Taashi Rowe

“Sometimes as young adults, especially those who are single, we go our own way on Friday nights. But with this ministry, we can open the Sabbath together,” says Anthony Barnes, a member of Allegheny East Conference’s First church in Washington, D.C. It was at his church that young adults from around the region recently met for the “First Fridays” worship service.

This month Ileana Espinosa joins the Columbia Union Conference’s Office of Education as associate director for elementary education. Espinosa hails from the Central California Conference where she served 14 years as associate superintendent. Prior to joining that conference, she taught high school English and Spanish for seven years at Madison Academy (Tenn.). She also taught on the elementary school level. She starts work at the union July 18 and fills the vacancy left when LaVona Gillham retired earlier this year.

The plangent roar of dozens of motorcycles coming to life in unison breaks the quiet of a Mount Vernon, Ohio, Sabbath afternoon as dozens of bikers prepare to ride into the countryside. This is just one of the activities that bike enthusiasts recently enjoyed at Ohio Conference’s first “Rev It Up Biker Revival.” Held at Mount Vernon Academy, this camp meeting drew some 80 Christian bikers from as far West as California and as far south as Florida. 

Members of the Allegheny East Conference’s Emmanuel-Brinklow church in Ashton, Md., recently stood witness as a former member of the Klu Klux Klan embraced a man who he beat some 50 years ago. Back then that man was a Freedom Rider participating in the Civil Rights Movement. Today that man who was beaten is better known as U.S. Congressman John Lewis. Rep. Lewis was one of four people that the Emmanuel-Brinklow church recently honored during the church’s sixth annual Living Legends Awards for Service to Humanity. The honorees included Frazier and Virginia Mathis, Emmanuel-Brinklow members and founders of Global Vessels—a missionary organization; Ella Jenkins, a Grammy-award-winning children’s musician; and Congressman Lewis.