The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America in partnership with Loma Linda University (LLU) recently held a Hospital Leadership Training certificate program for hospital administrators and top management staff spread across Adventist hospitals in the Inter-American Division (IAD)/territory.
Two hundred and twenty-two new believers were baptized in Cuba at the culmination of the “Care for Cuba” Spring Break mission trip hosted by the Theological Seminary of Andrews University, and Adventist-operated institution in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States. For nine days, the team of 24 Seminary students and three faculty sponsors led six simultaneous evangelistic series in various parts of Holguin, in eastern Cuba. The team also gave away clothing, musical instruments, 100 bicycles, 20 computers and 12 tablets to pastors and Bible workers who have no transportation or access to Bibles, devotionals or other ministry materials.
Leaders in the Euro-Asia Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a church region that includes the Russian Federation, released an official statement last week, as they try to counter false news circulating about the status of the church in that country. The statement, signed by the church regional president M. F. Kaminsky, and public affairs and religious liberty director O. Y. Goncharov seeks to allay fears after misinformation circulating online stated that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was about to be banned from that nation.
After seven years of planning, fundraising, and logistics efforts, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Haiti inaugurated a home for children orphaned by the deadly earthquake which struck the island nation in 2010. The orphanage in Diquini, Port-au-Prince was opened on April 25, 2017. “Today is a day of victory,” said Pastor Jose Alberto Rodríguez, president of the church in Puerto Rico and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Puerto Rico director.
An innovative church plant project geared to reach the secular mind is adding up to the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Madrid, the capital city of Spain. The “Zero Church” initiative—or simply “Zero,” as its members and supporters know it—looks to connect people who may have never been in a church with their inner need for a Bible-based spiritual experience. “People may think that they do not need to develop their spirituality, but I think human beings have always been the same,” said church member Ana Lugo. “They need a spiritual life, but we need to connect with them by using their language, and I think ‘Zero’ is fulfilling that role.”
Almost 500 years and 7,000 miles (11,300 kilometers) apart from the time and place Martin Luther chose to nail his 95 “theses”—or arguments on justification by faith—to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church, hundreds of South American Seventh-day Adventist theologians passed a consensus statement on the same topic. On the closing day of the 12th South American Theological Symposium in Libertador San Martin, Argentina, regional theologians reaffirmed “the great principles of God’s gospel” as stated by Paul in his epistle to the Romans.
South Koreans are among the most diligent Seventh-day Adventist gospel workers. Visit the Middle East, and you will find faithful Koreans in Turkey and Lebanon. Koreans live in Africa and South America. Even remote places in Bangladesh and India have an active Korean presence. But despite this mission spirit, many young people in South Korea are struggling, local church leaders say. The problem is connected to a cultural generation gap and career challenges in a country where Saturday is a workday.
When flash-flood waters rushed into Owen Taylor’s church, the Palmetto Gardens Seventh-day Adventist Church in Clarendon, central Jamaica, he took swift action. He swam through the rising waters to the home next door, where Henry Blair and his adult son were trapped. Taylor, a taxi driver, and Junior George Wilson, a member of the same church, carried out this rescue operation just after lunch on Sabbath, April 22, 2017.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America concluded its first business meetings of the year by praising the work of thousands of pastors, church elders, and laypersons in expanding the membership throughout the territory. Dozens of executive committee members from the Inter-American Division (IAD) and its 24 union administrative offices met in Miami, Florida, on May 1, to a approve initiatives, activities and policies, and commit to nurturing the spiritual health of its constituents and motivate them to spread the gospel.
Bite Size Talks, a platform to explore the intersections between faith and food, held its first faith-based food conference at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Covina, California, United States, on April 23. The one-day event, which included Adventist health practitioners, health-based food business people, and chefs as presenters, highlighted the intersections between food, faith, and fun.
An official prison chaplain. A successful community gardener. A civic leader. A radio speaker, evangelist, and lecturer. Every one of these titles somehow seems to define what he is, though not fully. Santucci is the driving force behind “Marketplace Ministry,” a multi-faceted loosely-connected set of programs designed to make a positive impact in the communities of the Caribbean nation of Bermuda. “If [pastors and Bible instructors] are the only ones doing what the church is paying them to do, then it is not ministry,” said Santucci in an interview with Adventist Review. “But what type of ministry did Jesus do that caused people to run to him?” he asked before answering himself, “A marketplace ministry!”
Top Seventh-day Adventist officials and board members of the Inter-American Division (IAD) Executive Committee met yesterday to vote on numerous initiatives, activities and events that will mark the direction of the church during the next year and beyond. Nearly 100 church administrators connected from their regional headquarter offices to review activities during the past year and vote on 42 items on growth, evangelism, and planning.