Active in Ministry

Health is a Gift

4/24/2025

Seventh-day Adventists have a rich history of focusing on holistic health. In February, Brooke Reynolds, Wrangell elder, launched an wholesome series highlighting three critical components of wellness: rest, exercise, and nutrition.

In her first sermon titled "Come Rest," Brooke presented compelling data about how rest—or its absence—impacts overall health. Drawing from Scripture, she emphasized God's invitation to rest, noting that true restoration extends beyond mere sleep.

Her second sermon, "Let's Move," addressed exercise—one of the most common New Year's resolutions and often one of the most challenging to maintain. Brooke again turned to biblical teachings, highlighting our calling to be good stewards of our physical bodies.

In the final sermon, "Let's Eat," she thoughtfully acknowledged the diverse approaches to healthy eating. With engaging humor, including an anecdote about someone referring to black pepper as "the devil's dust," Brooke consistently emphasized God's desire for balance and perspective in our approach to health.

To hear these insightful messages, please click the links below.

The Miracles of Jesus Continues

3/31/2025

March 22, 2025 saw the Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist Congregation interacting with part 7 of the Miracles of Jesus sermon series. This series was start last April (see blog post here) with the elders leading the congregation chronologically through the stories about Jesus’ miracles. The congregation continues to respond well to the more relaxed sermon style.

This past weekend, Brooke Reynolds, elder, lead with two miracles around blind men, the blindman at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26) and the man born blind (John 9:1-12). She pointed out that both these stories point to Jesus individualizing his approach to healing. Then Marlin Benedict, elder, picked up with the stories of the boy with the unclean spirit (Matt. 17:14-20) and the miraculous temple tax in the fish's mouth (Matt 17:24-27). Being a fisherman too, Marlin shared that it would be one thing to find a fish with something in its mouth but it was miraculous to find the exact amount needed. The congregation shared their thoughts at intervals, including what these miracles tell us about who God is.

There are only 3 more sermons in the series before it wraps up. All sermons in this series can be found at www.wrangellsda.org/sermons-2025 or www.wrangellsda.org/sermons-2024 look for the graphics that say “Miracles of Jesus.” The church looks forward to the next series.

Alive in Jesus Continues to Roll Out

2/26/2025

On April 2, 2025 Brooke Reynolds (Wrangell Lead for Southeast AK (Children's Ministry Team Lead)) and Jerilyn Burtch (Palmer Lead for Southcentral/Valley) participated in the 2nd year of Alive in Jesus (AIJ) Training on behalf of the Alaska Conference. The morning started with an introduction to the new curriculum for Kindergarten and Primary. Both of which will be available starting January 2026. The day progressed with learning about ways to utilize the materials so that it is accessible and fun to all learning styles and abilities.

At the lunch break, Brooke and Jerilyn, got to speak with Sherri Uhrig, Children's Ministry director for the North American Division, about the challenges and amazing ways that God is leading in Children's Ministries in Alaska. In the afternoon, the AIJ team did a live demonstration on using the Kindergarten and then Primary curriculum. This included an interactive mission story and some games. At the end of the training Brooke and Jerilyn were inspired to write down some ideas to share with the rest of Children's Ministries team in Alaska. They look forward to helping train and implement AIJ across Alaska.

Alive in Jesus is the new sabbath school curriculum. Babies and Beginning materials is now available. Training is happening each year as the curriculum rolls out so that churches can be ready. See the post about last year's training: here.

The New Year Starts with Communion

1/28/2025

January 4, 2025, was the first Sabbath of the New Year and a communion Sabbath. The communion service is a time to reflect on the sacrifice/death of Jesus our Savior on the cross. In that service we have three elements footwashing, taking of the bread, and the grape juice ("wine"). The footwashing reminds us of Jesus' last night, before His death. He washed the disciples' feet as an example of His servant leadership. We partake of the bread that symbolizes His broken body for us. And then the grape juice as the blood of His sacrifice.

At this most recent communion, elder Marlin Benedict reminded the congregation that communion was a time of reflection and gratitude. It is a time to recall that the story does not end at the cross either. After this, the rest of the service proceeded as usual with, as mentioned above, footwashing, the bread, and the grape juice. A closing song was sung to remind everyone of the occasion's solemnity.

Many people skip church when they hear that there is going to be communion. There are a variety of reasons that we'd heard, "I'm uncomfortable with having someone wash my feet," or "I am not spiritual enough to take communion." The good news to all of that is this... That is the point! We aren't good enough or worthy by ourselves and communion reminds us who is. Jesus paid it all so that we could have a fresh start through Him. May we start this New Year afresh in Christ.

To learn more about what Seventh-day Adventist believe about communion see the video below.

For the sermon from this past communion click the picture above.

Cookie Gifting

12/29/2024

Sunday, December 1, the roads were icy to the Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church. Nevertheless, a few brave and determined women decided to meet anyways to carry on the cooking making tradition.
This year the group was tasked with making cookies for the local schools, as a part of the Wrangell Ministerial Association project to show support for the teachers. This made getting the cookies done all the more imperative.
The women quickly took inventory of where else they would be making deliveries, including the local medical clinic, mental health office, and senior apartments, to name a few.
The cookies were mixed, cut out, and baked in what felt like record time. Then the fun of decorating began, while a Christmas movie played in the background. Once that was completed the cookies were boxed up and slated for delivery.
The next day during delivery, a cookie recipient shared, "We look forward to these cookies!" The women believe their time was well spent despite the ice to bring a little bit of cheer to the community.

Miracle of Jesus- Week of Prayer 2024

11/30/2024

The Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church's annual week of prayer aired on KWRG 99.9, the week of November 24-30, 2024. This year's theme was the "Miracles of Jesus." It is a special subject for the church family. Since they are without a pastor right now, the church looks for creative ways to have sermons that didn't involve watching a prerecorded sermon from the internet. For several months, the two elders, Marlin Benedict and Brooke Reynolds have been jointly sharing with the congregation a couple of miracles a month (in chronological order). The congregation was then invited to share what they learned about God from these miracles.

This same series was then turned into this year's week of prayer. Over the seven days a selection of miracles were covered. This included the miracles of the miraculous catch of fish, the Centurion, and the crippled woman. Marlin and Brooke anchored the 20 minute episodes by sharing straight from the Bible and bringing in what had been learned during the series at the church. The series can be listened to here: Week of Prayer 2024.

Significant Women's Retreat

10/27/2024

The weekend of October 18-20, 2024 was a busy one for the Wrangell SDA Church. Several church members helped with the community health fair in town. While others headed south to Ketchikan for the first annual women's retreat in Southeast Alaska. Ketchikan Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church graciously hosted the event. And in addition to Wrangell, ladies from the Craig SDA Church joined. All attendees made it to the event on time despite a delayed plane from Wrangell.

After introductions and music, a round of "comparison bingo" was played to illustrate the speaker’s, Brooke Reynolds, topic for the evening. Brooke’s talk was entitled “The Comparison Game” in which she talked about the story of Leah (Genesis 29). Brooke’s main point was that comparison gets us nowhere and we should put our focus on the One that really matters and knows us, God.

Sabbath morning, the women participated in the Sabbath School at the Ketchikan SDA Church service. Special music was shared by some of the ladies from Craig. Kari Defreest, elder at the Ketchikan SDA Church, gave the sermon on Leah called “Learning to Praise.” Kari talked about how praise can be incremental. Sabbath afternoon those who wished to went for a hike around Ward Lake and were blessed with some decent weather.

In the early evening, Janet Fairchild-Hamilton (in ministry with her husband at the Ketchikan and Craig SDA Churches) lead a discussion on legacy. Janet read passages in Genesis 29 and reminded everyone that God used several of Leah's children in a special way. Janet emphasized that from Leah’s son Judah Jesus our Messiah would be born. To end the retreat, after sundown the women watched the movie Unsung Hero, the story of the Smallbone family. The movie brought the point home that our significance is provided by God.

The group hopes to meet again next year with more women including those from other Southeast Alaska communities. See you in 2025!

Wrangell SDA at the Health Fair

10/20/2024

Some of the goods that were available at the booth.

Wrangell SDA Church Volunteer, April, shows off some of the goods that were at the booth.

The Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church participated in the local health fair on October 19, 2024. They had several books available including Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge, the story of Desmond Doss (see below if you are interested in a copy being mailed to you). Glow Tracts were available on a variety of health topics. Church member, Marilyn, who is known for her healthy cooking, shared two recipes and provided samples for the crowd. The pumpkin spice muffins were a big hit. Some folks were more skeptical of the brownies made with dates but several church members attested to their deliciousness. There were two prize drawings. One for kids and the other for adults. The kids' cookbook is pictured in April's hand in the photo to the left. April reports that the booth went well and that several people came by to say hi. She also passed out some flyers for the newly formed Adventurer club. Additionally there was a shepherd and sheep craft available for kids to take home. The annual health fair is a highlight for the church and a great opportunity to share with the community about the importance of spiritual and physical health.

Adventurer Club Begins

9/29/2024

Adventurer Club Leaders

Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist Church knew something had to change. The church has a heart for children’s ministries but unfortunately hasn't had an active children’s ministry in many years. In the past few years, members of the church have helped with Camp Lorraine and have gone to Bethel, AK to put on a Vacation Bible School. While these activities are important, they only happen once a year. Church members knew something had to change.

The church board decided to rectify this problem by daring to start an Adventurers club. Some people might ask, "Why not start a Pathfinders club?" After prayerful consideration the board realized that there were many activities already in the community for Pathfinders age kids (5th grade and up) and by comparison not as much for the younger kids.

Taking a step of faith, the team began to research how to set up and run a Adventurer Club. Brooke Reynolds, Adventurer Club Director, shared, "I had never been in either Adventurers or Pathfinders, so it was entirely new to me as to how to do this. However, I can see how God has been leading us to this moment."

On September 14, the Wrangell Adventurer Club launched. At the first meeting, one brave child showed up and was willing to stay for the whole program. She let the team know that she had a good time. At the second meeting, the club had quadrupled to four members. The church is thrilled to start with this humble beginning. As of this post, there is word that more children are interested in coming. Please pray with us as we go through our first Adventurer Club year together.

If you'd like to learn more about our club click HERE!

Local Food Bank Donation

8/30/2024

Reading the local newspaper, one church member came across an article about how the local food bank was in desperate need of nonperishable items, especially after the landslide last year. Inspired the church member talked to one of the elders of the church about starting a donation drive.

During the months of April and May the church set out to collect items. Many food items were donated such as soups and cereals. Additionally, feminine hygiene products were rounded up. These items are often overlooked but are a basic necessity.

By June the church had enough items ready to donate. Four full boxes were taken to the Salvation Army in Wrangell. They greatly appreciated the additional supply to their stock. If you live in Wrangell and would like to donate please contact: (907) 874-3753 or stop by the Salvation Army for more ways to donate.

Wrangell SDA Church is happy to partner with other churches and the local community to meet everyday needs.

Active in Ministry Blog

Welcome to the blog of the Wrangell Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The purpose of this blog is share what is going at our local church. We are a small church and active in endeavors to share with others.

Our hope is that you get to know us a little better. We'd love for you to join us!

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