Story by Jose Esposito
After 49 years of uninterrupted service in ministry, Raúl Rodríguez (pictured) has announced his retirement. Rodríguez began his pastoral work in 1969 and became an integral part of Potomac Conference’s pastoral team in 1997.
News
Story by Andre Hastick
During the recent Reach Chesapeake coordinated evangelistic campaign, 23 Hispanic churches throughout the Chesapeake Conference participated in spreading the Adventist message of hope in their respective communities.
In preparation for the meetings, each Hispanic congregation engaged their community through small groups, says Pastor Orlando Rosales, director of Multilingual Ministries for Chesapeake. These Biblebased small groups met in members’ homes and focused on felt needs of friends and family members. After the small group gelled, members invited participants to an evangelistic series. This served as a natural bridge for recently connected newcomers.
Story by LaTasha Hewitt
Emil Peeler, pastor of the Capitol Hill church in Washington, D.C., felt that although there were a lot of solid Bible study resources available, there was need for a fresh, concise and simple approach. Consequently, FaithFacts (pictured) was birthed. “I specifically designed them to be used for baptismal preparation and as introductory studies for those new in their Christian journey,” says Peeler.
Story by Betty Klinck
Adventist HealthCare Washington Adventist Hospital is the first hospital in Maryland to offer an alternative approach to transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a less invasive procedure to replace a damaged heart valve without open-heart surgery. The new method, called transcaval TAVR, will expand the minimally invasive benefits of TAVR to more people with valve disease.
Historia de Celeste Ryan Blyden
Story by Hannah Luttrell and V. Michelle Bernard
Background
The Amish originated from the Anabaptists. The word “ana” is Greek for “again,” and the Anabaptists rejected the infant baptism that many of them had been subjected to, believing instead that the only valid baptism was one that was freely chosen after confessing belief in Jesus. Menno Simons was a former Catholic priest who embraced Anabaptism in the 1500s and became a prominent leader, with his followers becoming known as Mennonites rather than Anabaptists.
In 1693, there was a split after a prominent leader, Jakob Ammann, advocated greater separation from the world and stricter discipline with the shunning of disobedient members. His followers became known as the Amish. Later, schisms led to groups like the Old Order Amish and New Order Amish.
Story by Celeste Ryan Blyden
Twenty years ago, the eight conferences within the Columbia Union Conference provided significant funds to help meet a new North American Division (NAD) policy that revolving funds across the division should maintain a minimum of 25 percent of their monies in capital reserves. Now that the Columbia Union Revolving Fund (CURF) has met and maintained that requirement for many years, the administration will return those funds to the conferences. The funds will total about $3.2 million, says Emmanuel Asiedu, union treasurer.
Story by Hannah Luttrell / Photos by Michael McElroy