The Oregon Conference will welcome back two of its own in the 2007–08 school year. Jeff and Amy Deming will be returning from their work in the Illinois Conference to work with the young people at Milo Adventist Academy.

Jeff Deming, also known as PJ, served as a pastor of the Meadow Glade Church and as an associate youth director in Oregon before accepting the position of Illinois Conference youth director. Amy has experience teaching at several grade levels; currently she is working for Hinsdale Adventist Academy in Illinois.

At Milo, PJ will be teaching religion classes, providing guidance counseling, and serving as a part of the administrative team. The gifts for validating, empowering, and mentoring young people that have endeared him to youth and to their parents in the past will be put to good use in this position. Amy will be calling on her background in English instruction to teach English courses as well as to team with PJ in teaching communication classes.

Why this change in career emphasis? PJ referred to a mission trip that he coordinated over the Christmas holidays. The 51 volunteers included many young people he had met from his Oregon Conference days. On the trip he realized how much he missed getting to see the continued growth of the kids as he could do in an academy setting.

“I’ve redefined my passion,” he says, “from working for kids to working directly with young people, pacing alongside them. I want to work with them in a school setting, providing continued mentoring and counseling. I want to see them walk away from school with Jesus Christ as their companion.”

It was during her college years that Amy discovered her focus—to guide young people in the critically important process of identity formation during the teen years. She loves teaching them the literacy skills that will help them become better communicators.

Together, they are looking forward to being back in the boarding school setting.

The Demings have three children: Robert, a freshman; Sabrina, an eighth-grader; and Tanner, a fourth-grader.