10 May, 2016

Adventist Church unveils Nebuchadnezzar statue to emphasize Bible study in the Dominican Republic

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic pointed to the Scriptures by displaying a statue of King Nebuchadnezzar as referenced in Daniel 2, during a recent ceremony in the city of San Juan de la Maguana. Hundreds of church members attended the special program with the unveiling of the 10.4-foot statue created by the nationally recognized artist Freddy Alcantara, on April 16, 2016, at the central park in the city.

9 May, 2016

Wildfires lead to evacuation of 88,000 in Alberta Canada

Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada are closely monitoring a wildfire in Ft. McMurray, Alberta in Canada, that caused the local government to declare a statement of emergency and more than 80,000 residents to flee their homes. A mandatory evacuation order was issued on May 4 when wildfires spread across the Athabasca and Hanginstone rivers and engulfed several neighborhoods in flames.

5 May, 2016

Adventist Church in Alabama gives away cars to single parents

A Seventh-day Adventist church in the U.S. state of Alabama has presented two cars as gifts to single parents and expects to give away five more vehicles by year’s end. The car giveaway at the First Seventh-day Adventist Church in Huntsville may be the first initiative of its kind by an Adventist church to reach out to the community — and it has made two single mothers very happy.

5 May, 2016

Inter-America begins its executive committee meetings via video conference for the first time

Top Seventh-day Adventist administrators and board members of the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) Executive Committee held the first day of mid-year business meetings via video conference this week at the IAD Headquarters Office in Miami, Florida, United States. The May 3 meeting became the first of its kind where top level administrators from its 24 major church regions, or unions, were connected on video conference system to take actions regarding plans, upcoming initiatives and events across the territory.

4 May, 2016

Annual report tracks ‘serious and sustained assault’ on religious freedom

The state of religious freedom worldwide has deteriorated over the past 12 months, according to a report released May 1 by an independent United States advisory body. The 270-page report compiled by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) documents continuing abuses in 33 countries and regions, but focuses particularly this year on the plight of prisoners of conscience and the increasing numbers of refugees fleeing religious persecution.

3 May, 2016

Adventist Church organizes first cycling event in North Colombia

Hundreds of cyclists pedaled through the city of Cúcuta in Norte Santander, Colombia, last month, during a special sports event organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in coordination with the local governor’s office. The event brought the Governor of Norte Santander William Villamizar, his wife and 40 of his officials as well as nearly 300 cyclists and church members, who rode early in the morning for 20 kilometers through the city.

2 May, 2016

Christian Record Services for the Blind Joins NAD

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s North American Division (NAD) has voted to receive governance of Lincoln, Nebraska-based Christian Record Services for the Blind, a former Seventh-day Adventist world church institution. The transfer of governance, made at a specially called NAD Executive Committee meeting, affirms a larger restructuring plan that was implemented in January this year by action of the Christian Record board of directors.

2 May, 2016

In Guadeloupe, Adventist Church is damaged by fire, arson to blame

A fire which damaged the Baie-Mahualt Adventist Church in the French Island of Guadeloupe two weeks ago is being blamed on arson. The Apr. 17 fire damaged part of the roof, an upper room housing musical instruments, an organ and the church’s sound system. Church leaders and members are thankful there was no loss of life. Local authorities filed it as a criminal case still under investigation by local police, said Pastor Jacques Bibrac, executive secretary for the church in Guadeloupe.

29 April, 2016

Memorandum of Understanding to benefit Adventist hospitals across Inter-America

A memorandum of understanding signed last week between administrators of Health City Cayman Islands and Adventist Healthcare Services Inter-America (AHS-IA) will seek to provide free cardiac surgeries to children and minimally-invasive surgeries at affordable costs across Adventist-operated hospitals in the Caribbean. Health City Cayman Islands is a JCI accredited state-of-the-art tertiary care hospital located in Grand Cayman which provides world class affordable medical care through centers of excellence that deliver health care.

28 April, 2016

Crowds line up for free mega-clinic in the “City of Angels”

Crowds lined up at the sprawling Los Angeles Convention Center in the U.S. state of California on Wednesday for the opening of a Seventh-day Adventist-organized mega-clinic that hopes to provide $30 million worth of free healthcare to 10,000 people over 2 ½ days. Separate lines of people seeking dental, medical, and vision services began to form a day early, with several hundred people staying the night to be among the first to enter the complex in downtown Los Angeles when the doors opened at 7 a.m.

27 April, 2016

Adventist humanitarians in Northern Italy combat loneliness through a lunch program

On April 13, a unique outreach project for the elderly organized by Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Italy drew the attention of political figures from the city of Cesena. The local officials, including Stefano Bonaccini, governor of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Paolo Lucchi, mayor of Cesena, Lia Montalti, regional councilor, and Simona Benedetti, municipal councilor, participated in “Pranzassieme” or “Lunch Together,” which reaches older residents in the city who are lonely and in need of social relationships.

27 April, 2016

Adventists to partner with Newseum for unique religious freedom summit

The steady rise in rates of religious persecution around the world in recent years has led Seventh-day Adventists to search for new, more effective ways to advocate for religious freedom. Studies, such as one conducted last year by the Pew Research Center, suggest that some 5.1 billion men, women, and children around the world live in countries where their ability to worship freely is restricted or denied by either an authoritarian regime, terrorist groups, extremist organizations, or by social pressures.