Seventh-day Adventist

The images on Quang Ngo’s TV screen were graphic. It showed just how devastating an impact that Typhoon Haiyan had, not just on the landscape of the Philippines, but the also the people. This was how he ended up on the doorsteps of Allegheny East Conference’s Oxon Hill Filipino church in Oxon Hill, Md., toting some 1,000 T-shirts. “We saw the people suffering and it reminded me of our situation. My family and I escaped our country of Vietnam in a boat,” he said. “When we got to Malaysia, we had no food, no clothes and no water. So we see what’s happening in the Philippines and feel like this was us and we have to do something for them.”

After watching Rex Hugus, a quiet coworker read his Bible on lunch breaks, Larry Sutherland’s curiosity finally got the best of him. “I finally had to ask Rex some questions,” Sutherland said. “I was intrigued with his background and found his habits to be different from most [people] I worked with,” said Sutherland.

“Today we are revisiting the days of pioneers of the [Seventh-day] Adventist movement when there were women evangelists who raised up churches, who preached and baptized,” said Dave Weigley, president of the Columbia Union Conference, during an ordination service for Hazel Burns (81) and Margaret Turner (90) at Ohio Conference’s Kettering church last Sabbath.

“I’m so happy to let you know that the Caravan of Hope (Caravana de la Esperanza) is going way beyond all expectations!” wrote an excited Ruben Ramos, assistant to the Columbia Union president for Multilingual Ministries, in an email sent this morning. “When the week of evangelism and harvest was planned with the leadership of New Jersey Conference, we set a goal of 100 souls for the whole week.”

Tomorrow will mark the grand opening of the Shady Grove Adventist Aquillino Cancer Center in Gaithersburg, Md. The center, the first of its kind in Montgomery County, offers personalized, expert care, with up-to-date technology and support services to treat various forms of cancer in one location.

The Women's Ministries team at New Jersey Conference’s Union City Spanish church recently led a weeklong evangelism series, themed “United in a Vision is Our Mission.” Together a team of seven women preachers allowed the Holy Spirit to use them to share God’s Word. One of the preachers, Glenny Morel, (pictured) was baptized only six months ago, while another was baptized 18 months ago.

It naturally worries church members to hear that the Seventh-day Adventist Church defends the rights of Muslims, Native Americans and even atheists. Why on Earth would we support the teachings of the Quran, the use of hallucinogens or a godless philosophy?

The Pennsylvania Conference is among several Columbia Union entities using video conferencing to reduce travel, costs and conflicting schedules. Some 30 pastors “attended” their recent fall meeting, which marked their one-year anniversary of holding these meetings online. We recently talked with Tim Madding, the conference’s director of Leadership and Spiritual Growth, to find out exactly how it all works.
 

Children came away from a one-week program held at Mountain View Conference’s Braxton church in Gassaway, W.Va., excited about BLT. No not that kind of BLT, but the three-part Bible Lifestyle for Today (BLT) program that combined songs and dramatized audio Bible stories, information about anatomy and a hands-on cooking class.

The Columbia Union’s own Walter Carson, Esq., is the only Adventist to successfully argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. In Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Commission of Florida, the Court reversed the appeals commission’s refusal to provide unemployment benefits to a woman who was fired for refusing to work on Sabbath. The Court found that a state could not treat a religious convert differently than a person whose beliefs preceded her employment.