News Articles

Dr. Paulino Santos, chair of the Department of Kinesiology at Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU), threw a party at the end of his Adaptive Physical Activity class for his students and their participants. Young participants with disabilities from the surrounding churches and the community came to celebrate their accomplishments with their student therapists at the end of an eight-week lab in Santos’s Adaptive Physical Activity class.

The North Star serves a fixed compass in the night sky, guiding the pathway to the dawning of a new day. The history of African American Seventh-day Adventists is filled with numerous “north stars” who have contributed to the betterment of society for all people. Fortunately, this growing list continues into the twenty-first century.

On January 9 and 10, 2023, the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (NAD) held its first counternarrative writing conference. The unique conference took place during the NAD’s Adventist Ministries Convention. Held at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina, it championed sharing narratives from the perspective of historically marginalized groups, i.e., counternarratives.

On Jan. 7, 2023, Rose Marie Otis, first General Conference Women’s Ministries director, and first woman to serve as a North American Division vice president, passed to her rest. Widely known as a public speaker and author, she was living in Frederick, Maryland, at the time of her death. Otis was 82.

On Jan. 17, 2023, approximately 100 people from diverse faith traditions gathered for the fourth annual breakfast. The event, held again in person for the second year in a row, recognized Jan. 16 as National Religious Freedom Day in the U.S., and included prayer for the blessing of the meal served, elected officials, the community, the nation, global health and healing, for peace, religious freedom, and for unity of spirit.

After more than a year of work and the commitment of numerous media centers, media entities, and professionals in several communication fields from around the world, Hope Media Europe, with the Trans-European Division (TED) and Inter-European Division (EUD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, will officially launch the multimedia HAPPINESS project on February 3, 2023. Addressing the intentional collaboration with media partners from TED, EUD, North American Division, Inter-America Division, and South American Division, Adrian Duré, coordinator for the network projects in Europe through Hope Media Europe, shared that “together and with God's direction, we can do great things and we can touch the lives of many people in the world through our productions."

Motorcycle Ministry Sabbath took place on Aug. 6, 2022. Earlier last year, when Michael Cerda, pastor of the Baton Rouge Seventh-day Church, first shared with the congregation that the Southwestern Union asked tmhe to host “bikers” from all over the country, there was a unified laugh followed by thoughtful silence. Members weren’t sure how to host bikers.

At the Adventist Women Leaders (AWL) luncheon, held January 11, 2023, at the conclusion of the North American Division 2023 “Replenish” Adventist Ministries Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina, nearly 70 attendees learned how to leverage their strengths and manage their weaknesses from keynote speaker Leah JM Dean, founder of the leadership, professional, and personal development company Conduit International Ltd.

After three years apart, ministry leaders from across the North American Division (NAD) reunited at the 2023 “Replenish” NAD Adventist Ministries Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. From January 8-11, 2023, they worshiped, laughed, and learned together. “Replenish” offered spiritual and professional development, with nearly 70 educational seminars spread out over two days. Presenters included NAD officers and departmental directors, union- and conference-level leaders, pastors, and experts in different fields. Topics included children’s ministry, cultural intelligence, disabilities, family, men’s and women’s ministry, health, IT, leadership, philanthropy, social media, stewardship, youth and young adult ministry, and more.

The University of Chicago Medicine and AdventHealth have closed on a transaction to form a joint venture called UChicago Medicine AdventHealth (healthychicagoland.org), which will combine the expertise and resources of both organizations to bring academic medicine to the western suburbs of Chicago.