Story by Juliana Savoy/ Photos by Jorge Pillco
Earlier in the year, members from across the New Jersey Conference started praying for their friends and reaching them by showing acts of love and compassion. Members then invited their friends to more than 200 small groups, where they studied about God’s compassion and faith. By April each of the small groups held a week of evangelism, led by lay evangelists.
Story by José H. Cortés
Story by Ron Mills
"When he was 7 years old, he was able to master certain computer applications, and his gift started to develop from there,” states Yanic Hardie, regarding her son Darius. And thus began the amazing odyssey of Takoma Academy (TA) Freshmen Darius Hardie and the amazing gift of mastering information technology that God has bestowed upon Him.
Recognizing that their child had a unique gift, but not sure of what to do, Darius’ parents enrolled him in the Python computer course at the University of Maryland. He received an A+. Neither the students nor the professor realized that Darius was only 12 years old.
Story by Darren Wilkens
Mark Twain famously wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
At Spring Valley Academy (SVA), we take the truth in this quote seriously. We believe education must be global, not provincial. The only way to acquire those “charitable views of men (and women) and things” is to go and meet them on their home turf.
Story by Visitor and CPC Staff
Story by V. Michelle Bernard
Story by Tamyra Horst
Bob Williams pastored more than a dozen churches, helped start a school and served on numerous conference committees and boards in his 40-year career with the Pennsylvania Conference. He and his wife, Amy, raised three daughters, all Blue Mountain Academy graduates, during their ministry in the conference.
On Wednesday, June 14th a group of Republican lawmakers were practicing in a quiet Alexandria, Virginia neighborhood for the annual Congressional baseball charity game when things took a scary turn as a lone gunman attacked them. Five people were injured, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey with the U.S. Capitol Police were both hurt while defending the congressman and other guests at the practice.
Editorial by Heather Crews, pastor of Courthouse Road church
Wander into the world of social media and you will find it colored with grief. We are reeling and pained by the actions of terror in our world. To try to fathom the loss of one life, and then to multiply that in order to understand the loss here is staggering. And so we post a new profile picture, filtered through our grief. We do this seeking to connect with the world and find hope. In a world getting-smaller-every-day we desire to share our pain. Then in that connection to find a spark of hope or a breath of peace for the day ahead.
Story by Gerry Lopez, pastor of Children and Family Ministry at Sligo Church
A parent told me recently that their child didn’t want to come to church because they got bullied by the other children at church. This wasn’t at school or online; this was happening at church!
These are statements that as a children’s pastor I don’t want to hear, but I need to be aware of them! I thought to myself, no not here in church; not in this place where we all should feel safe and loved! It blew my mind and made me ask, am I doing enough to make sure this stops? Sadly, I realized that I am not. But why not? I’ve known that bullying behavior has been around for a while but I have put the matter on the back burner.