Story by Salena Fitzgerald
Takoma Academy (TA) began the year in a virtual learning setting. Faculty and staff continue expanded opportunities for students to learn in a rigorous, yet accommodating structure. Teaching and learning in a remote environment, however, can pose challenges. TA recognizes these concerns and spent the summer bolstering their ability to offer effective virtual learning and additional supports for students academically, spiritually, socially and emotionally.
Alexis A. Goring, a member of Potomac Conference’s Restoration Praise Center in Bowie, Md., recently released a devotional book, Stories and Songs of Faith: My Journey with God. Each chapter is a weekly theme for the reader’s year.
The Visitor staff recently interviewed her about this new work.
Visitor: What inspired you to write a book of devotionals?
Story by Tiffany Doss
A historic groundbreaking ceremony will take place at Potomac Conference's Camp Blue Ridge in Montebello, Va., on October 10 at 4 p.m.—marking the beginning of Phase 1 of the Master Plan for the campus. The Master Plan, designed to improve the overall guest experience and create additional adult housing and meeting spaces—including an adult retreat center—will kick off with construction of a new cafeteria with increased dining space.
Story by Tiffany Doss
In 2010, Gavin Simpson, now a member of the Harrisonburg (Va.) church, embarked on a life-changing journey of faith as a missionary. Over the last decade, through Eleventh-Hour Laborers, a nonprofit ministering to the less reached regions of the world, he has worked in India, Nepal, Myanmar, and, most recently, Cuba. “We work in-person with the local churches,” he explains. “We train Bible workers and members to do effective community evangelism and outreach. Our Bible workers in Cuba baptized more than 300 individuals last year.”
Story by Janel Haas Ware
Often the scene of athletic contests, Zirkle Gymnasium transformed into a house of worship for a properly masked and social-distanced Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) Class of 2020 commencement service.
“In these few precious moments that we have together before we go our separate ways, may we turn attention from ourselves long enough to see our Savior and gain strength and courage to stand for the right in the contests of life,” Principal Don Short encouraged. He challenged graduates to, “rise above the world’s mediocrity and choose excellent lives, not of timid decency or minimal reality, but of holy boldness in Christian service and self-sacrifice.”