Archive for month: February, 2025

This past Thursday, we had an out-of-this-world forum! Dr. Roedolph Opperman has a Ph.D. in Aerospace engineering and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He is a lead systems engineer at a space transportation company, Momentus. Dr. Roedolph Opperman presented to us a subject that he holds very near and dear.

Dr. Opperman reminded us of the moon landing more than 50 years ago. He said that NASA aims to send man back to the moon as soon as 2025, hoping to establish a base at the south lunar pole. 

Dr. Opperman described the history of our search for habitation on Mars. He explained that to this date, there have been five successful U.S. rovers sent to Mars. They began in 1997 with Sojourner, which was supposed to last only one week on the planet but lasted nearly 90 days! 2003, twin rovers launched Spirit and Opportunity, which were supposed to last 90 days. Ultimately, Spirit lasted over 6 years, and Opportunity lasted over 14 years! In 2011, the Curiosity Rover was sent up to Mars, followed most recently by the Perseverance Rover in 2021, on which Dr. Opperman himself had worked.  

Each of these rovers has been a fantastic mechanical achievement for man. Perseverance is the first of the rovers to have video footage of it landing on Mars, and it was sent with a small helicopter drone to assist the rover after successfully landing on the red planet. This was a test to see how this idea would work out, intending to complete just a few flights. However, it was able to fly over 10 miles and complete dozens more flights than expected. 

To get a machine that works on another planet requires a lot of extreme testing. This testing has to be completed here on Earth because, at this time, it is not feasible to send someone to do maintenance on it once it is out of orbit. This is where Dr. Opperman came into the equation with him and his team testing the rover long before it was even sent out to Mars. Remarkably, they must ensure no bacteria on the rover when testing it to reduce the likelihood that future missions to Mars will come across proof” of life that simply came from Earth. 

He discussed the advancements coming from Elon Musk’s company, Space X. Their most recent rocket has a size and weight capacity that can take 100 people into space; compare that to the previous space shuttle that was only suited to take 7. This is important for the people it can take into orbit and the equipment that can be taken up because of the increased weight and storage capacity. This will reduce the cost it takes to take things to space. What may be an even more remarkable achievement is the ability to reuse their rockets and the booster stage with the propellants. This has been achieved by using a chopstick method to catch the base while it is still in the air, returning to the launch pad after take-off. This will save an immense amount of money trying to recover the materials from the ocean after the landing or build a new rocket from scratch, which was historically the case. Before Mr. Musk achieved this feat, they would crash land in the ocean where the salt water would damage components, rendering them unsalvageable or burn up in the atmosphere. With this technique of catching them, all that needs to be done is a simple refilling before they can be used again.

Dr. Opperman shifted to how even while man is making these advancements, we are still so far, not even a distant speck, in comparison to God’s glorious power. It says in Psalm 147 that God determines the number of the stars and knows them all by name. He explained that there are estimated to be at least 100 billion trillion stars in the seeable universe. This does not even take into account what we have not discovered yet! God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22, saying He will make his descendants the stars of heaven. As the sand of the seashore, it is even more remarkable the more we learn about how vast the universe is. 

Dr. Opperman suggested a slideshow on a Sabbath evening to look at and admire some of the Hubble or James Webb telescope pictures of God’s wonderful creation of galaxies and the universe. This can help remind us of the power that our Creator has and the beauty that He provides us. We are so grateful for Dr. Opperman’s presentation and are excited by the advancements being made. Yet, we are still sober in our understanding that we can only do so much with our current physical and sensual bodies. While not now, the stars are calling, and we must go.

Dr. Douglas Winnail guided us this past Thursday through the proofs of God’s existence and the hardship God’s Church has faced since Christ’s death. He began by explaining what the Greek root word for church means. The Greek word is “Ecclesia,” meaning an assembly of people, a called-out group. It is not a physical building but a spiritual collection of God’s remnant, His people. Dr. Winnail showed us how to trace the true church through the name provided in the New Testament. He turned to 1 Corinthians 1:2, Acts 20:28, and Galatians 1:13, which all  have this phrase in common; “the Church of God.” Connecting these dots and realizing that God’s true church is called the Church of God is not complicated.

Dr. Winnail then detailed several doctrines that define the Church of God. Mark 1:14-15 says they, God’s early church, preached the good news of God’s coming kingdom. John 14:15 discusses keeping the commandments, and Acts 17:2 clearly shows that the apostle Paul kept the Sabbath day!

What happened to the New Testament church?

Dr. Winnail explained the timeframe of the seven church eras found in Revelations 2 and 3. 

• Ephesus 1st century-135 AD
• Smyrna 135-325 AD
• Pergamos 325-1100 AD
• Thyatira 1100-1500 AD
• Sardis 1500-1930 AD
• Philadelphia 1930-1990 AD
• Leodecian 1990-present 

He explained events and characteristics from each era. We were eager to receive this since we were just at the Waldensian Trail of Faith learning more about the Thyatira era of God’s church. 

Mission for today

Dr. Winnail closed out his forum by reminding us all, with scriptural evidence, what we are to be doing. From Ephesians 5:15, he emphasized that we need to make sure that we make the most of the time that we have, and from 1 Peter 3:18, he said that we need to be continuously learning and growing. Finally, Revelation 5:10 shows we must prepare to rule at God’s side in his soon-coming kingdom. We are grateful for the history Dr. Winnail provided us with, realizing how important it is for us not to become part of the Laodicean Era. We may be living in it, but we must strive to be Philadelphian spiritually!

We were excited to receive lessons from Mr. Brent Mitchell this past Thursday’s forum. He began with a personal account from his years at a small state college in New Jersey. He worked with a group on a project, and one of the team members submitted it, yet when they received their grade, they realized the person who submitted it redid the entire project the way he wanted. Mr. Mitchell used this example to emphasize that a team is only as strong as its weakest link, and communication is the key to building as solid a team as possible. 

Worldly importance

Mr. Mitchell shared that 86% of employers say lack of communication is the cause of workplace errors, while 84% of employees report that they rely on managers to convey communication. 65% of divorcees surveyed shared that lack of communication was the leading cause of their divorce. Communication is key when interacting in teams and interpersonal relationships. More importantly, how does communication affect our relationship with God? Like our relationships with those around us, we must work and communicate our relationship with God. We should never stagnate in our relationship with God; we need to grow and communicate; otherwise, we will go in the opposite direction. 

Understanding tools of communication 

As the years go on, more and more resources are at our disposal regarding communicating. The smartphone has changed the playing field drastically, and we are almost always a call or text within reach. An even more recent development is artificial intelligence. We now have predictive text on most of our devices, a form of AI that makes written communication even more accessible. Mr. Mitchell was passionate about using the tools available to us but understood the limitations that they may have. He shared three keys to assist us in becoming better communicators.

1. Know the limitations of your tools

Being able to call someone long distance and have a conversation with them is a great tool, yet it is different from having a face-to-face interaction with that person. Mr. Mitchell shared that in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18, Paul used letters to communicate with brethren he could not reach but still wished he could have been there in person to fellowship with them.

2. People are not machines. 

He presented that we need to continue developing our people skills. For centuries, we worked with our hands and then went to work with our minds, but now we are entering an age where we will need to work with our hearts because we are in an age of machines. Robots and artificial intelligence are becoming stronger and smarter, but there is one thing these machines will never develop: human emotion. Mr. Mitchell provided three areas in which we should be growing now.

1. Cultivate emotional intelligence
2. Learn to listen
3. Cultivate the soil of your heart 
4. Seek Counsel 

Communication is not only verbal, but it can be visual and written. He explained what we wear, our body language, and the tone of our voice, which sends a message about who we are. “Writing things is putting your mind on paper, and you must know how to do that. It’s a powerful communication tool you should focus on developing.” Seeking council can assist us in ensuring that we do not give off a different message than the one we mean by obtaining feedback on how we appear to another individual. It is crucial to seek counsel from someone who provides us with more than the answer we want to hear while simultaneously someone we trust and respect. 

Communication is essential in teaching doctrine. How well can we communicate the doctrine of the church to our friends and family when asked? Can we do it clearly and concisely?

We learned lessons of teamwork and how to communicate as young children, and it is essential to continue growing our communication skills throughout the rest of our lives. As time goes on, we will only come into contact with more and more forms of communication. We are excited to grow closer to one another now that we have a deeper grasp on how we should communicate!