Compiled by Rob Vandeman
News
Join the Journey Through Psalms
Any day now, the 2017 Columbia Union Calendar will arrive in your mailbox. Its theme is “A Journey Through the Psalms: Experiencing God, Grace and Growth in Real Time.” The calendar will highlight a different psalm every month accompanied by a practical assignment.
Psalms is comprised of spiritual journals---personal letters or prayers to God---in the form of poetry. And poetry’s function is not to explain or theologize but to offer images and stories that resonate with our lives. As I read them, I project myself back into their experience and ask, “Could I have prayed these prayers?” “Have I felt this particular anguish or outburst of joy?” “Do I have this same hunger for God?” And then I proceed to think through the situations in which I might pray the psalm in front of me: facing temptation, celebrating success, praising God, harboring a grudge, suffering an injustice. Under what circumstance would this psalm best apply in my life?
A Book About Relationship
Story by Elizabeth Long
Kettering Adventist HealthCare is celebrating the completion of its new cancer center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for elected officials, community leaders, and Kettering Adventist HealthCare and hospital leadership Wednesday, December 7. The cancer center is located in the new Pavilion building at 3700 Southern Blvd. in Kettering, across the street from Kettering Medical Center.
Story by V. Michelle Bernard
This week Mountain View Conference (MVC) leadership announced that Mike Hewitt will join the conference team in December to serve as executive secretary and ministerial director.
Conference leaders are looking forward to welcoming Hewitt, who is filling a vacancy, to round out their officer team of three. “Mike loves to do evangelism,” says Larry Boggess, MVC president. “He loves soulwinning and people, and he can identify with many of our pastors who have come from a different profession than pastoring.”
At its year-end meeting in November, members of the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee discussed at length the General Conference Unity in Mission document voted at Annual Council in early October. Many expressed concern about the intent, purpose and assumptions of the document, how it was processed, why it is needed, how it will impact the mission of the church in this region and what will be the consequences of non-compliance.
Story by Celeste Ryan Blyden
Today Columbia Union Conference leaders recognized a group of seven people who have worked tirelessly for the Lord in the Columbia Union Conference territory.
Story by WAU Communication Staff
An Honors College will be launched next year at Washington Adventist University (WAU) to further enhance its academic offerings and move the university another step closer to achieving the Vision 2020 – Growing with Excellence plan that seeks to attain excellence at all levels of the institution. This will be the first Honors College in the Seventh-day Adventist system of higher education.
Story by Jerry Woods
WGTS 91.9 just hosted its largest “Night of Hope” event in station history. On Friday, November 11th, more than 2,000 listeners flooded into McLean Bible Church (Va.) to hear music from the Passion Worship Band with Kristian Stanfill and an inspiring message from Pastor Setan Lee of Transform Asia. Pastor Lee shared several stories about how God spared his life after he uttered a prayer to a God he didn’t even know. He turned that message into a message of hope encouraging those in tough circumstances that if God can answer the prayer of someone who doesn’t even know His name, then you can believe He has a good plan for your life.
At the end of the night around 100 people made first-time decisions to give their lives to Christ.
Story by Betty Klinck
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and recent research suggests that going to a hospital rated highly for heart care matters. By delivering such high-quality care to the Washington, D.C. region, Adventist HealthCare Washington Adventist Hospital has received two national recognitions for its heart program.
Washington Adventist Hospital received the highest distinction for excellence in heart surgery from the Society for Thoracic Surgeons (STS), and was also recognized for efficient, effective and rapid treatment of heart attacks by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC), an Institute of the American College of Cardiology.
The STS awarded the hospital a Three-Star rating – the highest possible quality rating – for coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), the most common type of open-heart surgery in the U.S. Washington Adventist Hospital is among the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide to achieve a Three-Star rating.
“The Three-Star rating in CABG is very important to us. It is a measure of excellent outcomes for our patients,” said Paul Massimiano, MD, the hospital’s medical director of Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery. “It designates a very high standard and it validates the importance of teamwork and attention to detail in our cardiac program.”
Perspective by James Standish
Many people are shocked by the outcome of the election. Not Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert. Over a year ago, Adams predicted Trump would win.
The odd thing?
Adams nailed it.
How could a Clinton-supporting cartoonist see what all the pundits, poll producing prognosticators and professional politicians missed? Easy, Adams explains, he doesn’t study polls, instead he studies the art of persuasion. And, he explains, persuasion is based on emotion. Tap into the emotional truths of your audience, and you persuade them.
In Adams’ analysis, the most persuasive candidate wins. Everything else is just noise.