Category Archives: Pathfinders

The Baptism of Gabriel Wilkerson

New Birth In Baptism 

On 8/26/2023, Gabriel Wilkerson became the newest member of the Breath Of Life SDA church and was publicly immersed in the water to demonstrate his commitment to follow Jesus’s example through Baptism. We celebrate with his family and pray that he will continue on trusting God as he serves his country as a member of the US Air Force.
Four years ago, at the International Pathfinder Camporee, Gabriel and his mother searched for a Teen Leadership Training program bring offered by a Pathfinder Club in the DC Metro area. They found the Beltsville Broncos Club in the Potomac Conference. Gabriel had completed his Guide level and wanted to do more and receive Christian Leadership Training. He brought his three younger brothers to join the  club with him. The commitment he demonstrated throughout this four year program has been exemplary. Two years ago he also began his Master Guide Journey  with the club counselors. Towards the end of this journey, his study of the Master Guide requirements, combined with his collective study, and Pathfinder experiences with his counselors over these many years helped him realize the importance baptism. He understood that making the very public declaration to follow the examples of Jesus begins with baptism. This is the link to witness a new birth for yourself: Gabriel’s Baptism
We are looking forward to continue our journey with him and his brothers as mentors and family no matter where this life takes them. May the God of peace protect and keep him safe throughout all his life journeys, so that he may continue to be a powerful witness to the supreme power of the living God of Creation.

 

July 11 Directors’ Meeting

Welcome to 2021-2022 Pathfinder Year

July 1 is the beginning of our 2021-2022 Pathfinder Year.  It was good to have our club directors and their deputies join us for our July 11 directors’ meeting. Pastor Sherilyn O’Ffill and the Potomac Conference Coordinators are looking forward to a wonderful and challenging year filled with many opportunities to share Jesus Christ with your Pathfinders. We are posting the full video of the meeting here for you to review so club directors can successfully plan the 2021-2022 Pathfinder Year.
As information becomes available, it will be added to new posts on this website, so check-in for updates.

Directors Meeting Power Point – Director_Meeting_2021

Directors Meeting PDF – Director_Meeting_2021

It Starts With Me

It Starts With ME

2020 Potomac Pathfinders Camporee Logo

Friday Night Worship

 

Here are the placements for the Sabbath afternoon Scavenger Hunt.

Most Creative Photo – Wheaton Spanish – Team 4

Most Creative Team Name – Fredricksburg – Team 9 (Reasonable Amount of TP)

Most Items Completed – Seabrook – Team 1

Most Teams Participating – Capital Spanish – 18 teams

Top Scoring Clubs:
1st Place – Seabrook – average 165 points

2nd Place – Fredricksburg – average 142 points

3rd Place – Wheaton Spanish – average 136 points

Top Scoring Teams:

Seabrook – Team 1 – 240 points

Beltsville – Matiras + Ezekiel – 235 points

Beltsville – Illangovan + Alec – 215 points

 

Bread Dough Honor

 

Here is the Bread Dough honor worksheet

BREAD DOUGH HONOR WORKSHEET

Ingredients List:  Please have the following items available and ready to use during our presentation.

1 – 2 Cups           Flour

½ Cup                    Salt

½ Cup                    Water

Food Coloring

Gloves

Paper Plate

Mixing Bowl

Paper Towel

After the honor time is over, you will need access to an oven or some other way of getting your art completely dry before you paint and/or seal it.

HOW WE ARE GOING TO MAKE THIS WORK FOR ALL OF US:

1 – Attached is the worksheet for the honor.  It is a fillable PDF so if you want, you can open it and type in your answers in the fields provided.  This is so that you can show both your completed worksheet and your finished projects to your director or counselor.  Once you do this they will be able to get the honor patch to you.

2 – PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS AN ADULT nearby while you are in this session.  This is for your safety and so that they can help you with parts of this honor process which might be more difficult and/or riskier (a hot oven).

Enjoy

Chris Walker’s Memorial

 Hello everyone,

Chris Walker’s Memorial will be broadcasted live from his Facebook account on Sunday August 9th. Please join us here at 4pm eastern time.

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552598276

YouTube Broadcast

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKXJGa_9o2iD3WONYFvjijQ/videos
This is the link to the YouTube channel where the memorial will also be livestreamed. Please share with anyone who is not friends with Chris on facebook or does not have access to facebook

They might be testing the livestream equipment, so you might see the video start before then.

Here is the link to The YouTube tribute to Chris  I hope you enjoy it.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4LY0tMRpYjs&t=3s


Posted on Facebook by Martha Kigernelson.

Christopher Alexander Walker was an amazing person whom many people loved and considered a close friend. Despite serious struggles with Sickle Cell Disease, he accomplished a great deal in his too-short life. His academic successes were impressive, but eclipsed by his achievements in youth ministry. His service to youth was as integral to him as breathing. He was a person who radiated joy and humor and warmth. He also understood the challenges of young people and knew how to connect with and support teens. He loved people and kept in touch with so many who needed that connection. He perceived needs and found ways to meet them, often putting people together with others who had the needed skills or resources. He chose to be joyful and grateful every day despite chronic and often severe pain. His faith was his foundation and he showed the world what the love of Jesus looks like in person. His influence will live on in those who were fortunate to share his life.

Potomac Pathfinders second Director’s Meeting

Moving Forward

We are grateful for the presentations that were made by each of the club directors.  Each demonstrated why Potomac Pathfinders is an effective and essential ministry at every level in Potomac Conference.  Our meeting was very productive, and we learned that we are all stronger when we press together, share information, and prayerfully seek God’s direction at every step in this ministry.  We learned that we have all found the Covid-19 environment very challenging to adjust to. We also learned:

  • that personalizing our approach to staff gives them the encouragement they need to move forward with us.
  • Making personal connections with our pathfinders increases they desire to continue because they have an increase sence of belonging.
  • This new environment constantly forces us to re-focus on the original intent of our club ministry.
  • We can maintain the health and safety of our club members and staff as we explore new creative ways to meet our required elements in the Pathfinder program.

As they become available, I will post the materials each presenter has shared as a resource to use in your ministry.

 

Agradecemos las presentaciones realizadas por cada uno de los directores del club. Cada uno demostró por qué Potomac Conquestadores es un ministerio eficaz y esencial en todos los niveles de la Conferencia Potomac. Nuestra reunión fue muy productiva, y aprendimos que todos somos más fuertes cuando nos unimos, compartimos información y buscamos en oración la dirección de Dios en cada paso de este ministerio. Aprendimos que a todos nos ha parecido muy difícil adaptarse al entorno Covid-19. También aprendimos:

  • que personalizar nuestro enfoque hacia el personal les da el aliento que necesitan para seguir adelante con nosotros.
  • Hacer conexiones personales con nuestros pioneros aumenta su deseo de continuar porque tienen un mayor sentido de pertenencia.
  • Este nuevo entorno nos obliga constantemente a reenfocarnos en la intención original del ministerio de nuestro club.
  • Podemos mantener la salud y la seguridad de los miembros y el personal de nuestro club a medida que exploramos nuevas formas creativas de cumplir con nuestros elementos requeridos en el programa Conquestadores.

A medida que estén disponibles, publicaré los materiales que cada presentador ha compartido como recurso para usar en su ministerio.

This is a presentation that was shared by the Olney Musketeers director, Andrew Herolds.

Esta es una presentación que fue compartida por el director de Olney Musketeers, Andrew Herolds.

The Presentation link

Nutrition Honor

Decoupage

Scantuary Presentation

Christian Citizenship

Cultural Heritage Honor with Pastor Christian Martin

Cultural Heritage Honor

Living Hope Messengers Pathfinder Club hosted a Facebook Live event  on Sabbath, May 23 at 4 PM.  The Honor was taught by Pastor Christian Martin live on their Facebook page:

Click on the embedded YouTube video  below.


This is an opportunity for all interested Pathfinders and staff members to  earn the Cultural Heritage Honor by watching the presentation, filling out the attached sheet below and submitting it to your club directors to receive your patch.

 

Cultural Heritage LHM

Urgent Message from the Columbia Union Conference

Dear Conference Youth Directors and Pathfinder Leaders,

 

Your Columbia Union Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE) planning team has been closely monitoring the rapidly developing Coronavirus threat.  We are attempting to strike a balance between responding diligently and not overreacting to the situation.  We are considering alternative models to our traditional PBE event. However, it has become increasingly clear to us the necessity of postponing our PBE event. Thus, there will be no Union level PBE event held on March 21.

We will continue to closely watch how the virus continues to spread and evaluate its impact on our churches and communities.  In early April, we will reassess the feasibility of rescheduling this event.

I thank you for your patience and understanding as we attempt to responsibly respond to this crisis.  Please understand that our priority has been and always will be the safety and wellbeing of our Pathfinders.

I would like to express my personal appreciation to Sherilyn O’Ffill, our union PBE coordinator, and our planning team for their quick action and due diligence to this very fluid situation.

Blessings,

Frank Bondurant

Vice President, Ministries Development

COLUMBIA UNION CONFERENCE

OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

Tel. (410) 997-3414, ext. 560

5427 Twin Knolls Road

Columbia, MD 21045