Potomac Conference

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Claudio and Pamela Consuegra, directors of the Family Ministries Department for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists and members of Potomac Conference's Beltsville (Md.) church, received the GC Spalding Medallion award.

Evangelism is a lifestyle. This motto drives many Potomac Conference Far West End church members to seek opportunities to help their Rockville, Va., community.

Seven months of intense work and preparation culminated into 37-and-a-half minutes of careful execution, ultimately ending in victory.

"One Sabbath I was reading my Bible on the floor of our military housing. A captain came in and I could not hide. I started to pray—I could be imprisoned, even killed for having religious materials. When questioned, I did not get into trouble," says Bemnet Meried, an evangelist living in Virginia. "He said, “Good example.” That was one time on my Adventist journey when the Lord intervened."

Jose Vazquez, the pastor of the Fredericksburg (Va.) church, was recently named Potomac Conference's vice president for administration.

This spring Potomac Conference's Takoma Academy family accepted a mission that some might view as impossible. The Week of Prayer’s overall theme was, “What’s God Got to Do With it?!” As each youth faced this question, Lola Moore Johnston, senior pastor of the Woodbridge (Va.) church, challenged the students to figure out how God fits into the personal lives of young people.

“Two weeks later, my last living grandparent passed away,” Anissa Perla remembers. “It was a horrible, dark time in our life. I remember thinking, I need to grieve and just let my opinions out. I wanted to take it to another level in terms of sharing with other women and men. Miscarriages happen more often than we think; it’s [approximately] 1 in 4 women. We don’t talk about it. It’s like a sad, secret society.”

For 31 years, Principal Wendy Pega was often the first one to arrive and the last one to leave Potomac Conference's Beltsville Adventist School (BAS) in Maryland. This summer Pega turned off her computer, handed her keys to the new principal, Jerson Malaguit, and closed the door for the last time. After more than three decades, Pega has retired.

On June 29, Potomac Conference administration had the privilege of ordaining Therezinha Barbalho, pastor of the Silver Spring (Md.) church, into the gospel ministry.