NewsNuggets Page 26

Kelly Koppelmann Waller – Highlands Ranch, Colorado … We have all heard of organizations being referred to as a “family.” Many truly are, especially in the culture of Adventism. No matter where you go, usually, you can find an old friend or a friend of a friend, and it’s comforting to have that place to belong.

Mile High Academy (MHA), a preschool through twelfth-grade school in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, is definitely a family. In May, MHA closed out its 109^th year of educating the young people of the Seventh-day Adventist community. While that fact alone is impressive, there was something extra-special about MHA’s senior class of 2023.

“Being able to attend MHA was so special to me, because my mom also attended MHA, making me a second-generation alumnus,” says 2023 graduate Kaylynn Linser. “It shows the impact of MHA’s community, and how it’s not just a school, it’s a family. And being able to grow up in that family has been such an amazing gift.”

Out of a class of 17 students, six of them had at least one parent who graduated from MHA. Furthermore, five of the six “legacy students” attended our school continuously from preschool/kindergarten through twelfth grade. One of the legacy students is even a fourth-generation MHA student, as her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother also attended the academy.

Making such a commitment is not an easy task, and that is definitely recognized. “We [Gloria and Tiffiny] realize the sacrifice that people have to put forth in order to receive an Adventist education. But if we didn’t believe in the value of Adventist education (MHA specifically), we wouldn’t have had four generations come through the doors of MHA. We love our school!” shares Gloria Gates Cross, who was a member of Mile High Academy’s first high school graduating class in 1965.”

Another parent echoed the sentiment. “We sacrificed financially to have both of our children in Adventist education,” said Kevin Waller. “The loving teachers and their positive influence on our kids made the tuition a little easier to pay.”

The MHA family extends much further than the class of 2023. “MHA has had a generational impact on my family,” says Jay Eno. “My wife and I both attended and met in high school. My three kids all attended from preschool to twelfth grade. My sister-in-law and brother have taught there. My nieces and nephews also attended MHA. Added up, the Eno family has over a century of experience at Mile High Academy.”

During the 2022-2023 school year, 18% of students across all grades had at least one parent who attended MHA. There are also seven members of staff who are alumni, all of whom chose MHA for the education of their own children.

—Kelly Koppelmann Waller is the RMC conference clerk, executive assistant for administration, and ministerial administrative assistant. Kelly was a teacher at Mile High Academy from 1996-2001. Photo supplied.

By Ubaldo Gonzalez

I wasn’t Seventh-day Adventist as of May 2022. My family and I were attending the Baptist Church for more than 10 years. I considered our church to have good doctrine and scholars who knew the Scriptures, but, as in all places, there was wheat and tares. But I liked the fellowship with those who served the Lord from the heart, abiding by all that they knew.

My experience with church life has been extensive and varied. I gave my life to Jesus in 1992 at the Foursquare Church. I was a young man full of problems, but I found the solution to my struggles in Jesus Christ. Although I found deliverance from many of my issues, I knew I needed more of Christ and continued my search. I later united with Victory Word Outreach, the Assemblies of God, and the Baptist Church.

The journey has taken 30 years of searching and experiencing doctrines and people. I cannot say that everything I experienced was bad. In fact, I received one of the great blessings of my life when I met my wife in the church and watched my daughters grow up there.

But, one day, God revealed Himself to me in a personal way and that revelation made a profound change in my life. What made me change?

On one Friday afternoon, while watching an online video, I heard the presenter say, “The children of God follow His commandments and keep Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, as a day of rest, as is it written in Scripture in the Ten Commandments.” This was a new revelation to me as I had been a Sunday-keeping Christian from the time I first asked Christ into my heart. But I knew in my heart that I wanted to follow God and the example of Christ, and this revelation resonated with me.

I did not know where a Sabbath-keeping church was, so I went to Google to look for churches that keep the Sabbath holy. The research showed me a church just three minutes away from my house—the Mountain View Seventh-day Adventist Church in Longmont, Colorado.

For me, this was a very surprising thing as I had not heard of that church before.

On another Friday afternoon, I happened to be walking past the church and met some wonderful people there. Alphonso Magallanes, whom I later learned was one of the church elders, and his family were there cleaning the church and putting up a banner announcing a Bible Prophecy Seminar with Daniel Miranda. The seminar was to start soon, and they invited me to come to the meetings.

I was impressed to go to those meetings. There, I heard the most powerful presentations of Bible truth, and my life was changed as I received Christ as a “Commandment Keeping Savior.” He set me free from other doubts and gave me answers to questions that had been in my mind. After the Bible Prophecy Seminar on April 23, 2022, I was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church by Pastor Tim Jones.

My life is an example that Christ has been, and will continue to be, here for everyone. It was His love that brought me to understand His Word and His love that keeps me continuing in His Word. It is not because I deserved anything, it is because He loves me that I can boldly proclaim that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I found a Savior who loves me. He brought me to Himself as the way, the truth, and the life.

This has been the most wonderful year of my whole life.

—Ubaldo Gonzalez is a member of the Mountain View Seventh-day Adventist Church in Longmont, Colorado. Photo supplied.

Agape Hammond – Parker, Colorado … One of the Newday Adventist Church’s core values is authentic community. God wants us to share our lives together rather than live in isolation. Our togetherness is the best expression of God’s love and the power of the gospel. As the body of Christ, we are meant to worship and grow together. Romans 15:5-6 illustrates this idea: May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our church family feels the same way. Walk into Newday Church and you will see friendly faces greeting you at the door, and you will experience a worship service that brings people of all ages together. Connecting is what Newday does, and an integral part of creating connections and the Newday culture is the “Grow Group.” Grow Groups are small gatherings that meet once a week to dive deeper into spiritual conversations—while doing life together. 

There are currently eight Grow Groups that meet from September through May, though you may find some continuing throughout the year because of the strong friendships that form and the support that comes from knowing you have a community that cares.

Ask any group member and you will hear the same thing. As one group member, Linett Batiste said, “I have often left our group night feeling ready to continue the week’s challenges having myself shared and listened to others’ challenges, words of encouragement, or perspective on the topic discussed.”

As we enter summer, most groups take a break. This pause offers an opportunity for each Grow Group leader to reflect on what went well, what could improve, and what topics might be explored in the upcoming season. The curriculum might vary between groups, but the deep connections formed to leave a deep impact. 

Relationships are built within the group, but more importantly, each group member grows their relationship with Christ. Kelly Loney, a group member for the past two seasons, said “Being part of a Grow Group is incredible because it truly is just that … a GROW group. We grow personally, we grow friendships, and most importantly we grow spiritually.” 

When asked about his experience, Dr. Dave Watson emphasized community and then went on to say, “Our Grow Group has given me the deepest, most trusted place to learn, be open, and feel the presence of Jesus through relationships. A true blessing!”

Shawna Sajdak has been in Grow Groups since the very beginning, so she knows what it means to grow within a community of Christ-followers. She commented, “What I love about being a part of Grow Groups is the community. I love knowing that if I need prayer or a laugh or a thought-provoking question, I’ll find it at grow group.”

In Jeremiah 29:13, God asks us to seek Him with all our hearts. Grow Groups are just one of the ways that Newday pursues deeper connections and seeks to journey together with others who have similar spiritual goals.

–Agape Hammond is on the Communications Team at Newday Adventist Church. Photos supplied.

By Rick Mautz

Most of us deal with our personal health with what I call the disease/treatment model. We wait until there are symptoms or a diagnosis and then we go and seek help to fix the problem. Or we might say, “I am getting regular medical examinations. If there are any problems, my doctor will let me know and take care of it.” The problem with that mindset is that, once there are symptoms, the disease may either be not treatable, the treatment is expensive, or the treatment is worse than the disease itself.

One example is breast cancer. A few breast cancer cells are not much of a problem. But, after 20 years of silently growing, there may be a billion cells, the amount needed for detection. Why not choose a lifestyle that fights the cancer cells before you ever know it’s there?

Another example is heart disease. It silently develops until there is a small crack in the lining of the coronary artery, forming a clot leading to a sudden heart attack. There are often no symptoms, and it may not be detectable by medical examination. For too many, the first symptom is sudden death. If you were waiting for symptoms to appear to make changes, it’s often too late.

Most heart disease is preventable through lifestyle, and prevention is the only safe course. But that requires a new mindset. Instead of a disease/treatment model, you follow a lifestyle/prevention model. And the side effects of the prevention model are only good ones, like a happier, longer, healthier life with greater mental clarity. The lifestyle that prevents these two diseases also prevents many others as well.

The question may be, Is it worth the effort? There will be things that you enjoy that you will have to give up. But, from my experience, the positive results in your life will be worth the initial inconvenience.

Those are examples of the power of prevention in your physical life. How might the power of prevention change other areas of your life? Such as in relationships or preventing conflict rather than fixing it afterward. Or what about your spiritual life?

The disease/treatment model is like a sin/forgiveness model. It will take a new mindset to practice prevention in the spiritual life as well. Make no mistake, it takes no more power on God’s part to give us strength to resist temptation than to forgive us afterward. In fact, He would preferer it that way. Just pray early and avoid the remorse and pain for yourself and others. Is it possible?

The real question to ask is how big is your God? He is more than able even if we are not able on our own strength or willpower. All that it takes on our part is to just ask for His help at the point of temptation and He is more than willing to give us the victory through His strength. Both physical and spiritual prevention take a new mindset, but it’s the same mind that is changed for both. So, practicing the new mindset with one helps the other. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

“The prince of this world cometh, said Jesus, and hath nothing in Me (John 14:30). There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan’s sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. So, it may be with us. Christ’s humanity was united with divinity. So long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to perfection of character” (DA 123.3). ¹

Physical prevention is the answer to health care crises. Spiritual prevention is the answer to the Great Controversy.

—Rick Mautz, PT MS, is RMC director of the Rocky Mountain Lifestyle Center. Photo by Pexels.

¹  White, Ellen G. (1898). The Desire of Ages. Pacific Press.

Mary Lynn Green – Denver, Colorado … The Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) Planned Giving & Trust Services welcomes Dawn Westgate to the team as the new assistant director/field representative. Dawn begins her ministry on June 3, 2023, at the northeast camp meeting at Campion Academy in Loveland, Colorado.

Dawn attended Andrews University and local community colleges. She holds degrees in nursing and business administration and is certified in office management.

While serving in trust services for a public national bank, she felt God’s calling to care for His people, and she takes that calling very seriously. Dawn has been serving our Lord most recently in the RMC treasury department in a temporary capacity. She is detail-oriented and has a deep respect for client’s wishes.

Dawn is a caring person who loves the Lord dearly. As Christ shows compassion towards others, Dawn strives to be more like Him every day as she serves Him both personally and in corporate trust work. She has also found hope in emergency nursing.

Dawn has been married for 36 years to Brandon Westgate, our RMC youth director. She has served as a pastor’s wife for the last 20 of those years. Dawn and Brandon have two grown children and two grandchildren.

Our team bids a fond farewell to Matthew Moreland at our staff meeting in early March. He began his new position as associate director of major gifts at Southern Adventist University on March 28. We miss him and wish him well in his new role.

—Mary Lynn Green is the RMC Planned Giving and Trust Services director and Corporate Secretary for Asset Management. Photo supplied.