The North Caribbean Conference (NCC), through it humanitarian agency, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), arranged and distributed supplies to the people of Anguilla on Oct. 11, 2017. President of the NCC Pastor Desmond James, and ADRA Coordinator Wilmoth James, were on hand to assist in the coordination and distribution of the over 500 food hampers to the community on the island.
Early morning clouds gave way to bright sunshine on Oct. 26, 2017, as the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America (NAD) welcomed guests to the grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony at its new headquarters in Columbia, Maryland, United States. “This is our home…we are delighted you are here,” welcomed Daniel R. Jackson, current NAD president. Jackson described the purpose of the headquarters, saying, “This building does not stand for human progress, for human ingenuity. It stands to serve the purposes of the almighty God.”
Creation Sabbath is an annual day the Seventh-day Adventist Church has set apart to reflect on the biblical doctrine of creation. This year the commemorative day falls on Oct. 28 and in preparation the church’s Geoscience Research Institute (GRI) has released a new documentary. The 25-minute feature, which its producers have defined as “captivating,” delves into the life, research, and faith of scientist Isabel de Moraes.
President of the Seventh-day Adventist world church Ted N.C. Wilson urged hundreds of young Germans to make their homeland their first mission field. Wilson, speaking at an Adventist Theological Society (ATS) youth convocation near Hanover, Germany, thanked German Adventists for years of dedicated mission service around the world. But he noted that the church’s 35,000 German members face a major challenge reaching their highly secularized country of nearly 83 million people today.
A new study by researchers at Loma Linda University (LLU) Health has found that eating nuts on a regular basis strengthens brainwave frequencies associated with cognition, healing, learning, memory and other key brain functions. An abstract of the study of the Adventist-managed institution in Loma Linda, California, United States was presented in the nutrition section of the Experimental Biology 2017 meetings in San Diego, California. Published in The FASEB Journal, the study can be accessed online.
Prolific preacher and president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Jamaica was the recipient of a National Award. Pastor Glen Samuels was recognized by the Government of Jamaica for his outstanding contribution to religion with the Order of Distinction, Officer Class earlier this week. Samuels accepted his National Honor from Governor General of Jamaica, His Excellency, The Most Honorable, Sir Patrick Allen during the Ceremony of Investiture and Presentation of National Honors and Awards held at King’s House on Oct. 16, 2017. Samuels was among 171 persons who were conferred with national honors this year.
Hundreds of students from across the Seventh-day Adventist Schools in El Salvador took part in a massive march in the capital city of San Salvador last month. The march, held every year by the church, spotlighted spiritual values. Church members and students held signs and banners and encouraged onlookers to end any kind of violence, whether verbal or physical, and combat evil with the love that Jesus teaches in the Bible.
While Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Turks and Caicos are pending insurance damage assessments from hurricanes Irma and Maria, church leaders and members have kept busy helping their own and reaching out to those in need across the islands of Providenciales, Grand Turk and South Caicos. “In Providenciales where I live and where the bulk of the church membership resides, some 90 percent of the homes were damaged by Irma,” said Pastor Michael Smith, president of the Turks and Caicos Mission.
A physician praying to be used by God after hearing an Annual Council sermon about mission work in the cities unexpectedly delivered a baby in the parking lot of the Seventh-day Adventist world church’s U.S. headquarters. Dr. Yvette C. Ross Hebron delivered a healthy baby boy in the car of the parents, who had been rushing to the hospital but pulled into the church’s parking lot in Silver Spring, Maryland, after getting lost shortly before 10 a.m. on Oct. 12. Hebron said she believed God arranged the events. “The most wonderful opportunity in response to our prayers was orchestrated by the Master,” she said.
A new book about a Seventh-day Adventist Church pioneer’s life in Australia reveals new information, not about her theology but her practical ministry. The volume shows the positive difference church co-founder Ellen G. White’s faith made in her community. Marian de Berg used primary sources—letters, mostly—in writing Stories from Sunnyside: Ellen White in Australia 1891-1900.
On Monday, Oct. 9, the Tubbs Fire—a wildfire that has burned at least 28,000 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties in Northern California—swept into the Larkfield-Wikiup area of Santa Rosa, California, United States and destroyed Redwood Adventist Academy, located on Mark West Springs Road. No students or faculty were on campus at the time. For much of Monday, the fate of the K-12 school was unclear. Rumors spread, but no one knew for sure what had happened.
Governor of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) His Excellency Augustus Jaspert recently visited the Carrot Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tortola to show solidarity to members of the community who suffered during the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The category 5 hurricane displaced 22.5 percent of the population, which means more than 8,300 residents had to seek alternative shelter.