Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Chesapeake Conference

The Chesapeake Conference has over 13,924 members in 74 congregations (64 churches, 10 companies) in Delaware, Maryland, and on the edges of Virginia and West Virginia. It has a pastoral workforce of 65, and its largest congregation, Spencerville (Silver Spring, Md.) has a membership in excess of 1,719. The Chesapeake Conference operates a strong Christian educational program that includes nearly 100 teachers and more than 1,050 students in 11 schools including one high school, a Pre-K - 12 grade academy, a Pre-K - 10 grade academy and eight elementary schools. It also operates an Adventist Book Center and four Adventist Community Services centers in Maryland and Delaware.

Mt. Aetna Camp and Retreat Center, outside Hagerstown, Md., is a fully-accredited camping and retreat center that hosts more than 700 youth during the conference's annual summer camp program. The site, which houses a nature center with a collection of stuffed animals, birds, insects, and reptiles from around the world, is used for field trips, outdoor learning programs, church retreats, spiritual seminars, and camping and hiking excursions.

Members gather at Know Your Rights” workshop and prayer event at the Washington (D.C.) Spanish church. Photo by Hector Perla

In recent months, newly proposed United States immigration policies have caused a wave of fear among many Seventh-day Adventist church members and their families across the Columbia Union Conference, making some too afraid to attend church. But some churches are working to help ease the fears.

Members of the Charleston Pathfinder club participate in the Columbia Union Conference Pathfinder Bible Experience event at Blue Mountain Academy. Photo by Illac Martinez

Sixteen Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE) teams from the Columbia Union Conference will continue on to the North American Division finals in Chicago April 21-22.

What do wild crocodiles in New Guinea and yellow Lamborghinis in Paris have in common? “They’re both featured in this collection of fabulous stories that come from my life as a missionary kid, a bit of a world traveler, and a hapless co-conspirator in all sorts of unintended adventures.