Quantcast
Channel: Visitor Magazine - Allegheny West Conference
Viewing all 202 articles
Browse latest View live

On the Front Lines

$
0
0
Photo of Norman Carter by Kevin Cameron

Story by Tamaria L. Kulemeka

Norman Carter, a member of Allegheny West Conference’s Temple Emmanuel in Youngstown, Ohio, is also on the frontlines of the drug crisis. 

“[The opioid crisis] is a beast that’s been unleashed. … In order to stop it, you have to stop drugs, and we know that is not going to happen. I think that all we can do is be prepared to provide services to those in need,” says Carter, who kicked his crack cocaine habit nearly eight years ago, and three years ago founded the Carter House, a transitional residential program in Youngstown. 

The not-for-profit organization operates four houses with 26 beds for alcoholics and substance abusers in recovery and who need to transition back into the community. Residents live in the Carter House anywhere from 90 days to a year.

“I had no idea the opioid epidemic was going to be what it is today; I was just providing the piece to the puzzle that was so important to helping me in my process,” he says.

Carter, who started selling drugs right out of high school and soon began using those drugs, graduating to crack cocaine at age 30, said his second lease on life came after being arrested for stealing from Wal-Mart to buy drugs. Instead of being charged with a crime, Carter was given the option to enter a drug program and have the charges dismissed, as long as he completed the program. 

Carter completed his 60-day treatment program and moved into a transitional facility like the one he now runs. He eventually returned to his Seventh-day Adventist roots and sought the church for support. Pastor Bryant Smith and the church got on board with the Carter House, supplying them with food and clothes, conducting Bible studies for residents and praying for the ministry. 

Today Carter strives to love those trying to rebuild their lives until “they can love themselves.” He says there are days when those in recovery relapse, but this just makes him work harder for those who have yet to come through the doors.

 


Shiloh Church Member Hailed as Hometown Hero

$
0
0

Story by Bryant Smith

Sim Fryson, an Allegheny West Conference Shiloh church member in Huntington, W.Va., recently experienced a miracle driving on a busy highway in Charleston, W.Va. He saw a woman standing on the side of the road with a baby in her arms, frantically trying to flag someone down. Fryson stopped, saw that the child was not breathing and administered CPR. Thanks to his quick action, the child survived.

The police department in Fryson’s hometown of Charleston honored him, and the local TV station ran the story, naming him a “Hometown Hero.” When presented with an award, Fryson responded, “The Lord blessed me to be at the right place at the right time, so I give Him all the credit for that.”

Fryson’s life has been filled with remarkable opportunities to help others and share the truths of the Bible and his deep faith in God. From humble beginnings, he rose to prominence in the business world, becoming the first black American to own a combined Mercedes-Honda-Nissan-Mazda dealership.

When God convinced him of the truth of the seventh-day Sabbath, he took the bold step of closing the dealership on Saturday—the busiest sales day of the week. Fryson’s subsequent success led to many occasions to witness about the Sabbath and God’s power in his life.

Fryson’s book details his colorful life and the reasons for his faith. Here Comes Sim is available through Amazon and other online bookstores.

Allegheny West Conference Pastor Honored as “Faith Leader of the Year”

$
0
0
Jason Ridley Receives Faith in Public Life Award

Story by Visitor Staff

The Ohio branch of Faith in Public Life recently recognized Jason Ridley, Youth director for the Allegheny West Conference, as the Faith Leader of the Year.

“We at Faith in Public Life have been inspired by Pastor Jason Ridley’s prophetic leadership this year. He has used his gifts and calling to work for justice in the Hilltop neighborhood—where his church is—at the Statehouse, City Hall, and all the way to Washington D.C. Pastor Ridley has fought to end police violence and maintain health care. He is Ohio’s Faith in Public Life Faith Leader of the Year for his work for justice, compassion and the common good,” says Dan Clark, director of the Ohio branch of Faith in Public Life.

Ridley is passionate about this work because he says he has a moral duty and responsibility. “Ministry is not just preparing individuals for the second coming of Christ, but it’s also about helping and fighting for people to have a better quality of life while we’re living here on earth. This only happens when there’s equality for all,” he says. Ridley wants to continue educating Seventh-day Adventist members about how they can also help.

Ridley, who will soon serve as a national board member of Faith in Public Life, says that this involvement in the organization and community has opened doors for the church. “I’m now in contact with people who, when I was the pastor at Allegheny West Conference’s Hilltop Community Worship Center in Columbus, Ohio, wouldn’t even visit my church. [But] because of my involvement in this work, I now see people who didn’t believe in God or have a relationship with Him who now want to open up meetings and prayer rallies and talk about faith.”

Adventist Honored by Top University in Ohio

$
0
0
Deborah A. Hill (third from left), Southeast church mem- ber, receives the 2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award and celebrates with John A. Yankey, Case Western Reserve University professor; Sharon E. Milligan, associate dean; and Annette Iwamoto, alumni president.

Story by Bryant Smith

Case Western Reserve University Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences in Cleveland recently honored Deborah A. Hill with the 2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award at an elaborate reception.

This award is the highest honor granted by the alumni association to an alumnus who has demonstrated extraordinary professional success and achievements over the span of their career. She is the first Seventh-day Adventist to be honored by Case Western Reserve University, ranked the number one university in Ohio. Her name will be placed in the school’s “Hall of Fame.”

Among her many contributions, she has served as a two-term elected City Councilwoman, the first elected public official in Allegheny West Conference. She served on the Allegheny West Conference Committee, served two terms on the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md.

New CURF Director Elected

$
0
0

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Starting April 1, H. Candace Nurse will serve as secretary/treasurer for the Columbia Union Revolving Fund (CURF). Nurse, currently the chief financial officer (CFO) for the Allegheny West Conference (AWC), has worked at AWC since 2008 in various roles, including assistant treasurer and Human Resources coordinator.

“Candace has demonstrated her acumen and abilities at the Allegheny West Conference and has done an excellent job,” says Dave Weigley, Columbia Union Conference president and chair of the CURF board, who notes that her love for people shows in her work.

Emmanuel Asiedu, Columbia Union treasurer and the most recent CURF secretary/treasurer, adds, “Candace is talented, mission-focused, has a great personality and will provide exceptional customer service to CURF members.”

Nurse says she is “looking forward to working with the great staff at CURF” and thanks God for placing her in a conference that provided her opportunities to learn and gave her the tools she needed to be a servant leader.

CURF helps support the Adventist church's mission by providing cost-effective financing for churches, schools, conferences and other denominational entities within the Columbia Union. During the past five years, CURF approved some 288 loans, totaling more than $127 million.

Nurse says she sees CURF "as a ministry that is able to ... provide local churches, schools and conferences the resources needed to connect with their communities and bring more souls to the love of God, which will hasten the coming of our Lord and Savior.”

Cincinnati Shiloh Member Becomes Screenplay Writer

$
0
0
Janice Walker-Cleveland

In February 2016, after undergoing surgery, Janice Walker-Cleveland, a member of the Cincinnati Shiloh church in Ohio, sought God’s plan for her life, expressing the sentiment, “Many people search their entire lives and never find ... God’s purpose and plan.”

The only African-American female attorney at Duke Energy’s predecessor, Cincinnati Gas & Electric, Walker-Cleveland has held the positions of senior counsel and assistant general, and is currently the associate general counsel.

Passionate about the remnant people and the three angels’ messages, Walker-Cleveland spoke with her sister, Thea Walker, a member of Dallas City Temple church (Texas), about the Lord’s soon return and her personal mission to reach others.

Before realizing it, she blurted out, “I’m going to make a movie!” Having no idea where the thought originated, she soon realized the Holy Spirit was speaking to her. Walker-Cleveland recounts that she told the Holy Spirit she knew nothing about the movie industry; that she is a lawyer. The Holy Spirit impressed upon her that writing a movie would give God glory and honor and that faith-based movies have gained wider acceptance these days; that she wasn’t ready before, but God could use her now. She asked her husband for advice. “You go where you feel the Holy Spirit is leading you,” he responded.

Walker-Cleveland completed her first screenplay in November 2016, and then tabled it temporarily to begin writing a screenplay with a universal faith-based appeal—love and forgiveness—believing that a majority of families are dysfunctional to some degree.

Completing the first draft of her second screenplay, in May 2017 she entered it into several film festivals to determine if anyone in the film industry saw merit in her work.

To date, the first screenplay, The First Time for Penny, is a 17-time award-winner, including 10 first place awards in film festivals in Los Angeles, New York and internationally, including at the Christian Film Festival, where she won the Fan Favorite for Best Writer and Best Script awards.

“Each award represents divine confirmation of my divine mission,” Walker-Cleveland says. In 2018 she plans to direct and produce her first film in Cincinnati, with the goal of seeing the three angels’ messages on the movie screen. “It is the final warning to this world, and since people are not flooding into the churches, the message has to be given to them.”

Resource: Watch Videos from NAD Evangelism’s eHuddle 2018

$
0
0
Photo of David Franklin at NAD's eHuddle 2018 by Pieter Damsteegt

Story by V. Michelle Bernard / Photo by Pieter Damsteegt, NAD Communication

This week church leaders, local pastors and institutional leaders from across the Seventh-day Adventist church in North America gathered to discuss ways to collaborate to reach, retain and reclaim the people of North America with Jesus’ message and mission.

Topics covered included church revitalization, the trend of aging churches, ministering to large people groups (such as single mothers and their families) and how to reach missing Adventist members.

Several Columbia Union Conference leaders spoke, including David Franklin, pastor of Allegheny East Conference’s Miracle City church in Baltimore; Jennifer Deans, pastor of Potomac Conference’s Living Faith church in Sterling, Va.; Paulo Macena, director of Youth Ministries at the New Jersey Conference; Rubén Ramos, vice president for Multicultural Ministries at the Columbia Union; and Ann Roda, vice president for mission integration and spiritual care at Adventist HealthCare.

See videos of the event on the NAD Evangelism Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NADEvangelism/.

Feature: Their Needs > Our Needs = A Formula for Church Planting

$
0
0

Story by Michele Joseph

When Juliana Marson received a call from a woman so depressed she was unable to leave her home, Marson did what she knew would work best—she prayed. Then she invited the woman to her two-week-old church plant, the New Jersey Conference’s Grace Place, in Lakewood.

Jacqueline Lewis didn’t come to church, but she arrived during fellowship dinner.

“I stopped what I was doing, ran and hugged her,” Marson says. But Lewis replied, “You can’t hug me. I’m ugly.”Jacqueline Lewis (right) credits Lay Pastor Juliana Marson and the New Jersey Conference’s Grace Place church members in Lakewood for helping her overcome depression. Photo by Jorge Pillco

Marson (pictured left with Lewis), the church’s volunteer lay pastor, called all the members to the parking lot where everyone stood and prayed over Lewis. Soon after Lewis left the parking lot, she called Marson saying she felt different. The next Sabbath, Marson found Lewis waiting in Grace Place’s parking lot, and she has faithfully attended since. In July 2017, Lewis, transformed by the love received at the church plant, chose to be baptized. Her daughter and son now attend Grace Place, too.

Grace Place started with eight members, and, today, with the assistance from New Jersey Conference’s Collingwood church, 43 people regularly attend. Their main focus is meeting the needs of the community, including a babysitting service launched for single mothers.

This Lakewood plant is one of 51 funded church plants in the Columbia Union Conference, reports Carolina Ramos, administrative assistant for the Union’s Office of Ministries Development. While the total number of church plants in the union is unknown—not all church plants use the funding available through a partnership between the conference, union, North American Division (NAD) and General Conference (GC)—there have been 58 Hispanic church plants since 2016, says Rubén Ramos, the union’s vice president for Multilingual Ministries.

Fostering Renewal and Revival

“We have found that new churches are the best thing for existing churches seeking to experience renewal and revival,” says Frank Bondurant, the union’s vice president for Ministries Development, referring to research provided by the NAD. “When a church births another church, it brings renewal and revival to the existing church.”

Pastor Fismed Omar, who leads a five-church Hispanic district in Maryland and Northern Virginia for the Potomac Conference, has seen this firrsthand. In January 2017, he and the church board asked about 30 members of the Gaithersburg (Md.) Spanish congregation to help start a new church plant in the Seneca Valley section of their city. That left the mother church with about 80 members. However, it sparked revival, and a year later, the mother church is now at full capacity each Sabbath with about 120 attendees. The new Seneca Valley church plant now has 55 attendees. Leaders at the mother church are now planning to plant another congregation, Omar reports.

The growth is fueled by small groups he calls “home churches.” Groups of eight to 10 members go door-to-door to meet neighbors and discover their needs. Then church members offer to help with translation services for court appearances and documents, set up counseling sessions with the pastor, provide baskets of food and more.

“We make them understand that this is what worked when Jesus was here—meeting the needs of the community,” says Omar. “That’s what the disciples did.”

Gaithersburg Spanish church members met Bartolo Gomez in 2016 when they knocked on his door. At the time, Gomez was unemployed and experiencing marital issues. Omar offered counseling and church members offered support and hope.

Marcos and Bartolo Gomez, were introduced to Potomac Conference’s Gaithersburg (Md.) Spanish church when a church member knocked on Bartolo’s door and offered assistance.Later that year, Gomez (pictured right with Marcos) was baptized into the Gaithersburg Spanish church. Then in 2017, he became an active member of the Seneca Valley home church. Gomez asked the members to pray for his son Marcos, who was struggling with drug and alcohol use.

The members began to pray and visit Marcos. He began counseling sessions with Omar, attended the home church Bible studies and was baptized in December. Now, Marcos and his father attend the Seneca Valley church plant and lead another home church.

Meeting physical needs of individuals allows church members to then show people like Gomez that “God has answers for your problems. God wants to bless you,” Omar says. “We want to help them understand God is present all the time.”

The church also gives people who may feel alone, especially if their families are in other countries, an opportunity to have a spiritual family here, Omar says. “Someone they can trust.”

Designing a Church

Church plants also provide opportunities to reach people in a way that makes sense to their culture or subculture, whether hipsters or millennials or residents of a geographic area, says Peter Casillas, former associate director for pastoral ministries in evange- lism, church planting and volunteer lay pastors for the Potomac Conference.

“The beauty of church planting is that you get to design a church not by what we need, but by what the community needs,” he notes. This means understanding the community—what people do, their worldview, things they enjoy, population demographics and more, he adds. The church planters then tailor their approach and methodologies to the community, not reducing or changing the truth, but sharing it in a way that resonates or speaks to them.

Bringing Church to the People

Allegheny East Conference’s Pastor Seungho Park (Pictured with Susie Ra and Myungja Kim) spent four months surveying the needs of residents from New Castle County, Delaware before realizing there were no community services for the Korean population within its ve main cities. Using his expe- rience with the Seventh-day Adventist Language Institute in South Korea, he created a community center in Newark City, Del., that offered classes in conversational English, citizenship preparation, computers and even guitar. Members also provided health screenings and cooking classes. This opened the door to Bible studies in English and Sabbath worship services.

Seungho Park, pastor of Allegheny East Conference’s Delaware Korean church in Newark, assists Susie Ra and Myungja Kim during a computer class held at the church’s community center.

If he had not considered a community-based approach, it would have been dif cult to connect with Korean people in the area because of prejudices against Adventists, says Park. “In this atmosphere, if I tried to evangelize them with direct evangelistic methods, my work would have soon ended,” he says.

Members of Allegheny West Conference’s La Esperanza church plant in Cincinnati decided to mow lawns, help with house maintenance, paint and clean streets to reach neighbors in the Price Hill community. The acts of service and opportunities for involvement have helped to grow the church that is 95 percent Guatemalan.

“It all started with the vision of the members living in the area,” says Pastor Horacio Quiroga. “They needed a church among their neighbors and families. ... They were thinking more [about] bringing the church to the people, not the people to the church.”

Involvement is high as the members “do everything. I’m there to challenge them, do some training and to help them achieve their dreams and goals as a church,” Quiroga says. “We involve everybody, before and after they become members. ... Our vision is: If you feel the need to do something for someone like Jesus did ... come and join us. We’ll find a spot where you can serve.”

Isaias Bernardo, Mainor Perez, Zacarías Lorenzo, members of Allegheny West Conference’s La Esperanza church in Cincinnati, are part of a community that regularly serves the neighborhood where they reside.

 

Isaias Bernardo, Mainor Perez, Zacarías Lorenzo, members of Allegheny West Conference’s La Esperanza church in Cincinnati, are part of a community that regularly serves the neighborhood where they reside.

 

Photos courtesy Jorge Pillco, Leander Tomazeli, Seungho Park Horacio Quiroga


Columbia Union Leaders Inspire Hope and Mission at East-Central Africa Division ASI Convention

$
0
0
 Guest presenters meet David Maraga,   Chief Justice and president of the Supreme Court of Kenya, and E  CD President Blasious Ruguri.

Story by Philip Baptiste

Several leaders from the Columbia Union Conference recently traveled to Kenya to help the East-Central Africa Division (ECD) officially establish an Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) organization during the ECD’s 2nd Annual ASI convention.

More than 200 Seventh-day Adventist business owners, professionals, ministry leaders and church administrators gathered at February 22-24 event at ECD headquarters in Nairobi. Participants included the presidents, executive secretaries and treasurers from the 11 unions in ECD, as well as division departmental directors and office staff.

Event leaders focused on the program theme, “Sharing Christ in the Marketplace,” and presented topics such as Social Media Strategies for Business and Ministries, ASI in the Bible, Ellen White and ASI, Strategies for Excellence as ASI Union Chapters, Serving the Underserved, Strategic Planning for ASI Members and Leaders, Creating a Winning Team, The Mission, Power and Purpose of ASI, Strategic Communication and Branding, Crisis Management and much more.

Keynote presenters for the event included Celeste Ryan-Blyden, vice president for Strategic Communication for the Columbia Union Conference; LaTasha Hewitt, communication director of the Allegheny East Conference; Dwain Esmond, associate director of the Ellen G. White Estate based at the General Conference headquarters; Bryant Smith, communication director of the Allegheny West Conference; G. Alexander Bryant, executive secretary of the North American Division; and Emanuel Pelote, president of the Columbia Union Conference ASI Chapter.

The highlight of the event was the adoption of the Columbia Union Conference ASI Chapter Constitution by church leaders and ASI members from the ECD’s 11-country region. This was cause for celebration because it means that for the first time in ECD, ASI members and leaders would operate the ministry as an official part of the Adventist Church structure, much like in other world divisions. Led by Emanuel Pelote, president of the Columbia Union ASI Chapter, ECD union presidents and lay leaders of ASI adapted and slightly modified the constitution to meet the contextual needs of the East-Central Africa region. Lay leaders committed to collaborate with church pastors and union administrators to prioritize mission and share the gospel of Jesus. Pelote shared that he was "thrilled that the Columbia Union could play a part in what God is doing to unite the membership with the church administration and pastors in mission as they launch and inaugurate official union ASI chapters within ECD."

Union presidents, secretaries, and treasurers from the ECD’s 11 unions met with Pelote and Ryan-Blyden, along with the three executive officers of the division to discuss how to better support and collaborate with ASI union chapters and unleash lay people for ministry in their respective regions. Pastor Temesgen Bulti, president of the Ethiopia Union Mission, says, "I now understand how our union should to relate to ASI. We support them, empower them and work with them to help further the Adventist mission."

Ryan-Blyden (pictured below), who also serves as the Columbia Union’s ASI representative, gave a devotional message as well as presentations on crisis management and how to share the Adventist story. Reflecting on the event, she said, "In the Columbia Union, we want to see every member get involved and experience the Adventist mission. We’ve seen this happen effectively through ASI when church leaders and lay members team up and share their God-given gifts and resources. It’s exciting to see the ECD embrace this movement division-wide.”

Blasious Ruguri, president of ECD, where church membership now tops four million, said: "I am so excited to see our lay people mobilized and determined to use their gifts, talents, and resources to engage in sharing Christ in the marketplace. As pastors and church leaders work hand in hand with the laity, together we can finish the work and help hasten the second coming of Jesus."

Participants shared that they were mobilized for mission and left feeling more committed to getting involved in sharing the Adventist message of hope and wholeness. ASI was established in 1947 by Adventist healthcare workers and expanded in the 1970's to include business owners, ministry leaders, and other professional lay members.

Philip Baptiste serves as special assistant to the president of the East-Central Africa Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Perspectives: How Can We Keep Our Schools Safe

$
0
0
Image by Taken on Pixabay

According to the Washington Post, during the first three months of 2018, there were at least 11 school shooting incidents nationwide, including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 were killed. We asked three Columbia Union educators what they think we should do to keep our schools safe.

Dulce Gabriel, principal of New Jersey Conference’s Vine Haven Adventist School in Vineland

We have safety guidelines and procedures that promote safety on our campus. I have meetings with my staff and students to prepare them for certain types of emergency situations.

We also have started to collaborate with the police department from our town to make sure our procedures are effective. ... But, ultimately, we always put ourselves in the hands of the Lord. We start every day with prayer, asking for God’s protection.

 

Jack McCrary, superintendent of Allegheny West Conference schools

Besides making sure that our buildings are safe from individuals on the exterior and interior, we talk through survival and safety methods with our teachers during in-service. ... Running through the drills with children and teachers allows the students to know what to do so they aren’t in shock and will know what to do in the case of an emergency. ... We also monitor cameras and are thinking about installing an emergency button.

 

 

 

Michael Jakobsons, associate superintendent of Chesapeake Conference schools

The best way for us to keep our kids safe in our schools is making sure we have significant, deep relationships with our students so we know when they are struggling.

We can then be proactive and encouraging when they need encouragement, listen when they need someone to listen and be there as a mentor when needed. ... I think many of the problems that stem deep down from the recent [shooting] incidences are because students felt like nobody cared, nobody loved them. They were reaching out in the worst possible way to let everyone know they were hurting.

AWC Young Adults Host Community Conference

$
0
0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

The Allegheny West Conference’s (AWC) Young Adult department recently partnered with Jerome Hurst, AWC Community Service director, the Cleveland Chapter of the NAACP and the People for the United Way African American Ministers Leadership Council to host “Moving from Disparity to Equity,” a justice and community conference. 

“2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fifty years later, [our nation is] still struggling with many of the ills of that day,” says Charde (Hurst) Hollins, AWC Young Adult Department director. “This conference was designed to celebrate the life of Dr. King by equipping attendees to respond to the many issues we encounter in our communities and throughout this nation.”

Topics covered re-entry for prisoners, incarceration rates for nonviolent crimes, police violence and gun violence and their impact on minority communities. Speakers included James Standish, special assistant to the director of PARL at the Columbia Union Conference, representatives from the city of Cleveland an NAACP representative and others.

Speakers and organizers (pictured above) provided information, awareness, strategies and resources to better serve and educate community members on equal rights and social justice.

Hollins hopes that the event will inspire others to impact their local communities. “As a church body, we must be a voice for the voiceless and a safe haven for those who are alienated from society,” she says.

How Can You Help?

Hollins suggests a few free things churches and members can do:

  • Hold voter registration drives
  • Provide transportation to the polls using church vans
  • Create a “church route” for your local neighborhood
  • Use the church vans as community transportation for those who may need assistance in getting to work or medical appointments

 

 

 

 

 

 

450 Participate in 18-hour Prayer-A-Thon

$
0
0
Violet Cox, AWC’s prayer coordinator, participates in the conference’s 18-hour Prayer-A-Thon.

Story by Bryant Smith

The Allegheny West Conference (AWC) president, administrative officials, pastors and laity recently created havoc in Satan’s camp as 450 individuals of all ages participated in a nonstop Prayer-A-Thon. Ellen White, cofounder of the Adventist church, writes, “Satan trembles and flees before the weakest soul who finds refuge in that mighty name” (The Desire of Ages, p. 130).

An average of 25 participants per hour joined the event via a teleconference call. Prayers ascended for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the sick, the abused, for strongholds to be broken and for souls to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. Individuals from as far away as California and Florida joined with the many in Ohio and Virginia to experience this Prayer-A-Thon. Multicultural sisters and brothers petitioned the throne of grace in their own language. One member observed, “Even though I could not speak the language, I understood the prayer! I knew the language of prayer!”

One 10-year-old Hispanic boy poured out his heart to God during the 9-9:30 p.m. half-hour prayer session, petitioning for the sick and for family members. William T. Cox Sr., conference president, stayed connected with the Prayer-A-Thon from 7:30 a.m. to midnight. Violet Cox, AWC’s prayer coordinator, says, “This is just the beginning of the many Prayer-A-Thon experiences in AWC until Jesus returns!”

 

Allegheny West Conference Executive Committee Elects New CFO

$
0
0

Story by Ricardo Bacchus

Members from the Allegheny West Conference (AWC) Executive Committee recently elected Jermaine Jackson as the new chief financial officer (CFO), effective June 1. Prior to joining AWC, Jackson worked for Adventist Risk Management, Inc. (ARM), starting in 2009 as senior accountant, and, shortly after, was promoted to controller. In 2014 he was elected vice president and CFO for ARM and Gencon Insurance Company of Vermont (GICV). In that role, Jackson oversaw the financial operations of ARM, GICV and its subsidiaries in Brazil and Gibraltar.

"I am extremely delighted to join the Allegheny West family. It has always been my desire to be on purpose and in purpose for God,” Jackson states. “We are pleased and excited to have Jermaine join our team,” says William T. Cox Sr., president.

Jackson has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Oakwood University (Ala.), a Master of Business Administration from Baker University (Kan.) and a graduate certification of accounting from DeVry University (Va.).

Local conference work isn’t new to Jackson, as he served from 2003-09 as an accountant in the Central States Conference (Kan.). His passion is to empower families in their quest for financial freedom. He has presented various financial seminars, including “Establishing Family Budgets” and “How to Manage the King’s Money: Strength, Security and Stability.”

Jackson adds, “My career has allowed me to marry my passion for God and mission with my overall desire to ensure that church organizations and families in general are financially secure. I’m pleased to continue my passion here.”

Jackson’s wife, D’Andria, is a licensed clinical psychologist. They have a 6-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. 

Growth Spurt: How Demographic Shifts Are Impacting How We Minister

$
0
0
Members from Chesapeake Conference’s Atholton church—Sarah and Anna Singalla, Janet Keng Asare, Pastor Shawn Paris, Jasmin Elliott and Jair Parada—were photographed by Brian Patrick Tagalog in Columbia, Md.

Story by Edwin Manuel Garcia/ Images by Brian Tagalog, Kristi Rutt, Marving Alegria, Goodness Mcfiberesima/Beth Villanueva and Tracey Brown

The picturesque Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, where Charles Rutt (pictured right, with Thomas Makini) has worshiped for most of his life, had enjoyed a strong Adventist presence for decades. In fact, in the 1960s, his Bethlehem Seventh-day Adventist Church outgrew itself and spawned two more congregations.

But by the late 1990s, most of the members had disappeared from his beloved Pennsylvania Conference church. “All the people I had grown up with were dying off, and the church was basically praying that something would happen, that someone would come in and we would get some new life,” says Rutt, a 67-year-old retired Adventist educator.

Their prayers were answered.

In the past 10-plus years, a stream of Adventists from Kenya joined what had been an all-Caucasian church and populated the vast majority of the once-empty pews with lively, young families. They also brought a more upbeat worship style to the platform, introduced new foods at potlucks and generated spirited church-board-level discussions about cultural/religious issues.

The church now also shares the space with a Spanish-language group that meets in the afternoon.

What the Bethlehem church experienced is becoming more common across the Columbia Union Conference, where congregations, large and small, rural and urban, are learning how to navigate into their future by embracing rapidly changing demographics.

In the short term, thanks largely to immigration of Adventists from other parts of the world, there’s been a 2.5 percent annual membership growth rate in North America. The emerging population of refugees and immigrants from many places around the globe are a boon to the Adventist Church here, which, in 2014, Pew Research Center identi ed as the most racially and ethnically diverse U.S. religious group.

“The Adventist Church is no longer a majority white church; it’s a multiethnic, very diverse church,” says Monte Sahlin, a former Columbia Union Conference vice president and longtime Adventist researcher. A groundbreaking survey he conducted in 2008 for the North American Division also con rmed that Adventism is not only browning but also graying. “There are fewer and fewer white, young people,” Sahlin says. “The Adventist population under 18 is about 60 percent ethnic minorities.”

This demographic shift has caught the attention of some church leaders who wonder if Adventist churches in cities such as Bethlehem can meet the needs of the majority population and immigrants in the territory. For example, Kenyans now comprise about 75 percent of the church membership in a city of 75,000 that is roughly 61 percent Caucasian, 28 percent Hispanic, six percent African/ African-American/Caribbean and nearly three percent Asian.

They point to Great Britain, where immigrant-fueled growth has completely transformed the face of the church; the vast majority of the members in London are black, yet more than 70 percent of the city population is white—and are not joining the church.

If the church in North America doesn’t look at this shift strategically, how will we fulfilll the gospel commission among current and future generations? asks Gary Gibbs, who became president of the Pennsylvania Conference a year ago. “How will we effectively minister to the spiritual needs of every segment of the population of our territory?”

The Learning Curve

At the churches in Bethlehem and nearby Allentown, in an area known for a colonial industrial past and its Moravian founders, the demographic change has been welcomed, yet it’s taken some adjusting for the few remaining Caucasian families.

Self-proclaimed sticklers for punctuality, Charles Rutt and his wife, Barbara, fondly remember when programs would start on time and end on time. They don’t complain, though. “The young families have brought new life,” Rutt says, “and that has been very beneficial.”

Thomas Makini, Charles Rutt, Fred Omwega, Eileen Fritz and Abner Onsinyo worship together at the Bethlehem church, where members re ect the Adventist Church’s changing demographics.

For the newcomers, stepping into Adventist church culture in America has also been a learning experience, says Thomas Makini, a church elder and father of four girls. He and his wife moved from Kenya to New Jersey and then to Bethlehem 10 years ago because it was near Adventist schools and was a good place to raise a family.

He recalls when he realized that certain mannerisms, such as the level and tone of his voice, could unnerve people who thought he was yelling. “We didn’t know that a small thing like that can offend somebody,” he says.

Then there was the Christmas tree situation. In Kenya, Makini says Adventist churches recognize Christmas “in passing,” but it’s not typically celebrated. Yet the Bethlehem church had enjoyed a long tradition to mark the holiday each December by placing a tree on the platform. The Kenyans, though, objected. Both groups held rm to their beliefs about why the tree should or shouldn’t be in church.

After much discussion, members decided that the annual tree would be replaced by poinsettias.

Making Room for Growth

After 70 years in existence, regional conferences are experiencing profound changes, too. Some years ago, the Allegheny East Conference changed its mission statement to “Te Ethnae,” which means “to all people groups” and now includes thriving Spanish, French, Indonesian and Korean-speaking congregations.

And, just five years ago, the Allegheny West Conference (AWC) had eight multicultural congregations. Today there are 28, including ve Hispanic churches ourishing in the Cincinnati area. One of the most thriving congregations, called La Esperanza, or, “The Hope,” started four years ago with one family meeting in a house. Today the church claims more than 100 members, mostly from Guatemala, and has its own building.

“The Hispanics are bringing their enthusiasm and hardworking spirit, and that is contagious for the English-speaking churches,” says Sergio Romero, AWC’s Multicultural Ministries director.

AWC’s Central church in Columbus, Ohio, houses a Spanish-language congregation and an African-American congregation under one roof, with noontime Sabbath worship services in two parts of the building. To help introduce the multicultural congregation to the immediate neighborhood, members canvassed the streets with fliers in English and Spanish, inviting families for free burgers, bounce houses and face painting in the church parking lot.

A little more than two hours away, another AWC church is facing its future by intentionally taking measures to lower its membership age to ensure that the congregation avoids extinction. Pastor MyRon Edmonds (pictured speaking) and members moved the former Glenville church from Cleveland to nearby Euclid, Ohio, and changed the name to Grace Community church. They did so to prioritize the needs of a multicultural, under-served community whose population of 48,000 is about 60 percent black and 37 percent white.

They host a kids’ church three times a month and keep the focus outward—by feeding homeless people and holding an evangelistic-style service each week. Plans include refurbishing an old Kmart building, starting a school to serve grades nine through the first two years of college and continuing to enjoy a strong YouTube presence. Edmonds says YouTube has already drawn young converts who moved from far-away cities to join the congregation, comprised of mostly single-parent Generation Xers and Millennials.

Edmonds states attendance is growing due to a lot of children and teens from the community. “I think it’s important that people understand that the foundation of what we’re doing is the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy,” he says. “We’re not just trying to be cool and cutting edge because it’s 2018.”

 

Shifting Demographics/Shifting Ministries
 

Some churches in the Columbia Union are realizing that successful ministry in a time of shifting demographics means offering different programming to parents and their children.

In the Potomac Conference, for example, many children of Central American immigrants, who settled in and around the District of Columbia during the past two decades, are proud of their cultural roots, yet aren’t embracing their parents’ native Spanish. Having been born in the U.S., English comes more natural to them.

The church’s solution: congregations, such as the Arise Hispanic-American church in Silver Spring, Md., cater to second-and third-generation Latinos with sermons, Bible study and socialization in English.

Other churches are trying to move in a similar direction.

Williams Ovalle, pastor of the Manassas Spanish church and the Manassas II Spanish Company, both in Northern Virginia, dreams of offering his second- and third-generation youth their own church with English programming,Worship director Carlos Paz (pictured left) and Pastor Williams Ovalle (right) minister to and with second- and third-generation Latino members like Jasmin Guevara and Saraí del Cid at the Manassas Spanish and Manassas II Spanish churches in Northern Virginia. because many of the young members, he says, “live between two worlds” and “church doesn’t necessarily ll their needs.” As a result, the youth abandon the church, or attend, but don’t pay attention.

His vision has been met with resistance by parents and even church board members who insist children must be taught in Spanish.

 

Caption: Worship director Carlos Paz (pictured left) and Pastor Williams Ovalle (right) minister to and with second- and third-generation Latino members like Jasmin Guevara and Saraí del Cid at the Manassas Spanish and Manassas II Spanish churches in Northern Virginia.

 

After receiving permission from the church boards in his pastoral district, which also includes the Reston and Centerville (Va.) churches, Ovalle started the monthly English service, which the youth loved. However, when word got back to church leaders that the youth were singing worship songs that weren’t from the hymnal, the permission was rescinded, he says.

Eventually the boards relented, and about 80 youth, ages 12-22, now meet at a Manassas community center every third Sabbath.

“I just hope that I can help create a safe environment to help young people connect with God, not feel judged and have a relationship with Jesus,” Ovalle says. “That’s all we’re trying to achieve.”

Breaking Language Barriers

In the New Jersey Conference, meanwhile, the First Bilingual church in Middlesex has found its own best practice of including Spanish- and English-speaking worshipers: the church’s three interpreters translate every announcement, prayer, testimony and sermon. Worship songs alternate, one English, one Spanish.

In neighbOlena and Myron Androshchuk (pictured left) help translate a sermon into Ukranian for other members of the Boulevard church oring Philadelphia, Boulevard church interpreters (such as pictured Olena and Myron Androshchuk) help translate a sermon into Ukranian for other members of the Boulevard church

translate sermons into Swahili and Ukranian, beamed into headphones on congregants’ ears. Members of Italian and German heritage first populated the Pennsylvania Conference church, which opened in 1955. Later, Pastor Buddy Goodwin says refugees arrived from the Congo, then members from the Caribbean islands and then people from Eastern Europe.

“Every day it is an opportunity to see how God is working to pull His people together because we deal with so many diverse groups of people in one local setting,” Goodwin says.

The Ohio Conference has undergone significant change in recent years in areas that for the longest time were majority Caucasian, which has prompted some Adventists to experience learn-as-you-go cultural education.

The population at the Worthington church (some members pictured right), just outside Columbus, which was nearly all Caucasian around the year 2000, has dipped to about 50 percent, with people from 32 nations lling the rest of the congregation.

On numerous occasions, lead pastor Yuliyan Filipov, who was born in Bulgaria and speaks several languages, has stepped in and helped people of different ethnic origins to better understand each other’s culture.

Of note was a memorial service held in the Nigerian tradition, which started in the sanctuary in the after-noon and ended in the gym at 4 a.m. Prior to the service, Filipov advised the African families not to be offended if Caucasian families left the program before it ended, because they’re not accustomed to staying that long at a memorial service.

“Having diversity makes the church vibrant,” Filipov says, and it serves as an evangelism tool. “It gives the church a avor that makes it palpable to people who are not related to Adventism.”

Some schools in Ohio are seeing a surge in diversity, in part because of refugee resettlement. Two schools on opposite ends of the state—Mayfair Christian School in Akron and Spring Valley Academy in Centerville—have upwards of 80 students from refugee families, says Richard Bianco, the Ohio Conference superintendent of Education.

The growth also is attributed to the state’s voucher law, which has made Adventist education more accessible to families of color.

In other regions, including those near the District of Columbia, institutions like Adventist HealthCare have experienced diversity up-close for years.

The integrated network of hospitals and other healthcare facilities serves Montgomery County, Maryland, where more than 50 percent of the population of a million people identifies with an ethnic or racial minority group. Based on its Community Health Needs Assessments and the changing patient population, the health system has implemented a number of programs and services to spread the message of good health and promote health equity.

Among the more significant activities at the Adventist HealthCare Center for Health Equity & Wellness are partnerships with safety-net clinics, a robust diabetes self-management education program and cultural competency training for staff. In addition, the Center has trained qualified bilingual staff interpreters across the system, and their number has more than tripled since the program began.

Multiculturalism has also been a mainstay at several Chesapeake Conference churches, and pastors there say that having an open mind and being good listeners is essential for avoiding the kind of cultural clashes that can otherwise tear apart a congregation.

The administration plans to start tracking demographic information voluntarily offered by members, to ensure that its churches are reaching every segment of their community, says Shawn Paris, pastor of the Atholton church (some members pictured below) in Columbia, Md., whose 600 members are comprised of 68 nationalities.

When Paris first arrived at Atholton, a couple of members gave him a stark warning about a new group of worshipers they thought would “take over” the church.

Five years in, Paris has not found that to be the case.

“On a regular basis from the pulpit, we talk about how we love our diversity,” he says. “We made a conscious choice that this is who we are.”

Other pastors have been pushed into the role of mediator at fellowship luncheons, listening to immigrants explain that it was acceptable to eat sh or chicken at potluck in their country of origin, while also hearing from longtime American Adventists who prefer vegetarian fare at the buffet table.

Waldorf (Md.) church Pastor Dan Darrikhuma, whose congregation has shifted from 90 percent white to less than 10 percent in the past 15 years in a community that is 53 percent black and 35 percent white, encourages members to move out of their comfort zones and get to know each other better. “One of the things I’ve asked members to do is to be intentional to invite [other members] to lunch or to sit with them in potluck,” Darrikhuma says. “Sometimes it takes a little educating and reducing fear.”

Mike Speegle, senior pastor of the New Hope church in Fulton, Md., believes churches in the Columbia Union should think intentionally about how to reach their communities, with an eye toward with whom we are going to spend eternity.

“You go from D.C., to Baltimore, to Philadelphia, to New Jersey and Ohio, a lot of that has a rich multi-ethnic makeup; it’s part of who the community is,” he says, “and the community we will ultimately live in.”

Book Release: Walk the Pathway of Prayer

$
0
0

In her book, Walking the Pathway of Prayer, Violet Cox, Prayer Ministries director for the Allegheny West Conference, invites readers to journey with her and discover a more meaningful prayer life.

Cox writes about how she grew in her understanding of what prayer is (and isn't) and shares a story about the first time she prayed her own prayer as child. After seeing a pair of pretty green shoes, and praying that 'If God really heard her, He'd let her have the shoes.' A day or so later, her mother came home with the exact shoes she had prayed about.

"Prayer is as essential to the Christian's spiritual life, as air is to the physical body," she writes. "You cannot exist a moment without it! Prayer is much more than asking God for a pair of green shoes! It is a conscious awarness of being in HIs presence every waking moment of life!"

Through chapters on "the instantneous prayer,""the secret prayer,""the wordless prayer,""prayer of praise" and more, Cox explores how prayer can impact every area of our lives.

To purchase the book, visit Amazon.

Read these stories from the June 2018 Visitor:

 

 


Pastor Inducted Into MLK Jr. Board of Preachers

$
0
0
Jerome M. Hurst (right), senior pastor of the Southeast church, stands with keynote speaker Marvin A. McMickle, president of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, during Hurst’s induction into the 33rd Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College ceremony.

Story by Bryant Smith

Jerome M. Hurst, senior pastor of the Southeast church in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Allegheny West Conference’s Adventist Community Services and public affairs and religious liberty leader, was recently inducted into the 33rd Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College, based in Atlanta.

The Board of Preachers is comprised of ordained clergy from the Christian tradition, as well as faith leaders, such as rabbis, imams, priests and ministers. This wide array of leaders from diverse global, spiritual and ethical traditions exhibit a commitment and promise of using their religious positions of leadership to promote peace, tolerance, interfaith understanding, healing, reconciliation, nonviolence, moral cosmopolitan social progress, agapic justice and care for the ecosystem.

Hurst shared about the event with his congregation, acknowledging he did not get there by himself. “A wise man once said, if you ever see a turtle sitting on top of a fence post, you know somebody picked it up and placed it there. Turtles belong on the ground. I’m just a turtle,” he explained.

He went on to say, “I thank you, my church, for allowing me to get involved and open up the church doors to the community. It’s because of you that I was able to receive this award.”

Cecily Bryant, the communication director of the Southeast church, says, “He gave honor and glory to the Lord and gratitude to individuals who have supported him.”

Ministry Builds Genuine Compassion in Pittsburgh

$
0
0
SCI-Greene inmates donate boots to homeless men as a result of the influence of members from the Bridges Community Outreach Ministries.

Story by Yvette Peterson

Jeffrey Baskin, former pastor of Allegheny West Conference's Hillcrest church in Pittsburgh, made a life-changing decision to leave the safety of full-time conference employment to respond to the needs of those languishing on the highways and byways of life.

While driving one morning, he witnessed a homeless man buried beneath snow. Two very simple, but profound questions were audibly voiced from within. “What are you going to do about it?” and “How compassionate are you as a Christian?” This was the defining moment of truth that challenged the genuineness and authenticity of his relationship with God. 

Through this experience, Bridges Community Outreach Ministries was birthed, “Bridges” referring to the challenges and obstacles of community-based ministry that must be transcended if the church is successful in building collaborative relationships with other community organizations. Bridges is a ministry of compassion to those Jesus referred to as the “least of these.” 

Baskin, director, along with members of the Hillcrest and Ethnan Temple churches and other volunteers have been working for the past six years in Homeless Ministries, Prison Ministries, Code Blue—which focuses on those impacted by tragedy in the Pittsburgh area—and “Come Up,” a pilot program that addresses the trauma needs of young men ages 13–17.

Their approach to Prison Ministries extends far beyond conducting religious services within the correctional institutions. Building positive relationships with administrators, and especially with the inmates, is imperative. Upon release, Bridges invites some ex-offenders to minister to homeless people, conducting Prison Ministries workshops and serving as mentors to at-risk youth through the “Come Up” program. 

Evan Stanton is the perfect example. He was an inmate at SCI-Pittsburgh when he met members from Bridges. Upon release, Stanton became a part of the ministry. He obtained employment and made monthly donations to Bridges. Stanton is now married with two sons and a mentor in the “Come Up” program. 

As a result of conducting Bible studies and preaching Christ to inmates, Baskin has baptized more than 100 prisoners. Bridges is looking to increase its impact in the areas of employment and housing referrals through funding and other resources to make this a reality. For more information, visit bcom.com.

Wright Family Celebrates Father’s 100th Birthday

$
0
0
William Wright, Sr., (middle) shares a moment with his brothers Dale (left) and Paul.

Story by Allegheny West Conference Staff

William R. Wright, Sr. (pictured center with Henry M. Wright and daughter-in-law, Carol) was born September 17, 1918, the second child of seven born to Nathan and Willa Wright in Dayton, Ohio. His parents were two of the first four African-American Adventists in Dayton and co-founders of the Ethnan Temple church in Clayton.

The family moved to the country after the recession and there founded the Berea Chapel church, now the Dale Wright Memorial church in Germantown, Ohio. Wright served as an elder in the church for more than 60 years and served on the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee from 1980–85.

For much of his life, he sang with his family, traveling extensively, singing in churches and recording music for radio. “He still has a beautiful tenor voice,” says Henry M. Wright, son and retired pastor.

A commercial artist by trade, Wright was art director for the Sucher Packing company in Dayton, Ohio. He then served as art director for WHIO-TV in Dayton until his retirement in 1986.

William was married to Zoe for 48 years. They had four biological sons and reared four foster children. Three are still living and active members of the Adventist church. Zoe passed away in 1987. William later married Flonzie Brown whom he brought into the Adventist church. Together they became very active in community service, especially in the area of drug rehabilitation ministry.

In the known history of the Wright family, William is the first to live a century.

Harmony Uses Voices to Share Gospel

$
0
0
Harmony, a gospel quartet known for their a cappella harmonious sound, began their full-time music ministry in 2008, when they were only teenagers.

Story by Bryant Smith

Harmony is a gospel quartet, known for their a cappella harmonious sound. Their goal is to captivate audiences by singing the message of Jesus Christ. “Saving souls one note at a time,” is Harmony’s motto, made up of singers (pictured clockwise) Haven James, Tirzah Hawley, Chris Upchurch and Samara Orr.

As toddlers, and later in youth choir and praise team, these four formed a special bond at Allegheny West Conference's (AWC) Ephesus church in Columbus, Ohio. One Friday evening, they realized that this bond knew no musical bounds.

“The lead musician, Reyguel Nious, was playing the song ‘Silver and Gold’ after praise team rehearsal,” says Samara Orr. “We joined in singing, and that was the first time the four of us heard ourselves outside of other groups and choirs and instantly noticed we had an unique sound! That’s how the group got started!”

In 2008, at the age of 17, they started the group Harmony, and have had the opportunity to sing in area churches and travel outside Ohio to minister to other denominations.

“We want people to know that we are a group bonded by our love of music and our love for Christ, which empowers us to share the gospel through music. ‘Harmony’ stands for the parts that we sing and the type of unity we have for each other,” says Chris Upchurch. Haven James adds, “We are all different people in personalities and sing different parts, but we blend together to make one cohesive sound and group!”

John Boston, former pastor of the Central church in Ohio, and Noah Washington, pastor of the Ephesus church, opened their doors for Harmony’s first and second concerts. Since then they’ve performed many concerts and have been featured on stages with eight-time Grammy winner Joel Kibble of Take 6, five-time Grammy winner Larnelle Harris of the Gaither Homecoming group and 3ABN singer and director of world evangelism John Lomacang.

Harmony gives credit to many people who have helped and encouraged them along their path, such as music coordinator Elaine Arthur and Pastor Bron Jacobs of the Community Praise Church in Alexandria, Va., as well as Charde Hollins, the director of Young Adult Ministries for AWC.

Also instrumental in their development, Grammy-nominated and Dove Winner Yvonne Lewis-Shelton; general manager of Dare to Dream Network and Grammy nominated singer Wintley Phipps; and four-time Grammy nominated David Phelps have served as mentors to this 10-year-old group.

Many churches, conferences and schools are recognizing Harmony’s talents. Recently the Oakwood Alumni Association (Ala.) asked Harmony to sing their signature song, “These Are They,” at the 2018 alumni weekend. A couple months later, Allegheny East Conference organizers invited them to sing at the main pavilion during camp meeting and opened for Michael Kelly, senior pastor of the Mt. Rubidoux church (Calif.).

Harmony’s influence has stretched beyond the Adventist Church into other denominations. WVKO 1580, a local praise radio station in Columbus, has interviewed Harmony and has played their music numerous times. Harmony participated in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration event in Columbus. Also, the Jerusalem Second Baptist church in Urbana, Ohio, led by pastor Michael Freeman and his wife, Tishia, have been a great and supportive influence through the years.

“Harmony is on a mission to be the millennials who help the Seventh-day Adventist Church finish spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost, struggling, hurting and forgotten world by our singing and sharing Him through music,” says Tirzah Hawley.

For more information about Harmony, email HarmonySingers2016@gmail.com, call (614) 484-2712 or find them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

10 Young Adults Preach, 56 Baptized in South Africa

$
0
0
Sidney Harris (white skirt), a member of the Ephesus church in Richmond, Va., waves hello with a group of students who decided to get baptized as a result of Harris’ ministry in Lesotho.

Story by Sergio Romero

A group of young adults from across the Allegheny West Conference recently traveled to Lesotho, South Africa. Their challenge was clear: to bring Jesus to the people of Lesotho.

Ten young people, along with Jason Ridley, Youth Ministries director; Jerome Hurst, Community Services director; and Sergio Romero, Multicultural Ministries director, spent two weeks sharing their time, lives and experiences with people they’d never met before, but loved instantly.

Using ShareHim materials, the group preached every day and night at different locations—churches, schools, tents and even on a mountainside. Many of the places didn’t even have light or a sound system, so the young people spoke the Word of God by candlelight or cellphone flashlights. Adversity didn’t stop them from being bold in sharing God’s love and making daily altar calls.

Every morning after the devotional time, group members shared testimonies, providing further confirmation that God was moving, bringing people to the hope of Jesus’ Second Coming and seeing the need of giving their lives to Jesus as their personal Savior.

At the end of the week, everyone met at the Maluti church inside the Maluti Adventist Hospital. With sincere celebration, members and guests sang praises to God. The highlight of the weekend was when Ridley baptized 24 people. Then Hurst, inspired by the Holy Spirit, stood and began appealing for people to give their lives to Jesus and be baptized. “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” followed as 32 more people came to the waters and sealed their covenant with Jesus. At the end of the day, 56 people joined the church through baptism. 

“This is an absolute record for our country; we’ve never baptized this many people. This is a miracle,” says Chete Amos Bohale, president of the Lesotho Conference.

“This was a life-changing experience. I didn’t expect this,” says young adult Aaron Wimberly, with tears in his eyes. “I praise God for His love and mercies; I’m so happy I was able to come and be part of this great faith adventure.”

Viewing all 202 articles
Browse latest View live