Connect Ministries at Pacific Union College (PUC) in Angwin, California, United States, is an outreach ministry consisting of several teams of students who are passionate about Jesus and sharing His love by providing a worship experience. Their vision is Connecting One another, Nurturing New friendships with Everyone, and Collaborating Together in Ministry.
The mission is to reach out to communities in the Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and minister to people through praise, worship, and the word of God by uplifting their spirits and letting them know that PUC is supporting them. Each team has the capacity to lead out in church services, youth events, and other programs where they can inspire other young people to become worship leaders themselves. The goal is to connect with young people and showcase PUC’s presence and support.
PUC vice president for Enrollment, Marketing, and Communication Gene Edelbach tasked enrollment counselor and Connect Ministries director Glanelle Marie Ejurango to lead the ministry this school year. Ejurango was perfectly suited for this task—she has been exposed to ministerial work from a young age, having a mother who is a pastor, and her involvement in multiple local ministries continued until she attended PUC.
Applying all her years of training and ministry involvement, Ejurango laid the foundations for how Connect Ministries could run and nurtured it with the hope that it would continue to grow and be used for the Lord’s work.
Ejurango also has a deep passion for music. “Using worship as a tool to spread God’s love to whoever is willing to listen is my greatest honor,” she says. She is primarily an instrumentalist (cello, piano, guitar) but also enjoys singing. She believes that God prepared her all these years for this kind of work, and it has been a blessing in her life. “This may be my calling,” she says.
Among other responsibilities, Ejurango advises her teams on leading people through worship, music, and preaching. “We want to share our love for Christ and allow it to overflow into their lives, creating transformation and drive for growth in their spiritual life, as well,” Ejurango says. “Through Connect, we want to create a New Jerusalem, a new community that flows in many places.”
Churches and academies can benefit from Connect Ministries through the blessing and fellowship of an amazing worship experience. The goal is to glorify God and make genuine connections to those willing to be open about building a community for God’s kingdom.
Ejurango hopes to make a worship workshop available to PUC’s on-campus worship teams and invite high school worship teams to participate. “It will be a big project to develop, but I’m hoping it will be a successful one,” she says.
Connect Ministries also offers scholarships to incoming freshmen and current PUC students interested in joining. They offer several scholarship tiers for those who apply and meet the minimum requirements, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500. Each tier has specific requirements that will soon to be made available on their website.
The teams hope to expand their ministry beyond the borders of the Pacific Union Conference through attending church and academy events, chapels, vespers, and Sabbath morning services.
