Elisabet Kirkland Page 25

While I genuinely loved when Jana’s and my children were small, I couldn’t help but say to myself “man, I’m glad those times are in the past” as I sat in a restaurant recently and saw a young mother skillfully handle her three children of different ages and help them navigate through their meal. I admit to getting a little tired just watching it all!

Of course, I miss knowing my children as little ones, when I could get hugs and share giggles with them every day. But they would eventually outgrow that, and Jana and I as parents were grateful to see our kids grow up to be wonderful adults.

I’ve buried the headline for this installment just a bit because I was concerned that if some might skip over this article completely if you knew what it was about right off the bat, and I was worried that still others would say, “I’m glad those days are behind me” without really listening to what I want to say. And what I want to say is very important.

What I desperately hope we never outgrow is our commitment to Christian education in the Rocky Mountain Conference.

I have heard people say, “I did my part for Adventist Education while my kids were in school. They’ve all graduated now, and it’s someone else’s turn now.”

If tuition alone is intended to cover the true costs of running a school, then very few of us would ever be able to have our own children in our own schools. The fact is that, in general, tuition only covers roughly half of the costs of running a school. Were it not for Conference appropriations in the form of a percentage of tithe, tuition assistance, and direct contributions from our churches, most of our schools would disappear rather quickly.

Humanly, it’s hard to feel the urgency to continue financially supporting our schools when your children no longer attend. I get it. You paid a lot in tuition, often putting aside other family needs or wishes to do so. And I confess to feeling that at times in my life when I was not well informed about the need for an unshakable commitment from the wider body of believers to help sustain our schools.

It wasn’t until I began to sit on our school boards and hear firsthand of the genuine needs and the surprising costs, did I begin to have a true appreciation for all those who came before who were willing to help even when their own children were no longer students. They became heroes to me because I saw that my own children benefited from their earlier determined sacrifice.

Some still wonder about the value of our efforts in our educational system. And I know there are lots of stories out there of our children who went through our schools and still didn’t choose to live a Christian life once they graduated. But as often as you hear those stories, they are still very much in the minority. Researched statistics show that 90.7% of students who spent 11 or more years in Adventist education are still regularly attending church. And Adventist academy graduates are two times more likely to stay in the church. Other than the family itself, Adventist education is the strongest factor for a person’s developing a strong religious faith. (For more detailed information about the impact of Seventh-day Adventist education, see the Role of Adventist Education)

I for one am very grateful for the teachers who teach with an evangelistic heart, who take seriously that they are evangelizing your children for some 180 days a school year while they teach them to read and write. I want to thank and salute them for their efforts.

I also want to thank and acknowledge our RMC Education Department leaders, Diane Harris, director, Paul Negrete, associate director, and Sandy Hodgson, assistant director, for their tireless efforts to continually equip and grow our teachers and schools.

So, let me be very direct with you. Our schools need your help. And while not one of us can meet all the needs in all our schools, I’m convinced that a lot of us doing what we can, will make a world of difference. Here are just a few ideas you might consider to support our schools:

• Ask to speak to your church board about becoming a constituent member of the school closest to you. These associations are voluntary, and you can help your church take the needed steps to volunteer to do it. Be the amount you can pledge annually to the school large or small, it will matter—a lot—to the school. Don’t wait to be asked. Take the initiative. Help be the voice in your church that will make this critical connection and contribution.
• If you are not near a school or have no children in your church who could attend, start a budget account to which members can donate. When you have saved up enough to be a nice gift, send it to the nearest school. I promise you they will be very grateful.
• Speak encouragingly to families and students who are not yet students in our schools. Let them know that you think they would make a great addition to the student family of your school. There’s still time to enroll for the 2024-2025 school year!
• Take the time to get to know the teacher or teachers in your school, if you have one connected with your church. You can do a lot to lift their spirits and their load by:
  • Asking them out to lunch or home to a Sabbath meal sometime just to say “thank you” for their work and to encourage them. Our teachers are a dedicated bunch whose greatest joy comes in seeing their students flourish. But an occasional “thank you” from out of the blue will do wonders for a teacher’s sense of value and can provide an oft-needed pick-me-up as they work hard for our children.
  • Take time to visit the classroom (make an appointment first!). Take notice of what the class or school has or doesn’t have, and then surprise the teacher or the principal with a special gift of supplies, equipment, or money to spend on such things that are just not otherwise in the budget.
  • Make it a point to come to school programs. Your presence speaks volumes about your support, and it will thrill the students to see you there.
  • Pray, pray, pray for our teachers, parents, and especially the students!
  • Consider yourself a partner with the 59 teachers in the 19 RMC schools who look to be teaching hundreds of our children conference-wide in our schools this next year. We are what we are as a church today largely because of the symbiotic placement and growth of our schools.

It will take resolve and sacrifice to see our schools remain viable and accessible. We can’t all just depend on someone else to do it. If it’s to be done, it will be us together who will make it happen. By God’s grace, let us all commit to keeping our schools strong so that the love of Jesus will be instilled in all of our students. Let’s commit to never outgrow our support for God’s schools!

—Mic Thurber is RMC president.

AdventHealth – Littleton, Colorado … For team members in the cardiac catheterization lab at AdventHealth Littleton, wearing a lead apron is second nature. The garments must be worn as protection from radiation. However, the traditional aprons don’t provide whole-body coverage, and the extra weight from the lead can cause other problems like back issues over time.

It’s a problem Cinthia Bateman, M.D., and Anthony Cedrone, M.D., know all too well. When Dr. Bateman presented the problem to board members of the AdventHealth Littleton Foundation, they knew they had to help.

“Dr. Bateman was passionate about the toll these heavy vests took on their bodies, in some cases, even shortening their careers,” said Rick Ellis, president of the AdventHealth Littleton Foundation. “It was an honor for the foundation board to support the purchase of a new product called Rampart, which takes away the stress of the heavy vest.”

Rampart is a new radiation shielding system that provides proven, full-bodied radiation protection. It means the cath lab team can now perform procedures without having to wear the lead aprons, and they receive less radiation to their entire bodies. AdventHealth Littleton is the first hospital in Colorado to use the new technology.

Rampart was made possible thanks to the generosity of the AdventHealth Littleton Foundation, which purchased the new equipment as its first major investment from funds raised through the All Hearts Campaign. It is part of AdventHealth’s commitment to provide patients and team members with the safest care environments possible.

—AdventHealth. Republished with permission from the AdventHealth Littleton The Newsroom website. Photo supplied.

By Godfrey Miranda

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
– 1 Corinthians 15:58, NKJV

In their work as pediatric specialists in immunology and respiratory medicine, it’s not hard to imagine that doctors Patricia and David Mrazek dealt with many suffering children. Over the years, however, they were struck by the fact that some kids bounced back from their physical trauma to live happy, healthy lives while others were crushed by it.

In an effort to pinpoint what made the difference, the Mrazeks conducted an extensive survey and found that one overriding trait rose to the top in those children who went on to build healthy lives: hope. Do you know the power of hope?

THE IMPACT OF HOPE

The Thessalonian believers knew the power of hope, and Paul was quick to highlight it right from the onset of his first epistle to them:

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV).

When Paul remembered his friends, it wasn’t just their occasional work of faith or labor of love that was so noteworthy. He saw in them a steadfast perseverance to keep working and keep laboring and that endurance grew out of hope. Hope inspired them to overcome the odds and keep pressing on toward a productive discipleship journey even in the midst of violent opposition. This is the practical impact of hope that we ought not take for granted. After all, as the Mrazeks discovered, it can make the difference between a flourishing life or a floundering one.

BEATEN BUT BUOYANT

Maybe you’ve noticed that seasons of trial in our Christian experience tend to temper our zeal, or even make us question whether to continue in the way or work of the Lord. It’s an entirely natural response, and it happens to the best of us. But when I read the New Testament, that wasn’t Paul’s response. This is the apostle who was beaten, stoned, and even left for dead for the sake of the gospel … then got up and went right back into the town whose citizens had just tried to kill him (cf. Acts 14:19-20). Where did that kind of buoyancy come from? Hope!

AND MORE SPECIFICALLY, IT WAS HIS HOPE IN THE RETURN OF JESUS.

Notice how Paul connects the dots between hope in the promise of eternal life and his unflinching steadfastness in God’s work.

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory … (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, NKJV).

Even when buffeted by hardship, Paul didn’t lose heart. Instead, he felt constantly renewed! His hope-filled perspective allowed him to see his affliction as light and momentary when compared to the “eternal weight of glory.” The hope of being with and seeing Jesus in glory truly does outweigh all other cares and concerns.

A BOLD APPEAL

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul waxes eloquent about the promise of the resurrection at the return of Jesus. With hymn-like enthusiasm, Paul describes the time when the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible (v. 52). It’s the time when this mortal must put on immortality (v. 53) and Death itself will be swallowed up in victory (v. 54).

What a blessed hope! And then, to cap it all off, Paul extends a very specific appeal—not just to keep believing this to be true, but to keep working until it all comes true.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58, NKJV).

So, when we have this hope that burns within our hearts, we can abound in the work of the Lord no matter our past or present trauma. Like the Thessalonians and like the apostle Paul, we can steadily give our all in the way and work of God. It’s my prayer that each of us will personally experience the power of the blessed hope. Though the heavens fall, may our labor for the Lord be constantly fueled by our hope in the coming of the Lord.

—Godfrey Miranda is lead pastor at the Littleton Seventh-day Adventist Church. Republished with permission from Littleton Adventist Church Pastor’s Blog. Photo by Na Inho with Unsplash.

RMCNews and Ted Williams – Olathe, Colorado … What started as a request for a prison ministry presentation for the Olathe Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist Church in Olathe, Colorado, grew into the expansion of a ministry to some our community’s most underserved: prison inmates.

Ted Williams, lead pastor at the Arkansas Valley, Lamar, and Trinidad Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Swink, Lamar, and Trinidad, Colorado, respectively, held a prison ministry event at the Olathe Hispanic Church, June 21-22. Williams brought with him a formerly jailed gentleman, Tom, to give testimony at the event.

Williams became acquainted with Tom while he was incarcerated and picked him up upon his release from jail. He collected Tom, drove him to a hotel, and connected him to a church member that gave him some clothing. Tom gave testimony at the Arkansas Valley Church’s Sabbath service the very next day. Williams also facilitated finding him employment and integrating him into the church family.

Williams noted that, while incarcerated, Tom had established multiple Bible study groups. Tom’s first words upon leaving jail were, “I’m not ready to leave yet,” referring to Tom feeling that he had not completed his ministry to his fellow inmates.

At the first evening of the prison ministries event at the Olathe Hispanic Church, Williams spoke on freedom. “I want them to understand that we are all in prison. And once you have been set free, you have been set free to choose.”

Tom gave his powerful and emotional testimony at the Sabbath service the next day, and Williams concluded the event with an informational training session on the processes and how to effectively provide prison ministry.

From this event, Williams received six applications from individuals that want to volunteer to participate in this outreach ministry. He promptly drove the applications to the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He remarked that the CDOC greatly appreciates these volunteers and is eager to receive more to assign to facilities that do not have ministry volunteers.

“Folks that attended [the event] were deeply moved by this whole experience,” commented Williams. “It was a wonderful, spirit-filled weekend.”

Williams has been involved in this outreach ministry for almost two decades and is the RMC Prison Ministries director. The RMC Prison Ministries exists to train and support volunteers who are willing to visit, correspond with, and pray with prison inmates. To learn about volunteering in prison ministries, please contact Ted Williams at [email protected] or at (303) 887-9197.

—Ted Williams is lead pastor at the Arkansas Valley, Lamar, and Trinidad Seventh-day Adventist Churches. Photo by Ted Williams.

Will Reed – Greeley, Colorado … Ryan Hough received a free copy of Ellen G. White’s book The Great Controversy in his mailbox three years ago through a mass mailing initiative. He donated it to a thrift store. This would begin a unique chain of events that would end up in him finding Jesus, and on June 29, around three years later, he was baptized into membership at the Greeley Seventh-day Adventist Church in Greeley, Colorado.

Coming from a non-church-going background, Hough began his faith journey as a result of his interest in history. In the midst of perusing the internet and looking into various aspects of history, he came across an Adventist speaker’s YouTube series which contained elements of history that interested him, so he began to watch.

Around the same time, Hough randomly received another copy of the book The Great Controversy in the mail at his home in Idaho, where he lived at the time. After first taking a picture of the book and sending it to his parents, asking them if they had sent it to him, Hough decided to donate it as well to a local thrift store, uninterested in reading it.

However, while continuing to watch the Adventist YouTube series, Ryan was surprised to hear the speaker talk about a book called The Great Controversy, a book which Hough had seen before. After realizing that this was the book that was sent to him through the mail that he had sent to the thrift store, Hough visited this thrift store, bought the book back for $1, and began to read it.

Through reading The Great Controversy, continuing to watch the series, and getting connected with a local Adventist church in Idaho, Hough began to fall in love with Jesus. He and his family moved to Colorado in the last two years, and Hough began attending Greeley Church. It was during this time that Hough decided he wanted to officially give his life to Jesus and be baptized. This occurred in the presence of his family, friends, and new church family.

Hough says that it is the community aspect of church that has been most impactful for him. “A big part of my experience and journey has been the church family. Everyone I’ve interacted with has solidified the path that I’m following, and the choices I’m making are inspired and fulfilling,” he commented.

Michael Shannon, lead pastor of the Greeley Church, spoke of Hough’s journey to the Adventist faith as orchestrated by God. “It’s interesting how the Holy Spirit works … nobody brought [Ryan] to church. The Lord brought him to church,” he remarked.

—Will Reed is principal and sixth through eighth grades teacher at Adventist Christian School. Photo by Jim Johnson.