October 12, 2005 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Mark A. Kellner/ANN]
A new governing board will run the Adventist Television Network (ATN) operation of the Hope Channel. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International is revising its bylaws and taking the responsibility for its name and logo to its board of directors. And, Home Study International is now Griggs University and International Academy.
Those actions were taken or revealed at the constituency meetings held by several agencies and organizations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters Oct. 10 during the church’s Annual Council session. The meetings, required by the entities’ bylaws, are designed to conduct official business for the groups.
ATN will now have an operating board that will provide general supervision for the development and distribution of television programming in response to priorities identified by the world church. The board will develop operating guidelines and policies for ATN and the Hope Channel, appoint ATN officers, appoint committees as needed, and approve an annual budget. The group will also monitor progress and develop long-term growth strategies for ATN.
The ATN operating board will be large including three vice presidents of the world church, the vice president for strategic planning, the undertreasurer, undersecretary, director of Global Mission, the church’s communication director and the president of Adventist World Radio. All 13 of the church’s world region presidents — or their representatives — will sit on the board, as will the North American church’s assistant to the president for communication, the president of Adventist Media Productions, the ATN South American church region representative, and the South American church region communication director, along with up to eight lay member representatives. ATN’s executive director will also be a board member.
Annual Council members approved the ATN Operating Board’s creation and its terms of reference in a floor vote. Initial members of the panel were voted the next day.
ADRA International proposed, and Annual Council delegates voted, two major actions. One was a revision of the group’s bylaws, bringing them in line with the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporations Act, under which ADRA operates. The new rules clarify requirements for calling meetings as well as several administrative procedures for members of the ADRA Board of Directors.
The ADRA International bylaw changes also establish board finance and audit committees, and provide job descriptions for board members and administrative officers. Annual Council members, who form the ADRA International constituency, or membership, voted to give clarity to the use of the ADRA name by entrusting to the ADRA International Board ownership and responsibility of the agency’s name, acronym and logo. The members want the ADRA International Board to manage the names in a way that safeguards and enhances ADRA’s global identity and mission.
Other constituency reports were made by Adventist World Radio, which reported an increase in response to its shortwave and FM broadcasts, as well as Christian Record Services, which reported expansion in its ministry of providing Braille and large-print materials to the blind and visually impaired.
Dr. Donald Sahly, recently installed president of Griggs University and International Academy, told Annual Council delegates that the distance-learning unit of the world church changed its name to better reflect the nature of its work, which is accredited, as opposed to the often unaccredited “home schooling” movement found in North America. He said the former name of “Home Study International” was no longer well understood. Griggs is licensing its curriculum to a contractor for the U.S. government’s Job Corps, which is training thousands of young people to get the equivalent of a high school diploma, he added.
The Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies (AIIAS), based in Silang, Cavite, Philippines, is the church’s graduate educational institution serving a largely international student body. Its president reported growth in the school’s programs, as well as a visit by theologians from non-Adventist seminaries in the People’s Republic of China, seeking cooperation between their schools and AIIAS. A visit to China by AIIAS personnel is contemplated for 2006.
Copyright © 2005 by Adventist News Network.
