Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Potomac Conference

At the beginning of the year, Hispanic young people in the Potomac Conference received a CD chockfull of sermons, posters and other materials to help prepare them to become evangelists. Nine months later, those who accepted the challenge stood in front of friends and family preaching about Jesus during a recent youth evangelism week at their churches. Some 27 churches participated, including youth from the Bealton (Va.), Oxon Hill (Md.) and District of Columbia Spanish churches.

For many years, the building directly behind Potomac Conference’s Beltsville (Md.) church served as a parsonage. But on Tuesday, September 4, the building became a branch office of the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services. The office, located in the Adventist Community Services house at 4220 Ammendale Road, will offer emergency temporary cash assistance, food stamps and medical assistance.

A veritable list of who’s who gathered on November 15 to celebrate and recognize Erwin Mack, a member of Potomac Conference’s Sligo church in Takoma Park, Md. Some guests attended 80-year-old Mack’s retirement party held at Washington Adventist University also in Takoma Park. This marked the second time that Mack retired from the Takoma Langley Crossroads Development Authority, a business association, which he founded and chaired for more than 20 years. Through that organization Mack lobbied for increased police surveillance, combined advertising, utility improvements, and street and pedestrian safety enhancements.

If you walked or drove by the parking lot of the Takoma Park Spanish church in Takoma Park, Md., yesterday you would have heard a live Christian praise team; seen kids and kids-at-heart getting their faces painted, taking photos with the Guide magazine dog and singing interactive songs; while their parents selected free clothing and food and got free immigration and health counseling. As people chatted happily with the young people who staffed the giveaway stations and with each other the atmosphere was certainly festive. Located at the corner of University Boulevard and Caroll Avenue, the church is just blocks away from Langley Park, one of the largest Spanish-speaking communities in the Washington, D.C.-area.

Several communication professionals from the Columbia Union Conference took home awards from the recent Society of Adventist Communicators convention held in Lombard, Ill. Potomac Conference’s Communication Department won “Best in Class” for the Corporate Communication Website category. The team includes Dan Jensen, Communication director; Adrienne Suarez, graphic designer and Paolo Esposito, communication intern.

Some 50 Seventh-day Adventist legal professionals enjoyed fellowship and professional enrichment during the recent inaugural Columbia Union Attorney Weekend. The event was organized by Adventist Lawyers Association (ALA), which “exists to unite and support Adventist lawyers in service to the community and each other.” The general counsel offices of both the General Conference and the Columbia Union Conference sponsored the weekend.