News Articles

Welcome to "Is This Thing On?" - 4 LIVE from the 2019 Adventist Christian Fellowship Institute at the Life Adventist Church of Berkeley!

This year’s Adventist Robotics Championship Tournament, on May 5, brought together the largest number of teams competing in its 15-year history. Adventist schools and homeschooled students from all across the North American Division (U.S. and Saipan) were represented through 37 teams. 

Eight years ago two mothers in the Loma Linda area wanted their young children to learn the importance of giving to those in need. But age-related legal restrictions prevented their kids’ involvement with service organizations. In connection with the academy’s home and school association, Thomas and Hegstad launched Family Volunteer Night, an annual event that partners with local nonprofits to make a direct difference in the lives of thousands of homeless and low-income individuals, senior citizens, pediatric hospital patients, and other populations.

At 4 p.m. PDT/7 p.m. EDT on May 22, 2019, university students from across North America will attend the fourth “Is This Thing On?” (ITTO) live-streamed conversation during the annual Adventist Christian Fellowship Institute. Those gathered will have the opportunity to engage with Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders from the North American Division (NAD) during a 90-minute livestreamed conversation.

On Friday, May 17, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act (H.R. 5). The bill, if it were to become law, would extend protection to gay, lesbian and transgender individuals across a broad spectrum of U.S. civil rights laws. This would include employment, housing, public accommodation, and social services. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned that this legislation would further erode the religious liberty of faith communities and their members. This bill makes no allowance for communities or individuals of faith who hold traditional views of marriage and gender. 

After Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied clemency to Donnie Edward Johnson on Tuesday, May 14, 2019, the Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church has decided to hold a prayer vigil for Johnson, an Adventist on death row for murdering his wife more than 30 years ago. Johnson, who holds Bible studies inside the prison and started a radio program called "What the Bible Says,” is an elder of Riverside Chapel, and a part of the church’s prison ministry.

Elder Malcolm Gordon, former president of the Southern Union Conference, passed on Sunday, May 12, 2019, just two days after his 85th birthday. He was living in New Jersey.

Leonard Bailey, M.D., the renowned Loma Linda University Health surgeon who garnered international media attention in 1984 for transplanting a baboon’s heart into a human infant known as “Baby Fae,” the research from which spawned human-to-human infant heart transplants and other cardiac treatment breakthroughs, died on May 12, following a battle with cancer. He was 76.

Worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders have asked for mercy for an Adventist on death row in Tennessee. Leaders are asking for church members to pray for Donnie Edward Johnson, scheduled to be executed on Thursday, May 16, 2019.

Washington Adventist University announced today that it will offer to purchase the 14.5 acre property currently home to Adventist HealthCare’s Washington Adventist Hospital, which will relocate to Silver Spring in August with a new name Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center. The property, which lies adjacent to the university, will effectively double the size of the WAU campus.