June 24, 2008

From the Desk of Don C. Schneider. . . .

Feel free to share this information.

1. Kevin Costello, treasurer of the Georgia Cumberland Conference,
has accepted a call to be an associate treasurer of the Southern
Asia-Pacific Division.

2. Jim Green, treasurer of the New Jersey Conference, has been
elected Executive- Secretary/Vice President for Administration for the
conference. Modesto Vasquez has been elected treasurer of the
conference.

3. Lonnie Melashenko, speaker/director of the Voice of Prophecy,
has accepted a call to become Vice President of Spiritual Services and
Missions for the Kettering Health Network in Ohio. Lonnie will continue
to take appointments for the Voice of Prophecy in the near future, and
may be called upon to do specific assignments in the future for the
radio ministry.

4. On Friday night, June 27, I will be interviewing Chad Bernard on
the HOPE Channel program REALLY LIVING. He will be talking about how
much he loves being a teacher in an Adventist Church School. The
program will rebroadcast on Sabbath and through next week. If you know
of people trying to make a decision about whether or not to attend an
Adventist school, they should see this program.

5. Betty Trevino and Cheryl Retzer will be my guests on the HOPE
Channel REALLY LIVING on July 4. I'll be talking to them about some of
their experiences while they each conducted evangelistic meetings in
Africa.

6. Dr. Ben Carson, an Adventist pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns
Hopkins Children’s Center, received the nation’s highest civilian
award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President George
W. Bush at a White House ceremony on June 19, 2008.

7. The Sodexo Corporation has committed $5 million to Oakwood
University to build a new cafeteria.

8. The Voice of Prophecy has formatted its Discover Bible Guides to
be available on cell phones by going to www.biblestudies.com/cell

9. 250 of the churches in our division are set up to receive tithe
and offerings on-line. About $1.5 million dollars per month is turned
in this way.

10. Wintley Phipps is currently the most watched Christian minister
on YouTube. You can watch some of his talks and hear some of his music
by looking on youtube.com and search Phipps or Wintley Phipps.

11. The North American Division produced a Christmas show last year
called Christmas at Cadillac Jack's. It has won the Platinum award from
The Television and Cable Productions Award for Religious Programs and
Specials. NBC and CBS have asked for the show this year, and some
stations will put in all Adventist commercials.

12. A week ago I spoke at our SEEDS convention. It is always
inspiring to meet with people who are planting churches. Rod and Donna
Willey, a dentist couple in Illinois told about conducting a series of
meetings, and only two visitors came. Rod and Donna wondered about
whether or not to complete the meetings, but they did. It was the mayor
of the neighboring town that had been coming to their meetings, and is
now coming to church. At the convention a lady told me that she was
from Ontario, and had moved into a community where there was only one
member, but now they have nine, and have decided to help start a church
450 kilometers north of where she is living. There is no road, so she
plans to go by train once a month until the church is established. She
has started Bible studies by mail, and has found two Adventist ladies in
the neighboring towns.

13. This past week end, I was at Montana Camp Meeting. On Sabbath
afternoon, we heard many testimonies of people who had just learned
about Jesus. One lady seemed so excited. She had come back to Jesus
and the church during a series of meetings conducted by ElderJohn Loor,
Jr., conference president. Several people were with her from her
contacts, and some were introduced who (she said) were not yet members.


14. Received the following update from Sue and Jere Patzer on June
17:

Yesterday we had an appointment with Dr. Nichols. We hadn’t seen him
since our stem cell transplant consultation at the University of
Washington two weeks ago. The last two weeks have seemed very long to us
since learning from them that the transplant would not happen
immediately, as we had first been led to believe. So we were very
anxious to get a schedule of whatever does have to happen before
Jere’s stem cells can be harvested. Since Dr. Nichols has been out
of the country (at conventions in Switzerland and England-with much of
the content having to do with mantle cell lymphomas) there has been
nothing to do but wait. This lesson in patience is sometimes a hard
one!

Someone asked what the best news of yesterday’s visit was. I quickly
responded, “That there was no bad news!” It is always calming to
visit the clinic and feel the warmth of the staff. Dr. Kristy Moore, Dr.
Nichols’ “shadow,” spent half an hour with us, examining,
answering questions, getting our “read” and sharing hers re: the U
of WA’s stellar transplant program. Dr. Nichols joined us and did more
of the same, as well as laying out the plan for the next few weeks.

So the schedule is for a couple rounds of outpatient chemo over the
next few weeks in preparation for harvesting Jere’s stem cells which
is scheduled as of now for around the middle of August. This will all
take place at the clinic in Portland. So, yeah, it’s great that we can
still be at home for all of this “pre-work” before heading to
Seattle for the actual stem cell transplant.

Even though we’ve already learned some about stem cell transplants we
will be much more educated in the next few weeks and months! What we do
know is the reason we need to go to the U of WA immediately after the
harvest: a relatively new drug will be used before Jere’s stem cells
are given back to him, that calls for him to be in a lead-lined
isolation room for 7-10 days. (The scheduling of that room was part of
the reason for the delay.)

So that’s what we know for now. As we look back over the past two
weeks these texts take on new meaning:

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter
5:7

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take
great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice
over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3: 17

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be
terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.” Joshua 1: 9

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power
is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more
gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults,
in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then
I am strong.” II Corinthians 12: 9 - 10

He is faithful!

Sue