This Month's Issue

Last year Dave Weigley was reelected for an unprecedented third term. Now in his 40th year in ministry for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and 11th year as president of the Columbia Union Conference, we asked him to reflect on accomplishments, challenges, priorities and mission. 

Columbia Union Conference officers and departmental directors provide guidance, support and a sense of unity among members and ministries. What’s their role, and what challenges and opportunities do they see ahead?

The other night, while searching the online Visitor archives, I got caught up reading the carefully chronicled history of our Columbia Union people. From the headlines, articles, photos and captions, it appears that our predecessors were some of the most Bible-knowing, Ellen White-quoting, ministry-supporting, missionary-loving, church-planting, potluck-hosting, camp meeting-going, organizing and evangelizing people you’ll ever meet.

The Temple Emmanuel church in Youngstown, Ohio, was organized in 1917, first meeting in homes, later at a YMCA, then at a rented facility and finally in their own church building. The members enjoy a rich history of God’s faithfulness and blessings.

If you invest your resources just as a farmer sows seed, God promises that you will always be blessed with a harvest. Beyond material things, what greater blessing could there be than seeing lives transformed by the gospel? 

Read the April Visitor for stories about how, two years after the death of Freddie Gray, churches in Baltimore are ministering in hurting neighborhoods; how churches in Columbus are tangible touches of love to prisoner and prositutes; how Psalm 22 is a psalm for the cross, and more!

Why do we go to church on Saturday, and why is the Sabbath important?” These were the kinds of questions Joksan Cedillo-Gomez wondered about and asked. However, he never got a satisfying answer. “Because it’s in the Bible. Twice!” he was told. After a year at the REACH Columbia Union Urban Evangelism School, he learned.

David, being a prophet, foresaw and spoke in this psalm of Jesus’ sufferings. This is also the psalm upon which Jesus seems to have meditated as he hung on the cross.

José Cortés was a young pastor when he was thrown into jail in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Cortés shares this story in one of the North American Division’s sharing books, Never Lose Hope. Read more about the book and our interview with Cortés below.

Watch Pastor John Boston's talk for tips on how to bridge gaps to working with the community.