Story by Esther Hernandez
Senior Helmi Calles recently received the 2021 Susan Berry Leadership award at RingFest, held in Toledo, Ohio. The award recognizes one bell choir student each year in the North American Division who “demonstrates outstanding leadership in the art of handbells.” This is the second consecutive year that a Blue Mountain Academy (BMA) student has received this award.
Story by Andrew S. Lay
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, Highland View Academy (HVA) has experienced miraculous protection from the virus on campus and among its faculty and students.
In fact, HVA has been fully open and in person since fall 2020, without any student or teaching staff contracting the disease during their time on campus. School leaders thank God for providing His protection and allowing HVA to fully function within the CDC guidelines.
Story by Ken Flemmer
Story by Valerie Morikone
Mountain View Conference's Cumberland (Md.) congregation has been steadily working on their new church building and started to get quotes on reconnecting their baptistry plumbing.
Story by Courtney Dove
Kettering College is excited to announce its new partnership with the Ohio Department of Education. Beginning Fall 2022, more students will have the financial ability to obtain a nursing degree from Kettering College.
The Ohio Department of Higher Education announced on April 4, 2022 that they are awarding Kettering College funds for the use of the Choose Ohio First scholarship program (COF). Choose Ohio First is part of Ohio's strategic effort to bolster the state in the global marketplace of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM). COF awards scholarship funding to selected Ohio colleges and universities to support undergraduate and qualifying graduate students in innovative academic programs.
Story by Tamyra Horst
Mark your calendars for June 14–18, to hear author and speaker David Asscherick at the 2022 Pennsylvania Conference Camp Meeting, held on the campus of Blue Mountain Academy in Hamburg.
Statement from ADRA:
"Europe is facing a long-term massive humanitarian crisis. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has been on the ground since the conflict began on February 24 and has been serving communities in Ukraine and the surrounding region for the past 30 years. The demands for humanitarian assistance have been ever-changing and growing. ADRA has deployed additional emergency response teams and dispatched numerous humanitarian convoys to assist and evacuate displaced families and people in conflict-ravaged regions. We have escalated resources to assist refugees who have crossed into neighboring regions and are developing long-term programs for families and children to thrive. We want everyone to have access to education, children's services, job placement, health care, and other essential services to help them succeed in their communities," says Michael Kruger, president of ADRA International.
"ADRA is grateful to our Adventist Church family, trusted partners, supporters, and thousands of volunteers for their tireless dedication and contributions. As the global humanitarian agency of the Adventist Church, ADRA reaffirms its commitment to serve, protect, and stand for the Ukraine people and all communities impacted by this unending crisis."
Story by Pennsylvania Conference Staff
Public evangelism doesn’t always work if it’s simply done as a stand-alone event. However, public evangelism done as part of the cycle of evangelism is still highly effective.
“Churches who purposefully practice the cycle of evangelism on a yearly basis have successful evangelistic series and are consistently growing,” says Yves Monnier, Ministerial and Evangelism director. “These churches do not do a lot of haphazard church events throughout the year—then remember to do an evangelistic series every so many years. No, these churches faithfully do activities that connect them with the community and build momentum leading to regular public evangelism, the harvest, year after year.”
Story by Tamaria Kulemeka
When Wayna Gray became principal of Allegheny East Conference's Dupont Park Adventist School (DPAS) in Washington, D.C., she was delighted with the positive qualities she found in the school’s programs, faculty and students. When she noticed students coming to school without lunch, however, she was concerned.
Teachers often gave students their own lunch and bought extra snacks for those who came without anything to eat, Gray recalls. In the past, lunches were provided at a cost to students. Now, due to the pandemic, students had to bring their own lunches, leaving some at a disadvantage.
Story by Christina Keresoma
Many of us take for granted an everyday item that is readily available: water. Our homes have water, whether tap water or filtered water, or we have bottled water delivered to our doors. But every few seconds, somewhere in the world, a child five years old or younger dies because he or she does not have access to clean water, food, or basic medicines.
Each year, an estimated 1.6 million children under the age of 5 die from contaminated water. The all-volunteer nonprofit organization RipplAffect believes that helping others gain access to sustainable, clean drinking water has the potential to save countless lives, especially children’s.