Story by Heidi Shoemaker
Who We Are, How We Serve
The Columbia Union Conference coordinates the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s work in the Mid-Atlantic United States, where 150,000 members worship in 860 congregations. We provide administrative support to eight conferences; two healthcare networks; 81 early childhood, elementary and secondary schools; a liberal arts university; a health sciences college; a 49 community services centers; 8 camps; 5 book and health food stores and a radio station.
We Believe
God is love, power, and splendor—and God is a mystery. His ways are far beyond us, but He still reaches out to us. God is infinite yet intimate, three yet one,
all-knowing yet all-forgiving.
Story by Darren Wilkins
Spring Valley Academy (SVA) elementary students noticed a few new faces in their classrooms at the beginning of the 2020–21 school year.
Former fifth- and sixth-grade teacher, Emily Cowell, took the third- and fourth-grade position after the passing of former teacher Kimberly Orr, while Michele O’Geare moved from her first- and second-grade posi- tion to fill the ELL/reading specialist role vacated by Michelle Church.
Story by Heidi Wetmore
Spencerville Adventist Academy (SAA) is pleased to welcome two new educators for the 2020–2021 school year. Laura Steinert joins SAA’s high school teaching staff in the capacity of English teacher. Her name might sound familiar to SAA families because Steinert began her teaching career at SAA during the 1999–2000 school year.
Story by New Jersey Conference Staff
Peggy Filossaint, the new associate pastor of New Jersey Conference's Maranatha French church in Newark, is a New Jersey native. A graduate of Garden State Academy and Bowie State University (Md.), she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Accounting.
Filossaint worked as an accountant for 16 years before starting her own accounting business in Hagerstown, Md. Three years later, God called her into ministry.
In August 2019, she enrolled in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University (Mich.), where she is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry. In November 2019, she was ordained as an elder at The Grace Place (Ind.).
Story by Tiffany Doss
In 2010, Gavin Simpson, now a member of the Harrisonburg (Va.) church, embarked on a life-changing journey of faith as a missionary. Over the last decade, through Eleventh-Hour Laborers, a nonprofit ministering to the less reached regions of the world, he has worked in India, Nepal, Myanmar, and, most recently, Cuba. “We work in-person with the local churches,” he explains. “We train Bible workers and members to do effective community evangelism and outreach. Our Bible workers in Cuba baptized more than 300 individuals last year.”