One loyal listener to the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s daily radio program stepped into the church for the first time last month in Bayamo, Cuba. Maria del Carmen Ramirez, 51, wanted to know more about the church that had provided hope and peace every day for nearly 10 months.
Rick McEdward, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Middle East and North Africa, joined Adventist believers across the region in praying for those affected by deadly suicide bombings at Istanbul’s main airport — an attack that felt particularly close to home because regional church administrators and their families often fly through the Turkish air hub.
After winning an audition for a summer scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, in Boston, Massachusetts, Jose Ignacio Santos, 23, scored a full scholarship to the prestigious institution. As a clarinet player, Santos always dreamed of pursuing a music degree at Berklee.
All eyes focused on computers, tablets, and smartphones as thousands of deaf people across Brazil watched a special Seventh-day Adventist evangelistic series live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube. The number of viewers soared to 31,489 for the second annual “Evangelibras” (Evangelism in Sign Language) event, which aims to both share the gospel message and undergird the Adventist Church’s commitment toward the deaf community, organizers said. Last year 3,239 people watched the program, which was only aired on YouTube.
On Thursday, June 23, the British people voted by a margin of 3.8 percent to leave the European Union. With a turnout of 72 percent, 51.9 percent of the electorate made the historic decision, changing 43 years of European history since the United Kingdom joined the European Community in 1973. Many students of Bible prophecy see Brexit as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 2:43, which predicts that the various nations of Europe “shall not cleave” one to the other. This was well expressed by an Adventist Review TV special released Friday.
Solomon Maphosa, a Zimbabwean national and longtime administrator in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been elected president of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID). The General Conference Executive Committee voted Wednesday for Maphosa, who most recently served as the division’s executive secretary, to replace Paul Ratsara as president.
Meet Vinícius Metzker, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Brazil who shares God’s love with his community through a surfing ministry. Surfing is huge in Brazil, and so is Metzker’s commitment to reaching surfers for Jesus. Several times a week he goes to the beach to teach free classes, to mingle with people, and to give them an unusual gift — a waterproof Bible.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Colombia recently delivered 52 tons of humanitarian aid in La Guajira--one of the most remote regions in the northeastern part of Colombia. La Guajira is an arid state stricken by a severe drought that has claimed the lives of hundreds of children and livestock during the last five years. “The crippling drought added to the closure of the border between Venezuela and Colombia and has greatly influenced the tragedy that this area has been suffering for lack of food and water, so we worked to extend assistance to families in need there,” said Gabriel Villarreal, ADRA Colombia director.
Government officials from the British Virgin Islands recently praised the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for its positive impact on the youth on the islands at a recent weekend celebration for Adventist Youth, and the Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs from across St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas and Virgin Gorda. The celebration took place at the Sports Complex in Tortula, May 27-29, 2016. The event marked the 40th year anniversary of its Pathfinder ministry.
Andrews University Press noticed something unusual in 2011: A woman in Wyoming was purchasing scores of copies of the Andrews Study Bible at full retail price of about $70 each. Surprised that someone could afford so many Bibles, the staff at the academic publishing house in Berrien Springs, Michigan, sought to learn more.
Less than 36 hours after the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, the Forest Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church in the nearby city of Apopka announced on Facebook that it would host, free of charge, funeral services for those killed. The post said the church “is extending their availability for FREE funeral services for any LGBT victims of the #thePulse shooting.” The church also offered to stream the services live on the Internet for family and friends who could not attend.
Representatives from the Ministry of Health from the city of Monterrey, Mexico, stood next to Seventh-day Adventist leaders in North Mexico to sign a memorandum of understanding, last month. The group of leaders agreed to work together in promoting health across the more than 300,000 homes where more than one million people live in the metropolitan city, during a ceremony held at the España Park, May 23, 2016. It is the first large-scale memorandum of understanding that the church has signed with the city to promote a healthy lifestyle, with the church’s “I Want to Live Healthy” program. The “I Want to Live Health” program centers around the health message, which focuses on the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the person.