Story by Heidi Shoemaker
Ron Halvorsen Jr, Ohio Conference president, has accepted an invitation from the Washington Conference to return to pastoral ministry. Halvorsen and his wife Beth “Buffy” Verico Halvorsen, MS, LCMFT, have served in the Ohio Conference since February 2014. During his tenure as president, Halvorsen has focused upon prayer, discipling and young people.
Story by V. Michelle Bernard with reporting by Adventist News Network and Adventist Review / Image by General Conference Health Ministries
Responding to this question that sparked a renewed church conversation on abortion, delegates to the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Annual Council recently debated and voted a Statement on the Biblical View of Unborn Life and Its Implications for Abortion. But the levels of abortions performed in Adventist hospitals and health systems aren’t what they used to be.
Story by Tiffany Doss
At the recent Potomac Conference pastor/teacher meeting, administrators recognized outstanding educators and pastors for the work they have done. This year they gave special appreciation to four professionals:
Story by Benia Jennings
Ten years ago, the General Conference launched their enditnow campaign, which emphasizes ending the cycle of abuse on women and children. Intimate partner violence has been a long-standing issue for more than 100 years within the Allegheny West Conference Shiloh Cincinnati church’s surrounding Avondale community. As a result, church members took part in this initiative to stop violence that may affect congregation and community members alike.
Story by Visitor Staff
Bob Tate, a retired pastor and member of Ohio Conference’s Centerville church, recently released Keys to the Kingdom through TEACH Services. Read below how he hopes the book will equip members to be more actively involved in sharing Christ.
Visitor: What made you want to write this book?
Marcia Moore, a lay member from the Allegheny East Conference, recently shared a story at the North American Division (NAD)Year-End Meetings, that has people talking online.
Editorial by Bonnie Navarro
Photo by Plichel on pixaby.jpg
Osceola McCarty was born in 1908. She lived with her aunt and grandmother in Mississippi. When her aunt returned from a hospitalization unable to walk, McCarty dropped out of school to care for her. She never went back. Instead, she became a washerwoman—getting up early in the morning to light a fire under her wash pot, wash the clothes on a scrub board, hang them on a 100-foot-long clothesline, and when they were dry, iron until 11 p.m. at night.
Story by Becky Patrick
Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) math teacher and volleyball coach, Becky Patrick, is committed to girls’ sports. Patrick recognizes that girls who participate in sports are more likely to have lower rates of teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and possess more self-confidence. She has witnessed sports help girls focus more on their athletics than their aesthetics, and how teamwork has taught them to support and encourage one another:
Story by LaTasha Hewit
The Movement Germantown (Md.) church recently hosted their second annual Prayer Drive-Thru. Church members offered one-minute prayers with drivers and distributed copies of Steps to Christ.
Members, equipped with signs and enthusiasm, led drivers to the Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School’s parking lot. Prayer warriors waited to pray for everyone who came through.
Participant Doris Thomas shares, “Many asked for prayer for their health and their families; and in praying for them, we were all blessed.”
Story by Heidi Shoemaker
Pentaevangelism, … what is that?” asks Peter Simpson, Hispanic Ministries coordinator for the Ohio Conference. “We’ve done many things, but nothing like this.”
‘Pentaevangelism’ (Pentaevangelismo) is the most recent evangelism program designed by Simpson and the Hispanic Ministries Department. Penta (five) refers to the five principal components of evangelism: prayer (oración); preaching (predicación); baptizing (conversión); producing or multiplying (multiplación); and planting (plantación).