'Everything We Do Is an Act of Worship'

Story by V. Michelle Bernard / Photos by Kelly Coe

As members gathered for the Columbia Union Conference’s quarterly Executive Committee meeting, they heard reports of mission in action from across the Columbia Union.

In his worship thought, Stephen Lee, president of the New Jersey Conference, shared, “Everything we do is an act of worship.”

Looking ahead to the union’s upcoming constituency session and the decisions that will be made, Lee encouraged the delegates to reflect on serving others: “Are we willing to be an answer to someone’s prayer? … We need people to serve at such a time as this.”  

In his report, Marcellus T. Robinson, Columbia Union president, discussed his recent meetings and travels while overseeing the ministries and projects of the union in the Mid-Atlantic area. 

Travel highlights included a trip to Ghana with six Mountain View Conference pastors where they held an evangelistic series and provided medical care, and an educational trip to Australia/New Zealand with North American Division’s administrators. On another trip, Robinson visited the Giffard Memorial Hospital in India to check on one of the union’s Mission Abroad projects, where, with the financial help from the union’s two health care entities, a medical team provided eye surgeries for local community members. “We are blessed to be God’s servants,” said Robinson. 

Here is a summary of other highlights reported at the meeting: 

---Rubén A. Ramos, union vice president for Multilingual Ministries, shared his final executive committee report, as he is set to retire April 1. He said that when he started canvassing in Pennsylvania in 1978, there were only three Hispanic congregations in the Pennsylvania Conference. The union now includes 349 multilingual churches, which gave $46,131,085 in tithe last year. 

Ramos said that by the end of 2025, the non-English-speaking membership of the union had grown to encompass 62,050 members out of a total of 162,652. 

---Today, the committee voted José D. Espósito as vice president for Evangelism and Multicultural Ministries, filling the vacancy left by Ramos' retirement as vice president for Multilingual Ministries.

Espósito praised God for what He did through Pentecost 2025. “Jesus Christ is the center and the reason for what we do,” he said. 

Espósito noted that the 7,097 people who joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Columbia Union in 2025 represent “stories of grace.” This growth represents a 15.9 percent increase in baptisms and professions of faith—giving the Columbia Union the second-highest baptismal numbers in North America and the highest membership increase. He also noted that the union will continue to focus on evangelism through the Pentecost and Beyond initiative. The union is also encouraging members to strengthen friendships by hosting others in their homes in the “Share the Table” initiative. 

---José L. Vázquez, union vice president for Ministries Development, will take on the role of the union's Ministerial director, in addition to his current responsibilities. 

---Celeste Ryan Blyden, union executive secretary, noted that the Columbia Union remains a praying union and continues to host monthly online prayer meetings.  

In addition to sharing membership statistics, she provided an overview of the preparation process for the upcoming union constituency meeting scheduled for May 16–17. 

Following union bylaws, 350 delegates have been voted by conferences and entities. The organizing committee will meet March 29 to elect the nominating committee and nominate the bylaws committee. The nominating committee will then meet May 3. She also noted that delegates to the session will soon receive an invitation to download an event app that will include all the information needed to attend and participate.  

---“Finance isn’t about the numbers; it is missional,” said Emmanuel Asiedu, union treasurer. He noted that, as of December 21, 2025, the union saw a 24 percent increase in auditing costs, but a decrease in medical costs. The union also had an overall tithe increase of 2.05 percent.  

---Ricardo Flores, chief of Institutional Effectiveness and Technology at Washington Adventist University, shared several “miracle moments” that have occurred on the campus, including the school being recognized as “An Opportunity University in the New Carnegie Classification.” 

---John Sackett, president and CEO of Adventist HealthCare, and Mike Gentry, CEO of Kettering Health, provided highlights from last quarter.