Spiritual Gifts I A Promise for Gideon Anxiety, Politics, and the Peace of Christ
Those who hold fast their faith unto the end will come forth from the furnace of trial as fine gold seven times purified. Of this work the prophet Isaiah says, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.”
[Isaiah 13:12.] When in trouble, remember that faith tried in the furnace of affliction is more precious than gold tried with fire. Remember that there is One watching every movement, to see when the last particle of dross is taken away from your character. It is then that you are counted more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir. By hiding with Christ in God, fallen man reaches this state of purity.
—Ellen G. White, Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 16, 1901.
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What’s inside
4 Growing Faith in Troubled Times
8 Fundamental Belief Number #17: Spiritual Gifts
10 Adventist Pioneers in the West Beginnings: John Burden
“The sun still shines above the clouds on stormy days.”
“This too shall pass.”
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that nothing stays the same in this life. When things are going well, I’m grateful. But problems, setbacks, and seasons of immense challenge are always lurking in the wings. When they come (and they always do), how do we keep going?
As followers of the Master, we are reminded of His promise when the dark days come: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NLT). Being a Christian doesn’t remove us from the broken and sinful world. But our Heavenly Friend has walked the road before us and triumphed. He is ready today to be “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1, NKJV).
It has been said, “Hope is praying for rain, but faith is bringing an umbrella.” The Bible tells us that “this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4, NKJV emphasis added). How can we have more of this essential quality that brings joy and meaning to life when troubles abound? And is it possible to take what faith we have now and grow it into a deeper confidence in God?
Children’s first conception of God comes from parents and other authority figures in their lives. What a responsibility rests with us!
To begin with, faith is not a blind leap in the dark. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJV). God doesn’t ask us to trust Him with no evidence. Ours is an informed faith that sees what He is doing in the world and in our own lives. What are the ways that you have seen God at work in your life—ways that have led you to trust in Him right now?
Recently, our granddaughters were visiting, and I asked them what faith meant to them. Macy (age 10) said that it is “believing in Jesus” and “knowing that He will be there for me.” Chloe (age 7) replied that faith made her think of God. I love those answers. Children’s first conception of God comes from parents and other authority figures in their lives. What a responsibility rests with us! As we have the joy of talking about God with children, praying together, reading the stories of the Bible, and reflecting His loving character in our actions, the picture of a loving God who cares for them is formed. The evidence and substance are not an abstraction but a reality of what they are experiencing now. It is the same with us all throughout life.
Secondly, we further grow our faith by immersing ourselves each day in the Word of God. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (NKJV). The Psalmist declares, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105, NKJV). The Bible is a Book of Life when we open
ourselves to the stories, teachings, and poetry through which God speaks directly into our life’s problems, questions, and roadblocks.
Back in college I remember a speaker for chapel challenging us to place our own name into the promises of the Bible. John 3:16 became, “God so loved Brad, that He gave His only son.” James 1:5 was personalized to, “If Brad lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.” Romans 8:28 was personal: “All things work together for Brad’s good.” The Bible was written for the purpose of helping each of us today. “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4, NKJV). How can you incorporate prayerful time with the Bible each day? Are you ready to invest this time so that your faith may grow stronger?
Thirdly, our faith grows as it is tested by the trials of life. This is the tough part of the Christian’s journey, but it is the path we all must travel. James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience…that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (NKJV). Everyone on earth experiences trials. But as disciples of Jesus, we don’t face them alone. It is through these times that we learn to lean more on Him.
Years ago, when I started out in ministry, a seasoned leader shared with a gathering of young pastors that he always learned more from
mistakes than successes. It turned out that he was correct. Throughout life I’ve gained more lasting wisdom from the setbacks, trials, and my own mistakes than from the times when everything was going well. And it has been during these spiritual trials, challenges with people, and circumstances that I can’t control that I’ve had to learn greater surrender to the Master’s will and direction. He always comes through.
In my work office hangs a reproduction of Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee . I chose to have it there to remind me that serving the Lord in any capacity means living in a storm of troubled waters. The artist pictures Jesus with the disciples in the tempest. Calmly He asks them above the howling winds, “Where is your faith?” If Jesus is in the boat with us, then there is no need to fear. It is there He calls upon us to trust again in Him.
Growing faith in troubled times can be our daily experience. Spending time each day with the Bible in prayer. Keeping a journal of how God answers our prayers in the good times and the bad. Keeping company with believers who nurture our faith. Through it all we are assured that God cares about the small things too. Our daily experience will be the bold petition of the disciples, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5, KJV). He surely will.
Bradford C. Newton is the president of the Pacific Union Conference.
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4, NKJV).
Fundamental Belief Number #17
Spiritual Gifts
By Kimberly Cruz
The human body consists of multiple limbs and organs that work together to sustain life and facilitate movement.
The most powerful organ in the body is the brain, as it is responsible for sending signals to other organs, muscles, cells, and neurons that make them operate. Without the brain, the body would cease to live.
The same is true for God. Without His instructions and very breath, we—the body of Christ—could not function properly, let alone work as a team to make the church a safe and healthy place for hearts to heal and people to know their Savior on an intimate level. But what does this have to do with spiritual gifts?
Romans 12:4-8 tells us that although the church has many members with varying gifts, we are all one body in Christ. We’ve been given “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6, NKJV). Verses 6-8 then go on to list several of the spiritual gifts. Each of our gifts is important for carrying out God’s vision for His people to be one, to heal, to teach, to lead, to prophesy, and more. In 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 2728, more spiritual gifts are listed, such as healing, administration, helps, and languages.
Growing up in the Seventh-Adventist church, I felt a certain amount of pressure to fit into a specific
mold that I just knew wasn’t made for me, given the fire I have in my soul. In my youth, the most touted roles in the church were pastor, teacher, overseas missionary, or doctor. A lot of the time, I felt like a failure as a Christian because I did not fit any of those templates. I thought something was wrong with me because, even though I wanted to serve the Lord, I didn’t know what my true gifts were or where I could best serve.
It wasn’t until later in my adult years, after much trial, error, and prayer, that I finally identified my specific spiritual gifts thanks to the help of my home church in Washington. Our pastor had invited the whole congregation to participate in a spiritual gifts assessment seminar based on the booklet Equip: Putting Your Spiritual Gifts into Action. 1
The seminar starts by identifying the four steps toward heartfelt service. Notice how each step involves a body part.
It was through filling out the assessment and having a close friend identify some of my strengths that I began to see the gifts that God had given me. I was relieved. It became clear that I was on the right path after completing my social work degree and that I had been operating within my spiritual gifts all along—I just didn’t know it. Following the assessment and prompted by the Holy Spirit, I started paying attention to what others said about me regarding my strengths and gifts. Several people, even some strangers, have told me that I have a gift for teaching and a gift for speaking. This was encouraging as it aligns with my spiritual gifts of artistic communication, discernment, prophecy, healing, and knowledge. Now it makes sense why God led me to pursue a degree in social work. It is important to discover and hone our spiritual gifts and to use them for the glory of God, as well as for the edifying, healing, and salvation of others. In Matthew 25:14-15 we read the parable of the talents. We know what happens: two of the servants doubled their talents and one buried his talent in fear. It’s important that we emulate the first two servants because, in doing so, we are not just positioning ourselves to bless others; we are also placing ourselves in a position for God to continue growing our character. This is necessary for our own salvation.
It was the one with the smallest gift who left his talent unimproved. In this is given a warning to all who feel that the smallness of their endowments excuses them from service for Christ. If they could do some great thing, how gladly would they undertake it; but because they can serve only in little things, they think themselves justified in doing nothing. In this they err. The Lord in His distribution of gifts is testing character. The man who neglected to improve his talent proved himself an unfaithful servant. Had he received five talents, he would have buried
It is important to discover and hone our spiritual gifts and to use them for the glory of God, as well as for the edifying, healing, and salvation of others.
them as he buried the one. His misuse of the one talent showed that he despised the gifts of heaven (Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 355).
No matter how great or small we think our gift is, each member, each gift, each organ, and each limb have an important function that contributes to the health and wellness of the rest of the body. Never underestimate your gift(s) or your role in the body of Christ. The gallbladder and appendix are small, but their roles are vital, even if doctors aren’t fully aware of the purpose of each. Our spiritual gifts are about more than being in service to others. They also help in producing a right character within us. Jesus seeks to purify us until His reflection is seen in our character. Operating within our gifts aids this process.
So, if you find yourself still searching for your place in the church, begin asking trusted peers— family, friends, coworkers, church members, church leaders—what they think your strengths are. Maybe even take a spiritual gifts assessment. Next, present the results to God and ask which one(s) He wants you to start with. After receiving His direction, give it all you’ve got. The goal is progress and forward movement, not perfection. This is what is truly pleasing to the Lord. I can hardly wait to gather with Jesus and all the saints to hear stories of how our cooperation with God brought healing to others and led them to the Way.
Kimberly Cruz currently serves as the content creator at Holbrook Indian School in Arizona.
1Curtis Rittenour, Equip: Putting Your Spiritual Gifts into Action (Lincoln, NE: AdventSource, 2017).
Healdsburg College, 1887.
John Burden
Loma Linda Sanitarium
Pioneers in the West
By the Recorder editorial staff
Beginnings: John Burden
John Burden became an Adventist at age 13. He attended Healdsburg College, where he met Eleanor Baxter. They married in 1888 while working at the Rural Health Retreat (later St. Helena Sanitarium; now Adventist Health St. Helena). Burden became manager of the institution in 1891.
In 1901 Eleanor and John Burden went to Australia, following in the footsteps of Ellen White, who had returned to the U.S. the previous year. There they helped Merritt Kellogg start the Sydney Sanitarium. They returned to the U.S. in 1904 and followed Ellen White’s advice not to join John Harvey Kellogg in Battle Creek. Instead they went to California, where John was instrumental in establishing the Glendale Sanitarium. He became the manager, and his wife was the accountant.
and Ellen White urged Burden to go ahead with the purchase. The property consisted of the furnished hotel building, an amusement building, five cottages, a farmhouse, farm implements, horses, carriages, and cows on a 76-acre tract.
Ellen White was very interested in acquiring the property and asked Burden to keep her updated on progress. He soon sent her a message saying that they had to proceed immediately as the owners were anxious to sell and others were interested. She wrote back, “Go ahead.... I am well satisfied the place is one we ought to have. It is cheap at $40,000. We will not leave you, but will stand back of you, and help you to raise the means.”1
While Ellen White had helped purchase another sanitarium (Paradise Valley), she still wanted to do more in terms of health evangelism. After the loss of Battle Creek Sanitarium in the East, Ellen White was doing all she could to rebuild the church’s health ministry in the West. So she instructed Burden to search the Redlands-Riverside area for a property she had seen in vision.
In March 1904 Burden found a resort hotel in Loma Linda, but at $110,000 the price was exorbitant. However, due to the failure of the proprietors’ plans, the asking price dropped over time to $40,000,
Church administrators were not convinced however, so they sent Burden a telegram stating that he should not proceed. Ellen White also sent a telegram, telling him to “secure the property by all means…without spending time to ask the advice of the brethren.” Burden went ahead.
Even so, it was not an easy process. The first installment was made, but on the day the second installment was due, no money was available. It was only through an amazing chain of events that the money was found. Burden writes:
At last the day arrived [for the second payment], and the forenoon found the
members of the Conference Committee in session in Los Angeles in deep perplexity. It was natural that some who had from the first felt it unwise to accept the great responsibility should feel that these circumstances justified their misgivings. In the face of the humiliating necessity, as it seemed, of losing the property, it was easy and natural to blame and censure those who had pressed the matter through against what appeared to be sound reason and judgment.... Soon after this the postman was heard coming up the stairs. He opened the door and delivered the mail. Among the letters was one bearing the postmark ‘Atlantic City, New Jersey.’ The letter was opened, and it was found to contain a draft for $5,000, just the amount needed for the payment.2
showed a gain of $1,100.”3
Loma Linda was to be far more than just another sanitarium. It was to be a place of training, and not just in the medical field. Ellen White saw this as a place where doctors and pastors could be trained together for their mutual benefit. However, this did not develop as she wanted.
Nonetheless, in due course the College of Medical
John Allen Burden and Eleanor (Baxter) Burden
Eventually the whole purchase was made, and the property secured for the church. Burden was appointed manager of the new facility. The staff were dedicated to the cause: “Shortly after the sanitarium opened, the income from the patients failed to meet the expenses, and these workers volunteered their services for room and board until in a short time the patronage increased. By Christmastime there were thirty-five patients. At the end of the first year the balance sheet
Evangelists was established, which eventually led to the Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
Ellen White wrote to Burden frequently, encouraging him in his work. She also stood up for him, putting others in their place when necessary, including one conference president, arguing that Burden should be allowed to fulfill his calling:
“The Lord has blessed Elder Burden, and He will continue to bless him, as he continues to move in the fear of God, and plans wisely and economically with
his associates for the fitting up and management of the institution. If any of his brethren act arbitrarily in an effort to restrain him in this, they would be hindering the very work that the Lord has signified should be done. He is not to be forced to turn aside from his convictions as to the way in which the work under his charge shall be carried on.”4
Burden continued at Loma Linda until 1915, when he and his wife moved to Paradise Valley Sanitarium. He retired after his wife’s death in 1933, but in 1939 he returned to Loma Linda to serve as chaplain until his death in 1942.
1Harold Oliver McCumber, Pioneering the Message in the Golden West (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1946), p. 200.
2McCumber, Pioneering the Message, pp. 204-205.
3McCumber, Pioneering the Message, p. 112.
4Ellen G. White, Loma Linda Messages (Payson, AZ: Leaves-of-Autumn Books, 1981), p. 182.
A Promise for Gideon
By Ray Tetz
When we were young believers growing up in Sabbath School and Pathfinders, our teachers often defaulted to the story of Gideon when they just wanted to keep us entertained. Their favorite from the life of Gideon was clearly the story of how Gideon led an army of just 300 rookie recruits into battle with no weapons at all—using torches hidden inside clay pitchers and trumpets, like the ones Pathfinders play in the drum and bugle corps—completely bamboozling the enemy and winning the battle.
This, of course, was a great story for a bunch of kids whose church was on record as not encouraging their members to carry weapons in the armed forces. We took this seriously; we took it to heart—even though we still managed to play cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers when
the adults weren’t watching and especially not on Sabbath.
Gideon was a reliable go-to story when needed. Every Sabbath School teacher worth their salt could keep a bunch of juniors enthralled by waving something representative of a torch around, blowing loudly on a borrowed trumpet—even better if they couldn’t actually play—and encouraging all of us to yell at the top of our lungs, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”
That was the favorite Gideon story, but we also learned about other events in his life, many of which lend themselves to an exuberant—and even comical—retelling.
There’s the story of Gideon putting out a fleece (none of us had ever seen one) and playing a little game to make God give him ironclad proof about His intent and leadership. The amazing part of that story is that God seemed to play along—knowing that Gideon’s insecurities and anxieties were very real to him. It was still humorous for us to think of God keeping the ground dry while the fleece got wet and vice versa.
The story of the enormous army of 22,000 wouldbe soldiers who showed up out of curiosity and then went home as soon as they heard what might be in store for them left us all imagining that we would never be like those guys.
And then there was a very unusual story of God choosing the final 300 based on how they drank water, so that only the ones who had grabbed a fistful of water on the run were included in the group that ultimately got those fabulous pitchers and trumpets. It was presented to us as a test of who was really committed to the cause, but I remember some arguments in Earliteen Sabbath School about whether or not the differences in how you drink water should be thought of as a reflection of your character. Some thought it was like being left-handed or right-handed and that the test wasn’t strictly fair. Of course, our teachers urged us to calm down and remember that there
are things we don’t understand and that God was in control and always fair.
Each of these stories were told in order to teach important lessons—about not doubting God’s call, about courage for the task ahead, about being the kind of person who kept moving forward despite doubts or distractions.
But there is one story from Gideon’s life I don’t remember them telling us, except as a preamble to the other stories. I don’t ever remember a lesson where we heard about Gideon hiding his crop of wheat as best he could from the Midianites by processing it in the dark confines of a winepress instead of out in the open.
One day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, whose son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, out of sight of the Midianites. The angel of God appeared to him and said, “God is with you, O mighty warrior!”
Gideon replied, “With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, ‘Didn’t God deliver us from Egypt?’
The fact is, God has nothing to do with us— he has turned us over to Midian” (Judges 6:11-13, MSG).
As children, we were given no expositions on Gideon’s rather cynical dismissal of being called a mighty warrior, as if it were just a joke—to say nothing of his snippy comment to the angel of the Lord about how God doesn’t keep His promises. I wish my teachers would have taken the time to go through these exchanges with us, because what happens next is at least as exciting as running around with a trumpet and torch and shouting battle slogans.
Evidently, what Gideon said to the angel annoyed all of heaven—to the degree that God Himself had
to come down and pick up the conversation.
But God faced him directly: “Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven’t I just sent you?”
Gideon said to him, “Me, my master? How and with what could I ever save Israel? Look at me. My clan’s the weakest in Manasseh and I’m the runt of the litter.”
God said to him, “I’ll be with you. Believe me, you’ll defeat Midian as one man” (Judges 6:14-16, MSG).
In those few verses we get to the heart of the relationship that God was trying to establish with an immature, smart-mouthed, doubting, fearful, insecure young man so afraid of the world he was living in that he hid himself away lest someone see what he was doing. How can we overlook the fact that this was a conversation between Gideon and the Almighty—not with a messenger angel but with the Maker and Master of the universe. And Gideon argued with Him!
His response would have gotten us sent to the office or kicked out of Sabbath School or put on detention. Gideon talked back to God. No expression of faith in God here. No confidence in God’s plan. Nothing but attitude from this guy Gideon. Not at first.
And what was God’s response to this cheeky, immature, insecure, irritating, whiny attitude?
Just what you would hope: Our loving, patient, gracious God wasn’t deterred by any of it. He brought it down to just one sentence: “I’ll be with you.” I. Will. Be. With. You.
That’s the heart of the Gideon message: I’ll be with you. No offer to extract him from difficult circumstances, but a promise that he won’t be alone. No promised miracles or extraordinary promises, just the assurance that Gideon would always have a companion in the Almighty. And if there is any message that resonates across every circumstance and that we all need to hear again and again, this is it: You are not alone. I’ll be with you.
God reaffirms the greatest gift—that we are not alone. That we are always accompanied by the divine presence. And implicit, if left unsaid, is an underlying message: Your life is most at stake when you take things into your own hands. Does life always make sense? No, but even the weakest, most unlikely, and unseemly means will suffice because the foundational commitment from God to His people is I WILL BE WITH YOU.
It is the dependable promise and pledge that is repeated throughout the Scriptures. What was the message to Moses as God renewed his call to leadership at the burning bush? “And God said, “I will
Gideon invades the camp of Midian. Wood engraving after a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794 - 1872), published in 1877.
be with you” (Exodus 3:12, NIV). As he contemplated how he could possibly lead the children of Israel as the successor to Moses, what was the promise made to Joshua? “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5, NIV).
Like Gideon, Jeremiah did not view himself as qualified, and he objected that he was too inexperienced to speak for God. How did God reply? “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” (Jeremiah 1:8, NIV). The apostle Paul, reflecting on how he faced disappointment and persecution, hearkened back to the experience of Daniel and was clear on his source of strength: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth” (2 Timothy 4:17, NIV). Again and again the promise is clear: You will not be alone. I will be with you.
When the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, he greets her with: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28, NIV). It is then and there that she learns of the great mystery that will come upon her and of the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy that is the ultimate culmination of God’s faithful pledge to humanity, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, NIV).
And after the cross, after the resurrection, as Jesus spoke the words commissioning His disciples to take His story and the message of the gospel to the world, He spoke the words that have provided
solace and hope to every generation of believers to follow, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-21, NIV).
The promise that sustained Gideon is the same promise given to Moses and Jeremiah and Mary and the disciples and Paul and the early church—and to us. It has never changed.
It was never, “You won’t ever be afraid again.” It was the simple, profound assurance: “I will be with you.” In a world that rewards self-reliance and celebrates personal power, God calls us to dwell in His presence, to live in His grace, to depend on His leading, and to be anchored in His love. When the circumstance of life are difficult and the things that are happening around us make no sense; when the best we can come up with seems feeble or foolish; when we don’t believe we can possibly survive, let alone thrive and succeed, God declares that the weakest, most unlikely, and most unseemly means will succeed because He is with us.
And in the end, there is this, the greatest promise of all: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3, NIV).
Ray Tetz is the director of communication and community engagement of the Pacific Union and the publisher of the Recorder
God reaffirms the greatest gift— that we are not alone. That we are always accompanied by the divine presence.
By Brian E. Strayer
Edson
Received a Vision PART 3
In a manuscript prepared for The Youth’s Instructor in 1910, Arthur Whitefield Spalding asserted that Owen Crosier and Franklin Hahn had accompanied Edson across the field “to comfort some of the brethren.” As Spalding dramatized the scene, suddenly Edson “felt as it were a hand upon him, stopping him where he was,” and “a glory shone around him, and looking as in a vision he saw that Jesus, our High Priest, had entered that day into the most holy place of the sanctuary in heaven, and there he would stay until he had finished the work of cleansing it.” Furthermore, Edson heard “a voice” declaring, “The sanctuary to be cleansed is in heaven.” Finally, he allegedly told Crosier, “We must prophesy again before many people and nations and tongues.” Although the article’s title claimed that the information conveyed had been “adapted
Spalding dramatized Edson’s experience as a vision of Jesus entering the Most Holy Place, shaping Adventist memory.
from the manuscript of Hiram Edson,” Spalding obviously added several elements that Edson’s account omitted. His assertion that Edson foresaw a worldwide mission work in 1844 also contradicts the shut-door views that he and most other Adventists espoused at the time.1
It is possible that Spalding’s account was based on information provided him by Edson’s daughter, Viah Cross. Although she did not publish her view of her father’s cornfield experience until 1920, her words are so similar to Spalding’s a decade earlier as to suggest a direct connection. After declaring that Edson and “others” were crossing the field, she wrote: “Suddenly father saw a bright light shining around him and heard these words, as if spoken by an audible voice: ‘The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testimony.’”2
For the next century, many other writers followed the lead of Spalding and Cross in declaring that Edson had actually seen a vision. In 1935, F.M. Bartle, who had once copied Edson’s manuscript in his own handwriting, informed retired General Conference President William Spicer that “Elder Hiram Edson had visions before Sr. White did”—in fact, he said, Edson’s October 23 vision had come two months prior to White’s first vision in December 1844.3
vision.”5 When Spalding’s Captains of the Host was published in 1949, Crosier had become Edson’s only visible cornfield companion, although the author asserted that on that morning of October 23, Christ walked “with these two disciples on their Port Gibson way.”6 A year later, possibly mirroring Cross’s words, Spalding described a hand stopping Edson in his tracks, a vision of the High Priest entering the Most Holy Place, and a voice saying, “The sanctuary to be cleansed is in heaven.”7
Le Roy E. Froom obviously agreed with Spalding, asserting in 1948 that Edson had “a veritable vision from heaven.”8 When the General Conference Department of Education issued the textbook The Story of Our Church in 1956, thousands of Adventist youth around the world learned that Edson had received “his vision” in a cornfield.9 Those who purchased Jerome Clark’s three-volume set 1844 received the same message.10
In 1947, Spalding wrote that “looking up, [Edson] saw, as in a vision, the sanctuary in heaven.”4 Two years later in a letter to Froom, he referred to Edson’s experience as “the revelation” and “the
By the 1970s and 1980s, this visionary view had become so prevalent that even non-Adventist scholars whose works were published by secular presses adopted it. In The Rise of Adventism (1974), Edwin Gaustad suggested that Edson had received “a new vision of the atypical sanctuary” highlighting “a new phase of Christ’s ministry in heaven that placed earth under judgment.”11 Although highly critical of Ellen White’s visions in his book Prophetess of Health (1976), Ronald Numbers described Edson’s experience as “a vision of heaven.”12 So did Oxford University
Crosier, Edson’s companion, helped articulate the heavenly sanctuary doctrine revealed in the cornfield.
historian Malcolm Bull and London journalist Keith Lockhart in their pathbreaking volume Seeking a Sanctuary (1989).13
Meanwhile, some Adventist writers returned to the earlier, more dramatic renditions of Edson’s cornfield experience as shared by Cross and Spalding. Writing about the Adventist pioneers to inspire junior readers in 1979, James Joiner related that “a hand seemed to fall on [Edson’s] broad shoulder…and heaven appeared to open above him. He seemed to see Jesus Christ…as the great High Priest.… Then, as if struck by lightning, the farmer understood.”14 Two years later, the 1981 edition of In the Footsteps of the Pioneers used the word “revelation” rather than “vision.”15 In 1993, George Knight placed the word “vision” in quotation marks as though recognizing that, while this was the traditional Adventist view, it might not have matched the reality of Edson’s experience.16 Seven years later, however, Knight emphasized that while Edson had been one of the “minor actors in the Advent drama” compared with Miller, Litch, Fitch, Himes, and other leaders prior to October 22, what happened to him on October 23 gave him more prominence in the eyes of Sabbath-keeping Adventists.17
LEFT: Froom called Edson’s cornfield moment a “veritable vision from heaven,” reinforcing prophetic legitimacy. RIGHT: This 1956 youth textbook taught generations that Edson received his vision in a cornfield
At least one of the church’s official periodicals published abroad employed the words “vision— scene of wonderment” in connection with Edson’s
experience.18 So did writers in a few unofficial publications and even critical secular sources. For example, Glen Greenwalt, writing in the journal Spectrum in 1994, asserted: “I believe that Edson’s experience was truly visionary. For Edson saw what many prophets have seen in their hour of deepest trial—namely, a vision that Jesus had not abandoned them, but was even then working on their behalf in the courts of heaven.” Comparing Edson’s vision with those of Daniel, Stephen, Paul, and John, Greenwalt concluded that what happened in 1844 resembled God’s Word in every age as He seeks ways to dwell with His people.19 Likewise, Laura Vance, in her highly critical book Seventh-day Adventism in Crisis (1999), expressed a belief that Edson “saw in vision” the heavenly sanctuary to be cleansed, and that from this vision “contemporary Adventist eschatology has grown.”20
References to Edson having a vision or a divine revelation have increased in the 21st century, especially in Adventist publications aimed at young people and new Adventists.
Gaustad described Edson’s cornfield experience as a “new vision of the atypical sanctuary,” influencing scholarly interpretations of Adventist origins.
INSET: This 1974 volume echoed the visionary narrative— Edson saw a “new phase” of Christ’s ministry.
References to Edson having a vision or a divine revelation have increased in the 21st century, especially in Adventist publications aimed at young people and new Adventists. For example, in 2001, the
Youth Ministry Accent that Edson had received “a sudden revelation,” which turned the Adventists’ disappointment into joy when they discovered “a God of Justice and Mercy” who loved them and kept His promises to them. 21 Taking a page from Cross and Spalding, Norma Collins, in a storybook for children, informed them that Edson “felt as if a hand were laid on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.… He saw what seemed to be a vision” of Jesus as High Priest, entering the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary to begin His work of judgment. 22
Recent audiovisual media also emphasize the idea of Edson having a vision. In their 2006 CD, “Hiram Edson, God’s Man,” William Fagal and Lewis and Richard Walton refer to his “vision.” 23
The non-Adventist actor hired to play the role of Edson in the 2012 DVD “Meet Hiram Edson” also followed a script that stated, “I saw into heaven” as in a vision. 24 Likewise, in his 2014 biography of John Harvey Kellogg, the non-Adventist historian Brian Wilson referred to Edson as a “visionary” and to his “visionary experience” in the cornfield. 25 Don Barton, in an article published for Spectrum calling the investigative judgment teaching “Adventism’s life raft,” also stated that Edson had received “a vision in a cornfield.” 26
Spicer supported the idea that Edson’s experience was a divine revelation—light like a message from heaven.
Edson received a flash of light
Several writers, however, sought alternate explanations for Edson’s cornfield experience. Most of these had something to do either with visible light or flashes of insight. As early as 1941, retired General Conference President William Spicer referred to “this light that came into Hiram Edson’s soul.… The light was like a message from heaven to his heart and mind.”27 Writing three decades later in Movement of Destiny (1971), Froom agreed, calling Edson’s experience “a flash of divine light.”28 Somewhat more dramatically, New York Conference pastor Henry Uhl in 1974 asserted that Edson had been “struck by a flash of truth like a lightning bolt with the sanctuary doctrine.”29 More restrained in his rhetoric, Merlin Burt, in his travel guidebook Adventist Pioneer Places (2011), wrote that Hiram had received “an experience of enlightenment,” “a particularly direct flash of insight,” and “an insight that encouraged his faith.”30 Exercising more creative license, Rachel Cabose told Guide readers in 2018: “Suddenly a bright light shone around Hiram. He seemed to be looking right into heaven!” Then he “heard a voice quote Revelation 11:19 [about the open door to the Most Holy Place and the ark being revealed].”31
There were other writers, however, who were reluctant to describe Edson’s experience either as a vision or as a flash of visible light. Most of them believed he received an impression, while a few were convinced that nothing supernatural happened in the cornfield. Next month, Part 4 will discuss these two groups and conclude this series by sharing a little-known word Edson would probably have used to describe his experience.
Brian E. Strayer retired after 41 years of teaching and, in addition to writing, is a frequent speaker at camp meetings, weeks of prayer, conferences, and churches.
1A.W. Spalding, “Light on the Sanctuary,” The Youth’s Instructor, March 8, 1910, pp. 4-6.
2Viah O. Cross, “Recollections of the Message,” Review, April 1, 1920, pp. 22-23.
3F.M. Bartle to W.A. Spicer, Sept. 4, 1935, in James R. Nix, “The Life and Work of Hiram Edson” (term paper for Church History 600— Problems in Church History, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, 1971), Appendix H, pp. 201-203.
4A.W. Spalding, Footprints of the Pioneers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1947), p. 75.
5A.W. Spalding to L.E. Froom, Aug. 25, 1949, Spalding Correspondence, Coll. 10, Box 2, Fld. 2, CAR, JWL, AU.
6A.W. Spalding, Captains of the Host (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1949), pp. 94, 97.
7A.W. Spalding, “A Western Ally,” Review, Jan. 19, 1950, p. 11. It is probable that Spalding had Viah Cross’s earlier manuscript about her father’s experience at hand when he wrote his article, and this might explain their similarity in wording.
8Le Roy E. Froom, “How the Full Light on the Sanctuary Came to Us,” Review, Sept. 9, 1948, p. 8.
9General Conference Department of Education, The Story of Our Church (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p. 177. 10Jerome Clark, 1844, 3 vols. (Nashville, TN: Southern Pub. Assn., 1968), vol. 1, p. 67.
11Edwin S. Gaustad, ed., The Rise of Adventism (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), p. 178.
12Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health (New York: Harper and Row, 1976), p. 13.
13Malcolm Bull and Keith Lockhart, Seeking a Sanctuary (New York: Harper and Row, 1989), p. 75.
14James Joiner, “These Were the Courageous: Hiram Edson,” Guide, Oct. 24, 1979, p. 20.
15In the Footsteps of the Pioneers (Washington, DC: Ellen G. White Estate, 1981), p. 21.
16George Knight, Anticipating the Advent (Boise, ID: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1993), p. 22.
17George Knight, A Search for Identity (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 2000), pp. 62-64.
18“Hiram Edson,” Southern Asia Tidings, Oct. 1994, p. 11.
19Glen Greenwalt, “The Sanctuary: God in Our Midst,” Spectrum 24, no. 2 (Oct. 1994), pp. 42-49.
20Laura Vance, Seventh-day Adventism in Crisis (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999), pp. 26-27.
21“Inspired by Our Theology,” Youth Ministry Accent, April-June 2001, pp. 43-44.
22Norma Collins, Heartwarming Stories of Adventist Pioneers (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 2005), Book 1, p. 35.
23William Fagal, Lewis Walton, and Richard Walton, “What Hath God Wrought? Hiram Edson, God’s Man” (Harrisburg, PA: American Cassette Ministries, 2006).
25Brian C. Wilson, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the Religion of Biologic Living (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2014), pp. 7, 22.
26Don Barton, “The Investigative Judgment: Adventism’s Life Raft,” Spectrum 41, no. 3 (Summer 2013), p. 17.
27William A. Spicer, Pioneer Days of the Advent Movement (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1941), p. 221.
28Le Roy E. Froom, Movement of Destiny (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1971), p. 78 (see footnote).
29Henry Uhl, “Church and State—a Dual Celebration,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, Aug. 27, 1974, p. 3.
30Merlin D. Burt, Adventist Pioneer Places: New York & New England (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 2011), pp. 130, 133.
31Rachel Whitaker Cabose, “Light in a Cornfield,” Guide, Oct. 13, 2018, p. 18.
Oak & Acorn Publishing is a ministry of the Pacific Union Conference.
How to Make Sabbath
a
Delight for Kids
Attention moms, dads, grandparents, teachers, and anyone who has the honor of caring for kids! The Sabbath can sometimes be a challenge for growing minds. But that’s exactly why God created it. His holy day was designed to be a unique opportunity for interaction with the world—and with Him—on a more meaningful level.
If you’re ever at a loss for what to do with your energetic young ones on the Sabbath, this book should help. It’s filled with suggestions for making the Sabbath a delight for both you and your charges. In it, you’ll find practical suggestions for turning youthful energies outward, using them to fuel busy hands and feet in ways that benefit others.
God’s Sabbath is a gift for anyone who remembers its true value and eternal purpose. So, get ready to find ways to show your children how to enjoy those sacred hours each and every week.
Eternal Delight: Rediscovering God’s Sabbath Gift
It’s a day like any other, except for one very important distinction: It was blessed and made holy by God Himself.
Welcome to the Sabbath—24 hours of time brought into existence during Creation week, right along with sea creatures, towering redwoods, eagles, squirrels, roses, and even the air we breathe. It was God’s finishing touch on a world spoken into existence and made exclusively for human beings to enjoy.
Today, the Sabbath has lost much of its meaning in the minds of many. But the power and potential of that special day remains, waiting to be awakened by anyone who takes the time to remember it.
In the pages of this book, you’ll discover how you can turn God’s Sabbath gift into a launching pad for spiritual reawakening and a catalyst for service. From sundown to sundown, God’s holy day is yours for the taking—and the giving.
Island
Boy; Man of God: The Life of Sakae Kubo
Sakae Kubo was born in Honolulu, Hawai’i, in the area below Diamond Head, to a Japanese dairy farmer and a mail-order bride. The farmer was Sakae’s mother’s second husband; her first had died after traveling to Japan for treatment, leaving his young widow with a large amount of debt and four young boys.
“My grandmother was not doing well emotionally after that, and she briefly considered taking her own life,” explained Charlene Bainum, Sakae’s daughter.
“Eventually she realized her children needed her, and she decided to keep trying.”
After she married Mr. Kubo, the couple had five children together, making a family of eleven. Sakae was the second child born into his mother’s second marriage.
“My dad could recall many days when they all got up at 1 a.m. to milk the cows and clean the stalls,” Bainum said. “They also regularly traveled to the other side of the island to cut hay—with scythes—then they loaded it on a truck and drove it back to the farm.
When Sakae was in eighth grade, his teacher began inviting him and several other boys in the class to her home for what she called “tutoring and enrichment” on Saturday afternoons, though in reality it was Bible studies.
“On Saturdays my dad was supposed to be attending Japanese school,” Bainum shared. “His parents were very firm on this, so he went—but only in the morning. Then, without telling his parents, he would spend the other half of the day with his friends and their teacher at Bible studies.”
Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all Japanese schools were closed. “Dad said the one benefit of the schools closing was that he didn’t have to go anymore and could spend the entire day at his teacher’s home and church,” Bainum said.
Sakae’s family claimed the Buddhist faith, but in reality, Bainum said, they were more secular than religious. They never attended any worship services, and the boys’ lifestyle was not faith centered.
“Dad remembered his two oldest brothers as rough and tough—basically gang leaders in their neighborhood—and they weren’t afraid to beat up anyone who challenged them,” Bainum said. “Dad always felt safe with such strong-arm brothers.”
When the boys weren’t working on the farm or attending school, they loved sports, even starting a 130-pound football club called the Diamond Packers (after their favorite team from Green Bay, Wisconsin).
Though he attended a public high school,
Sakae was further exposed to Adventism when he discovered that, out of thousands of students, every single freshman class officer was Adventist. Between these new friends and his teacher’s efforts the previous year, Sakae gave his heart to Christ and was baptized in January of his junior year of high school. He transferred to Hawaiian Mission Academy (HMA) and was introduced to the Adventist values of service and education, which “he bought into fully,” Bainum said. Sakae’s plan was to study science in college and go into medicine.
“Given his background, it made a real difference to be exposed to Christian values and a Christian woman, whom he credited for his becoming an Adventist,” Bainum shared. His plans to attend an Adventist college were challenged when the U.S. joined WWII and Japanese students were not permitted to attend West Coast colleges. So Sakae enrolled at Andrews University (then called Emmanuel Missionary College).
“To get to Michigan from Hawai’i, Dad took a boat across the ocean that had to zigzag to avoid U-Boats,” Bainum said. “He remembered being seasick the entire way to San Francisco.” Because he was Japanese, Sakae was met at the dock by a military escort who brought him to spend the night at the Presidio. In the morning, he was escorted to the train station to head east.
Sakae completed his senior year of high school at Andrews Academy and simultaneously completed his first year of college. “Whenever us
kids complained about our studies, he would always tell us how hard he worked this year,” Bainum said with a chuckle. Though Sakae had begun the premedicine program, he quickly felt called to ministry, so he moved to theology instead.
“Dad’s two older brothers went through third grade, and the other two completed eighth grade, then they took over the dairy,” Bainum explained. “For Dad to go to college was a big deal.”
While he was attending seminary, Sakae began corresponding with Hatsumi, a former classmate from HMA who now was attending Pacific Union College. They had reconnected one summer when he worked as a colporteur and she worked in the Book and Bible House at the conference office in Hawai’i.
“They got to be good friends, and they were soon after married in Honolulu,” said Bainum. They moved to Hawai’i together as Sakae began his pastoral career. “Mom began hers as a pastor’s wife and eventually finished her elementary education degree once her kids were older.”
Sakae and Hatsumi had four children: Wesley, Paul (who tragically died at age 14 following a sports injury), Charlene, and Calvin.
“Dad loved playing games, particularly Memory,” Bainum recalled. “He loved it, and I hated it, because I could never beat him.” Those who knew him were pretty sure Sakae had a photographic memory. When he had tests in school, he could close his eyes and read the page he’d studied in his mind and write down what was on it.
“I could have used that skill passed on to me!” Bainum added. “Dad always won that game, and once we had our own children, we always made sure
to give him a handicap when he played Memory with the grandkids.”
In addition to board games, Sakae enjoyed sports, a carryover from when he and his brothers were so involved in football, boxing, and wrestling in Hawai’i. “Even in his later years, Dad loved watching sports on TV,” Bainum shared. “He would sit there transfixed, watching his favorite teams—the Green Bay Packers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Chicago Bears.” He also enjoyed watching his kids play sports. “A friend wrote me a note after Dad passed and said he remembered my dad coming to all of our games, sometimes as the only parent there watching,” said Bainum. “His support meant a lot to people.”
When Hatsumi began her teaching career, she was gone from home all day. If one of the children had a doctor’s appointment or needed to be picked up from various places, it was often their dad who did it. “He worked there on campus so it was convenient, and he always viewed his and Mom’s relationship as a partnership,” said Bainum. “He was always very helpful to my mother, even before women’s liberation. He did dishes, made meals, and tried to be an equal partner with her.”
Sakae and Hatsumi enjoyed gardening together and could frequently be found outside in the evenings after dinner, working in the yard. “It was something they both enjoyed, but it was also a frugal way to feed the family,” Bainum commented.
Having a well-rounded education was important to Sakae, and he instilled a love of learning in his children, making regular trips with them to the local library for reading material.
“I remember coming out with a stack of books,
enjoying that he encouraged us to read,” Bainum said. “He was very opinionated about wanting us to explore a variety of ideas. When one of our teachers stapled pages of a book together because they contained fables or something similar, he was incensed. Though he did help guide us in our book selections, he didn’t censor what we read. He didn’t want us to have a narrow reading education.”
Sakae himself was well-educated and wellread; he earned five degrees, wrote 18 books and countless articles, and reviewed many other books. He taught at the seminary at Andrews University, served as dean of theology and professor at Walla Walla University, was president at Newbold College in England, and served as vice president for academic affairs and academic dean at Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts.
“When I enrolled at Andrews University in 1955, Kubo was a very young teacher,” recalled Bill Richardson, retired professor and administrator from Andrews University. “He was only in his late 20s, and I was captivated by this young Japanese guy who was so very bright.” Sakae taught Greek, and when Richardson enrolled in his class, Sakae hired him as a reader.
“We became friends,” Richardson said. “He identified easily with young, budding theologues, and I admired him immensely. He was a thoroughly scholarly man—very humble, easy to talk to, and much more conservative than people realized.”
In an April 29 article on ted.adventist.org,1 Steven Thompson wrote: “[Kubo’s seminary] course exegeting the Epistle to Hebrews in its original Greek language…proved to be an academic and inspirational high point. In his rapid but low-key manner, he employed his devotion to scholarship, combined with his deep faith, to enrich our understanding of the message of Hebrews, inspiring me to earn a higher degree in biblical languages.”
One of Sakae’s most well-known accomplishments was his Greek lexicon of the books of the New Testament. “It was a very convenient tool for Greek students having to translate the original Greek into English,” Richardson said. “I have two ragged copies
I’ve kept over the years; it was probably the greatest thing he ever did in terms of scholarly work.”
The lexicon was published by Zondovan, a wellknown name in the Christian publishing world, and the book was carried in seminaries of multiple denominations.
“A lot of people talk about Dad’s Greek lexicon as his greatest accomplishment, but he didn’t necessarily think of his work that way,” Bainum shared. “When he retired, he was sorting through all his old lectures and sermons and wasn’t interested in saving any of them. A few he put up on Facebook, but when his account was later closed, we lost access to them all.”
Sakae retired in 1989, moving to Chico, California, with Hatsumi. In 2008, he was named Alumnus of the Year at Andrews Academy. He passed away on Wednesday, April 16, at the age of 98 in Bakersfield, California.
“I think if we could ask him now, Sakae would say his main contribution to the world was to continue his own kind of scholarship through some of his students,” Richardson commented. “I think he would have been pleased to know that he’s passed on a part of himself through his students and that his biblical scholarship will continue long after he is gone.”
Versacare Foundation Expands Year-Round Grant Opportunities to Support Innovative Ministries
Versacare Foundation has announced that their Catalyst Grant program, with funding up to $10,000, will now be open year-round.
“We realized that limiting applications to only part of the year made it difficult for organizations to apply for and receive the funds when they needed them,” explained Kelly Daugherty, program director at Versacare Foundation.
The foundation offers four main grant categories: K-12 schools, Catalyst, Venture, and Impact. These grants are available within the North American Division and the Inter-American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and they focus on programmatic ministries aiming to “create loving and just communities,” said Daugherty.
Catalyst grants are designed to alleviate immediate needs, she explained, while emphasizing the foundation’s grants come with “a funding philosophy aimed at sustainable impact rather than mere transactions.” Versacare leaders guide the foundation with a passion for long-term community impact instead of just one-time activities. This allows for greater reach of funded ministries, influencing the lives of as many within the community as possible.
“When considering applications, we look to launch and support quality, innovative missions, and ministries,” said Tom Macomber, president of Versacare Foundation, “and to encourage responsible philanthropy.”
But it’s not just about the ministry outside the
requesting organization; Versacare also looks to further support and guide the recipients of the funding. “We coach organizations to avoid single-source funding dependency and encourage a businessminded approach to what they’re doing to create sustainable ministries,” Macomber explained. “We want these programs to continue to thrive, even after their initial grant money is gone.”
Whenever a Versacare grant is awarded, the foundation provides resources beyond the funding to help organizations be successful in the long-term, focusing on financial management, budgeting, and seeking additional and ongoing financial support from various sources.
Inspired by Jesus’ ministry and by Adventist heritage, the foundation has distributed nearly $40M in grants since 1990, primarily supporting Adventist ministries. Among those funded within the Pacific Union are Pacific Union Festival of Sabbath, an Oak and Acorn publishing project, and a community garden and orchard at Pacific Union College Elementary School.
Though Versacare has Adventist roots and a board consisting of Adventist church members, it is an independent foundation unbound by church structure. It is self-funded through endowment from previous assets, and it primarily funds Adventist or Adventist-adjacent ministries.
For information on how your ministry can apply for a Versacare Foundation grant, visit versacare.org.
Anxiety, Politics, and the Peace of Christ
By Virginia Félix
In an age saturated with headlines, notifications, and debate, political stress and anxiety have become pervasive realities for many. The 21st-century Christian faces a barrage of cultural and societal challenges—from hyperpartisan news coverage to emotionally charged family disagreements. The data is sobering: according to the American Psychological Association, nearly half of U.S. adults identify politics as a significant stressor, leading to sleep disruptions, strained relationships, and emotional exhaustion.1 But Christians are not left without guidance. Both Scripture and psychological insight offer tools for navigating this tumultuous landscape. In this essay, we will examine how believers can overcome anxiety by anchoring their identity in Christ, setting boundaries for mental well-being, and adopting a spiritually mature posture toward conflict and cultural change.
But the question before us as Christians is not whether anxiety exists—Scripture assumes it does.2 The real question is: How should followers of Christ overcome such anxiety? How can we live as lights in the darkness, unshaken by the storms around us? The answer begins with where we place our hearts, our minds, and our hope.
Philippians 3:20 reminds us, “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”3 And Peter describes believers as “sojourners and pilgrims” in this world (1 Peter 2:11). These verses anchor us in the truth that this world is not our home. We may vote, serve, and participate in civic life, but we do so as ambassadors of a greater kingdom.
Following the Civil War, David Lipscomb wrote a booklet entitled Civil Government: Its
The news will always have something to alarm us. But the peace of Christ is not fragile—it is firm. It is not circumstantial— it is eternal.
Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian’s Relation to It in which he argued that Christians should not serve in the military, vote, hold political office, or participate in civil government.4 While that view may seem extreme today, it reflected a desire to avoid letting the kingdoms of this world distract from the kingdom of God.
And here’s the takeaway: When you remember that your first allegiance is to the eternal kingdom, the temporary turbulence of this world loses its power to shake you. Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “There is nothing new under the sun.” While today’s crises may feel unprecedented, they are not. Christians throughout history have faced lions in Rome, flames at the stake, and exile from their homelands. Compared to those trials, political division or economic stress— though real—are lighter burdens.
Even Jesus spoke directly to this issue: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34, NIV). When anxiety presses in, remember: this is not the first time God's people have walked through storms. And it won’t be the last. But in every age, God has been faithful.
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10:16, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” He never called us to be ignorant—but neither did He call us to be consumed by chaos.
The barrage of news, commentary, and social media overwhelms our emotional and spiritual systems. Ecclesiastes 1:18 warns, “In much wisdom is much grief.” Too much information— especially when it’s polarized or pessimistic—can distort reality and crush our spirit.
Psychologist Afton Kapuscinski suggests that we intentionally limit our exposure to political media, focusing instead on meaningful, grounding activities like exercise, relationships, and volunteer service.5 And Scripture affirms this—Paul encourages us in Philippians 4:8 to meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and praiseworthy.
To hear God’s voice clearly,
sometimes you need to turn off the news, shut down the device, and open your Bible. Colossians 3:2 exhorts us: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” The daily news cycle tempts us to look downward—to dwell on division, fear, and anger. But Scripture calls us to lift our gaze.
Psalm 137 describes the exiled Israelites weeping by the rivers of Babylon, longing for Jerusalem. They sang: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!” (Psalm 137:5). This longing was not just for a place—but for the presence and promises of God.
We need that same focus today. As Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” What dominates your thoughts will determine your direction. So choose to think about heaven. Choose to meditate on Christ. Choose to focus not on what the world says is breaking but on what God says is unshakable.
One of the most comforting truths in Scripture is that God reigns—even when the world feels out of control. Nebuchadnezzar learned this the hard way. After being humbled, he declared that “the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses” (Daniel 4:25).
Paul echoed this in Romans 13:1, affirming that no authority exists unless God allows it. And Revelation 11:15 declares, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
No matter who’s in office, no matter what war breaks out, no matter what crisis looms—Jesus is on the throne. Let that sink in. He is not anxious. He is not overwhelmed. He is not surprised. And because He reigns, we can rest.
God has given wisdom to the world through common grace. Kapuscinski offers practical ways to manage the kind of anxiety many of us feel:6 Avoid obsessing over what you can’t control. Be mindful. Practice gratitude. Emotions live in the body. Exercise, meditate, breathe deeply—take care of your vessel. Choose when and how you engage with
news and social media. Limit your exposure. Read good news. Spend time with uplifting people. Invest in your church community. If you must talk politics, listen more than you speak. Don’t aim to win—aim to understand.
These are not just therapeutic suggestions— they echo biblical principles of rest, stewardship, gratitude, and peace. Gratitude changes everything. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (NIV). Notice the key: “with thanksgiving.” Gratitude is not a result of peace—it’s the path to it. When we choose to see God’s hand, thank Him for His gifts, and acknowledge His goodness, anxiety loses its grip.
Let us make gratitude a habit, not just a feeling. Keep a journal. Share your joys. Give thanks before your meals. Start every prayer by remembering what God has already done. Political tension will rise and fall. The news will always have something to alarm us. But the peace of Christ is not fragile—it is firm. It is not circumstantial—it is eternal.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (NIV). Let us walk boldly in that peace. Let us shine as lights in the darkness. Let us remember who we are, whose we are, and where our true home lies.
Virginia Felix is a public health professional who writes from San Ysidro, California.
1Zara Abrams, “The Impact of Election Stress: Is Political Anxiety Harming your Health?” American Psychological Association, Oct. 22, 2024, https:// sdawest.pub/stress.
2See Psalm 23:4, Matthew 6:25-24, Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7. 3Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version.
4David Lipscomb, Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian’s Relation to It (Nashville, TN: McQuiddy Printing, 1913), https:// archive.org/details/CivilGovernment.
5Daryl Lovell, “Protecting Your Health in a Polarized World: Expert Advice on Political Stress, Health & Society, March 27, 2025, https://sdawest.pub/ advice.
6Lovell, “Protecting Your Health in a Polarized World.”
“ Arizona Camp Meetings Focus on Mission
Ambassadors for Christ,” the theme for this year’s Arizona Conference Camp Meeting, embodied the overall sentiment behind the three camp meetings that comprise the annual gatherings. The camp meeting season began on May 23 with the Native American Ministries Camp Meeting held at Holbrook Indian School.
Each camp meeting has a unique culture. The Native American event featured native presenters who spoke in the style and voice of their people. The Diné oral tradition is evident in the shared testimony portion of the weekend program. The theme, “Living in Faith,” focused on the personal spiritual journeys of attendees and presenters.
The Arizona Conference Camp Meeting, which began June 6, traditionally focuses on bringing in popular devotional speakers from around the North American Division. The “Ambassadors” theme was specifically present in each of the early morning devotionals presented by Arizona Conference pastors. The focus throughout the week was on revival and devotional presentations.
Two years ago, the Arizona Young Adults department designated the Wagon Camp Amphitheater as its ministry location. The facility was dilapidated and no longer in use when they adopted the location as the center of their programming. After more than a year, the young adults in Arizona have revitalized the location with new benches, a stage area, and shade structures, making it a place that the youth camp can now use throughout the year. It required a late, scrambled push to get the benches ready
just in time for the camp meeting to start.
After the camp meeting concluded on Sunday, June 15, pastors and conference staff quickly cleaned the camp, cabins, and bathrooms to prepare it for the arrival of Hispanic church members, who began arriving that afternoon. The Hispanic ministries team then immediately prepared for the upcoming week’s events.
The Hispanic Ministries Camp Meeting has an entirely different feel from the Arizona Conference Camp Meeting. The official title of the event is Campestre Familiar, which denotes the emphasis on family and community events. “Hasta lo último de la tierra” was the theme for this year’s family camp, and it stressed the importance of a mission that goes to the end of the earth, both in territory and time.
This year’s family camp introduced a new feature,
LEFT: Dawna Holiday Shchedrov speaks on Friday evening at the Native American Camp Meeting. RIGHT: Eddie Turner gives an early morning devotional on being ambassadors for Christ.
Arizona Conference teachers were honored during the Sabbath School program on the first weekend of Arizona Conference Camp Meeting.
Cena Hispanas, a festival event on Thursday night featuring food sales by local churches and interactive family games throughout the evening. Friday morning was the third annual 5K run and walk.
As the last RV and carload of church members left the camp, another camp meeting season officially concluded. As silence descended on the camp, it was possible to take a moment to reflect on the previous four weeks of gatherings of church members from different cultures, languages, and philosophies, creating a genuine sense of the collective mission that pervaded the atmosphere.
By Jeff Rogers
Zachary Surovec Ordination
O“ne of the things Alicia and I have been convicted of these past few years of our ministry is that we are a team, a ministry team, a family team, and that is why Everly is joining me,” Zachary Surovec said, standing on the stage at Camp Yavapines and holding his one-year-old daughter in his arms.
Surovec expressed his gratitude to the Arizona Conference administration, his fellow pastors, and the audience that had gathered to witness his ordination.
“PZ,” as Surovec has been affectionately called for years during his ministry as Bible teacher and chaplain at Thunderbird Adventist Academy, recognized the full circle of life that brought him to this point. Eighteen years earlier, while a teen camper at Camp Yavapines, he first felt the call to serve the Lord. Shortly after, at the age of 15, he preached his first evangelistic series while on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic.
Surovec attended Thunderbird Adventist Academy, where he would later return to serve as a staff member. He began his pastoral ministry immediately
Conference
and
after graduating from Pacific Union College, serving as associate pastor of the Grace in the Desert church in Surprise, Arizona. After a year, he was called to the academy, where he served for the next five years. In 2021, the Surovecs left their native Arizona and traveled to Michigan, where he attended the theological seminary at Andrews University. Shortly after graduating in 2024, he and his wife welcomed their daughter. Now completing the full circle, Surovec is pastoring at the Phoenix Glendale church, where he attended as an adolescent and teen.
“I feel so fortunate to have had a long history with Zack,” said Glendale Pastor Gary Venden, “and to be the one to walk with him and mentor him during these years of his ministry and to be here as part of his ordination service.”
By Jeff Rogers
Zack Surovec responds to a cheering crowd alongside his wife, Alicia, and daughter, Everly.
Arizona
administrators
pastors participate in a prayer of blessing on Zachary Surovec and his family during the ordination service.
Families are the focus at the Cena Hispanas event during Hispanic Ministries Family Camp.
ABC Book Center Fuels Literature Ministry
For Corey Seabloom, a Fresno Sunnyside church member, the Adventist Book Center isn't just a bookstore—it's the cornerstone of his literature evangelism ministry that has spanned three decades.
Seabloom, who visits the ABC two to three times weekly, has been an Adventist since 1993. His journey began when a young pastor completing his training repeatedly reached out to him over 11 months while Seabloom wrestled with accepting the Adventist message.
"I loved the truth and the message I was hearing, but I was experiencing culture shock coming from a charismatic background," Seabloom recalled. "This pastor told me he'd been fasting and praying for me
that week. He said I needed to make a decision for the truth, not for the people."
That conversation led to Seabloom’s baptism and ignited a 17-year literature evangelism ministry that carried him across multiple states, serving with the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, as well as in Washington, Texas, and Fresno.
A reliable resource
said. "I knew she would savor every word."
The ABC has become essential to Seabloom's ministry, providing materials that both strengthen his faith and equip him to share with others. "I can always be sure I'll find books that are solidly based on the Adventist message," Seabloom said. "I want to promote materials that help people submit to God's plan and trust in church leadership."
Seabloom sees literature evangelism as one of the most effective soul-winning methods available to Adventists today. He cites testimonies from veteran colporteurs who filled churches through their work, bringing in quality members who quickly became church officers.
Divine appointments
Through years of door-to-door ministry, Seabloom has witnessed countless divine appointments. People regularly tell him they've been praying for a good book to read or seeking something to help them understand the Bible better.
"I've seen Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists—people I never thought would respond to my materials—open up and purchase books," he said. "When I approach each person as a brother or sister, without prejudice, amazing things happen."
One encounter particularly touched Seabloom: A 12-year-old girl listened to his presentation about Steps to Christ and disappeared into another room. She returned with six crumpled dollar bills.
"The smile she had after getting that book, the sincere gratitude—you can't put a price on that experience," Seabloom
Recent experiences continue to affirm his calling. A shirtless man who seemed uninterested ended up with tears in his eyes after their conversation.
Continuing the mission
After more than 30 years as an Adventist and nearly two decades in literature ministry, Seabloom remains committed to what he calls "the very work God would have us do at this time."
As he continues visiting homes throughout Fresno, Seabloom carries materials from the ABC that he trusts will present a balanced, Christ-centered message. For him, each book represents another opportunity for someone to encounter Jesus.
"Even if they say they're just supporting me, they have a book in their hands," Seabloom said. "And in that moment, they'll consider Jesus, maybe in a deeper way than before they met me."
By Justin Kim
Jaime Vargas Is Ordained in Kauai
May 24, 2025, was a day of dedication, celebration, and ordination. Pastor Jaime Vargas, district pastor on the island of Kauai, was ordained to the gospel ministry. The service was held at the Kapa’a church during a joint Sabbath with the Lawai Valley church. Also attending were family members from the mainland, Education Superintendent Miki Nelson, ordination mentor Enoch Brownell, and even a few church members from the Aiea church, one of his previous congregations, who came to surprise and support Pastor Jaime. To make the momentous occasion even more memorable, the Vargas ohana also brought their littlest family member, Isaias Vargas, to be dedicated to the Lord.
Jaime’s beautiful response was that it would be his honor to follow in the dust of his Rabbi, learn of Him, and go where He goes.
Elder Erik VanDenburgh led out in both the baby dedication and the ordination message, adding personal anecdotes from the years of memories shared in ministry together. Elder Jay Warren, previous Hawaii Conference executive secretary, gave the ordination charge. Pastor Enoch Brownell shared words of wisdom. Jaime’s beautiful response was that it would be his honor to follow in the dust of his Rabbi, learn of Him, and go where He goes. Potluck and fellowship followed.
This event holds unique significance within the Hawaii Conference. Vargas connected with VanDenburgh at Andrews University, in a twist of fate that inspired the beginning of the Volunteer Youth Pastoral Internship Program with the Hawaii Conference. Now at the culmination of its 10th year, this program seeks to provide
mentorship and leadership at both the conference and local church level. The goal is to provide opportunities for aspiring pastors to more deeply discover their calling and ministry focus and to “learn the ropes” under the care of a mentoring pastor and the youth director, while also providing support and energy to the youth of the local church.
It was in the fall of 2014 that Vargas came to Hawaii as a young theology student to serve for a year in the Aiea church. The following summer, he met Caitlin, who later became his bride and support in ministry. In 2019, Vargas accepted the call to serve as an associate pastor, later also taking on the role of conference Pathfinder director and then becoming the pastor of the Kauai district in 2020. Pastor Vargas’ ministry has touched many lives, igniting others to share in his love for studying the word and leading a life of wholesome adventure in Christ.
By Jana VanDenburgh
NOTICE
OF CONSTITUENCY MEETING OF THE HAWAII CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
Notice is hereby given that the Regular Quinquennial Constituency Meeting of the Hawaii Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is called to convene at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, October 5, 2025, at Honolulu Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2313 Nuuanu Avenue, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii.
The purpose of this meeting is to receive reports, to elect conference officers and the Executive Committee, and to transact other business as may properly come before the constituency meeting.
Each organized church shall be represented by one (1) delegate and one (1) additional delegate for each forty (40) members or major fraction thereof.
HIS Collaborates with Camp Yavapines
Holbrook Indian School (HIS) is excited to share a new development for the summer of 2025! In an interesting course of events, God has been orchestrating a collaboration between Holbrook Indian School and Camp Yavapines in Prescott, Arizona. This idea came about during discussions on how to improve what we offer students during the summer months. As it turns out, God was putting something together in such a way that we could not deny His hand was in it.
To begin, Pastor Melanie Cruz, the director for Camp Yavapines, had been praying about asking Mr. Campos, our vice principal, to work at camp again this year. Mr. Campos had volunteered for two weeks last year, but he thought he would not be available this summer given the alternating schedule at HIS for vice principal and MAPS coordinator during summertime. Because of this, Pastor Melanie almost didn’t ask. “I felt like I should anyway, and God opened the door,” she said. “It’s important to trust that God can do miracles—and also, when He nudges you forward, to listen to His voice.”
She explained her reasons for asking Mr. Campos to return: “He was engaged and exceptional. He went
above and beyond. I know that he is a solid leader there at HIS. I’ve seen him in action in his versatility. We need that at camp. He doesn’t mind getting in there and doing what needs to be done.”
When asked why he wanted to work at camp again this year, Mr. Campos replied, “I volunteered two weeks last summer and I really enjoyed it. I never participated when I was a kid, but I became a believer in camp as evangelism for youth. I think it’s a powerful tool to teach kids about Jesus. Also, the young staff members working at camp are receiving leadership skills at ages 17 to 19. I’m a believer in investing in and developing people. I would like to do that for the staff in whatever area they would like—personal, spiritual, work.”
In addition to asking Mr. Campos to return to Camp Yavapines this summer, Pastor Melanie was also praying about having a horse program this year. “It’s been at least 12 years since Yavapines has had horses. I shared with our camp managers and others involved in the decision making. Financially, it didn’t look like it was possible. That was April or early fall 2024. God knew my heart in regard to horses. If it was to be, then it would really have to be a God thing.”
During that time, the HIS business manager, Ms.
Newhart, and development director, Mrs. Fish, were discussing summer options for our horses. With the knowledge that some summer camps lease horses for the season, the idea of partnering with Camp Yavapines by leasing our horses to them for the summer came to mind. Our interim horsemanship director at the time, Mr. Fred Bruce, was thinking the same thing, unaware that the idea was already being discussed. “It was a shot in the dark to ask Yavapines if they would be willing to have a horsemanship program this summer,” Ms. Newhart said. When Pastor Melanie was approached about it, it was clear that God had answered her prayers and opened doors for her dream to become a reality. This summer, the HIS horses and horsemanship director will be serving the campers and staff at Yavapines!
God’s ways and His timing are not ours. It takes an incredible amount of faith to believe the seemingly impossible can happen. However, when we know our Savior, we can trust His leading. Pastor Melanie shared, “Jesus says, ‘My sheep know my voice.’ It’s a beautiful thing to be able to know Jesus’ voice when He’s talking to us.”
We are humbled to know the ways that God has
been working on the behalf of many. Collaborating with Camp Yavapines is an expansion of our mission statement here at HIS: “a safe place to learn, grow, and thrive.” We could not have thought up a better plan or brought it to fruition any other way.
By Kimberly Cruz
A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946
Holbrook Indian School (HIS) is a first- through twelfth-grade boarding academy operated by the Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. HIS also manages a firstthrough eighth-grade day school on the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona. Eighty-seven percent of funding comes from individuals who have a desire to support Native American ministries and Christian education. Your generosity makes a difference in the lives of our students, their families, and the communities they serve.
Thank you for your support.
IResident Physicians Broaden Knowledge Through Global Health Rotation
n mid-May, an Adventist Health team including five resident physicians from California’s Central Valley traveled to Loreto, Mexico, for the first Adventist Health Central California Residency Global Health Rotation. The resident physicians held clinics in eight rural communities outside Loreto, where many people have limited opportunity to see a physician.
The Global Health Rotation provides resident physicians with patient care experience in a rural setting and better understanding of how medicine functions in another country. The rotation was developed over the last two years by Dr. Raul Ayala, Adventist Health ambulatory medical officer; Bucky Weeks, Community Health Initiatives coordinator; John Schroer, Adventist Health Global Mission director; and resident clinical supervisors Dr. Adnaan Edun and Dr. Shruti Javali.
“We incorporate global health into the training of our medical residents so they can understand health systems across beliefs and cultures,” said Ayala. “Global Health education addresses content areas essential to the developing physician, including broadened medical knowledge, cultural humility, understanding of social determinants of health, and appreciation for public health and preventive medicine.”
The resident physicians participating in the rotation are part of the family medicine and internal medicine programs at Adventist Health Hanford and Adventist Health Tulare. During the seven-day trip they met
every morning with clinical supervisors and trip organizers to discuss plans for the day. When they gathered again at the end of each day, they often discovered that while healing others they were being transformed themselves.
“Serving on this rotation was more than healing—it was about becoming part of a story larger than my own, where every smile shared and every challenge faced deepened a sense of belonging and purpose,” said Dr. Bukhtawar Munir, second-year resident.
Another second-year resident, Dr. Seth R. Clarke, said, “Global medical missions are more than an academic experience. The experience expands the meaning of medicine. It transforms the soul.”
The rotation is guided in partnership with the Minister of Health in Baja Sur, Mexico. “We approached the Mexican government with the idea that there are gaps in care in Mexico just as there are in the U.S.,” said Weeks. “We asked where they would like us to go; where do people need additional care? They helped direct us to locations where care is needed most, and the Loreto community embraced us.”
Third-year resident Dr. Tiffany Yu said, “What was once an unfamiliar place now holds a piece of our hearts. I am grateful to have been part of the pioneering Loreto global health trip, where meaningful connections with patients and local health workers began to bloom.”
The director of the Adventist Health Hanford Family Practice Resident Program, Dr. Shruti Javali, said, “Sharing the world of rural global health with our Adventist Health residents in Loreto was a profound reminder that early exposure can shape careers—and that service, at its core, is what sustains us.”
The work in Loreto is about serving humanity with no boundaries or borders. It is an expression of the Adventist Health mission of living God’s love.
“Sometimes we are guided in unexpected ways,” said Dr. Adnaan Edun, faculty member in the Adventist Health Tulare Family Practice Residency Program. “The Loreto trip was just that: a reminder of the call to serve and to be a continuous student of life—a reminder of what true medicine is.”
By Kim Strobel
Student Michelle Siboro Finds Faith, God Connection, in Campus Spiritual Life
She was raised a Seventh-day Adventist and followed the denomination’s faith traditions. But her heart wasn’t in it.
Michelle Siboro, a La Sierra University senior clinical health studies and pre-occupational therapy major, recently described her journey from a place of disconnection from God, despite her baptism as a teen, to a place of thriving in relationship with Christ.
Siboro’s journey began when she became involved in campus spiritual life activities last year and discovered new ways of worshipping and communicating with a God who spoke to her heart. Her experiences inspired interest in re-baptism, which she plans to do the year she graduates.
During a student association Unity worship in spring quarter, she shared a moving and unfiltered testimony of her experience—her first public speaking moment.
Siboro was raised in Ontario, California, in a devout Adventist home. She participated in Pathfinders, attended the Indonesian-American church in Azusa every Saturday with her parents and two siblings, and sang in the choir. But there was an emptiness.
“I didn’t really know that I could turn to God,” she said. “He was literally here the entire time, and He's been reaching out for me, but I never made the move to take it a step further.”
“I think my relationship with God definitely started when I came here to La Sierra,” she said.
Siboro attended Alta Loma High School in Rancho Cucamonga, where she often felt like the “odd one out,” she said. Friday night events and parties were off limits, and her Saturday church attendance was unusual among her peers.
Her introduction to La Sierra’s spiritual activities occurred during morning worships for freshman orientation when she first enrolled—the service involved a praise team and band. “I was just like, ‘Wow, I've never had worship like this.’ I grew up in a conservative church,” she said.
“The one that really stuck with me was the Friday night vespers. That was the first time I ever cried during a worship, and it was genuinely like a cry out to God. That's definitely where it started.”
During her sophomore year she experienced a pivotal moment—at her request she received a Bible from her parents, a Bible just for her that was not handed down from someone else in the family. “I was so happy, I was just reading it and reading it,” she said.
Along with her Bible reading, Siboro increased her involvement in La Sierra’s spiritual activities and in young adult ministries at the Loma Linda Indonesian church, which she began attending in 2020.
“Slowly but surely, I was getting closer to God in the way that was perfect for me,” she said. “And now, I always go to God, not perfectly, but always intentionally.”
By Darla Martin Tucker
La Sierra University student Michelle Siboro shares her testimony during a campus Unity worship in April.
Study Shows Vegetarian Diets Have Reduced Risk of Medium-Frequency Cancers
Alongitudinal study of various vegetarian diets shows a 12% overall reduced risk of all cancers and strong support for the finding in less-studied, medium-frequency cancers, such as stomach and lymphomas.
Lead author Gary Fraser, MBCHB, PhD, said this is the first study with strong information and sufficient precision to report on the association between various vegetarian diets and risk of some less common cancers.
Researchers found that a vegetarian diet was associated with even greater risk reduction of stomach cancer, as high as 45%, as well as lymphomas by 25%. Fraser said the study also offered solid evidence confirming previous studies that vegans have lower risks of the common breast and prostate cancers (by about 25%).
“This is all relatively unique information and possibly the most robust that’s out there concerning cancers such as stomach and lymphoma,” Fraser said. “It may also be pointing the finger at several other
cancers—such as lung, ovary, and pancreas—where the evidence from this study was suggestive of lower risk in vegetarians, but did not quite reach the necessary standard to say more.”
Fraser said other cancers, such as uterine, myeloma, myeloid leukemias, or those of the nervous system, gave no hint of protection from diet.
The study, “Longitudinal Associations Between Vegetarian Dietary Habits and Site-Specific Cancers in the Adventist Health Study-2 North American Cohort” was published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study, conducted by Loma Linda University Department of Research Affairs, examined data from tens of thousands of Seventh-day Adventist vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Researchers used data from the Adventist Health Study-2, a cohort of nearly 96,000 people who identify as Seventh-day Adventist and lived in the United States and Canada during the study’s baseline recruitment between 2002 and 2007, with follow-up through 2015. Researchers used data from nearly 80,000 people from the study, about half of whom were vegetarian, Fraser said.
The study was funded by Loma Linda University. Funding to establish the original cohort and its data was provided by the National Cancer Institute and Britain’s World Cancer Research Fund.
That original cohort has been the subject of more than 200 published studies on diet, health, disease, and mortality, Fraser said.
Researchers noted that the study involved comparing vegetarian Adventists to non-vegetarian Adventists, which could indicate the findings would be even more substantial when compared to the general population.
Fraser said previous studies, comparing this population to that from a U.S. census general population, suggest that non-vegetarian Adventists have about a 25% risk reduction of all cancers when compared to the general population and that vegetarian Adventists have about a 35% reduction.
“Many of those non-vegetarian Adventist people in this study were still very health-conscious people, so in some ways, it’s amazing that we found anything at all,” Fraser said.
By Ansel Oliver
PUC’s First Global Health Student Graduates and Leaves Impactful Mark
The global health department at Pacific Union College is proud to share that senior Areli Castro is their program's first graduate. From Napa, California, Castro decided to attend PUC after seeing the value of its close-knit, supportive community. With a love for traveling and for helping others, she enrolled in global health as the perfect opportunity to combine both passions in a meaningful way.
In March, Castro joined PUC students and professors to serve in Pucallpa, Peru, with Maranatha, as she had always wanted to go on a mission trip but never had the opportunity. With the help of Global Health Director Nancy Jacobo, they incorporated a medical component into the trip as part of Castro’s capstone project. For her capstone course and senior project, Castro led the development and coordination of the medical aspects of the mission trip. She successfully organized and led her team, collaborating with AMOR Project, led by Dr. Guillermo Gow-Lee, to fundraise and implement medical outreach programs. Castro also coordinated and planned logistics, securing sponsorships from two medical providers who traveled to Pucallpa.
Under her leadership, a team of students and faculty provided care to over 600 patients in four days, which included conducting physical exams, electrocardiograms, and ultrasounds, as well as prescribing reading glasses. They also offered services throughout the Pucallpa community when news broke that the Ucayali River had flooded homes, forcing hundreds of locals to evacuate and relocate to temporary shelters. Their medical team traveled by bus, boat, and moto-taxis to assist them with their healthcare needs.
"Areli demonstrated exceptional initiative and leadership by applying the knowledge from her coursework to real-world impact,” said Jacobo. “Her thorough research into the region’s healthcare needs— along with her ability to recruit nurse practitioners,
secure additional funding for medicines, and build key partnerships—was instrumental to the success of the trip. It was inspiring to see Areli grow in confidence and emerge as a capable and compassionate leader in the field of global health."
One evening, Castro had the chance to interview Dr. Gow-Lee. They discussed their inspiration for working in the medical field and the care they provided in Pucallpa, prompting Castro to reflect on her journey. “My parents grew up in poverty, and as a first-generation college student, this experience felt like a full-circle moment,” she shared. “It was incredibly humbling to serve populations living under conditions similar to those my parents once faced—without reliable access to clean water, sanitation, or food security.” This interview turned into a meaningful conversation that became a significant moment for Castro, leaving a great impact on her.
As she moves forward with her education and career, Castro says she will forever cherish the experience of the mission trip. “I was truly amazed by the opportunity to travel to Peru,” she said. “The experience deepened my passion for serving in the medical field and strengthened my commitment to advocating for those who often do not have a voice.”
As the first PUC student to enroll in the global health program, Castro was not sure what to expect. Thankfully, the program offers a flexible, hybrid schedule, allowing her to continue working full-time. Studying at PUC has had a profoundly positive impact on her academic, personal, and professional growth.
Being the first graduate in the program gave Castro excitement and a sense of nerve-wracking responsibility. “I’m incredibly grateful for the experience," she said. "I hope this program continues to grow and strengthen in the years to come, giving others the same life-changing opportunities that I’ve been fortunate to have.”
By Ally Romanes
LEFT: A warm smile while waiting: one of many excited faces ready for the program to begin. MIDDLE: Smiles from the Arizona delegation, who are enjoying the experience together. FAR RIGHT: Robin closes the service with a beautiful bilingual song, lifting hearts in both English and Kinyarwanda.
Journey to Glory: How a Group of Rwandese Young Adults Live Their Faith
Ihaven’t seen this kind of fire for Jesus in a long time. In Salt Lake City, from May 30 to June 1, I witnessed something remarkable. A group of Rwandese young adults have created what many churches are still praying for: a spiritual community that’s alive, consistent, and mission driven. They call it Journey to Glory.
This group, made up of young adults ages 18 to 30 from across the United States, started meeting online just a few years ago. Twice a week, they gather on Zoom to study the Bible. At the end of each month, they serve the homeless in their local cities. And once a year, they meet in person to reconnect, meet newcomers, and, most importantly, worship together.
Volunteers jump into a fun Red Flag, Green Flag activity during a sermon on Christian dating.
What impressed me most was their intentionality. They’re not just participants; they’re leaders. They’ve formed a board. They assign roles. They plan and execute their retreats with purpose. No one is a spectator. Some prepare food. Others handle logistics. A few coordinate community outreach. Others book speakers and manage the weekend flow.
It’s simple. They are a church—a movement focused on growing in Christ together while finding ways to make an impact in their community.
One of the young leaders, Robin, flew in from Tennessee. He turned 26 in July, and his passion is impossible to ignore.
“We started this group to grow in Christ together,” he shared. “We don’t want to just talk about faith; we want to live it.”
Robin attended the first retreat just two months
after arriving in the United States. That experience stayed with him. So when the second one came around, he made up his mind to attend, even if it meant risking his job.
“This year, I asked for Friday and Monday off,” he said. “They didn’t approve it. But if my job doesn’t value my spiritual life, that’s a problem. I’m not a money lover. If Jesus left heaven—heaven!—to be nailed to a cross for me, then I can give Him a weekend.”
Robin served as a worship leader throughout the retreat and believes his talents are gifts from God to be used for ministry.
“God wants the best of me. My energy. My voice. My time. My resources,” he said. “There are people who want to dance but don’t have legs. People who want to sing but are on oxygen. I still have all of that, so I use it for Him.”
He doesn’t see worship as performance. For him, it’s a form of prayer and intercession.
“When I sing, I’m preaching. When I dance, I’m praying. I’m thanking God for my salvation, and I’m praying for others to experience it too.”
Journey to Glory is more than a Bible study. It’s a spiritual movement led by young people who aren’t waiting to be given a platform; they’re building one. And they’re doing it with humility, vision, and an unshakable passion for Jesus.
I pray that every church community can be inspired by what I saw that weekend. When young people are given space, responsibility, and the freedom to lead, this is what it can look like.
By Neat Randriamialison
Nevada-Utah Conference Celebrates June Ordinations
Ordination is a sacred ceremony in which a person is officially recognized, affirmed, and set apart for ministry by the church. It is not simply a promotion or reward; it is a public acknowledgment that the individual has been called by God, confirmed by the church, and equipped by the Holy Spirit to serve in spiritual leadership.
Kevin Solomon ordained in Reno
On June 7, the Sparks church hosted Pastor Kevin Solomon’s ordination service.
Solomon’s ministry has been a journey marked by perseverance, humility, and deep spiritual conviction about his calling.
Elder Carlos Camacho, Nevada-Utah Conference (NUC) president, issued the official charge: “Pastor Solomon, this moment is not a destination; it’s a confirmation. You’ve been walking with God. Today, we lay hands not to begin something but to bless what He has already started.”
Kevin, with visible gratitude, thanked those who walked with him through seminary, church leadership, and seasons of personal growth.
“Ministry isn’t something I chose,” he shared. “It’s something that wouldn’t let go of me. And now, I just want to pour myself out for the sake of the gospel.”
Loren Yutuc ordained in Elko One week later, on June 14, a similar spirit filled the sanctuary at the Elko church as Pastor Loren Yutuc was ordained in front of his district churches, family, and conference leaders.
Pastor Ron Torkelsen delivered the ordination message, focusing on Peter’s restoration story in John 21. He urged Pastor Yutuc to remain rooted in personal devotion: “Don’t quit. Don’t compare. Don’t worry. Stay faithful, and feed His sheep.”
In a deeply moving testimony, Pastor Yutuc reflected on God’s timing and the unconventional path that led him into ministry. “I didn’t take the straight line,” he said. “But I took the one God kept lighting up.”
Elder Camacho closed with a reminder: “We are not ordaining a personality; we are confirming a servant. God has called you, and He will sustain you.”
Though Kevin and Loren’s stories are different, their calling is the same: the service of Christ and His people. Their respective ministries reflect the diversity across the Nevada-Utah Conference and the unity of purpose that ties it all together.
By Neat Randriamialison
LEFT: Ordained ministers lay hands on Pastor Kevin Solomon (left) and Pastor Loren Yutuc (right) as NUC President Carlos Camacho leads the prayers of consecration.
Called to Serve:
A Journey of Faith, Family, and Financial Leadership
Some careers are built on opportunity. Others are shaped by calling. For Jaymes Cheney, it has been both. On May 7, the NCC Executive Committee elected Cheney as the next treasurer of the Northern California Conference.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Jaymes grew up in Ridgefield, Washington. His parents modeled lifelong
service to the Seventh-day Adventist Church—his mother, Carla, was a middle school teacher for 34 years at Meadow Glade Elementary School in Battle Ground, and his father, Leon, worked his entire career in plant services at Adventist Health Portland.
Jaymes married Brittany (Collins) Cheney, an attorney. Her parents, John and Rosemary Collins, served in education at Modesto Adventist Academy, Rio Lindo Academy, and Pacific Union College. Today, Brittany’s siblings, William and Hannah, continue the family legacy at Sacramento Adventist Academy.
Northern California holds a special place in Cheney’s heart. His grandparents, Dr. Erwin and Wilda Walla, lived in Napa, where his mother and aunts were raised. He has fond memories of family road trips to visit them, during the summer and for holidays, and of attending his first baseball game in Oakland with his grandfather. These connections influenced his decision to attend Pacific Union College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and met Brittany.
After graduating from PUC, Jaymes joined Adventist Health in Roseville. Over the past 19 years, he has served in various financial leadership roles across Northern California, including at Adventist Health Feather River and St. Helena. He earned his CPA license and completed an MBA at UC Davis in 2015. Most
recently, he helped lead system-wide accounting from the corporate office in Roseville.
Jaymes began sensing God’s call toward church service. That call became clearer as he served on the Sacramento Adventist Academy board and as an elder and deacon at Carmichael church. He prayerfully stepped forward when he learned of John Rasmussen’s retirement from the Northern California Conference.
“When
“This role brings together my passion for leadership, finance, education, and mission,” he said. “Stewardship is not just accounting—it is ministry in action. Churches, schools, and ministries are only as strong as the people who invest in them. Leadership is about trust and stewarding what God has placed in our hands—resources, relationships, and responsibilities.”
everything belongs to God. Tithes, offerings, and talents are sacred. “When resources are managed wisely, God multiplies,” he said. “When we give freely, God blesses us with abundance. And when we lead with integrity, God is honored.”
resources are managed wisely, God multiplies. When we give freely, God blesses us with abundance.”
One of his favorite Bible verses, which took on special meaning for his family, is Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NIV).
As a CPA and financial professional, Jaymes understands that numbers tell a story. Beyond balance sheets are stories of students, families, and church members whose lives are touched by ministry. That excites him—building financial clarity so leaders can focus on their mission. His philosophy is simple:
Cheney is getting started by visiting Northern California Conference churches and schools to listen to their stories and build strong relationships. “Northern California is home,” he said. We have planted roots here, and I look forward to serving alongside our communities as we connect people to an abundant life in Jesus and prepare for His soon return."
By Laurie Trujillo
Ron Yabut, New Associate Ministerial Director
In May, Pastor Ron Yabut became the new associate ministerial director for the Northern California Conference (NCC).
Having ministered in Canada, the Philippines, and the U.S, he brings years of ministry experience, a deep love for people, and a heart for pastoral care.
“When I was asked to make this change, I knew right away that God was leading me to something very important,” Yabut said. “The opportunity humbled me, and I am privileged to serve in this role, supporting our pastors and their families. I am deeply impressed by how people here support one another and unite around the shared purpose of strengthening our churches, schools, and ministries. Being part of this team has only deepened my respect for the work we do together. It is a team that truly functions like a family.”
“Being part of this team has only deepened my respect for the work we do together. It is a team that truly functions like a family.”
One of Ron’s favorite Bible verses is Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (NIV). He is married to Jennevi, his wife of 28 years, and they are blessed with three children: Alden, Ashley, and Aiden.
By Ken Miller
Edmonds uses SECC pastors to represent heartache, pain, and loss—showing the church how God can turn every burden around in a moment.
Hope Again – A Spiritual Reboot
From June 18-21, the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) Black Ministries Department gathered for its annual camp meeting, held under the powerful and timely theme "Hope Again." More than a title, the theme became a spiritual call to action for a community facing personal struggles, ongoing challenges, and societal unrest.
SECC’s Vice President for Black Ministries Andrea King explained the inspiration behind the theme. “‘Hope Again’ was an echo from last year's theme, ‘Breathe Again.’ In part, it was a response to the many things that have been transpiring in our world today,” she said. “We wanted to create sacred space and support for people to do something radical in these restless times—to hope again.” Through prayer, planning, and fasting, the team sought God’s presence, and He met them there. “We learned to get our hopes up and were schooled in hope behavior.”
With 16 churches represented in the conference, the Black Ministries camp meeting brought together a beautifully diverse body of believers. “We have youth and young adults, pastors and lay people, third-generation Adventists and those who joined the church this year,” King noted. “We are unique and also united under the same mission of expanding the kingdom of God.”
One of the featured guest speakers, Dr. Myron Edmonds, brought bold truth and deep compassion to the weekend’s messages. When asked what prevents people from embracing hope, he replied, “Honestly? One of the biggest obstacles is unhealed pain.... We’ve been taught to shout over our suffering rather than bring it to Jesus.” Edmonds emphasized that the church must be a place of “permission to be broken, to question, to grow slow.” His words reminded all attendees that “hope is not hype—it’s a quiet rebellion against despair.”
Edmonds also described the camp meeting as more than a spiritual event—it’s a sacred reunion. “This is where tired pastors remember why they said ‘yes.’ This is where young people see they’re not crazy for still believing.” His prayer is that, weeks later, attendees are still feeling God’s whisper in their hearts, saying, “God met me there… and I haven’t been the same since.” Indeed, “Hope Again” was more than a theme—it was a divine invitation. And the answer from all who attended was a resounding yes.
By Jordyn Wright
King welcomes everyone and prays over the service.
Saturday’s praise team fill the space with joyful worship.
SU.S. Navy Lt. Chaplain Nephtali Ortega Is Ordained to the Gospel Ministry
abbath afternoon, April 26, 2025, was filled with joy, prayer, and words of celebration. United States Navy Lieutenant Chaplain Nephtali Ortega Gauthier was ordained to the gospel ministry at the El Cajon church. Southeastern California Conference’s (SECC) ministerial department conducted an official ordination service along with the North American Division (NAD).
Surrounded by his family and friends, the church gathered in recognition of Ortega’s ordination. Chaplain Ortega is the first Navy chaplain within our conference territory to be ordained during military service under the NAD’s Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM).
Ortega’s introduction into ministry began in 2010 while a student in a military chaplaincy class. “The professor’s words reflected my own life experiences so clearly that I knew God was calling me to serve in a unique way,” Ortega recounted. Stepping into traditional pastoral ministry beginning in 2011, he served as a Bible worker as well as a youth, associate, and district pastor at several churches in Puerto Rico.
However, Ortega sensed God was tugging toward another area of ministry. The idea of military chaplaincy was not just another role—it was a calling within a calling. Through much prayer and confirmation, in 2018, Ortega joined the U.S. Navy as a chaplain candidate before entering active duty as a chaplain in 2022 through ACM.
Serving in uniform has taken Ortega to places he never expected to go, both physically and spiritually. “It’s in those places that God met me, stretched me, and called me deeper into ministry,” he shared.
Ministry has been redefined in Ortega’s context. While serving aboard the USS Comstock (LSD 45) and with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, ministry happened on the mess decks, in engine rooms, and during midwatch conversations while floating on the seas. “In that confined, floating world, I saw how deeply people long for meaning, connection, and hope, and how powerful it is when a chaplain shows up, listens without judgment, and reminds them they’re not alone.” Ortega carries this sentiment everywhere he goes.
Ortega’s journey reflects the powerful ways that God can be experienced outside of the church walls. Equally, he has been shaped and transformed through the church community and comrades he serves. Ortega’s remarks during his ordination service, based on Isaiah 6:8, summarize his journey well, “May everything I do in ministry be for His glory, by His grace. Here I am, O Lord, send me.”
Congratulations to Chaplain Ortega on his ordination!
By Taji Saleem
TOP: Prayer of ordination over Ortega and his family. ABOVE: Ortega’s family poses for a photo during his ordination service.
Ortega and his students in Puerto Rico.
Valley Crossroads Church Breaks Ground for New Community Center
O“ver 65 years ago, a small but mighty group of believers took a bold step of faith after being displaced by eminent domain near Foothill and Paxton,” Valley Crossroads Pastor Roscoe Shields Jr. explained. “We purchased the land you’re standing on today—a three-acre parcel—through sacrifice, fundraising, and God-given vision. The original design called for three distinct phases: a sanctuary, a fellowship hall, and, finally, a community gymnasium and wellness center. The sanctuary was completed in the early 1970s. Then in 1988, the slab for the Fellowship Hall was resurrected into a full building.”
This final phase—a community center to serve the San Fernando Valley and beyond—has been in the making for more than 50 years. In fact, initial drawings for the Center were even found from 1968.
At the groundbreaking service this summer, faith leaders from the community and partners in the building project joined church and conference leaders to speak on the impact of the project. Southern California Conference (SCC) leadership expressed support for the project. “Your commitment to Pacoima and the greater San Fernando Valley reflects the heart
If you are interested in giving to this project, you may do so by visiting the link below and clicking on the “Donate Now” button.
• Eight classrooms for tutoring, life skills, and Bible studies
• Two offices for onsite counseling and community coordination
• An industrial kitchen for the feeding program and culinary training
• Showers and laundry rooms for the unhoused
• A full indoor basketball court for youth, recreation, fitness, and fellowship
Existing churchbird’s-eye view
of Christ’s mission—to care for the least, the lost, and the lonely,” John H. Cress, SCC president, shared. “This Community Center will be a safe haven for youth, a support for families, a resource for seniors, and a beacon of hope for all.”
Sali Butler, member of Valley Crossroads church and the building committee, shared about the current ministries of the church, including food and clothing distribution for which people gather each Sabbath, the line wrapping around the church building. “We’re bursting out at the seams,” she shared. “But this building is just going to allow us to do so much more.”
PHOTO: BARRY DALY
Recreation center and bathrooms - Glenoaks view
Participants share testimonies of their experience with the program. From left to right: Delphyne,
YOU-TURN Wellness Program Graduates Celebrate Health Transformations
The Better Living Center, a health ministry of Haven company, was created by Terence Tay, who envisioned a place for the community to learn and make lifestyle changes by adapting Hans Diehl’s research and principles in lifestyle medicine. The YOU-TURN Wellness Program is a community-based program designed to arrest and reverse society’s most common chronic diseases. This spring, 38 graduates, including Haven company Pastor Edbert Carceler, were recognized for their completion of the YOU-TURN program. At the graduation ceremony, three graduates shared their testimonies:
Delphyne’s story
Delphyne was invited to join this program by a friend she’d met at a nutrition class more than 10 years ago. She was determined to lower her high cholesterol. “I’ve always taken classes and been curious, but this was the most comprehensive class I’ve ever taken,” she said. “The teachers were friendly; everyone has been loving and supportive. I look forward to my journey.”
Pamela’s story
Last fall was a difficult time in Pamela’s life. Soon after retiring, her mother passed away. When Pamela was hospitalized from the stress, she prayed, “How do I help myself, Lord? How do I make myself a priority?” As she waited, she got a call from a friend who told her about the program. “I knew in my heart it was worth me stepping out in faith to see for myself,” Pamela recalled. That first day, she knew she was in the right place. Since she began the program, her cholesterol has lowered, her strength has returned, she sleeps soundly through the night, and she’s found joy in cooking healthy, beautiful, and colorful foods.
Violet’s story
Violet, who has had issues with her heart, joined the program to help get her blood pressure under control. She has maintained a vegan diet since 2016, but she wasn’t making healthy choices. The program helped her to lower her sugar and salt intake. “I believe this is a change I will keep forever,” she said.
Schubert Palmer, M.D., FACC, FSCAI cardiology section chief and cardiac rehab director, Adventist Health White Memorial, was a featured lecturer of the program and keynote speaker of the graduation ceremony. His message was about how lifestyle changes are a marathon, not a sprint, and he encouraged attendees to run their race. “Don’t run mine; don’t run your neighbor’s,” Palmer said. “Just run your race.”
To learn more about the YOUTURN Wellness Program, visit https:// thebetterlivingcentertoday.weebly.com.
By Araya Moss
Pamela, and Violet.
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These are the advertising deadlines for the Recorder Your local conference news deadlines will be earlier. September: August 4 • October: September 3
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Calendar
La Sierra University
Start of School Year. La Sierra University’s 2025-2026 school year begins with classes on Sept. 22. For access to university and academic year calendars, visit https:// lasierra.edu/calendars-events/.
Freshman Orientation. La Sierra University freshman IGNITE orientation activities take place Sept. 16-18. For registration and information, please visit https:// lasierra.edu/ignite/.
The La Sierra Report. To keep in the know about La Sierra University events, people, programs, and impact, subscribe today to The La Sierra Report newsletter. Send a subscription request with preferred email address to pr@lasierra.edu.
Pacific Union College
Publication Workshop, Sept. 7-9. The Visual Arts, Communication, and English departments at Pacific Union College are sponsoring a Publication Workshop. This event offers practical, hands-on training and valuable tips for kickstarting your school's yearbook, newspaper, or video yearbook. For more information and to register, visit pubworkshop.puc.edu.
Fall Quarter Begins, Sept. 22. PUC is excited to kick off the 2025-2026 school year with new and returning students!
Volleyball Tournament, Oct. 2-4. PUC will host the women’s volleyball teams of several academies to enjoy games starting on Thursday through the championship on Saturday night. Academy students will also get the chance to meet players from other schools and get a glimpse of the PUC experience.
Connect Ministries is a group of Pacific Union College students passionate about Jesus and sharing through music and worship. The bilingual team leads worship services, retreats, youth events, and any programs where they can inspire other young people to become worship leaders. Any school or church interested in having them visit, please email connectministries@puc.edu.
Add PUC News in Your Church Bulletin. With many updates to share at Pacific Union College, we designed a printable bulletin insert for churches to use. Just print the PDF double sided and cut in half, then include as a bulletin insert. Download at puc.edu/bulletin.
Subscribe to the PUC Now Newsletter. Stay up to date with Pacific Union College by subscribing to their monthly newsletter at puc.edu/subscribe. From campus stories and alumni features to student interviews, you’ll be in the now with PUC.
Southern California Conference
Smyrna 45th Anniversary and Concert, Sept. 13. All day, ending with a concert at 6:30 p.m. featuring Anthony Bailey and Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Theme: “Celebrating 45 Years of Love & Faith, Awaiting Jesus’ Return.” Must RSVP for lunch. Call 323-732-4464 or email hello@smyrnala@gmail.com by Sept. 1. Smyrna church, 4394 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles 90016.
EQUIP25, Sept. 6, 3 p.m. This year SCC is introducing a new conference-wide training created to inspire, encourage, and equip pastors and leaders. This free training event will include 15 seminars on important aspects of church ministry, such as training for elders and deacons, Bible study and community engagement, hospitality and greeting, small groups and prayer, sermon preparation, and so much more. Dinner will be provided to all who attend. Vallejo Drive church, 300 Vallejo Dr., Glendale 91206.
Classified Employment
Holbrook Indian School is currently in need of a Development Director, a Maintenance Director, a Maintenance Associate I and Maintenance Associate II, and Associate Boy’s Dean. These are paid positions. If you or someone you know are mission-minded and would like to serve American Indian children, please see or share our jobs page at HolbrookIndianSchool.org/jobs.
The Miranda Seventh-day Adventist Church is looking for a missionary-minded couple to care for its church. The couple will rent the church trailer home and be responsible for maintaining the church grounds. For more information, please call Mike Michelli at 707-2965518.
Wanted: Live-in housekeeper, some cooking, errands, dog care for senior widow in gorgeous estate in Henderson, NV. Private quarters, great lifestyle, guard gated community in Lake Las Vegas. Flex hours, days, must have a car. Send info to curtismyrna@verizon.net or call Myrna at 310-613-9549.
Manage estate home in Henderson, NV, part time. Perfect for semi-retired person to help with housekeeping, some cooking, dog care, and errands for widow who travels. Flex hours, gorgeous new Casita home with garage. Fantastic upscale living in guard gated community. Must have car. Call Myrna at 310-613-9549.
Adventist World Radio is seeking to hire someone to visit donors full time. Must be committed SDA, superior work ethic, available to travel 7 to 10 nights per month
throughout the West Coast. AWR is the most exciting Adventist ministry today!
Live-in caregiver available for a senior person. Highly skilled. 26 yrs experience. I "spoil" each client to make their lifestyle easy, comfortable, and worry-free. Lower cost than any facility. References. FBI background check. Open to relocating. Feel free to call: Candace 509-3863198.
Pacific Union College seeks Dean for School of Nursing and Emergency Management. Excellent skills required in administration, leadership and support to faculty, staff, and students, program management/ development, and effective communication/ collaboration with all stakeholders. https://sdawest.pub/ puc_newpost.
Pacific Union College seeks dedicated Executive Director to lead Human Resources operations and strategy and oversee well-being and development of talented team members. Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills are essential. https://sdawest.pub/job_posting. Email hr@puc.edu, 707-965-6231.
Pacific Union College seeks qualified candidates to fill open positions in fulfilling our mission to Learn with Purpose, Rise in Faith, and Serve in Love. Beautiful mountain campus, minutes to shopping, an hour+ drive of ocean and skiing. Current openings at https:// sdawest.pub/candidates.
Camp Cedar Falls is hiring! Live and work in God’s beautiful nature. Positions available include: Camp Ranger/Custodial and Camp Ranger/Maintenance. Opportunities available to singles, couples, and families. To learn more or apply, visit https://sdawest.pub/ openings. For questions, call Camp Cedar Falls at 909805-4104.
Real Estate
PUC Commercial Space for Rent. Pacific Union College has commercial real estate space available for lease. The spaces are in various sizes and functionality and are available for inquiries. For additional information, please email Sam Heier at sheier@puc.edu.
Cottage for Rent. Are you looking for serenity and peace? Then this rental is the perfect place for you. A small and private cottage, complete with picket fences and gardens. 1 bedroom, 1.5 bathrooms, skylights, and unique shower. Located in foothills by Collins Lake, CA. Contact John at Mountains. skyz@gmail.com.
Summit Ridge Retirement Villages, an Adventist community in a rural setting, offers affordable homes or apartments and caring neighbors, with fellowship you will enjoy. Onsite church, planned activities, and transportation as needed. Onsite Wolfe Living Center offers independent living and nursing homes. Visit SummitRidgeVillage.org or call Bill Norman 405-2081289.
Choice mountain land in the Cherokee Nat’l Forest in East Tennessee. Six tracts ranging from 2+ acres to 7+ acres; gated community off a county-maintained road. Large creek. Underground power. 50 miles from SAU. Wonderful Christian neighbors.15 minutes from the Hiwassee River basin. Country living at its best. Call, text, email for more info and photos: 706-766-1825 or drdickmiller@gmail.com.
Country living with contemporary luxury in this newly remodeled 3-bed 2-bath 2700 sf home with open floor plan bathed in natural light with gourmet kitchen, SS appliances, granite countertops, LVP flooring. A master suite with a large bathroom and shower with a huge walk-in closet. Also a large game room/office, all on a single level. House on 1.6 acres backed by a pond and stream; more acreage available. Any questions or pictures, contact me at ptnbear@gmail.com.
garden area with small greenhouse, irrigation system, landscaping, 3-car garage, gym, and large 18x30 shop with RV hookups. Call, text 909-735-2745.
A rare mountain jewel, out of valley winter fog, in West Point, CA. 21.67 acres in High Sierras, just off Hwy 88, on way to Silver Lake and Lake Tahoe. 4500’ elevation, “mountain top” home site, southern exposure, plenty of water, horse corral, miles of forest trails with cedar, pine, fir, oak. 5th wheel and camping trailer onsite and campfire circle. $137,500. Call 209-745-2302. Owner/ seller. Please no Saturday calls.
Near Pacific Union College, in Pope Valley, CA. Beautiful 3-story, 4 BDRM, 3 full bath home for sale. Downstairs could be apartment. Peaceful, secluded, sits above creek. Own water access. Dock possible. Kayak, swim, picnic, hike. No neighbors either side, rolling hills across. $525,000. See listing: www.listing4. com/1060deputydrive. Kris Chun, Brokerage License 01870237; phone: 707-853-5747.
For Sale
Outpatient Physical Therapy and Aquatic Therapy in the foothills above Sacramento, CA. Turn-key practice, in business for over 30 years. Great referral base and solid practice. Lots of potential for growth. Great opportunity for someone wanting to establish a medical mission outpost or wellness center as well. 5400-sq-ft facility. $450,000. Flexible options to the right party. Contact levi2000@sbcglobal.net or leave message at 209-3047455.
Country Living in Northern California: 3-bedroom, 2-bath, newly renovated home for sale on one acre, quiet street 15 minutes from Redding, mature fruit trees, grapevines, 50x80 fenced
Well-established medical practice for sale in beautiful East Tennessee, one hour from Southern Adventist University. Low capital investment, 4000-sq-ft office building with 8 exam rooms, excellent support staff, completely furnished, 10 years of patients in electronic medical records. Transition assistance available. Please contact William H. Taylor II, CPA, MBA at whtayloriitn@ gmail.com indicating level of interest.
Vacation Opportunities
Biblical study tour of Greece. Footsteps of Apostles Paul and John in Greece. Sept. 3-15, 2025. A biblical journey through Philippi, Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Vergina, Meteora, and Delphi. Enjoy a cruise to Patmos, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, and Ephesus. Experience the Greek culture and food. Info: www.biblicaltouring.com, George Dialectakis, 860-4022247.
Biblical study tour of Turkey. Discover the Seven Churches of Revelation in Turkey. Sept. 14-21, 2025. Start at Istanbul, old Constantinople, and visit St. Sophia. Travel to the historic cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Pamukkale, Laodicea, and Kusadasi. Info: www.biblicaltouring.com, George Dialectakis, 860-402-2247.
Travel on a faith-based biblical tour to Malta and Sicily (Sept. 2025), Egypt (Dec. 2025), or Israel (March 2026) with Dr. Carl Cosaert, Dean of the School of Theology at Walla Walla University. To learn more, visit www.adventtours.org or email info@adventtours.org.
Bulletin Board
Prayer Needs: Facing a challenge? Have a concern? At LifeTalk Radio we believe in prayer and want to pray for you. Whatever your problem, God is bigger. Share your prayer needs at: LifeTalk.net/prayer. Live with hope! Listen at LifeTalk.net.
Canvasback Missions: Help the Lord’s ministry of healing in Micronesia by donating your car, boat, bike, RV, or truck. All proceeds help provide free medical services to the island peoples of Micronesia. Canvasback Missions, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, has been serving since 1986. For more info: www.canvasback.org or 707-746-7828.
Shop for new/used Adventist books: TEACH Services offers used Adventist books at www.LNFBOOKS. com or new book releases at your local ABC or www. TEACHServices.com. Authors, let us help publish your
August 2025 Sunset Calendar
City/Location AUG 1 AUG 8 AUG 15 AUG 22 AUG 29
Alturas (Shasta) 8:25 8:16 8:07 7:56 7:45
Angwin 8:19 8:12 8:03 7:53 7:43
Bakersfield 7:59 7:52 7:44 7:35 7:26
Calexico 7:39 7:33 7:26 7:18 7:09
Chico 8:19 8:11 8:02 7:53 7:42
Death Valley (Furnace Ck) 7:52 7:45 7:37 7:28 7:19
Eureka 8:31 8:23 8:14 8:03 7:53
Four Corners [E] 8:22 8:15 8:07 7:58 7:48
Fresno 8:05 7:57 7:49 7:40 7:31
Grand Canyon (South Rim) 7:33 7:26 7:18 7:09 6:59
Half Dome 8:06 7:58 7:50 7:41 7:31
Hilo 6:56 6:52 6:48 6:43 6:37
Holbrook (Sun City) 7:28 7:22 7:14 7:06 6:57
Honolulu 7:10 7:05 7:01 6:55 6:49
Joshua Tree 7:45 7:39 7:31 7:23 7:14
Lake Tahoe 8:10 8:02 7:54 7:44 7:34
Las Vegas 7:45 7:38 7:30 7:21 7:11
Lodi-Stockton 8:14 8:06 7:57 7:48 7:38
Loma Linda 7:49 7:42 7:35 7:27 7:18
Los Angeles 7:53 7:46 7:39 7:31 7:22
McDermitt [N] 8:08 8:00 7:50 7:39 7:28
Moab 8:28 8:20 8:11 8:02 7:52
Monterey Bay 8:13 8:06 7:57 7:48 7:39
Mt. Whitney 7:47 7:40 7:33 7:25 7:16
Napa 8:18 8:10 8:02 7:52 7:42
Nogales 7:19 7:13 7:06 6:58 6:50
Oakland 8:17 8:09 8:01 7:52 7:42
Paradise, CA 8:19 8:11 8:02 7:52 7:41
Phoenix 7:27 7:21 7:13 7:05 6:56
Pu‘uwaiau, Ni’ihau [W] 6:59 6:56 6:51 6:46 6:40
Reno 8:11 8:03 7:54 7:44 7:34
Riverside 7:49 7:43 7:35 7:27 7:18
Sacramento 8:15 8:08 7:59 7:50 7:39
Salt Lake City 8:42 8:34 8:24 8:14 8:03
San Diego 7:46 7:40 7:33 7:25 7:16
San Francisco 8:17 8:10 8:01 7:52 7:42
San Jose 8:14 8:07 7:59 7:49 7:40
Santa Rosa 8:20 8:12 8:04 7:54 7:44
Sunset Beach 8:13 8:06 7:58 7:49 7:39
Thousand Oaks 7:59 7:49 7:41 7:33 7:24
Tucson 7:20 7:14 7:07 6:59 6:51
[N]=Northernmost [S]=Southernmost [E]=Easternmost [W]=Westernmost point in the Pacific Union
“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9
book with editing, design, marketing, and worldwide distribution. Call 706-504-9192 for a free evaluation.
At Rest
Adams, Betty J. (Landstrom) – b. Dec. 11, 1930, San Francisco, CA; d. June 22, 2025, Rockport, ME. Survivors: children, Fred Adams, Linda Adams, Lanita Medina; stepdaughters, Gloria Weldy, June Mitchell, Janet Taylor; nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren. Betty taught first and second grades at Camino-Placerville Junior Academy. Her love for teaching also led her to Colegio Linda Vista in Chiapas, Mexico, where she taught English. She enjoyed participating in many mission trips, serving as a translator.
Anderson, Audrey – b. Aug. 28, 1939; d. April 17, 2025. Survivors: husband, Bruce; children Steven, Elizabeth, John; five grandchildren; brother, Hans. Audrey was an honors graduate of PUC's first nursing class in 1960.
Bloomquist, Lila Mae – b. Oct. 4, 1925; d. July 3, 2024. Survivors: daughter, Carol Diane Bloomquist; sister, Carol Marie Skadsheim; three grandchildren; three great-grandchildren. Lila was the eldest daughter of Pastor Melvin Skadsheim, who was an evangelist with the Scandinavian Union Conference.
Farley, Donald – b. Dec. 30, 1942, Gardiner, ME; d. June 23, 2025, Redlands, CA. Survivors: wife, Beverly Farley; children, Michelle Ballou, John Farley, James Farley; five grandchildren.
Hickerson, Bryce Robb – b. Feb. 8, 1926; d. Feb. 4, 2025. Survivors: daughters, Kathy Miller, Ruthie Gage, Shelli Baze; daughter-in-law, Kathryn Rose; cousin, Carol Miller; 12 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; one great-greatgrandchild. Bryce was a World War II veteran. He taught for over 30 years in Adventist schools in the Northern California Conference, mostly at Sacramento Adventist Academy. In his retirement he worked part time at the Carmichael church until he was 93 years old.
Isene, Anita Jean – b. March 17, 1936, New Westminster, BC, Canada; d. May 21, 2025, Lodi, CA. Survivors: the wives of her cousins and their families. Anita attended Canadian Union College in pre-nursing and finished nursing at Walla Walla College in 1960 with a BS degree. She then began employment at Portland San, followed by clinic nursing and teaching CNA classes.
Johnson, Gerald (“Jerry”) Patrick Sr. – b. Dec. 7, 1937, St. Vincent, MN; d. March 25, 2025, Palo Alto, CA. Survivors: wife, Joy Steinecke; son, Gerald Johnson Jr. ("Skeeter"); daughter, Julie Long; two grandchildren. Jerry served as the head deacon for many years at the Grand Avenue Church in Oakland, CA.
Messer, George C. – b. May 19, 1933, Wisconsin Rapids, WI; d. June 19, 2025; Fair Oaks, CA. Survivors: wife, Dottie; daughter, Cindy; son, Gary; stepsons, Leonard, Gregory, Bradley; stepdaughter, Heidi Benson; eight grandchildren. George worked 30 years for the U.S. Postal Service before accepting God's call to pastor in the Michigan Conference for 10 years.
Purdey, Charles – b. July 28, 1935, Portland, OR; d. June 13, 2025, Loma Linda, CA. Survivors: wife, Julia Purdey; children, Randy Purdey, Charles Purdey, Corie Purdey, Christy Seals, Lara Martin, Stephanie Valenzuela; 10 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren. Charles was an ordained minister. In his early years, he traveled as an evangelistic singer and minister. The past decade, he was a dedicated elder at Loma Linda University church.
Rincon, Vera – b. Nov. 8, 1927, Los Angeles, CA; d. April 1, 2025, Riverside, CA. Survivors: children, Frank Rincon, Dina Stevens; three grandchildren; six greatgrandchildren; seven greatgreat-grandchildren.
Rodriguez, Manuel – b. Oct. 24, 1946, Bogota, CO; d. April 22, 2025, Grand Terrace, CA. Survivors: wife, Olga Mejia; daughters, Sasha Rodriguez, Sandra Rodriguez-Fortner; one grandchild.
Sanders, Leon Floyd – b. March 5, 1937, Terre Haute, IN; d. June 11, 2025, Denver, CO. Survivors: daughters, Cheryl LeAnn Beauchamp, Teresa Lynn Hochstedler; five grandchildren. Elder Sanders worked in ArkansasLouisiana Conference, White Memorial Hospital, Wyoming Conference, Adventist Health System/West, and as treasurer at Pacific Union Conference.
Smith, Duane L. – b. April 11, 1932, Utah; d. May 16, 2025, Clarkston, WA. Survivors: sons, Scott, Daniel; daughter, Shirley Peach; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He worked as a barber in Loma Linda for many years.
Springer, William Eugene – b. Oct. 10, 1944, Dallas, TX;
d. Jan. 6, 2025, Roseville, CA. Survivors: wife, Judy MohrSpringer; sons, Michael, Jonathan; five grandchildren; two stepchildren, Adelle Lohse, Dale Smith; two stepgrandchildren; two stepchildren, Greg and Sheree Pritchett; six step-grandchildren.
Stokos, Mary – b. March 30, 1931, Poplar Bluff, MO; d. June 9, 2025, Camdenton, MO. Survivors: daughters, Teresa Jacobsen, Julie Daniels; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren.
Vonhof, Vivian – b. Feb. 21, 1932, Rapelje MT; d. May 31, 2025, Portland. Survivors: children, Jill Austin-Dubrovay, Jana Austin-Jacobson, Greg Austin; four grandchildren. She had a long career as an Adventist educator in Ojai and Buena Vista schools.
The Last Word
By Alberto Valenzuela
A New Commandment: The Call to Love Like Jesus
From the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18), the Psalms (Psalm 41:1-2), and the Prophets (Jeremiah 29:4-7), God has always commanded His people to love and to show mercy. But then, in the New Testament we find Jesus telling His disciples: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34, NKJV). So why does Jesus call this commandment new? What makes His words different from what came before? The answer lies in the phrase “as I have loved you.”
In those few words, Jesus lifted love to heights it had never reached. No longer is love merely an obligation or a duty. No longer is it a principle written on stone tablets alone. In Christ, love became flesh and blood. It walked among us. It healed the sick, touched lepers, wept at gravesides, forgave sinners, and washed dirty feet. This is the newness: Jesus Himself is the measure and model of love.
We are called to love like Jesus. But what does that look like? The life of our Savior gives us four dimensions of this love—physical, mental, social, and spiritual—and in each dimension, He set a perfect example.
The people of Israel offered lambs without blemish. These spotless sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God. His body bore no defect. He honored the laws of health His Father had established. Ellen White writes: “His physical structure was not marred by any defect; His body was strong and healthy. And throughout His lifetime He lived in conformity to nature’s laws” (The Desire of Ages, p. 50).
The love of Jesus calls us to honor God with our bodies. Caring for our health is not vanity—it is stewardship. When we eat nourishing food, exercise, and rest as God intended, we are more fit to serve others in love. How can we minister to the sick if we ourselves are always sick from neglect?
"The Friend of the Lowly,” by French artist, Leon Augustin L'hermitte, 1896.
How can we help the weary if we have exhausted our strength through disregard of God’s ways?
Jesus showed that even the way we treat our bodies is part of the love that reflects Him.
Jesus never attended a rabbinical school. Yet He was the wisest Teacher the world has ever known. In the turmoil of His environment—poverty, suspicion, and rejection—He could have developed deep emotional wounds. But He did not. How? Through daily communion with His Father. Time and again, He slipped away to pray. He searched the Scriptures. He fortified His mind with truth.
Our world bombards us with confusion and fear. Mental health challenges are real. But Christ shows us that a mind anchored in God’s Word and in prayer can stand firm. The love of Jesus is a love that transforms our thinking, that heals memories, that sets us free from anxiety and resentment. If you struggle with doubt, depression, or anger, remember that Jesus is not only your Savior—He is your example. Let His peace guard your heart and mind.
Jesus was as comfortable in the home of a wealthy Pharisee as He was on the dusty road with beggars and children. He broke down barriers between rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, righteous and sinner. Why? Because He genuinely cared for every soul. When He rebuked the Pharisees, there were tears in His voice. When He welcomed the tax collectors, there was compassion in His eyes.
How often do we choose only the company that benefits us? How often do we ignore the lonely, the awkward, or the inconvenient? The love of Jesus goes further. It forgets self. It reaches out in kindness. It listens without judgment. It serves without expecting reward.
If you want to love as Jesus loved, ask Him to give you a heart that is open to all. A heart that sees each person as a child of God, worthy of dignity and grace.
All these qualities—physical strength, mental stability, social grace—flowed from one source: Jesus’ unbroken connection with His Father. His every word and deed were directed by the Holy Spirit.
Even when He hung on the cross and felt the horror of separation—“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46, NKJV)—He clung to trust. He endured what it means to be cut off so that you and I would never have to be. His perfect life is not merely an example to admire—it is the very righteousness that covers our failures. His spotless record becomes ours by faith.
This is the gospel: that Jesus came not only to save us from sin’s penalty but to show us how to live in the power of His Spirit. This call to love may feel overwhelming and cause you to think, How can I possibly love like Jesus? The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. Christ has promised us the help of His Spirit: “Christ has given his Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress his own character upon the church” (Ellen G. White, “The Promise of the Spirit,” Review and Herald, May 19, 1904).
That’s what makes it a new commandment—not only because Jesus showed us perfect love, but because He offers us the power to live it out. We are not asked to love in our own strength—and many times it’s certainly difficult to show love toward some of our neighbors (or family members!). The Holy Spirit stands ready to shape us into the likeness of Christ, day by day.
The invitation of the gospel is to love God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul; to love your neighbor—not with shallow courtesy, but with selfforgetting compassion; to care for your body as God’s temple; to train your mind in His truth; to reach out to those you would rather avoid; to surrender your spirit daily to the Father’s will.
And when you fail—and you will—run to the cross. See there the One who fulfilled this new commandment perfectly, who bore your failures, and who rose again to offer you His life.
Alberto Valenzuela is the associate director of communication and community engagement for the Pacific Union Conference and editor of the Recorder.
