The Seventh-day Adventist Church is mobilizing to assist earthquake victims in Haiti. ADRA International (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) is fully engaged in disaster response. ADRA officials in North and Central America have set a goal of raising $500,000 in relief funds within seven days. Roscoe J. Howard III, Adventist Church president in the Mid-America region, has proclaimed Saturday, January 16, to be a day of prayer in local Adventist churches on behalf of earthquake victims. Beyond devoting time for intercession, many congregations will take up a special collection for Haitian disaster relief.
Donations specifically to ADRA's efforts in Haiti can be made immediately online, accessible
here. News of Seventh-day Adventist initiatives in Haiti is available on the official website of the world church, available
here.
Haiti has more than 335,000 Seventh-day Adventists worshiping in 470 churches. In addition to a hospital and university, the church operates dozens of schools there. Adventists also have an orphanage, which sustained no damage. The 50 children and their caretakers are safe.
Many Haitian Adventists have relatives in the United States. Efforts are being made to connect with those who live in the Mid-America Union. There is an Adventist company of Haitian immigrants that meets in Aurora, Colorado. The current issue of Outlook, the regional Adventist magazine features the story of Haitian immigrant Wissel Joseph of Columbia, Missouri. He reports: "My wife and I have immediate family members over there. We haven't heard from anybody yet, and it is really hard."
Gaylord Hanson, Mid-America director of Adventist Community Services Disaster Response, reports that the U. S. State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1.888.407.4747.
Pastor Jeff Wines has accepted the call from the Minnesota
Conference to serve as the Youth Director/Communication Director; he is currently serving as senior pastor for the Columbia Seventh-day Adventist church in Columbia Missouri.
Jeff started pastoral ministry in the Minnesota Conference in 1997 as the youth pastor for the Minnetonka Church. In August 1999 Jeff married Cathy who at the time was a social worker and studying massage therapy. In 2000, the Wines moved to Berrien Springs Michigan where Jeff pursued a master degree at the Andrews University Theological Seminary. After completing his MA in Youth Ministry, Jeff worked for three years as assistant professor in the School of Technology.
During their time at Andrews Jeff and Cathy were blessed with the birth of their first son, Zakary. In 2005 Jeff received a call back into pastoral youth ministry and moved to Columbia, Missouri, in the summer of 2005. It was during their first year in Columbia that they were blessed with the birth of their second son Elijah. Over the last year the Columbia SDA church and IA/MO Conference asked Jeff to serve in Columbia as the senior pastor.
The six and a half years of pastoral ministry and 3 years of teaching have only deepened Jeff and Cathy’s love for young people. “More than anything I want to see the church grow with young people leading the way,” Jeff said. “The Seventh-day Adventist church is called to spread the love of God to a dying planet just before Jesus comes and young people are to be on the cutting edge of this call. I look forward to being back in Minnesota reaching our youth for Christ by connecting, worshiping, playing, and talking to young people.”
We are delighted to welcome Jeff, Cathy, Zakary, and Elijah to the Minnesota Conference and pray for great blessings and success in their ministry.
President's Day
Office Closed
BOE & MWA Annual Board
Spring Break MWA
