UpFront

Kettering Health Names New Ceo

After a five-month search, Kettering Health has invited Michael Gentry to serve as chief executive officer (CEO). He assumes the position July 3. Most recently, Gentry served as the chief operating officer at Sentara Healthcare, headquartered in Norfolk, Va.

Celeste Ryan Blyden, chair of the Kettering Health Membership and Board of Directors, says, “Michael possesses great leadership acumen, deep respect for the Kettering Health mission and team, a heart for the ministry of health care and for the people and communities we are privileged to serve.

COLUMBIA UNION ASI HOSTS SPRING MEETING, ELECTS OFFICERS

Small business owners gathered at the union headquarters in Columbia, Md., for the Columbia Union chapter Adventist-laymen's Services & Industries (ASI) spring meeting to network and listen to seminars on best business practices, with the goal to build better companies to serve as mission outposts.

Things You Should Know

Highlights from the recent Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee meeting:

• Dave Weigley, Columbia Union president, emphasized the purpose of the church: to serve our community and carry the gospel to the world.

He noted the plans for two upcoming evangelistic initiatives— one in Cincinnati, supported by the Allegheny West and Ohio conferences, and one in Baltimore, supported by the Allegheny East and Chesapeake conferences.

• As of the second quarter report, the Columbia Union has 148,952 members. Celeste Ryan Blyden, union executive secretary, noted the age demographic of 34–59 comprised the largest part of the 561 new members.

• Emmanuel Asiedu, union treasurer, reported that unionwide tithe is up 10.7 percent, world mission giving is up, and tithe in all eight conferences within the Columbia Union has also increased. “God continues to bless in every direction,” he said.

• The Columbia Union Executive Committee voted to change the status of Hartland Institute from “dissident” to “supporting” ministry. Over recent years, Hartland’s leadership has stopped accepting tithe and has worked to build a more positive relationship with local churches in its area and the church at large, noted Weigley, who added that the local conferences who have been negatively impacted previously—Allegheny East, Chesapeake, Potomac, as well as the North American Division—support this action.

Daniel A. Reed (above), newly elected Columbia Union ASI president, believes that “once a person attends an ASI meeting, they cannot help themselves but to be active in the work of God.”

Read more about the event at columbiaunionvisitor.com/cuasi23.

ESPINOSA RETIRES, NINO JOINS UNION TEAM

Ileana Espinosa (below), who worked for more than 10 years as the associate director of elementary education in the Office of Education at the Columbia Union, retired June 30.

On July 1, Alison Jobson, the union’s associate director for early childhood education, will transition to Espinosa’s vacant position. Ruth Nino, principal of New Jersey Conference’s Waldwick Adventist School for the last 13 years, will join the union staff as associate director for early childhood education.

Guide Magazine Redesigns

WEBSITE AND LAUNCHES APP

Guide, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s weekly publication for juniors and earliteens, has relaunched guidemagazine.org and has added a mobile app.

New features include a “Story of the Week” that will engage readers; The Young Writers Course, a kid-friendly approach to writing stories; and Thumbuddies, a digital cardcollecting game. The site will still include past features, such as videos, games and the “Let’s Talk” discussion forum.— Alicia Adams

Kids’ Corner

The Sabbath Was Made For Me

Frustrated that they couldn’t find just the right Sabbath book for their young children, Jamie and John Domm, members of Chesapeake Conference’s Reaching Hearts church in Laurel, Md., wrote The Sabbath Was Made for Me, an illustrated book that explains the importance of the seventh-day Sabbath in easy-to-understand terms for kids. Find it at adventsource.com.

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