Press Releases

North American Division to Cancel 2020 Pathfinder Bible Experience

After numerous discussions with church leaders — and consultation with health experts — the NAD cancels PBE for 2020, offers online event.

March 5, 2020 | Columbia, Md. | North American Division

After consultation with North American Division (NAD) administration, the youth directors of the nine unions in the NAD, additional consultation from local Oregon health officials, and a discussion and vote from the NAD Executive Committee (NADCOM), the NAD Youth Department is announcing the cancellation of the division-level 2020 Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE) scheduled for April 17-18, 2020, in Salem, Oregon.

Due to the ongoing uncertainty with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and the fact that the PBE was going to be held in an area of the U.S. that has seen a spike in reported COVID-19 cases, the difficult decision was made to cancel the division-level event. Every effort was made to consider other venues to hold PBE, but this was found to be impossible in such a short time. One final consideration was that the union-level PBE events will be held over the next three weekends, and the clubs that qualify for the division-level event would need to promptly make travel arrangements. There was concern that clubs may incur costs that would not be refundable.

The NAD Youth Department is pleased to announce that an online broadcast will be held on April 18, 2020, at 5 p.m. EDT from the NAD headquarters.* This online event will allow clubs from all over the NAD to tune in and answer a selection of questions from the biblical books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, and Micah. NAD Youth directors want to acknowledge the hard work put in by Pathfinders and volunteer staff from all across the NAD to learn this year’s selected Bible books. More details about the event will be made available shortly and can be found at www.clubministries.org.

*For future updates on the 2020 Pathfinder Bible Experience, please visit https://www.clubministries.org/pathfinders/pathfinder-bible-experience/.

For more information regarding COVID-19 from Adventist Risk Management, visit https://adventistrisk.org/en-us/safety-resources/solutions-newsletter/2020/march/information-regarding-coronavirus-covid19-naden.

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