Things You Should Know

• Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee members recently voted Kelly Butler Coe as editor and publisher of the Columbia Union Visitor magazine. Coe has served on the Communication Department team since 2000, and as director since January 2022.

• Camp meeting season is right around the corner. Use the online Visitor guide to find your favorite speaker or more information about online or in-person meetings around the Columbia Union.

• Another rite of summer is summer camp! It’s not too late to enroll your favorite camper in a week of Christ-centered fun at one of the union’s eight camps.

• Every year, the Columbia Union recognizes outstanding students at its senior academies with the Worthy Student Award. Visit columbiaunionvisitor.com this June to see the list of awardees.

• This summer, the staff at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md., are hard at work to relaunch their Elementary Education/Special Education degree with a minor in Secondary Education. It’s not too late to take advantage of the flat $12,000 tuition rate for Columbia Union Conference members.

EVANGELISM DIRECTORS SEEK TO INSPIRE ‘ADVANGELISTS’

This spring, the Columbia Union Conference hosted its first Evangelism Directors’ meeting at the union headquarters in Columbia, Md. Representatives from each of the union’s eight conferences attended and shared highlights on how God is working in their territories.

Organizer José D. Espósito, assistant to the president for

Evangelism, says his office planned the event, the first of its kind, so that conference directors could meet other members of the union’s team, pray together and start a dialogue working toward further collaboration.

In addition to traditional public evangelism, attendees discussed the need to empower and motivate members to see themselves as evangelists as well. Eduardo Monteiro, director of Evangelism for the New Jersey Conference, said it isn’t enough to be an Adventist; members must be “Advangelists,” using a term a friend shared with him.

It’s sometimes overwhelming for a church to focus on winning an entire area to Christ, says Yves Monnier, Pennsylvania Conference’s Ministerial and Evangelism director. “Instead of saying we’ll win the town of Allentown or Harrisburg, how about if each person just [work toward winning] just one person? … And if many people reach one and this continues, suddenly you will have exponential growth over a while,” says Monnier.

Lillian Torres, associate director of Evangelism for the Pennsylvania Conference, adds, “We need to [not only] focus on events, initiatives. … If we focus on creating fertile soil, [a warm, healthy atmosphere in churches and members], we’ll get results.”

Members Motivated To Spread Gospel

At the recent Missionary Motivation Rally that took place at churches across the New Jersey Conference, Dover Spanish members Boliver Gómez and his son Estaban were among the 1,260 members who committed to bring one person to Jesus, lead a small group in their home or be part of planting a new church

27 Columbia Union Teams Participate At Nad Pbe

Twenty-seven Pathfinder Bible Experience teams from the Columbia Union Conference recently participated in North American Division’s (NAD) Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE) event in Tampa, Fla. In order to reach this level, these teams (such as Allegheny East Conference’s Filipino-American Oxon Hill Oxen Warriors team, pictured at the union-level event) placed first at local, conference and union events—showing their deep knowledge of the Book of John.

Kids’ Corner

Have you ever felt like you don’t have the same gifts or talents others have? Though he had preaching aspirations, George King, one of the pioneer colporteurs in the Seventh-day Adventist church, didn’t have the skill of public speaking. Yet, he still shared God’s message and eventually became a successful canvasser and inspired many to also share the gospel door-to-door.