John Dodd Freeman, the founder of Maranatha Volunteers International, a charitable organization and a supporting ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, passed to his rest on May 22 in Salem, Oregon. He was 95. “It takes a special kind of person to begin something—to take an idea and bring it to life,” said Don Noble, current president of Maranatha Volunteers International. “That’s who John Freeman was.”
This week we have been tragically reminded we live in a world filled with suffering and sorrow, and I invite you, the world church family of Seventh-day Adventists to join me in praying for the victims and families who are suffering from these recent events. Last Sunday a bus carrying 46 Seventh-day Adventists (many of them young people) from Chiapas, Mexico, plunged down a 90-meter (295 feet) ravine, killing 18. Another 26 were taken to a nearby hospital where a 17-year-old girl died from her injuries. The group was returning from a regional youth congress when the accident occurred.
Associate youth director of the Seventh-day Adventist world church Jonatán Tejel was appointed as the new youth director of the Inter-European (EUD) church region, based in Bern, Switzerland. His appointment was voted at the Mid-Year Meetings of the church region, which took place in Friedensau, Germany, from May 21-23. Tejel, who was born and worked in Spain before becoming an associate youth director of the world church, will return to his home division church region after twelve years in the United States.
With memories of the London terrorist attack in March still etched on our minds, today the United Kingdom woke up to the aftermath of yet another atrocity. Yesterday evening, May 22, Manchester, the United Kingdom’s second largest city, found itself victim to another act of terrorism. At the time of writing 22 people including children have lost their lives with over 60 hospitalized with serious injuries following a suicide bombing at the close of a concert in the Manchester Arena. Once again the nation is left pondering the futility of such senseless brutality.
The world of radio is changing. Analogue is switching to digital with AM and FM transmissions switching to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), online and broadcast-on-demand services. The listener has more choices, and in the youngest age-group (teenagers), only three percent listen to live radio. Spotify and social media fulfill their needs. The audience and audience expectations are changing too.
Close to 400 delegates from over 60 countries made their way to a historic city to participate in a historic event on May 10-14. Amidst ancient structures perched along Europe’s iconic Danube River, Seventh-day Adventist ministry leaders from around the globe gathered in Budapest, Hungary for the first-ever International Leadership Conference focused on issues impacting families, women and children.
Gordon Hospital, a Seventh-day Adventist healthcare facility in Calhoun, Georgia, United States, was recently featured in regional news outlets after two major health rating agencies gave the institution their best scores. The 69-bed hospital, which is operated by Adventist Health System, received an A for patient safety by The Leapfrog Group, and a 5-star rating by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Both ratings make Gordon Hospital the best in the state of Georgia, according to several regional news outlets that featured the relatively small health institution.
Two hundred and twenty-two new believers were baptized in Cuba at the culmination of the “Care for Cuba” Spring Break mission trip hosted by the Theological Seminary of Andrews University, and Adventist-operated institution in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States. For nine days, the team of 24 Seminary students and three faculty sponsors led six simultaneous evangelistic series in various parts of Holguin, in eastern Cuba. The team also gave away clothing, musical instruments, 100 bicycles, 20 computers and 12 tablets to pastors and Bible workers who have no transportation or access to Bibles, devotionals or other ministry materials.
Leaders in the Euro-Asia Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a church region that includes the Russian Federation, released an official statement last week, as they try to counter false news circulating about the status of the church in that country. The statement, signed by the church regional president M. F. Kaminsky, and public affairs and religious liberty director O. Y. Goncharov seeks to allay fears after misinformation circulating online stated that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was about to be banned from that nation.
An innovative church plant project geared to reach the secular mind is adding up to the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Madrid, the capital city of Spain. The “Zero Church” initiative—or simply “Zero,” as its members and supporters know it—looks to connect people who may have never been in a church with their inner need for a Bible-based spiritual experience. “People may think that they do not need to develop their spirituality, but I think human beings have always been the same,” said church member Ana Lugo. “They need a spiritual life, but we need to connect with them by using their language, and I think ‘Zero’ is fulfilling that role.”
Almost 500 years and 7,000 miles (11,300 kilometers) apart from the time and place Martin Luther chose to nail his 95 “theses”—or arguments on justification by faith—to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church, hundreds of South American Seventh-day Adventist theologians passed a consensus statement on the same topic. On the closing day of the 12th South American Theological Symposium in Libertador San Martin, Argentina, regional theologians reaffirmed “the great principles of God’s gospel” as stated by Paul in his epistle to the Romans.
South Koreans are among the most diligent Seventh-day Adventist gospel workers. Visit the Middle East, and you will find faithful Koreans in Turkey and Lebanon. Koreans live in Africa and South America. Even remote places in Bangladesh and India have an active Korean presence. But despite this mission spirit, many young people in South Korea are struggling, local church leaders say. The problem is connected to a cultural generation gap and career challenges in a country where Saturday is a workday.