TODAY Paper – Mon. July 12

Claudio Consuegra joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1976. At Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) in Maryland, he met and married Pamela (née Napier), the associate director of the Family Ministries Department for the North American Division. Prior to being elected Family Ministries director for the NAD, Claudio served as the director for the Ministerial, Evangelism, Communication, Ethnic Ministries, and Family Ministries departments, as well as the vice president of administration for the Minnesota Conference. For three years, he and Pam hosted a national call-in talk show on LifeTalk Radio.

During his career as a pastor, Claudio has been a law enforcement chaplain (CMC) and critical stress management specialist. After the 9/11 attack, he was deployed at Ground Zero; he also served after the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse.

Claudio holds a bachelor’s degree in theology from Columbia Union College, a master’s degree in counseling psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family counseling from Radford University, and a Doctor of Ministry degree with an emphasis in family ministries from Andrews University.

He and Pamela have been married for more than 35 years and have two daughters, Diana and Hadassah, and sons-in-law, Greggory and Andrew, respectively.

Elise Kruithof is the director of the Sakala Success Centre and the mental health coordinator at Burman University. Prior to joining Burman in 2018, she worked as a provincial suicide prevention coordinator with Alberta Health Services. Before moving to Alberta in 2012, Elise lived in northwestern British Columbia, where she taught at Northwest Community College (psychology, counseling, sociology, and criminology) and worked as a community-based counselor.

A native of Quebec City, Denis Fortin is a professor of historical theology and a former dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary of Andrews University (Michigan, USA). He is also a teaching pastor for the One Place Fellowship on campus.

Denis is married to Kristine Knutson, and they have three adult children: Kimberly, Mark, and Erika. In 2019, Denis and Kris walked 800 km of the ancient pilgrimage trail, the Way of St. James, from France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Jose Daniel Sanchez was born in Venezuela on May 30, 1994. In 2007, his family received an invitation to minister among the Hispanic community in Toronto, ON, which they accepted. He went to Crawford Adventist Academy (main campus) and, after graduation, attended Burman University, from which he obtained his degree in religious studies in 2016.

That same year, the Ontario Conference invited him to serve as the youth pastor of the College Park SDA Church in Oshawa. After two years of service, he went on to serve for one year as the assistant pastor of the Kendalwood Seventh-day Adventist Church. Currently, Jose is a full-time student at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, pursuing his MDiv with a special emphasis in chaplaincy.

Jose is happily married to a wonderful woman by the name of Laura Angelica Sanchez, whom he met while doing his pastoral field experience in Edmonton. Jose enjoys all types of physical activity, especially playing soccer and jumping rope. He also enjoys writing music, singing, and playing instruments. Lately, Jose also began a YouTube channel in Spanish called “Claro y Simple,” where he seeks to present the gospel through word and music in a “clear and simple” way.

Join Debbie Schwarz daily at 6:30 PM for Conference Happenings as she speaks with various people from the Alberta Conference.