Chesapeake Conference

Editorial by Rick Remmers

North Korea is increasingly unpredictable and dangerous as it fires off longer range missiles with devastating potential. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18, NKJV).

Record rainfalls and once in a millennium flooding cause the costliest disaster in U.S. history. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!” (1 Chron. 16:8, NKJV).

Violence between protesters and white supremacists results in injuries and death. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4, NKJV).

Story by New Hope church staff

On a recent Sabbath afternoon children who are members of Chesapeake Conference's New Hope church's Adventurers Club in Fulton, Md.,  packed more than 200 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. The club members formed an assembly line and packed things like notebooks, pencils, crayons, hygiene products, small toys and Bibles into the boxes. These boxes will be taken to a Samaritan’s Purse processing center near Baltimore where a workbook that presents the Gospel for children is added. Then the boxes are shipped to children in the developing world. They are an evangelism tool to over eight million children a year.

Editorial by Josh Voigt

Addict. It’s a word we don’t like to use to describe ourselves. But at age 17, I was addicted to alcohol and cigarettes, and a user of marijuana, PCP (Phencyclidine) and other drugs.

I cannot place blame for my poor decisions on my parents or upbringing, as I was raised in a loving Seventh-day Adventist home. I became addicted through peer pressure and my inability to say no. I wanted friends to like me, and never wanted to look like I was too afraid to try something. 

Story by Tamaria L. Kulemeka

Darcel Harris is thankful for the success her 12-step group, patterned after the Regeneration model, has experienced for nearly three decades. Harris, a middle school Language Arts teacher, psychology professor and author in Westminster, Md., says the group grew out of Chesapeake Conference’s Westminster (Md.) church, where she is a member. Today they meet every Friday night and during a branch Sabbath School service called True Vine. They also operate a non-profit called Grow, which enables them to provide resources and minister to the needs of homeless people, drug addicts and the less fortunate in the community.

Story by Tamaria L. Kulemeka

The opioid and heroin epidemic is crippling communities across the nation, leaving health officials and providers, coroners, law enforcement and churches scrambling to respond to and combat this widespread crisis.

Bonnie Franckowiak, professor and coordinator of the Master of Science Nursing Program at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md., says, “The use of opioids in this country is staggering. It’s huge, and it’s growing all the time; we don’t seem to have a handle on it at all,” she says. “In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is enough to give every American adult their own pill box.”