Coronavirus Pandemic

Editorial by Donovan Ross

When I was in the classroom, one of my favorite verses for morning devotion was Proverbs 3:6–7: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths” (NJKV). These verses reminded us that when we trust in God, we will be blessed by His direction. I’m still comforted by that reminder, especially as our Columbia Union Conference schools contend with the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences.

Story by Andrew S. Lay

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, Highland View Academy (HVA) has experienced miraculous protection from the virus on campus and among its faculty and students.

In fact, HVA has been fully open and in person since fall 2020, without any student or teaching staff contracting the disease during their time on campus. School leaders thank God for providing His protection and allowing HVA to fully function within the CDC guidelines.

Story by Natalie Lilly, Communication Intern

God is on the move in Pennsylvania. When COVID-19 impacted the “120 in 2020” plan to hold 120 evangelistic meetings during 2020, the evangelism team simply moved those scheduled meetings to 2021. Those events grew from 120 to more than 135 prophecy series by the end of the year—the highest number of evangelistic seminars in a single year in the conference.

Story by Evan Knott

In January 2020, the leadership team at the Bell Branch church in Gambrills, Md., prayed that God would bring five new people into their church. Then COVID-19 hit.

But despite the pandemic, the church has seen unprecedented growth in 2021, adding 21 new members—a growth of more than 20 percent. And they’re not done yet.

“I think it goes back to that meeting in January 2020,” says Geoff Crowley, pastor of Bell Branch. “We wanted a phrase that would sum up our mission and vision and everything we say and do here, and what we settled on at that meeting was this: ‘At Bell Branch, we’re family, and so are you.’”

Story by Adventist Health and ADRA Staff

Six shipping containers filled with medical supplies from Adventist Health are on their way to Africa to assist with COVID-19 emergency responses in Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This $3 million project is the result of a partnership between California-based Adventist Health and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the international humanitarian branch of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Each shipping container is filled with general medical supplies, personal protective equipment, medication, operating room supplies and mobile medical testing equipment for COVID-19 and other diseases.