• Review and describe our list of resources
• Review and Caption videos from previous Kampmeetings
• Join our Social Media Team to curate and schedule content for future postings
• Join the Publishing Team to curate and create content for the Connection magazine
• Help translate content into other languages
• Review areas of the Kinship website and provide feedback

Send an email to communications@sdakinship.org if you would like to volunteer!

We are still planning to have our 2020 election of directors. However, because we won't be meeting in person for Kampmeeting, our schedule for elections (online) will be changed somewhat. Stay tuned for exact dates!
The following positions are open for election this year:

• Vice-president
• Treasurer
• Director of Youth Interests (under age 30)
• Director of Communications

If you have any interest in running for one of these positions, or if you know of another Kinship member who does, please send an email to nominations@sdakinship.org. Vice President Floyd Poenitz says: "Make a difference for LGBTQ+ Adventists who are coming to grips with what it means to wrestle with understanding faith and gender and orientation constructs by being part of the Kinship leadership."

If you want to know the Position Description for any or all of the above, please go to https://www.sdakinship.org/kinshipneedsyou.

Due to the corona crisis, the near future is uncertain and we don’t know when things will get back to normal. Nevertheless, the European Kinship Meeting (EKM) is still planned for the end of August. We expect that by that time things will have gone back to normal.

It is understandable that you hesitate to register as long as it is uncertain when travel and meeting restrictions will be lifted. For that reason, we are giving you until the end of June to register at the early bird rate.

Today's world is a bit chaotic! A few weeks ago our political world was filled with various discussions, opinions, needs, and desires and gatherings. Our physical world was moving out of wintertime and looking forward to springtime with less snow, tornadoes, and rain, and more wildflowers and wonderful sunsets. Suitcases and hiking backpacks were coming out of their closets getting ready for fun trips, looking forward to cruises, vacations, school proms and graduations, and spring break.

Then suddenly our world changed! Our plans were dampened and some were washed away. The virus arrived and, with it, major changes to our plans, our lives, and our immediate futures.

When Seventh-day Adventist Kinship was founded more than 40 years ago, we could never have imagined the progress recently realized by the LGBTQI community. We are still seeing advances in cultural, legal, and personal acceptance in most societies.

Sadly and ironically, religious prejudice and intolerance is one of the last barriers we have to overcome. We are happy to report that the Kinship Advisory Council, made up of friends and allies throughout North America, is working to increase the awareness of Adventist members and congregations about the dignity and equality owed to all members of the LBGTQI community and their families. The Advisory includes pastors, professors, administrators, and lay members and is committed to making equality in the Adventist Church a reality. It has now been meeting annually for the last twenty years. The most recent meeting has sent recommendations to the Kinship Board for ways to engage the denomination in the coming year, along with a report of how members of the Advisory have been involved in supporting Kinship during the past year. Members of the Advisory were given a copy of the book, Unclobber, by Colby Martin.

We are all experiencing a new way of life. We are hoping it is temporary, but we don't know exactly when this will end. In the meantime, please do all you can to help globally. Even if there are few or no reported cases where you live, please follow the safety guidelines that are being given. Limit your in-person contact with others and do self-quarantine as much as possible. Wash hands often and eat as healthfully as you can to prevent any illnesses that might be around during this season. Together we can come out of this crisis much stronger.

During this time, find new ways of keeping busy and helping others. Check on friends and loved ones and see if there is anything that is needed. Go to the Kinship website and check out our resources. There are tons of good videos and articles to read and share with friends, family, and pastors. Although the General Conference in Indianapolis has been postponed, we want to do some aggressive outreach programs to Adventist pastors and educators to invite them to learn more about SDA Kinship and our community of current and former Seventh-day Adventists who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Unfortunately, it is necessary for us to postpone our Rehoboth mini-kampmeeting until perhaps the early fall, or possibly even next Spring. However, we are still planning to meet virtually for an abbreviated version of our retreat.

Stay tuned for more information. As we did for Region 2 vespers on Friday evening, let's all stay connected via Zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Google Hangouts, or whatever works best.

A Week at Quest Learning Center

BY JERRY MCKAY

By the end of the first week of September 1982, I had decided to relocate to Pennsylvania for counseling. The first thing I had to do was to call Perry in Japan, because my decision would require his finding a teacher to replace me on short notice. At $3.00 per minute, our call was brief. Perry said that any inconvenience my decision might cause did not concern him. Rather, he was concerned for me. After sharing a few details about my visit with Colin, I thought I had put Perry’s reservations to rest. That was not the case. Two days later, Perry called back.

Reinder Bruinsma has been a Seventh-day Adventist conference president for the Netherlands and for Belgium, General Conference administrator, pastor, and author - among several other things. In what he loosely calls his "retirement" he continues to write, speak to Adventist leadership and laity conferences and, attend other meetings around the world.