In St. Louis, Missouri, Pastor Lusajo Kasyupa is focused on revival. The Tabernacle of Praise Church is full of disciples meeting several times a week. Every Sabbath morning, up to 30 people arrive hours before service to pray. They pray over every seat in the sanctuary, every musical instrument, and every microphone. They show up at 9 am for what Pastor Kasyupa calls “Make Your Voice Heard in Heaven.” Getting to church extra early isn’t easy, especially for families. Before working in St. Louis, Pastor Kasyupa shepherded a flock in the nearby town of Charleston at Grand Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church. That’s where he first brought up the idea of holding an early-morning prayer meeting before Sabbath school. There were doubts about such a program working. Sabbath school attendance was not great to begin with. Pastor Kasyupa said, “I remember mentioning to my prayer ministry leader, who is my elder, ‘If nobody’s there, four people will be there: that’s me, my wife, and our two sons.’”  But the church family responded. It wasn’t long before the early-morning prayer meetings attracted 10, 20, and even 30 people each week. “We’re not asking for silver or gold or anything,” he said. “We’re just asking for the presence of God to permeate our worship experience.” When he moved to Tabernacle of Praise, Pastor Kasyupa brought the new program with him to great success. As part of the Pentecost 2025 initiative from the North American Division, the church has recently gained a number of new disciples. One of those is Tenshi Shaw, a kindergarten teacher and mother to 7-year-old Dakari.  Tenshi had been looking around, attending different churches for a while. She had attended Baptist churches as a child and found herself searching for a renewed connection with Jesus, so she asked her churchgoing friend, Cherie, if she could come along with her. Cherie could tell that Tenshi was in a place of spiritual need and pushed her to officially become a Seventh-day Adventist. Stepping into faith When she was younger, Tenshi struggled with fears about life after baptism. “For the longest time growing up, you think once you get baptized you can no longer do any wrong,” she shared. “That’s what I’d been told.” It wasn’t until she met Pastor Kasyupa and joined Tabernacle of Praise that she decided baptism was for her, even if she wasn’t perfect. “He told me that was not the case at all. This is about stepping into your faith.” When church members told Tenshi that Dakari expressed a desire to get baptized too, she was amazed. “When I saw my son going in the path that I did when I was younger, finding my faith, finding Jesus, and saying he wanted to get baptized,” she said, “I just had tears falling.” Her son’s journey has been shorter, but just as convicted. “Dakari just jumped in headfirst,” said Tenshi. “He just believed with his whole heart that he was a child of God.” Pastor Kasyupa explained, “I believe in the power and efficacy of prayer. And I’m a living witness of what it has done in my personal life. I wanted to direct the church … [to] avail itself of the privilege of prayer.” Now, bright and early on Sabbath mornings, Dakari and his mom are there. He likes to pray over the drums.   Bio: Luke Morris is a senior English major from St. Louis, Missouri. When he isn’t writing or studying, he enjoys playing folk music. Travel tip: That thing you’re very worried about will be fine. People have an endless ability to adapt to new circumstances. Worst-case scenarios aren’t so bad.  

Loss is never easy and the loss of an infant is among the most heartbreaking experiences a family can endure. According to the CDC, infant loss remains a significant reality in the United States, with approximately 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births and one in four pregnancies ending in loss, including miscarriage and stillbirth. These moments call not only for clinical excellence, but for deep compassion and presence. In 2024, a mother experienced the sudden loss of her 9-day-old infant in the AdventHealth Parker Emergency Department (ED). While she later expressed profound gratitude for the kindness and compassion shown by the ED team during those unimaginable moments, she also shared something important: after leaving the hospital, she felt unsure of what to do next. She lacked resources specific to postpartum care after neonatal loss, such as guidance on lactation suppression and emotional support. Rather than letting this feedback end there, the AdventHealth Parker ED team members chose to listen, learn and respond with love. In early 2025, Jennifer Jones, RN, clinical nurse manager for the ED, received the mother’s feedback through patient advocacy. Jones immediately reached out to leaders and clinical nurses across departments, including obstetrics (OB), to better understand what resources existed and where gaps remained. Through collaboration with Shiri Laufer, RN (OB bereavement champion) and Ashley Albright-Pedigo, RN (ED bereavement champion), it became clear that while OB had strong postpartum loss resources, the ED needed additional tools tailored to grieving mothers. That realization sparked change. Through cross-department collaboration, postpartum and grief resources were shared, expanded and formally integrated into ED processes. A new approach was established: when neonatal loss occurs in the ED, both the OB and ED teams now partner to ensure families receive comprehensive emotional and physical postpartum support. When Jones later sent the mother a condolence card explaining the new support plan, the mother reached out personally to share her appreciation, expressing comfort in knowing that her experience would help future families receive clearer guidance and care. But the work didn’t stop there. In late 2025, Caitlin Curtis, RN, became the new ED bereavement champion, further expanding resources and training. Drawing from partnerships with lactation services, child loss support organizations and neighboring facilities, Curtis helped create a bereavement resource folder for families experiencing loss. These folders include grief support information, lactation guidance after loss, counseling resources, chaplain contacts, funeral and autopsy information, journaling tools and a small memorial item—offering continued support long after families leave the hospital. As Curtis shared, “These people are not just patients but real people who we care for and that is the heart of nursing.” This year, ED nurses and chaplains received training on how to compassionately offer these resources and support families during some of their most vulnerable moments. This work is a powerful example of what it means to live out AdventHealth’s ‘Love Me’ service standard: listening with empathy, responding with intention and transforming even the hardest moments into opportunities to better serve those who trust us with their care.

A cold, brutal Missouri winter greeted Beatrice Phangaphanga, foreshadowing the future she faced as her new life began in a foreign country. Moving continents was not something she had planned, especially not with a three-month-old baby in tow.  Beatrice grew up in Malawi with a Presbyterian-based life. She had a humble start growing up, and one lesson her family taught her from an early age was the importance of family and community. She got married in Malawi and was working an administrative job when her husband, Enoch Ng’oma, got an amazing opportunity. He received a scholarship at a university in Missouri, and the next thing she knew, she was moving with him and their newborn baby, named David Ng’oma.  As she faced this incredibly hard time in her life, Beatrice felt lonely and pressured trying to raise a baby while struggling to adapt to the vast cultural differences. Yet God worked in mysterious ways, and she learned that God will send help in His timing. One day during this tumultuous time of trying to adapt while raising a baby, a neighbor knocked on her door and asked if she needed any help. She had never spoken to this woman before, but somehow she was right there when Beatrice needed her.  Through this woman, Beatrice was introduced to the nearby church, and it was a blessing to not only learn the Word of God, but also join a community again. The church was a huge help during those days, as they had Bible studies, childcare and transportation available. This chosen family, based on faith, was exactly what Beatrice was looking for. Journey forward The couple added another child, Zachary Ng’oma, to their family, and as time went on, Beatrice was still not feeling fulfilled in her relationship with God. She loved the community and people, but she felt as though she was not learning everything she needed to. Then she remembered an Adventist church she drove past every day as she took her children to school. The church was giving toys out to the children, and Beatrice, who always tries to make her children happy, decided to take them there. When she sat through the Bible study for the   , she finally felt like she had found what she was looking for all this time.  Throughout her hardships, however, Beatrice had questions and uncertainties. She questioned if she was raising her kids the right way and if they were learning everything they were supposed to. “The Christian journey is not a simple journey—it’s not an easy journey,”she says. Her daily practice of reading the Bible helped her navigate through fears and grow stronger in her faith.  She wants to continue another generation of people who value community and family and who also have a strong faith in God. “African families are about unity and oneness,” she explained, describing how all the children are raised together. “You don’t have to separate like cousins. You can just grow up together and not try to differentiate each other. We grow up knowing that we are one. Everyone is family.” The culture Beatrice came from is rooted in Leviticus 19:18: “Love thy neighbor.” Now she has found a faith she thinks can help implement those values in her children’s lives.  God has led Beatrice halfway around the world to bring her closer to Him and to strengthen her faith. No matter the hardships, she has stayed faithful to God and will continue to build that relationship. She says, “You have to fight for your faith to keep going.”    Bio: Aleina Melo is a senior at Union Adventist University studying international relations. She grew up in California, but her parents are from Mexico, and she is a first-generation student. She dreams of one day having a family and supporting them through her career in law.   Life Tip: The view looks better with someone you love. Life is too short not to book the trip!  

During a period of about a month—from December of 2025 through January of 2026—six current students, one former student, and two students’ parents at the Cortez Adventist Christian School in Cortez, Colorado, were baptized or joined in membership the Cortez Seventh-day Adventist Church by profession of faith.  “Last spring, we had a Week of Prayer with Go Therefore Ministries* that really touched the school,” remarked DeeDee Franklin, the Cortez School principal. “Several students requested Bible studies and baptismal classes.” As a result of the event, two students, Ayden and Grayson G., were baptized on Dec. 20 at the Cortez Church. On Jan. 17, two students, Snow and Kennedy B., were baptized and their sister, Creedence W., along with their parents, Danny and Katrina Davis, who joined the church by profession of faith. Alice H. was baptized, and her sister Angela, a former student, joined by profession of faith also on Jan. 17. There is also one other parent currently doing Bible studies with the pastor. All three families involved were formerly non-Adventist. God is good!   * Go Therefore Ministries is not affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church or the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Information supplied by Deirdre (Deedee) Franklin, principal and teacher at the Cortez Adventist Christian School in Colorado.