Arizona Conference
The Cottonwood and Sedona churches joined with the Grupo Hispano de Sedona for the first-ever district campout at Clear Creek, Arizona. The highlight of the weekend took place on Sabbath afternoon when everyone went to the creek to witness four people—Asher, Lorrie, Sara, and Cody—dedicate their lives to Christ through baptism.
When the church members arrived at the creek, there was already a group of people swimming. When the swimmers saw what was about to take place, they quickly moved aside. Each subsequent baptism was applauded by both church members and observers.
Central California Conference
Teachers and principals from Central California Conference’s (CCC) 19 schools attended an educators’ in-service on Aug. 9 to learn how to build a spiritual climate within the conference schools. This educators’ in-service takes place once a year, at the beginning of the school year, to prepare the conference’s educators and help create a supportive
environment for the upcoming school year.
This year’s theme, Building a Spiritual School Climate, came from Acts 2:21: “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (NIV).
Nevada-Utah Conference
The Nevada-Utah Conference held its 35th Constituency Session on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The meeting began with worship, singing, and prayer seeking God’s guidance in all matters.
“The 35th Constituency Session began on a high note as we worshiped through song and as Dr. Leon B. Brown Sr., Pacific Union executive vice president, brought us to the throne of God with a very powerful devotional message,” concluded Carlos Camacho, president. “Three and a half hours later, the meeting ended, again in prayer and praise. The presence of God was felt throughout the morning.”
Northern California Conference
What started as an idea to feed young adults and engage the local community with a healthy eating message, blossomed into an event that connected people to an abundant life with Jesus Christ.
According to Dan Garza, district pastor of the Woodland and Vacaville churches, "The original plan was to invite several veggie and vegan food trucks to the NCC headquarters in Roseville and feed about 300 young Adventist adults as well as some additional community members." However, God had bigger plans
Southeastern California Conference
Attending a typical conference usually means leaving the phones on silent, but the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) welcomed phones, tablets, and laptops with open arms at their first EXCEL Media Conference on August 28.
Over 60 pastors and church media team members from across SECC gathered to learn how to take their media to the next level and connect with other media teams. SECC Director of Communication & Media Andrea King kicked off the event with an opening thought and fun icebreakers to hype up the crowd and start the mingling, which would be much needed to prepare for the social media challenge to occur later.
Southern California Conference
This summer, 80 students graduated from the Southern California Conference (SCC) Hispanic Region’s annual lay ministry training. Each year’s training emphasizes a specific area of ministry for lay members. This year’s preaching training was certified through Andrews University, which “provides training to advance the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church through Hispanic ministries in North America.”
The motivation was simple: “We want to win more people for Christ,” said Ezequiel Gonzalez, Hollywood Spanish pastor and leader of the lay ministry training for the SCC Hispanic Region. “The church is growing, and we want to prepare more lay people for preaching and sharing the gospel.”
