Join the Journey Through Psalms

Any day now, the 2017 Columbia Union Calendar will arrive in your mailbox. Its theme is “A Journey Through the Psalms: Experiencing God, Grace and Growth in Real Time.” The calendar will highlight a different psalm every month accompanied by a practical assignment.

Psalms is comprised of spiritual journals---personal letters or prayers to God---in the form of poetry. And poetry’s function is not to explain or theologize but to offer images and stories that resonate with our lives. As I read them, I project myself back into their experience and ask, “Could I have prayed these prayers?” “Have I felt this particular anguish or outburst of joy?” “Do I have this same hunger for God?” And then I proceed to think through the situations in which I might pray the psalm in front of me: facing temptation, celebrating success, praising God, harboring a grudge, suffering an injustice. Under what circumstance would this psalm best apply in my life?

A Book About Relationship

Story by Elizabeth Long

Kettering Adventist HealthCare is celebrating the completion of its new cancer center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for elected officials, community leaders, and Kettering Adventist HealthCare and hospital leadership Wednesday, December 7. The cancer center is located in the new Pavilion building at 3700 Southern Blvd. in Kettering, across the street from Kettering Medical Center.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

This week Mountain View Conference (MVC) leadership announced that Mike Hewitt will join the conference team in December to serve as executive secretary and ministerial director.

Conference leaders are looking forward to welcoming Hewitt, who is filling a vacancy, to round out their officer team of three. “Mike loves to do evangelism,” says Larry Boggess, MVC president. “He loves soulwinning and people, and he can identify with many of our pastors who have come from a different profession than pastoring.”

At its year-end meeting in November, members of the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee discussed at length the General Conference Unity in Mission document voted at Annual Council in early October. Many expressed concern about the intent, purpose and assumptions of the document, how it was processed, why it is needed, how it will impact the mission of the church in this region and what will be the consequences of non-compliance.

Story by Celeste Ryan Blyden

Today Columbia Union Conference leaders recognized a group of seven people who have worked tirelessly for the Lord in the Columbia Union Conference territory.