NewsNuggets Page 68

04 Nov

Montrose Hispanic ends community meetings with 11 baptisms

In

RMCNews with Dennis Magaña – Montrose, Colorado … The Montrose Hispanic Adventist church recently concluded community outreach meetings, Transformados Por La Sangre De Jesus with eleven baptisms.

Members began planning the outreach to the community in August by inviting Oswaldo Magaña, executive secretary for the Ohio Conference, to present the message.

“Generally, we have two crusades during the year, but due to the pandemic, this was going to be our first in-person crusade since the pandemic began,” Dennis Magaña, Montrose Hispanic head elder, said. “Our members were excited to be able to have it in person and to be able to invite their friends and family to attend.”

Members invited family and friends with personalized letters hand-delivered to the individuals. Many of the individuals invited by the special notes made plans to attend the series.

The church was excited to begin the series but knew challenges would face them. “We knew this crusade was going to be a blessing and that the devil was not happy with what was going on, and we knew that he was going to do everything in his power to stop it,” Dennis Magaña said. “On Friday before the meetings were to begin, I got a call from Oswaldo Magaña stating his mother had passed away in Belize and that he would not be able to come.”

Members understood the situation and decided not to cancel. They began to make preparations to change the theme. The church shifted the week into a spiritual revival for members, focusing on friends and family, and rescheduled the meetings to the last week of October so that Oswaldo Magaña could speak.

The outreach began with community and church members in attendance; however, as the week continued, the attendance increased, causing the meetings to be moved into a larger venue at Montrose English Adventist church.

Halfway through the series, five individuals responded to a call to follow Jesus by being baptized. The five were joined by six others the following evening. Preparations began to hold a special service on Sabbath to baptize the eleven individuals.

During the baptism ceremony, Oswaldo Magaña stated, “I can only imagine the joy and celebration that is occurring in heaven.”

Concluding the service, Oswaldo appealed to the members to adopt one of the newly baptized members and be their spiritual mentor with the hope that they will walk together in this new journey and be there for whatever they need. “Your real work begins now,” Oswaldo Magaña stated to the church at the end of the service. “The church exists to guide and mentor and not judge these new spiritual babies.”

“In one week, we were able to raise our membership total by more than 25 percent!  We have a real problem now in our church as we no longer fit [in our current space].” Dennis Magaña said. “Pray [for us] as we are looking for a new, bigger place to worship. There is a lot of work to do here in Montrose, and by God’s grace, we are committed to doing it.”

–RMCNews with Dennis Magaña is Montrose Hispanic Adventist Church head elder; photos supplied

03 Nov

HMS RICHARDS LITERATURE MINISTRY OFFERS AN “UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE”

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By Love Pickle – Loveland, Colorado … Students in the seventh and eighth grades at HMS Richards Adventist School are reaching out to the community by participating in the literature ministries (LM) program.

The program has been a mission of seventh and eighth-grade teacher Carey Jordan. “It’s been a dream of mine since I started teaching,” said Jordan who has been working with Matt Hasty, RMC literature ministries director, and the school board to make this dream a reality.

After recent approval by the school board, the students have been able to go out twice and plan to continue once a month for the rest of the school year.

This experience has created a desire within students to continue sharing the gospel in their community. “LM is actually a lot of fun. I am glad to bring people to Christ, and maybe they can be saved,” Warren, a seventh-grader, enthusiastically shared. When asked how it felt to be rejected, he responded, “I respect their choices, and I don’t want to force anything upon them.”

Another seventh-grade student said, “LM is great, but sometimes I get nervous when I don’t know something.”

Jordan told how she witnessed the students’ attitudes change during their first LM outreach: “The kids started so nervous, but when they came back, they asked when they could do it again.”

Being part of literature ministries requires a lot of patience, determination, and the mental capacity to overcome challenges. Another student, Elin, found it difficult to talk to strangers and pray with them at first, but still pushed herself to do so.

Eighth-grader Michelle recalled an unforgettable experience where she and her peers knocked on a door and met a woman who had undergone many brain surgeries and has an uncertain prognosis. Hence, the students gathered and prayed for her. Seeing seventh and eighth graders reaching out to adults in such a way made school secretary Aubrey Nelson emotional, with tears rolling from her eyes. Reflecting on the event, Michelle added, “It makes me feel better to pray for other people.”

Even when people don’t make a purchase, the students are still happy when people who open the door, are filled with hope that they might open a lot of hearts.

The money collected from LM goes toward sponsoring a mission trip for the students. If pandemic restrictions prohibit the trip, the funds will be sent to Maranatha.

–Love Pickle is a senior at Campion Academy; photos by Carey Jordan

03 Nov

CRAIG CARR TO SERVE AS MAUC MINISTERIAL DIRECTOR

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By Brenda Dickerson – Lincoln, Nebraska … Craig Carr has accepted the invitation of the Mid-America Union Conference Executive Committee to serve as the director of the union’s Ministerial department. He begins his new role on Jan. 1, 2022.

Carr, who holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and a Doctor of Ministry from Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado, has served the Washington Conference since 2017 as vice president for administration. Carr was ordained to the gospel ministry in 2003 while pastoring in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference.

“We are so blessed to have Craig Carr moving to Mid America!” said MAUC president Gary Thurber. “This is much like coming home for him and his wife, Carisa. They are both graduates of Union College and are thankful for the excellent education they received. Craig served in the Rocky Mountain Conference for over ten years as lead pastor of the Boulder Church and then Ministerial and Church Ministries director for the conference. He comes with a wealth of experience in leadership, but most of all, he loves ministry, and he’s giving his life to it.”

Carr said he is looking forward to doing everything he can to support the six conference Ministerial directors as they grow their ministry with their pastors. “I have a deep love for pastors. And I hope to support them by being a prayer partner to their directors, a sounding board, and a chief encourager in the good times and challenges that ministry brings,” he stated.

EXPERIENCED, PASSIONATE, HOPEFUL

In addition to preaching frequently, chairing many committees, and providing support to numerous departments, Carr has experience with a wide range of activities, including facilitating Restore the Joy of My Vocation seminars on emotional and spiritual maturity. Carr credits his mentors, including his dad Curtis Carr, father-in-law Gordon Retzer and friend Joe Kidder, for developing his passion for ministry.

“My earliest memories of knowing Jesus bring to mind our family singing hymns around the piano and my dad emphasizing the lyrics of the love and grace of Jesus,” Carr said. His favorite Scripture verse is Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Carr believes some of the best things about being a Seventh-day Adventist are being messengers of God’s grace to a world in need of the healing and wholeness that can only be found in Jesus Christ; the gift of salvation; Sabbath rest; and the hope of Christ’s soon return.

What gives Carr hope for the future of Adventism? He says it is “every young person who says Yes to Jesus and lives out the gospel in authentic and practical ways by serving in their community and touching the lives of others out of love for God and nothing more.”

Craig and Carisa (Retzer) have been happily married for 25 years. “Carisa is my partner in life and ministry, a master teacher, super mom, and friend to many,” added Craig. They have two children: Cassie (preschool teacher married to Blake Unsell) and Christian (crew chief in the U.S. Air Force).

–Brenda Dickerson is the communication director for the Mid-America Union and editor of OUTLOOK magazine.

This article was originally published on Outlook Magazine website

03 Nov

COMMENTARY: Rural Churches Back to the Future

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By Amilcar Groeschel Jr. … Rural churches. Remember them? They’ve been under palliative care for quite some time now. Here are practical ideas to deal with the consequences of a Covid-catalyzed urban exodus and the potential “Back to the Future” experience when it comes to the rural churches. Much needed disclaimer? No far-fetched formulas or rocket science will be offered. This is about the revival of unity in service.

My previous church leadership experience was in the city of São Paulo, one of the world’s largest urban centers. We had between 1200 to 1500 members attending worship every Sabbath. There were two to three different services, many musical groups, choirs, and even an orchestra playing live music every other Sabbath. Community service was alive and well, with various programs including personal development seminars and activities that attended to real basic needs, all within the evangelistic harvest cycle.

Then, by God’s grace and providence, we moved to southwest Virginia to serve the rural Appalachian “Bible belt” churches within the Potomac Conference. Serving in our church’s “motherland” has been quite a journey. According to eAdventist, even though most of our congregations are still located in rural areas, most of the NAD’s members are found in urban centers, obviously following the ongoing post-industrial revolution’s migrations.

I took the official “Advent Heritage Tour” with Jim Nix and my grandparents back in the day. Later in the Seminary, I studied our church’s history more in-depth with Dr. Alberto Timm and learned to appreciate how rural America was our God-planned birthplace. However, little by little, with different social and economical variables for each specific area, our rural churches started to decline. The picture I have is of a faithfully well-intentioned church that’s growing old and dying. As a pastor in this area, this is a painful and worrisome picture.

But all of a sudden, as COVID hit, we started seeing people coming out of nowhere joining our Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube meetings, really searching for some connection. Some were asking for information about land and property for sale in our area. The real estate market is still very active in rural areas, meaning that something is indeed changing.

And it just hit me: how will we be able to connect to the community if we’re barely even making it in our community? We simply don’t have enough people who are able to do most of the necessary work. And that’s where, out of practical necessity, we started to call on our neighbor churches for help, human help. Yes, we had partnered up many times before, with district churches and even other ministries (and we still do), but now we have a renewed vision, a strategic opportunity.

Out of pure necessity, God showed us the blessings of unity. No real news here—that’s his pattern throughout history. In time and with growing relationships and trust, the district churches agreed to work on a regional strategy—sharing financial and human resources and becoming aware of the immediate need to have a digital as well as an analog plan in place for this renewed opportunity to reconnect with and serve our local communities. Starting with a district-wide week of “Revival and Reformation” in January, we’ve partnered with It is Written’s year-long evangelistic program called “Acts 20:21” for a robust and qualified online presence. We’re also preparing for the transition back to in-person relationship development.

In March, we had an in-person district-wide training series on medical missionary work, followed by an online IIW health series and in-person community outreach research to find out how we can attend to the specific needs of our local community. We had our first district-wide health fair on diabetes, with more than 40 volunteers from all churches, hundreds of literature distributed, over 100 people registered for follow-up programs, many Bible studies, and little by little, a living, breathing, back-to-the-future church.

As a result of our district-wide effort, member engagement has spiked, and now we are ready to commit to a district-wide harvest cycle plan for 2022. We have 52 leads who are receiving online Bible studies and are being contacted consistently by our outreach team and five people attending Diabetes Undone, a health fair follow-up program. We have also restarted our monthly Healthy Cooking classes, usually having anywhere between 10-15 in attendance who are not Seventh-day Adventist.

Also, within our district, we have a school that’s been closed for almost ten years, and after our district-wide effort, we were able to reopen the school property as a “Practical Living Community Center” for kids. They learn different life skills, which include healthy spirituality classes, reading and writing, gardening, and cooking. We already have ten kids enrolled in the program.

As I said before, no rocket science here, but a God-driven loop in the space/time continuum.

–Amilcar Groeschel Jr. pastors the New River, Pulaski, and Wytheville Churches along with the Mountain View Company, all in Southwest Virginia. Photo supplied.

This article was originally published on the NAD Ministerial website.

02 Nov

INDUCTION CEREMONY FOR CODY COWBOYS

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By Samantha Nelson – Cody, Wyoming … For the first time at the Cody, Wyoming church, there is an official Pathfinder club–The Cody Cowboys.

The Pathfinder group held its induction ceremony on October 30.  The club was organized with five Pathfinders and two teen leadership trainees. The Cody Cowboys includes all the children and teens that are age-eligible for Pathfinders involved.

“I’m excited to be a member of the Cody Cowboys Pathfinder club! I get to learn new skills, spend time with fellow believers my age, and strengthen my personal relationship with God,” Cowboy Pathfinder Eric expressed.

The ceremony, organized by club director Hardy Tyson, included a candle-lighting ceremony for each of the Pathfinder levels, explanations on the meaning of the law and pledge by assistant club director Anita Holdren, and a brief message by Steve Nelson, pastor of the Cody district.

Commenting on why being involved in the club is important, teen leadership trainee Cedar said, “Pathfinders is a great way to help me to keep God in the center of my life.”

After all the candles were lit and the pledge and law were recited and explained, each Pathfinder was officially welcomed into the club.

Commenting on the Cody Church Facebook post about the ceremony, Debra Barlow recalled how important a Pathfinder club is. “Being in Pathfinders kept me safe, informed, spiritually connected to Jesus, and it was lots of fun. Good luck to those kids; this world has its challenges. Hopefully, they will be the victors through Jesus!”

Currently, the Cowboys are working on a knot honor and memorizing the Pathfinder song, law, and pledge. They are looking forward to being ready for the 2024 International Camporee in Gillette, Wyoming.

–Samantha Nelson is the Cody Cowboys Pathfinder Club secretary/treasurer; photos by Loralei Jeffers and Samantha Nelson

28 Oct

CAMPION STUDENT CHASE-ING A BRIGHT FUTURE

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By Gwyn Reeves – Loveland, Colorado … Campion Academy senior Chase Bright rode his dirt bike masterfully and claimed first place at the Rocky Mountain Enduro Circuit (RMEC) Championship on October 24. He managed to earn the most points over the season, crowning him the champion of the circuit.

He has been racing dirt bikes since he was six years old and began riding as soon as he learned to walk, he recalls. He was inspired by his parents, who taught him almost everything he knows about the sport.

“The reason why I love to race dirt bikes is composed mostly of three things. One is that I enjoy being with my family and sharing these incredible memories with them. Secondly is pushing my mental and physical limits to new boundaries. Lastly, I enjoy reflecting God’s character in the competitions and hope that every day I can show Him to people that may not know Him,” Bright commented

On top of racing nearly every other weekend during the season, a trainer also assigns Bright different forms of training and practice to work on each week.

Balancing classes, training, and homework is sometimes a challenge for Bright.

“My schedule is crazy, and a lot of times, it gets hard to handle both of them at the same time. It just takes dedication and help from my family and friends.”

–Gwyn Reeves is a Campion senior; photo supplied

28 Oct

Campion manages COVID outbreak

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By Jill Harlow – Loveland, Colorado … Campion Academy’s campus has remained open, and the administration has a plan to return to in-person classes on November 1 after a COVID outbreak put more than 50 students and staff in quarantine.

Many of those quarantined were considered close contacts but have not contracted the virus. Students and staff who have tested positive are reporting that they are recovering well, and none have required hospital care.

All classes met online for the past week, and students were given the option to return home or remain on campus. Students who were not placed in quarantine could still dine in the cafeteria, use the campus facilities for recreation, and attend the Week of Prayer meetings in person. Students who are quarantined are being cared for by the deans and the school nurse and are given time each day to go outside for exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

All students and staff on campus were tested for COVID on October 17 and will be tested again on October 29 in order to return to in-person classes safely.

Campion students have had various reactions to being on quarantined and online learning.

“During this quarantine, I’ve been good for the most part, but it has been an experience that I wouldn’t willingly do again. One of the challenges that I’ve faced was finding the motivation to do something productive and not be bored all the time. I’d rather be sleeping all day if I had the chance, just so time would go by faster,” a student quarantining in the dorm expressed.

Another student quarantining at home stated, “I’m happy that I was able to go home for the time being, but still, having to wake up early has been a challenge for me. Talking to my friends on the phone, riding my bike, and candy corn have helped me get through the week.”

Yet another student was happy to get away from people for a while. “It felt like COVID hit us like a bomb, and I was a little scared when several people started testing positive. In a way, I was glad that I could kind of take a break from people, and making the choice to go home was easy because I didn’t want to be stuck in my [dorm] room for a week.”

Jenny Gann, Campion nurse, explained that lessons learned from the past year and a half have contributed to managing this outbreak more effectively. “First of all, we’ve built a good relationship with the county health department, and they have been supportive of our protocols and are helping us with our goal of keeping our kids in school as much as possible.”

“I’ve helped as a consultant with four other boarding academies that have had to handle outbreaks and have learned a lot from them,” Gann continued. “Honestly, we’ve had a lower percentage of positive cases than in outbreaks at other boarding academies, and I believe that is because we are wearing masks and have been cautious in immediately isolating and testing students with symptoms.”

Gann concluded, “We’ve been blessed that we are only having one week of virtual learning, and we’ve had excellent student and parent support through it all.”

–Jill Harlow, Campion communication director; photo supplied

28 Oct

BAA FINISHED 1st QUARTER WITH THREE GRAND EVENTS

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By Jodie Aakko, Brooklyn Hill, Kierstin Syvertson, James Adams, and Caleb Fish – Brighton, Colorado … Brighton Adventist Academy (BAA) completed its first quarter of in-person education for the school year. To celebrate, the staff and students planned and participated in three jubilant events.

In August, the school year began with anticipation and excitement as 61 students enrolled with a ten percent increase in enrollment from last year, a number not seen at BAA in nearly a decade.

The week of events began with students showcasing their musical talents for the members of the Brighton church in a special worship service. The service included students not only performing but getting involved behind the scenes.

The K-4 choir shared three songs with stirring choreography, and the upper grades’ ukulele class and hand-chimes class offered several other sacred numbers. Bob Dunkin, BAA ukulele and band director joined the ukulele musicians, playing the recorder and the trumpet.

The pre-school and pre-kindergarten classroom recorded a special video where the youngest students beamed with joy and happiness while citing Psalm 23 and thanking Jesus for His many blessings. The program’s highlight was when BAA graduates, Lexi Contreras, Brie Bell, Staci Baker, Hailey Baker, and Abigail Segovia, led the song service with Zane Meyers operating the sound system.

“I liked the songs that we sang in church. The words were very meaningful, especially saying that we are a grain of sand that needs pressure in order to turn into a diamond,” Sienna, a fourth-grader, said.

The following Monday, Wayne Morrison, Brighton church pastor, began BAA fall week of prayer. The students were encouraged to pray and walk with Jesus as their best friend and Savior at the daily morning gatherings. The students were urged to “Be still and know that I am God,” so the students spent quiet moments each morning resting at the throne of God.  In addition, Pastor Wayne urged them to remember the words of Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Students thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Morrison and the messages he shared.  Christopher, a fourth-grader, exclaimed enthusiastically that the “week of prayer with Pastor Wayne was interesting.  My pastor is awesome!”

The week of celebration ended on the evening of October 21 when staff, students, parents, and community members enjoyed a time of fellowship at the annual fall festival. The teachers and volunteers elected to attempt a festival that was outdoors and shortened in length. While wondering how successful this plan would be, all eyes quickly noticed that this event would go down in the books as the “biggest comeback ever!”

Cars were parked down the street, as the school parking lot filled up with carloads of students, friends, and family members who wanted to fellowship, laugh, visit, and play. The crowd was thrilled with the face painting, bouncy houses, corn hole challenges, free throw competitions, water balloon tosses, obstacle course races, dino dig expeditions, and s’more roasting.

“We had the best Fall Festival ever because a lot of people were here, and I liked the obstacle course, and dino dig the best,” Ericsson, a third-grader, commented.

The evening continued with a silent auction of baked goods that provided winners with a homemade treat, such as key lime pie, toffee, peanut butter cookies, brownies, apple pie, meringue pie, Scotchies, apricot bars, and much more. The event was topped with delectable corn dogs, cheese sticks, pupusas, spring rolls, horchata, and pancit for the masses to fill their appetites.

Pastor Wayne helped with the decorations by hanging festive lights while the festival’s co-directors Marilee Rego and Ashley Radu, decorated the school’s courtyard and playfields with colorful autumn decor.

As the students begin their second quarter, memories of the special week remain fresh in their minds as the staff starts planning out the next event to honor and showcase the students.

— Jodie Aakko is Brighton Adventist Academy’s head teacher, and Brooklyn Hill, Kierstin Syvertson, James Adams, and Caleb Fish are BAA’s student reporters; photos courtesy of BAA Facebook page.

28 Oct

MONTROSE OUTREACH MEETINGS BEGIN WITH 49 COMMUNITY MEMBERS

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RMCNews with Nathan Cranson – Montrose, Colorado … The Montrose church has been praying continuously over the last month for God to shine a light on the Montrose community and bring the seeking to their seminar on the messages of the three angels.

The prayers were answered when the series opened, and 85 were in attendance, 49 from the community.

Based on Mark Finley’s “Three Cosmic Messages” seminar, the series began on a date that will live in infamy for Adventists–October 22. The young pioneers of the soon-to-be Adventist church spent the day 177 years ago waiting expectantly for Jesus to roll back the curtain of the heavens and appear with glory and trumpet blasts. A day of great anticipation turned into a day of despair as the sun began to set in the West.

“It felt significant [to be] preaching the first night of a series called “Signs of the Second Coming,” on this very day. The amazing thing is that this great hope still burns in our hearts many generations later! Some of our pioneers dusted themselves off and opened up the Scriptures again to understand where they had gone astray,” Nathan Cranson, Montrose church district pastor and seminar speaker explained.

He adds that through much prayer and many tears, God opened the minds of the disappointed to His great plan of salvation. “It reminds us that the righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up. It is easy to get discouraged when the community doesn’t seem to be responding to our mailings or showing up to our meetings, but we need to remember that we find our power through prayer.”

One guest who has attended every night so far shared that she just got out of a 90-day rehab program. As part of the program, they asked her if she believed in a higher power. She responded, “Yes, I believe in a higher power, but I don’t know anything about it.” After coming to our meetings, though, she exclaimed, “I now know Who the higher power is! I am so excited to know who God is!” She and her significant other are planning on coming to church with their daughter. “We want to get involved with the church,” they said.

Cranson, who has been part of evangelistic outreaches before, tributes the dedicated individuals who never gave up on prayer for the initial success of the gathering. “I have preached several evangelistic series, and I can unequivocally say that the meetings where prayer has been the focus have always been filled with a special power. I am reminded of the texts that tell us that we can of ourselves do nothing. It is His work. We are His humble servants.”

The church is in the middle of the series with ten more gatherings planned and asks for prayer for this outreach.

If you want to view this series, it is being live-streamed on the Montrose church YouTube channel: Montrose Christian Media.

–RMCNews with Nathan Cranson, pastor of the Montrose district; photo supplied

27 Oct

UNION COLLEGE HOSTS 14 ACADEMIES FOR ANNUAL FALL TOURNAMENT

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RMCNews with Union College News – Lincoln, Nebraska … Students from 14 Adventist academies from four union conferences arrived on the campus of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska for an opportunity to fellowship, make new friends, and compete against each other at the annual fall soccer and volleyball tournament.

The gathering, a much-anticipated event for sports fans, offered an additional sport this year–golf–for the high school students to showcase their athletic skills.

Due to a COVID outbreak, Campion Academy had to cancel their participation in the annual tradition that many seniors look forward to. “We were disappointed to miss the tournament,” Donavan Reeder, Campion Academy principal, said. Reflecting on the missed tournament, Campion Academy said on a Facebook post “that the students are thankful for finishing out their season with wins at home for their last games. No matter what, they will all look back on this sports season with fond memories, most especially because of the bonds of friendship built in the teams!”

Mile High Academy was able to participate in the tournament representing the Rocky Mountain Conference. The students enjoyed the time to fellowship as they competed against each other.

“The tournament was a really great experience for our boys and girls,” said Michael Camacho, MHA athletic director. “They get lots of time to bond with one another and catch up with old friends from other schools.

Camacho added, “The students fought hard through injury, weather, and sleep deprivation–their own doing–but they made us proud.”

The tournament was divided into two divisions–the Clocktower and the Thunderdome divisions.

Forest Lake Academy Panthers won the volleyball Thunderdome Division bracket and Sunnydale Adventist Academy Spartans won the soccer Thunderdome Division.

In the Clocktower Division tournament, the Hinsdale Adventist Academy Hurricanes took first place in volleyball, and North Dallas Adventist Academy Sentinels took first place in soccer.

As the students left campus, much gratitude was given to Union College staff for hosting the yearly event on their campus. “Thank you, Union! What a fantastic tournament. Truly the hosts with the most LOVE and hospitality,” Rachel Lassel commented on a Union College Facebook post about the tournament.

–RMCNews with Union College News; photos courtesy of Mile High Academy and Union College

This article was adapted from Union College’s article (https://ucollege.edu/20211023/forest-lake-and-sunnydale-top-the-fall-tournament/)

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