70 Years of Impact: A Story of Faith and Calling

Story by Kiona Costello

Sometimes one seemingly ordinary change can transform life on multiple levels. For Alan Diaz, it started with a move to Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain Academy (BMA). Here, his limited view of ministry was transformed into the realization of a lifelong calling.

Navigating a new culture and language, Diaz arrived at BMA as a teenager, focused primarily on learning, adjusting and finding his footing. At the time, he believed serving God followed a narrow path: choose a profession, attend church faithfully and perhaps preach or volunteer on occasion. BMA life soon challenged that understanding. “BMA helped me realize there are no limits to serving the Lord,” Diaz shares. “Wherever you are, there is someone to listen to, someone to love, someone to care for.”

What shaped him most was not a specific program or event, but the daily reality of living in a close community. Dorm life exposed struggles often hidden behind polite conversations—homesickness, fear, anxiety and personal battles. “When you live alongside people every day, you realize everyone is fighting a battle you don’t always see,” Diaz explains.

As a 2020 alumnus, Diaz (pictured) admits that as a student he often felt unsure how to respond when friends struggled. Believing that to help meant having answers, he sometimes pulled inward. Over time, regret over missed opportunities became a powerful lesson. “I realized people weren’t expecting solutions,” he says. “They just needed presence.” That realization followed him into college and eventually into pastoral ministry.

Today, as the pastor of the Meridian Road and Shenango Valley churches in Pennsylvania, he emphasizes availability, listening and allowing God to work through simple faithfulness. His approach to ministry is rooted, not in having all the answers, but in compassion and authenticity.

Diaz credits much of his spiritual formation to the BMA faculty and staff who modeled genuine Christianity. Through their consistency, humility and visible commitment to faith, they demonstrated what it meant to live out belief in everyday life. “They gave me a picture of faith that was lived, not performed,” he reflects.

As BMA celebrates 70 years of Adventist education, Diaz views his connection to the school as a privilege. “God took a confused 17-year-old and gave him a chance [for change at BMA],” he says. BMA continues to prepare young people, not only for careers, but for lives of purpose, service and faith.