News

Marlington Company

Story by Roger Stull

In October 2006, Robert “Doc” Michael, pastor of the Summersville (W.Va.) church, conducted a Revelation Seminar in Marlinton, W.Va., the town where he was born and raised. Soon conference leaders decided to establish a Branch Sabbath School, and the group held their first Sabbath services December 2006 at the St. John’s Episcopal Church with 12 in attendance. By July 2007, the Marlinton Fellowship was officially recognized as the Marlinton Seventh-day Adventist Company.

Story by Elizabeth Long and Doug Cornelius

Kettering Adventist HealthCare,  Kettering Physician Network and Kroger Health are celebrating their new partnership to offer consumers improved access to healthcare services and physicians at Kroger Health’s The Little Clinic and pharmacy locations in southwest Ohio. They are holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony and health fair on Wednesday, December 11 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Cornerstone Kroger store, 5400 Cornerstone North Blvd., Centerville.

The event is free and open to the public. Media are invited to attend.

Story by Christina Keresoma

Homefull, an organization that provides services to the homeless, opened a fresh produce farm stand in Kettering Adventist HealthCare's Grandview Medical Center’s lobby.

“Homefull is excited to expand our produce farm stand to Grandview Medical Center because this will help people living in food deserts access affordable, fresh produce,” says Tina Patterson, Homefull CEO. “Our farm stands also help provide training and jobs to our persons served. Purchases will support our programs, ultimately addressing our goals of increasing and improving housing, food, and jobs.”

Story by Agustina Francisco

For more than 10 years, I drove by the “red building,” not knowing it was the New Brunswick (N.J.) church. I knew it was a Christian church because on Saturdays I saw many happy people, well-dressed and with Bibles under their arms. Nevertheless, it wasn’t relevant to me.

After some time, I noticed that on Sunday mornings, another group of people, the majority of them from foreign countries, stood by the church for hours to receive food. Earlier this year, I decided to go on a Sunday, and I was blessed with the items they gladly shared.

Wellness instructor Ezra St. Juste staffs the natural remedy literature display table at the Community Health Expo.

Story by Benia Jennings

Aiming to reach their local community with the biblical health message, Allegheny West Conference's Glenville Present Truth church in Cleveland—just blocks away from the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic—has made health and wellness the mission of their church.

Jian Lin and Boyan Levterov are Potomac Conference's new full-time church planters.

Story by Tiffany Doss

In keeping with Potomac’s 2020 mission and vision of planting churches in population/people groups of 20,000 or more that currently do not have an Adventist presence, administration has brought on two full-time church planters.

Photo of Walter Carson by Ricardo Bacchus

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

“To be warned is better than to be publicly reprimanded,” said Walter Carson, vice president and general counsel for the Columbia Union Conference, at the November Executive Committee meeting, talking about the Annual Council’s recent actions.

Carson explained to the group that a 2018 Annual Council action in Battle Creek, Mich., adopted a compliance document (link to it) that imposed sanctions or discipline on entities found to be in violation of various church documents or actions taken by a General Conference session.

The four disciplinary steps in the document were outlined:

Story by Visitor Staff / Photo by LaTasha Hewitt

Earlier this month, women pastors and chaplains from across the Columbia Union Conference gathered with union and conference administrators for the second time in two years. Before supper at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, Md., the attendees took part in a debriefing about Annual Council 2019 where Columbia Union President Dave Weigley shared what the newly issued “warning status” means, and what it does not mean.

Terri Saelee, North American Division coordinator for Adventist Refugee and Immigrant Ministries, shares a "Loss Simulation' exercise with the Junior/Earliteen class.

Story by Heidi Shoemaker

For several years, Ohio Conference's Akron First church has actively served refugees from Burma, Thailand, Rwanda, the Congo, Uganda and Kenya who have settled in the community.