Story by Richard Bianco
The Adventist Robotics League (ARL), themed “Into Orbit,” is coming to the Ohio Conference March 17 at Kettering College for a STEM-focused event. This outing will showcase more than 60 young people in grades 5–8 in areas such as robot design, programming, cooperation, collaboration, project design, professionalism and more.
Students from schools in the Ohio Conference recently gathered at the conference’s Eastwood Junior Academy in Westerville to participate in the 2019 Ohio Conference Education Department Geography Challenge. Visit facebook.com/ohioadventists to watch a video of the entire competition.
Story by Vicki Swetnam
Spring Valley Academy (SVA) hosted “The Golden Gala” last fall, as the school celebrated its 50th anniversary. “The past several years, we’ve held the auction at off-campus locations,” says Darren Wilkins, principal. “But with the 50th anniversary and our new Worship and Performing Arts Center completed, we really wanted to hold the event at the school.”
The last four galas have raised money for the just-completed first phase of the new center, and this event gave SVA the opportunity to show gala sponsors, donors and volunteers how their gifts were used. With the first phase of this new facility costing around $5.5 million, the gala was one of the major donors to this campaign, contributing more than $1 million.
Story by Buffy Halvorsen
The Ohio Conference recently hosted their Annual Prayer of Emphasis Day. Event organizer Buffy Halvorsen shared these tips for the day that you can use for a similar event at your church.
If prayer is the breath of the soul, we as Christians must breathe deep and often. Colossians 4:2 reads: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (ESV).
Below are suggestions to make this day memorable for all ages in your church.
1. Set up “Prayer Stations” around the church:
Story by Hannah Luttrell and V. Michelle Bernard
Background
The Amish originated from the Anabaptists. The word “ana” is Greek for “again,” and the Anabaptists rejected the infant baptism that many of them had been subjected to, believing instead that the only valid baptism was one that was freely chosen after confessing belief in Jesus. Menno Simons was a former Catholic priest who embraced Anabaptism in the 1500s and became a prominent leader, with his followers becoming known as Mennonites rather than Anabaptists.
In 1693, there was a split after a prominent leader, Jakob Ammann, advocated greater separation from the world and stricter discipline with the shunning of disobedient members. His followers became known as the Amish. Later, schisms led to groups like the Old Order Amish and New Order Amish.