The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for two of its higher education institutions stationed in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Top Inter-American Division (IAD) administrators and leaders took part breaking ground on Jan. 19, for a new three-story facility that will house the offices of the Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary (IATS) and Herbert Fletcher University (HFU).
In less than three months thousands of young people will travel to the Dominican Republic to camp out, meet new friends, learn new skills and be inspired during Inter-America’s fourth territory-wide pathfinder camporee. More than 13,000 young people from the Seventh-day Adventist Church across 24 major church regions will roll out their sleeping bags at Parque Mirador del Este, in Santo Domingo, from April 11-16, 2017. Themed “Lineage of Champions,” the camporee will focus on the life of Ruth in the Book of Ruth, to help young people to reaffirm their identity, strengthen their leadership skills and commit to sharing the gospel in their communities.
The Adventist World Radio (AWR) Board of Directors has elected Duane McKey as the new president of Adventist World Radio, replacing Dowell Chow, who has served as president for the past six years. McKey has been director of Sabbath School and Personal Ministries at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as well as assistant to Ted Wilson, the president of the denomination, for Total Member Involvement since 2015. Prior to that, he was vice president of the Southwestern Union Conference in Texas, USA, and president of the Arizona Conference.
More than 750 Seventh-day Adventists converged in Tucson, Arizona, on Jan. 8-11, to worship, learn, share their talents, and network at the 2017 North American Division Adventist Ministries Convention (NAD AMC). They also gathered to serve the local community through three NAD Compassion Movement outreach opportunities: assisting two public schools through Tucson Serve the City, and packing more than 25,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now.*
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic recently inaugurated its first church equipped with a radio antenna to spread the message of hope to communities in the Maria Trinidad Sanchez Province on the northeast part of the island. The new church transmits the church’s Radio Amanecer station programming from its rooftop to a population of more than 195,000. The new church called “Radio Amanecer I” becomes the 39th church to be built on the island in 2016, as part of an on-going annual church construction plan. The difference with the new building is that it's not just a structure to transmit radio waves, but also a real church.
Spiritually strong pastoral families equal spiritually strong congregations. That is the urgent message the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America has been driving home to its 3,700 pastors in the territory. Pastors and their families will have the chance to worship and pray together every day with other thousands of other pastoral families during a special week of prayer program online from January 22-27, 2017.
During its 2016 Annual Council, the 342-member General Conference Executive Committee met at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, to hear reports and consider a number of items. A strong emphasis was given to the Church’s mission, which featured prominently in numerous discussions and reports. Of the many items considered and voted by church representatives from around the world, perhaps none has received more attention than the document, “Unity in Mission: Procedures in Church Reconciliation.”
Twenty-seven Syrian refugee students from the Adventist Learning Center (ALC) in Beirut, Lebanon piled into a tiny rented bus for the one and a half hour to north Lebanon to deliver sacks of clothing and some donated foods. This annual project started as a simple assignment for the Adventist Learning Center to express gratitude for the donations and support it receives from around the world. For example, the refugee children of ACL have been given winter jackets and rain boots.
For a fifth year running, the South England Conference's Advent Shelter, held at the Advent Centre in Central London, was full in housing 70 homeless and lonely people, from December 24, 2016 to January 2, 2017. Throughout the Christmas and New Year period, volunteers from churches across the entire British Isles from Cornwall to Scotland helped provide fully-catered meals, drinks, warmth, entertainment and safety for each of the homeless that made their way to the shelter.
Bella Vista Hospital, a facility owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, inaugurated its first helicopter during a short ceremony last month. The modern helicopter, which sits atop the hospital’s newest tower, represents a historic moment for the 62-year-old facility. "With this new acquisition, Bella Vista Hospital is making history by providing air transportation to patients in need of immediate medical attention and direct access to the intensive care unit, operating room, and the emergency room service of our hospital,” said Luis Rivera, administrator of Bella Vista Hospital.
Seventh-day Adventist leaders and staff of the Inter-American Division (IAD) headquarter office took time this week to reflect on the blessings 2016 brought to the church across the territory and looked on blessings ahead despite the challenges the new year may bring. The nearly 100 leaders and staff met in Miami, Florida, Jan. 3, to pray together, review church and financial growth in 2016, and touched on initiatives and activities aimed at sharing the gospel across cities and communities this year.
Seventh-day Adventists in the Inter-European Division expressed solidarity and sympathy after a New Year’s Eve nightclub shooting rampage in Istanbul, Turkey's Ortakoy district killed at least 39 people and left dozens more wounded. Government officials in Turkey have said the attack was an act of terrorism, and while the alleged gunman has been identified, he had not been apprehended as this article was published.