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WGTS Kicks Off Third Annual Summer Concert Series

Mandisa and her band rocking out.

Story by Jerry Woods

Thousands of WGTS 91.9 listeners recently braved a rainy Friday afternoon to help the WGTS 91.9 launch its third annual “Summer Concert Series” in partnership with Tysons Corner Center in Virginia. The concert series takes place on a large outdoor plaza on Fridays in June and July. Mandisa was the featured artist for the night. She shared her story of battling depression and overcoming it with the help of dear friends. Her story really resonated as many in the audience shed tears while she was speaking and danced as she was singing. 

In addition 15 young people who’ve been separated from their parents at the border were given the VIP treatment and got to spend time with Mandisa.

Tireless for God

Jane Odero

Story by Celeste Ryan Blyden

Until recently Jane Odero served as a pastor in western Kenya’s Nyalgunga district. During her time in this largely un-entered region, she shepherded a district with five churches and two companies, and worked to revive three more companies.

Odero previously served as a literature evangelist in Kenya for 17 years, and, in 2016, became one of six female pastors in her conference. During the two years as a district leader, she helped to bring 105 people to Christ through six evangelistic meetings, camp meetings and personal evangelism efforts.

Maryland Members Start Prayer Line for Families Separated at Border

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Like many Americans, Sylvia Urrutia and Anissa Pérez, members of Potomac Conference’s Arise Hispanic-American Company in Silver Spring, Md., felt emotionally drained the past few weeks, watching families be torn apart on the U.S./Mexico border while trying to enter the country.

“As we struggle with feelings of helplessness, we try to find ways to help or make a difference in the lives of these precious little ones and their families. As constantly as they are on our mind, just as constantly have our hearts turned to prayer,” says Urrutia, whose parents immigrated from Argentina before she was born.

There's Room for Everyone to Serve

Photo by New Life Church Collingwood from Flickr

Editorial by Jorge Aguero

In a previous issue, we featured a group identified as chaplains. This raised questions about the role and function of members and chaplains, and I want to clarify.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, chaplains are ministers with conference-issued credentials who are granted ecclesiastical endorsement to serve in specialized ministries on school campuses, in corrections and healthcare facilities, the military, the workplace and community. Whether salaried or volunteer, before using the title chaplain, a person must complete required training and fieldwork.

10 Demographic Trends Shaping America

Did you know that Asia has replaced Latin America (including Mexico) as the biggest source of new immigrants to the U.S.? This and nine other trends highlighted by the Pew Research Center below are shaping the demographics of the U.S. Read more here.

1. “Americans are more racially and ethnically diverse than in the past, and the U.S. is projected to be even more diverse in the coming decades.” Studies find that by 2055, the U.S. will not have a single racial or ethnic majority.

Ohio Conference Transitions Headquarters to Dayton

Nearly 400 delegates at the recent Ohio Conference constituency voted to make the $3.2 million office building in Dayton the principle headquarters for conference business. In September 2017, local business owners gifted the building to the conference.

The conference spends $80,000 annually to operate the office in Mount Vernon, which increases each year due to the aging of the building. Funds generated by leasing a portion of the new building to Kettering Adventist HealthCare could save the conference up to $1 million in overhead. “These funds could help Ohio churches and schools fulfill their mission, vision, and ministry,” says Michael D. Gilkey, newly elected treasurer and CFO.

Blue Mountain Academy Opens Hospital Produce Stand

Story by Dave Morgan

Aaron Weber, the Pennsylvania Conference Blue Mountain Academy’s (BMA) director of operations, reports that the school’s agriculture program has recently impacted the local community like never before. “BMA agriculture was invited to pilot a Farmer’s Market in downtown’s Reading St. Joseph’s Hospital (Pa.),” Weber shares. “On May 1, BMA opened a produce stand in a renovated room close to the hospital’s main entrance. During the growing season—and potentially year-round—they are open each Tuesday from 12:30-5 p.m. Hospital administrators are not only making this produce market available to patients participating in VeggieRx, a healthy food incentive program, but are encouraging staff to shop there and are advertising the stand to the community.”

Sharing the Word

Photo by Ben Grey from Flickr

Editorial by Andre Hastick

Each day you and I use thousands of words; we share sentences to express our thoughts and feelings. Our intended messages, however, can sometimes get lost in translation. It is estimated that in the Scots language, spoken in the winter wonderland of the northern United Kingdom, there are more than 400 words for “snow.” I live in Maryland, where we make a big deal about any winter precipitation. In fact, it seems like our only term for snow is “School’s closed!” If Scots-speaking people tried to teach me about their snowfall without me experiencing it personally, their lesson would probably get lost in translation.