A Queens Congregation with Deep Roots
The Linden Seventh-day Adventist Church sits on 137th Avenue in Laurelton, in the southeastern stretch of Queens where the city meets the suburbs. The building that now houses the congregation was once the Laurelton Jewish Center, but the congregation itself is far older than its present address. What is now known as the Linden Church began on January 15, 1927, when Elder James K. Humphrey organized eighteen souls into the first Seventh-day Adventist church body in Queens, meeting in the home of Elder and Sister Sidney Armstrong. Membership growth pushed the small flock through several temporary homes, including the Jamaica Community Center, before they built a wood-frame church and parsonage at 106-52 160th Street in South Jamaica under the pastorate of Elder U. S. Willis.
By 1951 two forces reshaped the congregation: a fire damaged the church during a divine worship service, and New York City's Housing Authority exercised eminent domain over the property. The congregation was welcomed by Mt. Zion Baptist Church while a new sanctuary rose at 173-04 Linden Boulevard in St. Albans between September 1951 and April 1953. By popular consent the church took the name Linden Boulevard Seventh-day Adventist Church. A 1966 building expansion under Elder Edgar Lockett added an annexed sanctuary and launched a parochial school serving neighborhood children. When the school population outgrew the building, Pastor Benjamin Cummings led the move in November 1981 to the present home in Laurelton, and the church simplified its name to the Linden Seventh-day Adventist Church. Today the congregation numbers more than 1,100 members and shares its building with a thriving K-12 school and daycare.
Sabbath Morning in Laurelton
Seventh-day Adventists keep the seventh-day Sabbath, and at Linden the holy day begins with Sabbath School at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Classes run in age divisions from Beginners (birth to age two) through Kindergarten (ages three and four), Primary (ages five through nine), Juniors (ages ten through thirteen) using Powerpoints, Earliteens (ages fourteen and fifteen) using Real Time Faith, and a young adult class. Adult study uses the regular Adventist quarterlies and there is a separate young adult Bible study guide. A link on the church's Grow page connects worshipers to the official Sabbath School lesson resources, the church's Bible reading plan, and the writings of Ellen G. White.
The main worship service begins at 11:30 a.m., with the preached word starting around noon. Worship is broadcast on YouTube so members who cannot attend in person can join online. The preaching is led by Senior Pastor Timothy Nixon, supported by a music ministry directed by Nerva Altino with Jelaine Altino as associate director. Their choral work includes the Linden Tabernacle and Cathedral Choirs. After the service, classes for new believers and baptism candidates meet from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Weekday Prayer and Study
Beyond the Sabbath, the congregation gathers three other evenings and one morning each week. On Monday at 7:30 a.m., the New Believer's Prayer Ministry, called Contenders of God, meets on Zoom for early-morning intercession. On Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. the Hour of Power brings members together for prayer, praise, and a midweek word, with the option to join by Zoom (Meeting ID 962 8412 8728, Passcode Wednesday) or by phone. On Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m. the Friday Evening Service prepares hearts for the coming Sabbath, again on Zoom (Meeting ID 933 0921 2517, Passcode Prayer) and by phone. New Believers and those curious about baptism are invited to the prayer and appeal form on the church's Connect page.
Linden Cares: Kindness as Stewardship
Outreach at Linden is organized under a banner called Linden Cares, framed by the words of 1 Peter 4:10: "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." The ministry is a structured response to the call to kindness and runs several ongoing initiatives. Each year the church donates roughly 300 pairs of bedroom slippers to residents of a nearby senior living center. Through a partnership with a community fuel station, members can buy discounted gas for a limited period. Hospital partners in the metro area receive weekly lunch vouchers and small gifts of appreciation for healthcare workers. The church also offers modest tuition scholarships to qualifying families in its own Linden School, recognizing the financial sacrifices of Adventist education.
Linden Cares has a numerical goal: 5,000 touches, or acts of kindness, by December 31 of each year. Members who perform solo acts of kindness are invited to submit a self-reporting form so that their work can be added to the church's tally. The page also offers a list of recommendations for random acts of kindness, including paying for someone's lunch, swiping a bus pass for a fellow rider, volunteering at a tutoring center, and writing thank-you notes to nurses, teachers, and police officers. The congregation also runs a food pantry where volunteers are welcome.
Education Ministry and Linden School
The Education Ministry at Linden treats academic formation as a spiritual calling. Its mission is to commit to the holistic growth of students, spiritually and academically; its vision is to inspire every student, member or not, to become both an educated child of God and a productive citizen of the world. The Education Director is Stephanie A. Shaw, Ed.D., MBA, MPA, an adjunct professor of marketing at St. John's University. She is supported by a leadership team that includes a principal from the Academy Charter School, a special education teacher, an early childhood teacher, an English language arts teacher, a math and special education integrated co-teacher, an AP African American Studies and English teacher, a science teacher, a speech-language pathologist, and a care manager from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Each spring the ministry hosts an Education Emphasis Day to recognize students graduating from middle school, high school, and college. A graduate submission form collects names so the church can honor them publicly. The ministry also curates a resources page that links to job boards for college-age workers, scholarship directories, the UNCF scholarship portal, and the S.M.I.L.E. (Student Mentoring with Immersive Learning and Enrichment) healthcare pathway program run by the North American Division. Donors can sponsor a student by emailing the education office.
Children, Youth, and Music
Children's programming at Linden is fully integrated into Sabbath School. The church provides dedicated beginner, kindergarten, and primary classes using the official Adventist Gracelink curriculum. Older children join the Juniors class using Powerpoints, and teenagers are shepherded through Real Time Faith. The music ministry, under Nerva and Jelaine Altino, prepares special presentations throughout the year, including seasonal musical programs featuring the Tabernacle and Cathedral Choirs. Youth ages ten through fifteen can join the church's Adventurer and Pathfinder clubs, which are part of the General Conference youth ministries system and offer uniformed, organized programming with a strong outdoor and service component.
Women's Ministries and Prayer Life
Women's Ministries at Linden is led by Myrette Richards and runs two regular gatherings. On the second Friday of each month at 8:00 p.m. the Women's Ministries Virtual Book Club meets on Zoom (Meeting ID 939 7660 2229, Passcode Women) for a judgment-free conversation around a shared text. On the second Sabbath morning of each month at 9:15 a.m., the Prayer of Women (POW) gathers in the chapel for intercession and reflection. Both are open to any woman who wishes to participate. Members who want prayer support outside of these gatherings can submit a request through the church's prayer request page, and a team commits to praying for them.
Weddings, Baby Dedications, and Pastoral Care
The church offers weddings to its members and to qualifying couples, with a Wedding Request Form available online. Pastors also conduct baby dedications on the second, fourth, or fifth Sabbath of each month, scheduled through a Baby Dedication Form that asks whether the parents are members of an Adventist church and whether the child lives with parents or grandparents. Members and neighbors who wish to host an event in the building can submit a Facility Usage Request Form, and a separate Pastoral Service form is available for those who want a meeting with the pastor or first elder. Baptism requests, transfers of membership, recommitments, and requests for Bible study all route through a single Prayer and Appeal form on the Connect page.
What the Church Believes
Linden accepts the Bible as its only creed and subscribes to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a downloadable document linked from the church's Our Beliefs page. The church teaches a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the full deity and sinless life of Jesus Christ; His crucifixion, resurrection, and promised second coming; the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit as Comforter; and the dignity of human life in family, work, finances, and creation care. Members honor God on His Sabbath as an eternal covenant of restoration, and the church family sees itself as one branch of the wider body of Christ. The church belongs to the North-Eastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the regional body that has historically appointed its pastors.
Leadership and Pastoral Team
The Senior Pastor is Dr. Timothy Nixon, a Brooklyn native and graduate of Oakwood University (B.A. in Theology, 1982) and Andrews University (M.Div., 1991; D.Min., 2010). His ministry has taken him through the Northeastern Conference, the Southeastern California Conference, the Allegheny East Conference, and the Lake Region Conference, where he served as Executive Secretary and Chief Operating Officer from 2014 to 2018. He also holds clinical pastoral education from Loma Linda University Hospital and has taught youth ministry, public evangelism, and homiletics at Andrews University. He was installed as Senior Pastor of the Linden Adventist Church in January 2026, and his wife joins him in ministry. The First Elder is Oswald Robertson, originally from Jamaica, who has been a member of Linden for more than thirty years, served as a deacon, was ordained as an elder, and now provides steady leadership alongside the pastoral team.
A Neighborhood Church for Southeastern Queens
From its first eighteen members gathered in 1927 to a present-day family of more than 1,100 souls with a school, a daycare, a food pantry, and a calendar full of weekly prayer gatherings, the Linden church has spent almost a century adapting its buildings without losing its identity. The worship schedule keeps the biblical seventh day as its anchor, and the rest of the week folds around it with midweek prayer, Friday preparation, and Monday morning intercession. Linden Cares carries the congregation's hospitality outward, and Linden School carries its education ministry into the next generation. Together they make the church on 137th Avenue a working example of an Adventist congregation in southeastern Queens that has learned, in the words of its own history, to answer the call to "carry the gospel into all the world."