News
Providing Encouragement and Assessment
NAD Administrators Affirm Work and Assess Needs During Visit to the Guam-Micronesia Mission
Beginning January 4, 2024, a North American Division administrative team visited several islands within the Guam-Micronesia Mission for two weeks. “We wanted to provide encouragement and do an assessment of needs and see how we could better support the work there,” said NAD president G. Alexander Bryant.
Adventist Community Services Prepares to Help After Tornadoes Strike Missouri, Kentucky, and Wisconsin
Yesterday afternoon, a devastating tornado struck Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri. In Kentucky, 14 are reported dead. In St. Louis, five deaths have been reported, along with widespread damage. At least 20 blocks of the city sustained damage. More than 5,000 properties are without power, and local emergency services are actively responding. As ACS begins to respond, they urge members to pray for those impacted and those providing assistance.
Union Adventist University Receives Grant for Culinary Medicine Teaching Kitchen
The Ardmore Institute of Health has awarded Union Adventist University’s Master of Public Health Program a grant to establish a culinary medicine teaching kitchen (CMTK). The $35,000 will purchase six commercial-grade mobile workstations, each including the culinary tools and appliances to support two students at a time, enabling the university to host classes of up to 12 students in the teaching kitchen. Any remaining funds will support a student garden that was established by the university’s first public health cohort last year.
Mid-America Union Conference Executive Committee Appoints New Communication Director
During its regular spring meeting, the Mid-America Union Executive Committee voted to approve a recommendation by MAUC’s administrative team outlining a leadership transition for the union’s communication department. Following the vote, then-director Brenda Dickerson became the associate director, and then-associate director/digital media manager Hugh Davis became the new director, effective May 1, 2025. This transition of titles, initially proposed by Dickerson, serves as a model for succession planning and smooth leadership transitions in appointed positions.
James P. Willis II Elected as New Vice President for Education for the Pacific Union Conference
The Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has elected James P. Willis II as its new vice president for education, effective July 1, 2025. He will succeed Dr. Berit von Pohle, who is retiring after a distinguished career spanning 46 years in Adventist education
Long-Time Religious Liberty Advocate, Author, and Editor Passes Away
Roland R. Hegstad, an Adventist minister, public speaker, author, and editor, passed to his rest on June 17, 2018. He was 92. Hegstad, a graduate of Walla Walla University, became an expert in international religious liberty. His work took him around the globe, to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, beginning in the mid-1960s. In 1959, at age 32, Hegstad accepted a call to the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as associate editor of Liberty magazine. Within months, he was promoted to editor. Hegstad edited Liberty for 35 years until his retirement in 1995.
NAD Leader Becomes Highest Ranking Seventh-day Adventist Chaplain in U.S. Navy Reserve
The associate director of the North American Division Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM) was recently selected for promotion to captain for the United States Navy Reserve. Furthermore, Johnson is now the third African-American Seventh-day Adventist to hold the rank in the United States Navy Chaplain Corp, following Captain Herman Kibble and Admiral Barry Black.
“Suffer the Little Children …”
Recent events in the United States have brought the news of young children being separated from their parents as they cross our borders. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America joins other faith-based groups in expressing concern over these actions.
ACS Coordinates Flood Relief in Baltimore
A team of 55 Adventists joined an area-wide response effort in Baltimore, Md., on June 10 in response to substantial flooding that affected an entire community. The Frederick Avenue Corridor in southwest Baltimore received 10 inches of rain on May 27 that caused severe road damage and affected approximately 100 homes.