Blog

Anton Kapusi – Pueblo, Colorado … We all like harvest festivals when the whole neighborhood comes–children, parents, grandparents, or guardians to celebrate the goodness and blessings of our Creator and Sustainer God.

People of all ages are curious about what a Christian-themed harvest festival trunk-or-treat looks like. Pueblo, Colorado has a long-standing tradition of trick-or-treating. Yes, that infamous practice of children and parents dressing up as different characters and going door-to-door to receive treats has been growing in numbers for years in Pueblo. However, due to COVID and ever-growing crime in Pueblo, parents are looking for a safer environment for getting out with their children.

The leadership team at Pueblo First Seventh-day Adventist Church, led by the Outreach and Education Center, decided to use this opportunity to reach the neighborhood and the city in a way we never have before. Looking for volunteers who would decorate their cars, SUVs, or truck trunks with a biblical theme, they got twelve brave volunteers with themes like F.R.O.G.–Fully Rely On God, the Tree of Life, Store Up Your Treasures in Heaven, Plant and Harvest, Jesus is the True Light, and The Ark… to mention just a few.

Since there is no festival without food, drinks, and prizes, those in the church with the gift of grilling, cooking, baking, drink prepping, and Bible trivia knowledge, invested their funds and talents into preparing hundreds of bags of popcorn, hot dogs, grilled corn, boiled peanuts, muffins, cookies, doughnuts, caramel apples, tens of gallons of drinks and dozens of Bible trivia questions with prizes.

Under the watchful eye of the organizers, early Sunday afternoon, October 30, the church parking lot started buzzing with some thirty volunteers setting up their car trunks, a sitting and warming area, food courts, and the Bible trivia station. The security team, easily recognizable in their vests, had their walkie-talkies at their assigned stations. The festival was to officially open at 5 p.m., but the first children in Pokémon, princess, and Spider-Man costumes arrived some fifteen minutes early, officially opening the festival.

The team worked like clockwork. All were at their trunks or tables, engaging with visitors–children, and adults alike. Candies with Bible verses, thematic brochures, Bible stickers, and small and big prizes were ready for giveaways.

This harvest festival was the first of its kind the church had ever attempted, and there were many unknowns. The organizing team tried to think of all scenarios and issues they could face and, prayerfully, found solutions for all. Or so they thought. They hadn’t counted on a crowd of almost a thousand people coming to a church event.

After only half an hour, the food was running low, the prizes were gone, and the supplies at many stations were dwindling. The first three hundred visitors were through, but the line of those who wanted to enter the festival extended beyond the whole length of the parking lot to the corner of the street and bent to the adjacent street. The first lucky visitors were able to park nearby in the street, but most had to walk two blocks from where they found parking in the streets.

Family members and supporting staff ran to get more food, more candies, and more prizes. Closing the event was not an option. We knew God would provide. The visitors didn’t notice any disruption, and those attending their stations were just handed all they needed by a supplying hand “from behind”.

We served more than 800 hot dogs, corn on the cob, and just as many bowls of boiled peanuts. More than 300 baked goods were shared, along with hundreds of caramel apples, thousands of candies, and more than 500 prizes for Bible trivia. It is worth mentioning that a couple hundred brochures for the grades 1-12 Tutoring Program were also shared with parents, and we have already welcomed a few new students.

Members of the organizing team said, “We prayed for God to bring out people, but this was a miracle.” Another person commented: “I was expecting maybe 200-300 people. This is more than a blessing.” The church pastor, Anton Kapusi, excitedly noted, “This was the longest children’s story I ever had. For three hours, I was able to tell Bible stories and make sure that every child and family won a prize!”

Harvest Festival volunteers were exhilarated. The commitment and engagement level in the church is growing and all are waiting to see where the Lord is going to lead next. Since the event, during the Sabbath services, participants gave their testimonies as a group to the congregation, during which visitors from the Harvest Festival attended.

One [volunteer] testified, “Jesus shared bread and fish with people as he preached the gospel; we also shared food, smiles, words of encouragements, and the gospel. The tide is turning in Pueblo, the Holy Spirit is reaching the hearts and minds of the members as well as that of our community. Move on, Pueblo, Move on!”

The promise of the Lord stands, and this is what we at Pueblo strongly embrace: “Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” (2 Chronicles 20:20)

–Anton Kapusi is pastor of Pueblo First Adventist church. Photos supplied.

RMCNews Interview with Daniel Birai – Denver, Colorado … There is excitement at LifeSource Adventist Fellowship. With deep interest in making Adventist mission relevant and involving the whole congregation, the church leadership is strategically streamlining activities and its use of resources. Pastor Daniel Birai shares the meaning behind his church’s Keystone Ministries.

NewsNuggets: What challenge are you facing at LifeSource with your ministries?

Daniel Birai: We have about 24 active ministries and it isn’t realistic to be able to provide each of them the time and resources that they need with two pastors. Even with lay members leading the groups, there isn’t enough support, accountability, or training to create sustainable growth. This leads to low volunteer leadership, low morale, and low attendance at events.

NN: So, how are you going to turn this around?

DB: I’m privileged to work with Pastor Jose Briones. A few months ago, we were brainstorming on a white board on how we could support our church family. We [concluded that we] will spend more of our time on a fewer number of ministries that can strategically bring more people (volunteers) to our church, giving them a bigger base out of which to invite them into service. We are calling them Keystone Ministries.

NN: How do you determine which ministries will be designated as Keystone Ministries?

DB: We asked ourselves what ministries we can prioritize, which by doing so, will give our church the best chance of growing sustainably and increase the number of volunteers that we can invite to serve on other ministry teams.

There are ministries with individuals who have high engagement in church life. We measure high engagement when ministries have individuals who consistently attend events, support the church financially, and are willing to step up into leadership roles. We also asked what ministry is so critical to our calling as a church that we cannot afford to neglect it, even if we don’t currently have much “fruit” showing?

NN: If you can share your discoveries through your analysis, what are the Keystone Ministries you have identified?

DB: We identified four areas and seven ministries. The first area is Church Connections, and this includes Greeters, as this impacts new growth. It is where many people get their first chance to meet us. It includes our Hospitality Team as it impacts being a family and doing life together with monthly fellowship meals, church picnics –things that everyone in our church can attend if they wish — and finally, Lay Pastor Assistants who provide spiritual care for our church family by visiting regularly.

The next area is Community. Our Ministry Impact Team will add value to our community by inviting its members to join our family doing surveys in our community.

Area number three is our Young Adult Ministry. In this area, we already have high engagement. They meet weekly (outside our Sabbath morning worship time) with different events and experiences and God is blessing their commitment to being a family.

Area four is identified as Young Families. We seek to add value by providing Children’s Ministries–a space where parents can bring their children each Sabbath to be nurtured and developed and challenged to live for Jesus in our Sabbath Schools. For parents wanting more engagement for their children, we lean on our Club Ministries–Adventurers and Pathfinders–to be our discipleship arm for our young people.

NN: If a ministry isn’t identified here, does it mean you don’t care about it or think it isn’t important?

DB: No, not at all. We are acknowledging that with limited resources, it makes sense to do a few things with excellence, and trust that as these thrive, more people will join our family and serve in the other ministries that are just as important. We will highlight the amazing impact these ministries are having during our weekly ministry spotlight, e-newsletter, and word of mouth.

NN: How will you measure success?

DB: Before the end of the year, our pastoral team will work together with Keystone Ministry leaders to create Key Performance Indicators that will be tracked, measured, and reported. We will ask about attendance at events, report monthly engagement on social media, and create quarterly surveys of those they are serving in order to measure impact, and more.

Naturally, we asked ourselves how these Keystone Ministries will be supported. It is vital to ensure they have the financial and people resources needed to achieve their goals, that regular attention is given to events and ministry meetings through a variety of communication vehicles, as well as have church leadership give regular attention to ministry leaders and team members.

We trust that by focusing on these Keystone Ministries, the church can create sustainable value to our community in a day and age when people realize the importance of being in community.

–RMCNews. Photo by Daniel Birai.

RMCNews – Denver, Colorado … Winter may be creeping up on us, but plans for summer camp 2023 are well underway. The Youth Department has been busy praying and planning for another successful summer of camp ministry in the Rocky Mountain Conference.

The camp theme this summer is ELEVATE. “We realize that God is always calling us to something higher, something more significant, something greater,” Brandon Westgate, RMC youth director says.

He explains, “Our theme expresses the call of God on our life. In John 12:32 Jesus says when He is lifted up, He will, in turn, lift us up to where He is. So, when we elevate Jesus, we get elevated by Jesus! “

The plan is to elevate Jesus high and exalted so that we can witness Jesus elevating our young people out of the challenges they face, and into His loving embrace. To accomplish this lofty goal, organizers are seeking other young people (18+ yrs. of age) who are looking to spend their summer with us engaged in this powerful ministry experience.

If that sounds like something you are interested in, or you know of a high school senior or college student who might be interested, visit RMC youth department page, and fill out an application.

Brandon adds, “We would love to visit with you about the employment opportunities we have available this summer!” https://www.rmcyouth.org/summerstaff

–RMCNews

Katrina Blankenship – Northglenn, Colorado … On the evening of November 5, two Adventist churches, Chapel Haven and Northglenn Hispanic, combined forces to create a multi–cultural event, a Feast of Nations. Organized by Pastor Herbert Hernandez, the event was deemed a huge success with some 100 people in attendance representing 10 different countries.

The gathering started with a devotional about how we are one in Christ, yet varied in many ways, showing the amazing diversity that will one day stand on the sea of glass before God. The group sang, “Jesus Loves Me” in several languages followed by a Bible city trivia game.

Then ensued a sampling of the abundance of food, the admiring the traditional attire and costumes worn by nearly half the happy participants, and a deepening of social friendships. “It was an event to stimulate the senses with the vibrant colors, pleasing aromas, appetizing flavors, unique textures, and lively conversations,” reported Katrina Blankenship.

The gathering concluded by playing the national anthems from each of the 10 countries represented. People returned to their homes satisfied by good food, good conversation, and a renewed sense of the uniqueness created by God for His glory.

–Text and photos by Katrina Blankenship.

Haley Beckermeyer – Loveland, Colorado …Equipped with rakes, gloves, and trash bags, Campion students dispersed around the Loveland area to help their neighbors last Wednesday for Community Service Day.

Campion Academy takes a day off from classes for community service day each semester to demonstrate God’s love in action. Chaplain Carlos Santana explained, “The reason we give a day off of classes to serve our community is simply to be a blessing. We want to create a spiritual outlet for the students to be able to serve others.” Santana continued, “Our greatest example is found in Christ all throughout the Gospels. The example was: if Christ saw a need, he met the need. Therefore, I believe our calling is the same as Christ’s example, and that is, if we see a need we meet the need.”

The community members that the students served shared their appreciation for the help from the students. Pastor Joe Martin stated, “I thought it was fantastic to see our youth willing to help another church in service. They were outstanding. They went to work as soon as they got there, and they did a fantastic job. I was so impressed by it.”

One of the groups headed out to Habitat for Humanity to help organize clothes and other items at the thrift store. “Habitat for Humanity was really laid back and fun. We were helping organize different things and it was cool to get to talk to people I wouldn’t normally talk to.” Junior Megan Harden commented

Some students stayed on campus and helped clean up leaves, but still enjoyed the experience. “Community service day was fun,” shared senior student Ruth Rawlings, “I cleaned up leaves on the campus and it was a good break from school being able to do something for others in the community.”

Haley Beckermeyer, Student news team. Photo from CA eNewsletter.

Tiffany Mogaka – Loveland, Colorado … Campion students and visitors came together to Campion Church to learn more about the character of God through the theme ‘Who God is’ during the Northern Colorado Youth Rally, November 4-5 featuring Pastor Michelle Odinma as the guest speaker

Friday night vespers began with powerful and heart-warming worship music led by a student praise team and Pastor Leandro Bizama. The theme song of the event was “Our God”. Junior Phoebe Mamanua said, “The praise music promoted the message. There was energy, and it was really good to have all of us together just praising God. It felt like a bonding experience especially because it was upbeat like a campfire song.”

A recognized singer and pastor from Manhattan, New York, Michelle Odinma, shared the word of God on Friday night and Sabbath morning. She spoke about God’s forgiveness and a model of faithfulness through the story of David and Jonathan.

Samuel Walton, Junior student, commented, “The thing that impacted me the most about the message that Pastor Michelle delivered was when she talked of Jonathan and King David. I realized that God has a plan for all, but His plan [for me] could be building up others so that He could be glorified more. I think that’s so powerful. It really touched me to think that God could use me to build someone up and impact more lives for His glory.”

Sabbath afternoon was spent in outreach during which the youth visited people in the community to pray with them. Afterward, they participated in a series of workshops hosted by Pastor Mike Taylor from Campion and Brandon and Dawn Westgate from the Rocky Mountain Conference youth department, where they discussed topics like dating, finances, and God’s calling.

On Saturday night, Michelle Odinma shared her music in a concert, playing the guitar and singing original songs from her upcoming album, Stories to Tell. The album will be released November 11.

Senior student Melody Mambo enjoyed Michelle’s performances, saying, “I really liked the music selections from Pastor Michelle because it gave people a sense of community. It was especially fun to hear her sing because her songs gave me new perspectives of the Bible that I never thought of before.”

The youth rally ended with both Campion students and welcomed guests enjoying a fun ice cream treat and gym night games hosted by Campion’s SA officers. Musical chairs winner, Damaris Lopez, said, “I really liked the ice cream and the activities because everyone was involved. I also loved that the winners got prizes. But most of all, I enjoyed getting to know more people through this whole experience, especially the visitors who came from other places.”

The Campion church pastors plan to host a youth rally every fall and continue to grow the event throughout Rocky Mountain Conference.

–Tiffany Mogaka, Student news team. Photos from CA eNewsletter.

Haley Beckermeyer – Loveland, Colorado … Some 60 prospective students from grades seven to eleven visited the Campion Academy campus, October 28-30, to learn about academy life and to solidify their school choice for next year.

Students from farther away places like Kansas arrived Thursday night and stayed through Sunday. Everyone headed to the gym Friday morning to register and play games such as a life-size Hungry Hippo game. “I just really enjoyed all of the games, I didn’t have a favorite one,” Shane Hart, a 7th grader from HMS Richards commented.

The prospective students stayed in the residence halls with the Campion students. Visiting junior, Mabel Cabanbon, commented, “Dorm life was nice, and it was really comforting to have all these people so close to me.”

The rest of the day on Friday was spent touring the campus, watching student presentations, and competing for scholarships in sports, music, and various subject areas.

The Academy Days students got to hang out with Campion students and talk to them during their free time. “I loved how nice everybody was, and it was really cool learning how Campion works,” Natalie Bryant, HMS 7th grader commented.

On Saturday night, visitors that excelled in certain topics were awarded scholarships to Campion before everyone headed out to the bus barn to join the annual Student Association Fall Party.

Academy Days was held in the Fall for the first time this year. Students who may have missed this event are invited to schedule a private tour and even spend a night in the dorm anytime throughout the school year.

Haley Beckermeyer, Student News Team. Photos by Campion Academy newsletter.

Adelaide Eno, Asher LeVos, Eeheon Ryu — Highlands Ranch, Colorado … Mile High Academy’s (MHA) principal, Andrew Carpenter, had a crazy idea when planning upcoming school events. What if he shaved his head once the students raised a specific dollar amount? After hearing the idea, Jocelyn Aalborg, MHA’s vice principal of finance and development, decided to make it the main reward for the 2022 Walk-A-Thon. During each of the last three Walk-A-Thons, MHA brought in roughly $25,000. This money went to the Worthy Student Fund, a program that makes it possible for students who can’t afford MHA to pursue private education.

With the principal’s hair on the line, MHA needed to go big! So, Carpenter and Aalborg doubled the amount, making the threshold $50,000 for Carpenter’s hair. Thinking the goal was too far-reaching, they wanted to add a reward for an increment of the fundraising. So, they asked the athletic director, Coach Michael Camacho, if he would be willing to shave his head when MHA reached the threshold of $35,000. He agreed, and the plan moved forward for the event.

Jocelyn Aalborg remarked that her favorite part of Walk-A-Thon was getting kids involved in raising money for MHA. She felt that the event empowered kids to reach out to friends and family for donations, which would support the MHA students.

Emalee, a freshman, said, “At first, I was upset that Coach Camacho would shave his head, but I am happy that he did it for such a good cause.”

Another student commented, “Just saying that you will shave your head if you reach monetary goals is cool, but the crazy part is we achieved these goals, and both our coach and principal shaved their heads.”

If every student raised $220, they would reach the $50,000 goal, and several students—and teachers—took it as a challenge. Contributions started rolling in, and while there were donations of significant size, Aalborg still did not believe that the $35,000 goal would be reached.

Walk-A-Thon took place on Friday, September 30, and donations were left open for one week past the event. By October 7, the event had brought in $43,000, surpassing the first goal. Administration decided to keep donations open for a few more days and pushed the students to raise $7,000 more so they could shave both Camacho and Carpenter’s heads. On Wednesday, October 12, MHA officially hit its goal of $50,000. As promised, the school prepared to shave both heads.

It happened on October 18 when an all-school chapel was held in the gym. The chapel was live streamed for those who could not be there. The chapel started strong with music from the history teacher and high school chaplain, Rebecca Berg. Afterward, Carpenter thanked the students for making this happen.
Though still nervous about shaving his head, Carpenter knew it was for a good cause and was genuinely passionate about it.

As Coach Camacho went up to the front to shave his head, students started chanting, “Shave their heads! Shave their heads!” excited to see the anticipated event finally unfold. Christina Herrera, a professional hair stylist and MHA parent, was invited to perform the honors. As Herrera began shaving Camacho’s head, the students went wild, and Principal Carpenter personally excited the kids. After a few minutes, it was time for Carpenter to get shaved. The students started cheering and chanting again. The event ended with two shaved heads and as a fun and memorable event for students and faculty.

With such a strong and unique challenge, the incredible amount of money raised, and the fun and excitement it brought to MHA. It will be interesting to see what other new challenges the school has next year!

–Adelaide Eno, Asher LeVos, Eeheon Ryu are MHA upper school journalism students. Photos supplied by MHA.