Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventist

For decades people throughout the Washington, D.C., area who turned their radio dials to Washington Adventist University’s WGTS 91.9 FM on Sabbath mornings, have immediately recognized voice of Gerry Fuller, DDS. Over the course of 45 years, this WGTS radio host has interviewed famous authors, performers, medical experts and countless other public figures. He also hosted musical programs and advocated on behalf of Washington’s “Family Safe, Kid-Friendly” radio station.

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.

“The disaster has passed but winter is coming and they still need blankets, coats, jackets, sweaters and so much more,” said Ricardo Cala, pastor of the Paterson Temple Spanish church in New Jersey. “In the name of God first and then the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the New Jersey Conference, we are here to help.”

Potomac Conference’s Richmond Academy of Seventh-day Adventists (RA) in Richmond, Va., celebrated 100 years of excellence in Christian education on October 14-16. The weekend festivities started with Dwight C. Jones, Richmond mayor, and Nancy Melashenko, Potomac Conference associate director for education, dedicating RA’s new brick commemorative walkway.

“Last year we baptized 42,000 Hispanics, which represents about a third of the entire baptisms done in all of the North American Division,” shares Ricardo Norton, DMin, director of the Institute of Hispanic Ministries at Andrews University (Mich.). Norton is sitting in front of a class at the Columbia Union Conference’s headquarters in Columbia, Md., which just finished covering the ins and outs of developing and implementing small group ministries. In front of him are 29 Spanish-speaking students, most pastors of churches throughout the union, who have just completed one class toward their Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry. 

The pastors at Allegheny East Conference’s Metropolitan church in Hyattsville, Md., weren’t planning on performing a baptism on Sabbath, September 17. Members were in the midst of “Lifted,” a two-week long evangelism campaign that attracted some 300 people each night and the only baptism scheduled was for the second Sabbath. But the Holy Spirit had been working on Christopher Robinson those first few days and he couldn’t wait another week to publicly commit his life to Christ.