Seventh-day Adventist

Don A. Roth, long considered the “PR person” for the Seventh-day Adventist church for the past 60 years and a former Visitor editor, passed away on Tuesday evening at his home in Loma Linda, Calif. “I spent 15 happy years in the Columbia Union Conference,” Roth wrote last year in a letter to the current Visitor editor. “We had a great team at the union office and I thoroughly enjoyed those years.”

During a two-week trip to Lusaka, Zambia, students from Washington Adventist University (WAU) in Takoma Park, Md., joined local church leaders and preached at 11 different locations every evening with one theme: “Searching the Scriptures.” Throughout this evangelistic crusade, more than 6,000 people faithfully attended the meetings every night. At the culmination of the meetings, 331 people were baptized.

Moving from Colorado to Maryland as Adventist HealthCare’s new executive vice president and chief operating officer, Terry Forde faces a dual adventure to learn both the physical and healthcare terrain of his new state.

Susan G. Hornshaw, PhD, was recently named provost at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md. Hornshaw is a graduate of the University of Manitoba in Canada where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology. In 1982 she received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Toronto.

This month Ileana Espinosa joins the Columbia Union Conference’s Office of Education as associate director for elementary education. Espinosa hails from the Central California Conference where she served 14 years as associate superintendent. Prior to joining that conference, she taught high school English and Spanish for seven years at Madison Academy (Tenn.). She also taught on the elementary school level. She starts work at the union July 18 and fills the vacancy left when LaVona Gillham retired earlier this year.

The Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee today elected Robert T. Vandeman executive secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the eight-state, mid-Atlantic region.

The Hyattsville (Md.) church recently took part in the 32nd Annual Historic Hyattsville House Tour, an event hosted by the Hyattsville Preservation Association, Inc. (HPA) to showcase the city’s most beautiful and historic buildings. 

Scissors snipped and sewing machines whirred as the senior class, grades 4-12, of the Home Sweet Home School Co-op, based at the Williamsport (Md.) church, created dresses this past spring to support a program called Little Dresses for Africa. 

“Haz de mi un discipulo,
Haz de mi un discipulo,
Haz de mi un discipulo,
Quiero hacer tu voluntad.”

Takoma Park, MD — The Trustees of Washington Adventist University (WAU) today voted a Memorandum of Understanding with Atlantic Union College (AUC). This MOU calls for the two institutions to work toward an agreement to establish a branch campus of Washington Adventist University at Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. WAU would lease the facilities of AUC, and become the sole provider of higher education at the New England location. All provisions are dependent upon approval from the required accrediting and regulatory agencies.