January 2023 begins with our 263rd episode of All God’s People, the video blog launched in May 2017 as an experiment in weekly, short, newsy, inspirational videos. Now in our seventh season, we will be highlighting some memorable stories from the videos in this column of the Recorder.
In December, we posted AGP 640:
On Thursday, November 17, the Executive Committee of the Pacific Union Conference convened in Westlake Village, Calif., for the fourth quarterly meeting of 2022.
As the official representatives of the nearly 220,000 Adventists in the seven conferences of the Pacific Union, the committee members heard reports and acted on the business of the church in our region.
Dr. G. Alexander Bryant, president of the North American Division, brought greetings and a report from the division. “The Pacific Union has always been an innovator and a creative leader in the North American Division,” he said.
As president of the Pacific Union Conference, Elder Bradford Newton leads this committee, and he is deeply focused on both the day-to-day work and the development of long-term strategies that will impact our future. His president’s report was full of inspirational stories and a call to prayer. Several times during the day-long meeting, members stopped and prayed—in groups of two or three, silently, and as a group.
You can watch the entire episode of All God’s People at vimeo.com/777225160
Another story from AGP 640 was an interview about Adventist education:
Aimee Saesim Leukert has been an educator at the elementary, high school, and university levels for almost 20 years. She is currently the associate director for the Center for Research on Adventist Education and an assistant professor at La Sierra University in the Curriculum & Instruction department.
Aimee has a passion for Adventist education and is collecting stories for a brand-new book. We had the opportunity to sit down with Aimee a few weeks ago and ask her how she got started on this project.
Aimee Leukert: This project has been simmering in the back of my head now for ages. I am a product of K-16 Adventist education. I went to Simi Valley Adventist School, Newbury Park Adventist Academy here in Southern California, and then La Sierra University, and since then I taught in the elementary and academy settings. I have a number of former classmates, colleagues, and students who have gone on to do amazing things in their lives, and those of us who have been working in the church system for years now, we all have the same stories. We know of people who have done amazing things who are contributing and, rather than just having these as anecdotes, I wanted to collect these stories and turn them into a book.
I have interviewed a number of individuals now, and I have been so inspired by their stories. I've interviewed an epidemiologist, a realtor, an architect, an F-16 fighter pilot. So many in so many disparate, various, diverse fields, and they're so enthusiastic—not only about what they do but about how Adventist education has led them to this point in their lives, to this career, and also how Adventist education continues to influence the decisions that they make in their job, the way they treat people, the way in which they view the world. It's been so inspiring to hear their stories and to see where they are now from where they were back in their K-12 years.
To watch Aimee’s inspiring interview, go to vimeo.com/777225160
If you have an Adventist education story to share, go to adventistedstories.com
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