds the vision to prepare graduates to be scholars, thinkers, achievers and servant leaders.