Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventist

The Pennsylvania Conference is among several Columbia Union entities using video conferencing to reduce travel, costs and conflicting schedules. Some 30 pastors “attended” their recent fall meeting, which marked their one-year anniversary of holding these meetings online. We recently talked with Tim Madding, the conference’s director of Leadership and Spiritual Growth, to find out exactly how it all works.
 

Children came away from a one-week program held at Mountain View Conference’s Braxton church in Gassaway, W.Va., excited about BLT. No not that kind of BLT, but the three-part Bible Lifestyle for Today (BLT) program that combined songs and dramatized audio Bible stories, information about anatomy and a hands-on cooking class.

The Columbia Union’s own Walter Carson, Esq., is the only Adventist to successfully argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. In Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Commission of Florida, the Court reversed the appeals commission’s refusal to provide unemployment benefits to a woman who was fired for refusing to work on Sabbath. The Court found that a state could not treat a religious convert differently than a person whose beliefs preceded her employment.

Norma Jean Sahlin, a daughter of the Columbia Union Conference, lost her fight against ovarian cancer last Wednesday. She was 61. Sahlin was born in Takoma Park, Md., was in the Takoma Academy Class of 1970, and graduated from Columbia Union College in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in communication. She married Monte Sahlin on October 20, 1974 at Potomac Conference’s Sligo church in Takoma Park. This Sunday marks their 39th anniversary.

If you’re not actively engaged in telling others about God’s love and sharing His Word, then you really can’t call yourself a Seventh-day Adventist,” warns Lillian Torres, the Pennsylvania Conference and Columbia Union Bible worker who has dedicated her life to drawing people to Christ and training others to do the same. “Our goal as Christians should be to tell every person we interact with each day about God’s love.” She further explains, “If I’m not intentionally engaged in personal evangelism, I can’t claim to be an Adventist because we believe in the second coming of Christ and proclaiming it. And, being a Christian means to believe in Christ’s teachings and gospel, and showing it in character and practice. If I’m neither, then what am I?”

Today at the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee meeting, the presidents of the union’s two healthcare systems made a donation that will make a dramatic difference in the lives of hundreds, possibly thousands of visually impaired people in India.

Members from all across the Columbia Union Conference are among the thousands of people converging on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Their participation started on Saturday at a joint rally for jobs and freedom and commemoration of the original march.