4 February, 2016

ADRA distributes $8 million in food aid in eastern Ukraine

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency provided $8 million in food supplies to more than 100,000 people displaced by violence in eastern Ukraine last year and is continuing its relief efforts as an uneasy calm settles over the region. The Ukrainian branch of ADRA, working in partnership with the United Nations’ World Food Program, distributed the food to internally displaced people from Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where more than 9,000 people have died in fighting between independence-minded separatists and Ukrainian forces since April 2014.

1 February, 2016

Enrollment booms at first Adventist school in Namibia

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has opened its first school in Namibia after 63 years, and enrollment has soared following the first week of classes. The Mavuluma Seventh-day Adventist Primary School opened with 37 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through third grade on Jan. 13. A week later, the number had jumped to 56 children.

27 January, 2016

Goalkeeper stuns Brazil’s sporting world by refusing to play on Sabbath

An up-and-coming soccer goalkeeper has stirred up a storm in Brazil’s sporting world by announcing that he would no longer play matches scheduled from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Carlos Vítor da Costa Ressurreição, 30, who was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church last month, told reporters about his decision a few days ago, sparking a wave of surprise, sympathy, and even anger from fans and sports commentators who struggled to understand his rationale.

21 January, 2016

Adventists distribute bottled water in Flint, Michigan, amid water crisis

Seventh-day Adventist volunteers are distributing bottled water and water filters to residents of Flint, Michigan, after high levels of lead in the local water supply left the city without drinking water. Flint, a financially strapped city of 100,000 people north of Detroit, is mired in a water crisis following a cost-cutting decision last year to switch its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River.

20 January, 2016

Adventists file lawsuit against U.S. city for banning literature evangelism

A U.S. conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and two of its members filed a lawsuit against an Arkansas city on Jan. 19 over a local ordinance that prevents door-to-door literature evangelism. The lawsuit, filed by the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference, asks a U.S. district court to declare the ordinance enacted by White Hall, population 5,500, to be unconstitutional and a violation of the first amendment right to free speech.

19 January, 2016

New Adventist encyclopedia gets off the ground

Spies are in. Subcultures are out. And cosmetics and dance belong together in a single article titled “Lifestyle.” These were among the decisions made this week as a 26-member editorial committee behind the new Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists gathered for the first time to fine-tune topics and adjust the vision of the $1.6 million, five-year project.

14 January, 2016

Vegan diet cuts risk of prostate cancer, Adventist study finds

Men who follow a vegan diet are a third less likely to develop prostate cancer, according to a new study by Loma Linda University Health. The study, published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, saw a reduced risk in both white and possibly black males who adhered to a vegan diet without meat, dairy, and eggs.

12 January, 2016

Oakwood cuts 46 jobs as Adventist enrollment declines across U.S.

Oakwood University announced Thursday a major personnel restructuring that will eliminate 46 jobs as it seeks to streamline operations and better position itself amid challenging times for Seventh-day Adventist education in North America. Four faculty members and 18 staff members have taken a voluntary exit package, and another 26 staff positions are being eliminated, consolidated

5 January, 2016

New TV show shares Adventist secrets of living longer

Do you want to live 10 years longer than the average American? Loma Linda University Health, the organization whose ground-breaking research found that Adventists in Loma Linda have an edge on longevity, is releasing 14 short television programs showing you how.

4 January, 2016

Thousands of young people descend on Kentucky for GYC

Thousands of young people from across the United States and more than 50 other countries have descended on Louisville, Kentucky, to focus on Jesus’ Second Coming and to give something back to the community during an annual GYC convention. The five-day convention of GYC, or “Generation. Youth. Christ,” is themed “Called. Chosen. Faithful” and runs through Jan. 3 at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

1 January, 2016

5 Adventist students killed in Papua New Guinea crash

Five Seventh-day Adventist students died and another 11 were injured when the 36-seat vehicle that they were riding ran off the road in the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. The accident, blamed on engine failure, occurred around midday Dec. 28 as the students were returning from an Adventist student convention organized by the regional organization Sepik Adventist Students Associated, or SEASA.

31 December, 2015

In Kazakhstan, Adventist Sentenced to serve two years in a labor camp for profession of faith

Yklas Kabduakasov, a Seventh-day Adventist, was recently sentenced to serve two years in a labor camp for “inciting religious hatred.” Kabduakasov was accused of making incendiary comments during lectures with students of the capital university. A charge which Kabduakasov has consistently denied.