AN INVESTMENT WITH HIGH RETURNS

by Mike Cauley, D.Min.
Florida Conference President
Recently, our friends, Pastor Noel Shanko and his wife, Pat, made a trip back to Yale, Virginia, where they celebrated the 100th anniversary since the beginning of the church there. It began on October 4, 1913, when the 68 members of the Ukranian Baptist Church (all immigrants from Eastern Europe) affirmed their belief in the Seventh-day Adventist faith and, along with their pastor, John Yecoshenko, became Seventh-day Adventists. Pastor Yecoshenko was Noel’s great-grandfather and appointed by Virginia Conference as pastor.
Only five years earlier, an Adventist boarding academy was established in the small farming town of New Market, Virginia. Those early Ukranian Adventists were encouraged to send their high school students to this new academy. They responded and, six years later, Isaiah Shanko became the first Yale Church member to graduate.
This past month, Chelsea Campbell, Noel and Pat’s granddaughter, became the 50th graduate from Shenandoah Valley Academy who is related by blood to that first graduate from Yale Church. I dare say that this family’s heritage of five generations in the Seventh-day Adventist Church owes much in their faith development to Adventist Christian education.
The 30 Adventist schools in Florida Conference with more than 3,000 students are making a life-changing impact upon children and families today. Please prayerfully consider sending your children or grandchildren to an Adventist elementary or secondary school or university. It provides an opportunity to leave a powerful legacy for generations to come. Ask God to provide the resources, and look for how Providence will lead you and your children.
I want to thank our churches that support a local church school. It is a significant financial investment; however, the spiritual investment is even greater. I also thank each one of you who faithfully returns tithe and offerings to help maintain this vital ministry for nurturing children in the ways of God.