Education

Story by Jason Vanderlaan

REACH Columbia Union Urban Evangelism School launched their second school year at the end of August with a cohort of eight students. The students come from various places across the Columbia Union, as well as from Indiana and Northern California.

After an introductory week of orientation and classes with Brown, the students joined the Pennsylvania Conference’s REACH Philadelphia church for a weekend spiritual retreat. During this time, the students connected with church members and learned more about the people and ministries they’ll be involved in throughout the year.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

During a meeting today, Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee members affirmed the appointment of Jacqueline Messenger, Chesapeake Conference superintendent of schools, as the Columbia Union Conference’s associate director for secondary education.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Today Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee members met Tiffany Brown, the new director of the REACH Columbia Union Conference Urban Evangelism School, based in Philadelphia.

“We are very excited about Brown assuming leadership of our school,” says Frank Bondurant, vice president for Ministries Development. “She possesses the combination of pastoral, canvassing and teaching skills that we need in a director. In addition she has a degree in Urban Community Development and is able to relate to and engage young adults.”

Statement from the Pennsylvania Conference

Thursday night at approximately 9:15 pm a fire was spotted in one of the barns that a local farmer uses to store his equipment and some bales of hay on the campus of Blue Mountain Academy (BMA), Hamburg, Pa. Due to the dry summer and a recent heat wave that made matters worse, it appears a spontaneous combustion occurred, causing the fire.

Very quickly local volunteer fire departments were dispatched and brought the fire under control. At no time were any of our students at risk, as the barn is a one quarter mile from campus. A special thank you goes out the men and women of the local fire departments that braved extreme heat to extinguish the fire.

Story and photos by LaTasha Hewitt

In the 1940s, Elder John H. Wagner, Sr., former Allegheny Conference president, envisioned a boarding school in the North where African-American high school students could attend without the racial issues of schools in the South. After purchasing the 575-acre Rutter Estate near Pottstown, Pa., the conference opened Pine Forge Institute on September 9, 1946, with 90 students.

Last weekend the school, now Pine Forge Academy (PFA), celebrated Alumni Weekend and 70 years of existence during the weekend themed “Legacy of Excellence.”