EPHESUS

5 Praise Reports 6 Women’s Day 22 Pathfinder Day

Preview Issue [June 2013]

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In This Issue Last Sabbath for Elder Williams

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Praise Reports

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Running with Purpose: Women’s Day

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Mothers: A Gift from God

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Profession of Faith

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Member Feature

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Character Under Construction:

Pathfinders and Adventurers Day

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Healthy Congregations

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Pray4Togo

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Vacation Bible

School

July 7—11, 2013

Save the Date!!!

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Vacation Bible

School

July 7—11, 2013

Save the Date!!!

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On Sabbath, May 4, 2013,

Henry Williams, was recognized

for his service at the church. He

will be moving to Virginia to stay

with Antrinette and Oren Brown

while recovering from a a stroke.

Mr. Williams is in good spirits and

promises that he will be back in

Columbia soon.

Last Sabbath for Elder Williams

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Praise Reports! How is God working

in YOUR life? “I thank God for

my job...and I’m

about to retire

from this job, 29

years, on June

28th. And I just

can’t wait to

praise the Lord for

that day!”

—Willie Hunter

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Running with Purpose

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Left: Carol Johnson, former First

Lady of the Ephesus church, is the

guest speaker for Women’s Day.

Women’s Day at

Ephesus Photos by Jessica Mayers

“I have had my last fight, and I sat at my

desk and said, “God, I can’t do this

anymore. I need purpose. I need something

deeper. I need to minister in my passion.

What should I do?” And God said, “Use

what you got!”—Carol Johnson

Running with Purpose

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O n Sabbath, May 4,

2013, the Women’s

Ministry Department

hosted a special Sab-

bath dedicated to women called

“Women of God: Running with Pur-

pose.”

The guest speaker for Wom-

en’s Day was Mrs. Carol Johnson,

the former First Lady for the Ephe-

sus church. She talked about her 1. Fasting and praying!

2. Taking personality tests (Myers-

Briggs, temperament test)

3. Making a list of the skills that God has

given her

4. Making a list of what would make her

happy in life

How Mrs. Carol

Johnson found God’s

purpose for her life:

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journey with finding God’s purpose

for her life. She also spoke about

the five ways in which God uses

problems in the Christian life: direc-

tion, inspection, correction, protec-

tion, and perfection.

“I wanted the ladies to leave

with the message that every single

one of us, God has given us a pur-

pose in life,” says Mrs. Johnson.

“And we need to learn what that

Below left: Billy Adams is helping

to prepare lunch for church mem-

bers.

Right: The men of Ephesus volun-

teer to serve lunch to church mem-

bers

purpose is and allow God to fulfill it

within us.”

After the church service,

lunch was prepared and served by

the men of the church.

Women’s Day was concluded

with a special evening program in

which the women who participated

in the Divas Half-Marathon talked

about how they endured the 13.1

mile race in North Myrtle Beach.

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MOTHERS: A Gift from God

Celebrating the

mothers of Ephesus

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THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER

M other. The

Merriam-

Webster

Dictionary

simply defines the word as “a

female parent”. However, it is

evident that there is more to

being a mother than the stated

definition. Being a mother is a

full-time job. If there was a de-

scription for the duties of a moth-

er, it would include (but not lim-

ited to) the following: Chef,

Teacher, Doctor, Counselor,

Chauffeur, and Maid.

From mothers, grand-

mothers, aunts, mothers by

adoption, to other women who

have raised us, we have come to

love and respect these special la-

dies in our lives. They have helped

to shape our character and point

us to the character of Christ.

What do you think about

the most when you think of your

mother? Maybe you think about

how she cooks the best meals in

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THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER

Above pictures: Beautiful mothers with

their daughters (left to right): First Lady

Natasha Pooler, Crystal Jackson, Roshell

Tynes, Olive Sease with mother.

the neighborhood. Or maybe you

think about the times that she

gives you meaningful advice. You

probably have a praying mother

who is constantly on her knees in-

terceding for you to God. You

probably even think about her

many disciplinary mechanisms

(hand, belt, switch, extension cord,

etc.)! No matter what comes to

mind, we can thank God for giving

us a wonderful gift in our lives: our

mothers.

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I LOVE MY MOTHER BECAUSE... “The Lord has used

my mom to be a

blessing in

my life by

1) being

there, 2)

being a

praying

mother,

3) being

a coun-

seling

mother, 4)

being a cool

mother,

“She’s been what she could. She’s al-

ways been there for me. [She’s]

stressed herself out working full-time

jobs while going to school and having to

come pick us up from school...just so we

could have what she didn’t have as a

child when she was growing up.”

Dominique Goudy

“I liked that my mom taught me how to

be the backbone of our family and to

just be supportive to whoever is around,

and friendly and courteous and to show

respect to everyone.”

Crystal Jackson

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I LOVE MY MOTHER BECAUSE... 5) being there,

and 6) being a

persistent

mother,

and 7) for

being a

godly

mother.

Praise

God, I

am grate-

ful and

thankful for

my mother.”

Shaun Paschal

“[My mother] was strong, she was lov-

ing, thoughtful, giving herself, her time,

in any way. She was a caring woman,

and had a beautiful spirit.”

Carlos Beatty

“My grandmother, she raised me. She

was like my mother and my father to

me...she never left us money when she

died, but what she left us was her wise

sayings. Until this day, I still use her

sayings.”

Jacqueline Rennie

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CHURCH MOTHERS

“Every time we go to church, [my mother] would get up on that piano and play. And every time I would hear someone play a song that she played on

the piano, I’d think about her. I think about her every day.”—Ruth Lloyd

Above: Church Mother Ruth Lloyd

Right: Lawrence Robinson with his mother, and Ephesus Church

Mother, Doris Robinson

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CHURCH MOTHERS

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MORE WONDERFUL MOTHERS

(Top left) Pastor Pooler and mother, (bottom left), Sonja Johnson and daughter, (middle) Nicole Goin and son, (top right) Tatiana Owens and son, (bottom) Betty McNeal and mother

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MORE WONDERFUL MOTHERS

(Top left) Pastor Pooler and mother, (bottom left), Sonja Johnson and daughter, (middle) Nicole Goin and son, (top right) Tatiana Owens and son, (bottom) Betty McNeal and mother

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Sister Robinson’s Profession of Faith

On Sabbath, May 11, Doris Robinson became an offi-

cial member of the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist

church by Profession of Faith!

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Member Feature Aaron Ingram

Meet Aaron Ingram. Alt-

hough he’s not an official member,

this 21-year old from Brooklyn, NY is

still considered family in the Ephesus

church.

If anyone speaks to Aaron, he

or she will know that he enjoys read-

ing and quoting from the word of

God and from the writings of Ellen G.

White. His favorite passage of Scrip-

ture is Revelation 21:1-7, and his fa-

vorite Ellen White book is Desire of

Ages “because it’s all about Jesus.”

Aaron’s most life-changing

experience was when he met his now

mentor, Justin Wilson. “God used

[Justin] to bring me to the Adventist

faith,” he says.

When asked what he wants to

ask God when he gets to Heaven, Aa-

ron states, “I don’t have a question

for God because I’m going to be

thankful that I’m next to Him.”

Aaron’s future plan is to

attend Heartland College in Rapidan,

VA to major in theology.

The most important life les-

son that Aaron has learned: “Self is

your greatest enemy.”

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Pathfinders &

adventurers

day

Character Under

Construction:

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T he Ambassador Path-

finders and the Ha-

rambe Adventurers of

the Ephesus church

have had a very busy 2012-2013

club year. From campouts to club

meetings to community service, the

club members have shown that with

hard work and dedication, anything

is possible.

On May 25, 2013, a special

Sabbath was held for the Pathfinder

and Adventurer Club. This theme

for the day, which was also the

theme for the Pathfinder and Ad-

venturer year was “Character Under

Construction.”

Below (left to right): Pathfinder Kaleb Pax-

ton and Adventurers Kayla Barnes and Ad-

joua Boafo perform a skit during Sabbath

School about the history of the Pathfinder

and Adventurer Club.

The special day began at Sab-

bath School. Adventurer Caleb

Barnes helped Elder Spencer Wade

to facilitate the lesson study. The

study was abbreviated to allow the

Pathfinders and Adventurers per-

formed a special skit before the wor-

ship service. The skit took a look

back at the history of Pathfinders

and Adventurers, and it also high-

lighted some of the prominent fig-

ures to help start the clubs.

The worship service began as

Pastor Eugene Hamilton, guest speaker for

Pathfinders and Adventurers Day.

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Above(left to right): Pathfinder of the Year,

Kareem McLendon and Adventurer of the

Year, Kayla Barnes.

Right: Pathfinder Shay Williams carries out

the AY flag at the end of the church service.

the drum team played and the Path-

finders posted the colors. Pathfind-

er Director Olive Sease and Adven-

turer counselor Teisha Williams gave

remarks about the past Pathfinder

and Adventurer year. They also

handed out several awards, includ-

ing the Pathfinder and Adventurer of

the Year awards, which were given

to Pathfinder Kareem McLendon and

Adventurer Kayla Barnes. Kareem

and Kayla also shared why they en-

joyed being in the Pathfinder and

Adventurer Club.

The guest speaker for Path-

finders and Adveneturers Day was

Pastor Eugene Hamilton from the

Shiloh Seventh-day Adventist Church cont. on page 30

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Above: Paathfinder Counselor Felicia Pax-

ton plays a part in an Investiture Service

skit to demonstrate how the use of tobac-

co and alcohol is harmful.

Righ (left to right): Adventurer counselor

Teisha Hunter and Pathfinder Director Ol-

ive Sease host the Pathfinder and Adven-

turer Investiture Service

Next Page: The Adventurers receive new

honors and are pinned by the Pathfinder

counselors.

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Reposted from the South Atlantic Conference

Healthy Congregations: June Health Emphasis

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“The event raises awareness about the imprisonment of Pastor

Antonio dos Anjos Monteiro and church member Bruno Amah,

imprisoned on false charges since March 2012.”

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO LEARN MORE

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in Charleston, SC. The pastor spoke

about standing under pressure, re-

ferring to Daniel 3:16-18.

Pathfinders and Adventurers

Day was concluded with the Investi-

Congrats for another year of service Pathfinders & Adventurers!

ture Service in which club members

were pinned with the honors they

gained for the club year. During the

Investiture Service, club members

got a chance to display what they

learned throughout the year.

The hard work that the Path-

finders and Adventurers have done

for the past year will be rewarded

when they have their Fun Weekend

in Atlanta, GA in July.

cont. from page 25

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Come Worship With Us!

Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church

7709 Wilson Boulevard

Columbia, SC 29203

803.786.2800

Pastor John Pooler, III

Service Times Sabbath Morning Praise and Worship 8:00am

Sabbath School 9:15am

Divine Worship Service 11:00am

AYS One hour before sunset

Wednesday Night Prayer and Bible Connection 7:00pm

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www.EphesusSDA.org

Every department,

Every ministry,

Every member,

has a story

for Christ.

Share it with us.