February 9 2011 – Mayaguez, Puerto Rico…Freddy Sosa/Libna Stevens/IAD
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Puerto Rico recently celebrated the inauguration of an Ellen G. White Research Center on the campus of its Antillean Adventist University. The ceremony brought church leaders, faculty and church members to a weekend-long program on Feb. 4-7, focusing on the rich Adventist heritage writings now available to the island.
Pastor James Nix, director of the White Estate based in Silver Spring, Maryland, spoke during the inaugural program on the contribution of Ellen G. White-one of the founders of the Adventist Church. Nix boasted of White’s invaluable writings on education, health and church administration.
Dr. Pedro Luis Cortes, director of the newly opened center, told those gathered of the treasured documents and manuscripts which will enrich the lives of those who visit the center.
“This center will serve not only to enrich your spiritual life, but to strengthen, through a series of tools, the convictions and beliefs which we have obtained and go along with the Holy Scriptures,” Cortes said.
The center, which is located on the third floor of the campus library, becomes the fourth fully-equipped research center in the Inter-American Division territory, and a worthwhile investment said Pastor Leon B. Wellington, vice president and coordinator of the Spirit of Prophecy and EGW Research Centers in Inter-America.
“Having four centers in our Division territory highlights the importance we place on the Spirit of Prophecy writings,” said Wellington, who spoke during the ceremony. “Our intention is that our members as well as the church workers benefit from the information available.”
The new center will serve Puerto Rico and the surrounding islands in the Caribbean. The other centers are located at the Adventist universities in Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Mexico. So far, the Inter-American Division has the most EGW Research Centers around the world church, according to Wellington.
EGW Research Centers, which are located across Adventist universities and colleges around the world, are overseen by The Ellen G. White Estate which is the official organization created by Ellen G. White to act as the custodian of her writings. The Estate is based at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
To learn more on The Ellen G. White Estate and its research centers, go to www.whiteestate.org
To learn more of the Antillean Adventist University and its programs, go to www.uaa.edu