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Union Returns $400,000 in Tithe to Conferences for Mission and Evangelism

Story by Visitor Staff

During today’s Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee meeting, members voted a tithe reversion of $400,000 to the conferences for mission and evangelism. The union executive officers presented each conference president or treasurer a check for $50,000.

Emmanuel Asiedu, Columbia Union Conference treasurer, says the funds come from a tithe increase in 2017 “due to the faithfulness of our constituent churches.” He adds that he hopes the funds will be “used to expand the kingdom of God through the mission and priorities of our conferences.”

 

Sé el cambio

Photo by Thomas_C_Rosenthal on Pixabay

Historia de Terry Forde

Las puertas del elevador se estaban empezando a cerrar cuando entré al vestíbulo de un edificio de oficinas. Podía ver la cara del joven mensajero que estaba llevando un paquete mientras las puertas se cerraban; cuando alzó la mirada y me vio, instintivamente puso su pie entre las puertas y evitó que se cerraran.

Be The Change

image by nakataza02 on Pixabay
Editorial by Terry Forde
 
The elevator doors were already starting to close when I entered the lobby of an office building. I could see the face of a young man making a courier delivery through the closing doors, and when he glanced up and saw my face he distinctively stuck his foot out and stopped the doors from closing.
 
I scurried into the elevator and quickly said, “Thanks!”
 
“No problem, man,” he replied, and then he added, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
 

IBM Watson Health names Kettering Medical Center and Sycamore Medical Center two of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals

Story by Elizabeth Long

IBM Watson Health™ has named Kettering Adventist HealthCare's Kettering Medical Center and Sycamore Medical Center as two of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals. Formerly known as Truven Health Analytics® 100 Top Hospitals, this study spotlights the top-performing hospitals in the U.S. based on a balanced scorecard of publicly available clinical, operational and patient satisfaction metrics and data.

Editorial: About Our Father’s Business

Editorial by Frank Bondurant

I opened my Bible this morning to Luke 2:49. These are the first recorded public words spoken by Jesus: “‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?’” (NKJV). He said these words when He was 12 years old, and then, 21 years later, in one of His last prayers, He said in John 17:4: “‘I have finished the work You gave me to do’” (NKJV). Like bookends, these statements frame a well-lived, purpose-driven life. Jesus clearly understood and completed the mission the Father gave Him. 

WGTS Listeners Reach Out to Compassion Kids

The WGTS 91.9 Morning Team -- Jerry Woods, Blanca Vega and producer Spencer White celebrate a successful “Days of Compassion” event.

Story by Jerry Woods

WGTS 91.9 listeners recently answered the call to help children in poverty with the station’s recent “Days of Compassion” event. WGTS, a Christian radio station based on the campus of Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md., teamed up with a team from ShareMedia representing Compassion to encourage listeners to sponsor Compassion kids from countries around the world. When it was all said and done, listeners had taken care of over 860 children.

7 Takeaways from Successful Church Plants

Story by Michele Joseph

The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting churches,” says Rubén Ramos, the Columbia Union’s vice president for Multilingual Ministries, quoting from C. Peter Wagner’s book Church Planting for a Greater Harvest: A Comprehensive Guide. Here are some tips Ramos and Peter Casillas, who most recently served as associate director for pastoral ministries in evangelism and church planting and volunteer lay pastors in Potomac Conference, say any leader can use in their ministries:

Why Every Church Needs to Get Pregnant ... and Multiply

Story by Michele Joseph

The Bible gives a specifc command: multiply, says Peter Casillas, most recently the associate director for pastoral ministries in evangelism and church planting and volunteer lay pastors in Potomac Conference.

However, as a church gets bigger, it is easy to go into institutional mode.

“Church planting reminds us to come back to the movement and not stick with the institution,” he says. “Church planting is ... like blood to the body. It’s the moving dynamic action of the body. If you kill church planting, you kill the movement.”

For that reason, he believes every church should get “pregnant.”

Feature: Their Needs > Our Needs = A Formula for Church Planting

Story by Michele Joseph

When Juliana Marson received a call from a woman so depressed she was unable to leave her home, Marson did what she knew would work best—she prayed. Then she invited the woman to her two-week-old church plant, the New Jersey Conference’s Grace Place, in Lakewood.

Jacqueline Lewis didn’t come to church, but she arrived during fellowship dinner.

“I stopped what I was doing, ran and hugged her,” Marson says. But Lewis replied, “You can’t hug me. I’m ugly.”Jacqueline Lewis (right) credits Lay Pastor Juliana Marson and the New Jersey Conference’s Grace Place church members in Lakewood for helping her overcome depression. Photo by Jorge Pillco