News Articles

On Nov. 25, 2019, almost 1,000 families who preregistered through a county database began receiving a full, 30-pound Thanksgiving meal basket including turkey, bread, vegetables, potatoes and more. For three days, families came to the Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington (ACSGW) in Silver Spring, Maryland, for their meals.

Heidi Baumgartner, Washington Conference communication director, reflects on having a history of five generations in the same church family, and how God has been faithful for 121 years. "This was the location where my dairy-farmer great-grandparents came to faith at an H.M.S. Richards crusade and raised their family of five children. My brother and his family now have their membership in the family church. Life isn’t always easy, but through the years, we’ve seen how God is faithful. This legacy is worth passing on."

After the morning devotional thought given by Alvin Kibble, a North American Division vice president, day five of the 2019 NAD Year-End Meeting business started with catch up after lively discussions on tithe parity and the GC Compliance on day four moved several reports to the following day.

In the autumn of 1969, Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse — already an accomplished and internationally-known violin and piano soloist and composer — invited four little kids to play music in her living room. Little did they know, this was the beginning of the New England Youth Ensemble (NEYE), a group of young musicians that gave its first performance at the local Kiwanis club in Worcester, Massachusetts.

This fall, Adventist Community Services (ACS) and the Alaska Conference, part of the North Pacific Union Conference, announced that during the 2019 holiday season, ACS is providing a year-end match opportunity to help offset the costs of reaching native villages and enabling more children to experience camp, food programs, and Vacation Bible School (VBS). Every dollar AMA raises, ACS will match dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, by December 31. “Instead of resigning ourselves to these challenges, NAD’s ACS has prayerfully decided to engage in a transformational opportunity of collaboration with the AMA program,” said Tandi Perkins, Alaska Conference development director. “This partnership will focus on providing safe spaces and programs through outreach to Alaska Native communities.” 

NAD education leaders were recently part of an assessment team that traveled to Malawi to evaluate the educational needs at ADRA-sponsored schools. The schools are located in the poorest areas of one of the least-developed nations in Africa.

Debra C. Brill retired on Oct. 1, 2019, after serving the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America as a vice president for 21 years. Brill served as administrative liaison and chair of NAD committees and on the boards many NAD ministries. Brill, with 33 years of denominational employment, currently holds the record for longest-serving vice president of the NAD, and she is the second women to occupy a vice president position at the division.

During a special presentation at the 2019 Year-end Meeting of the North American Division, the division’s administrative team, which includes the executive secretary, treasurer, vice presidents, and assistants to the president, expressed words of appreciation for Daniel R. Jackson, NAD president, before unveiling a wall plaque bearing the new name of the building’s executive boardroom — “Daniel R. Jackson Executive Boardroom.”

It’s been said that it takes 21 days to form or break a habit. Throughout the course of this year, participants in AdventHealth's Feel Whole Challenge have put this concept to the test, answering the call to action to improve their physical, mental, and spiritual health. In nine media markets throughout the Midwestern, Southwestern, and Southeastern United States, 9.7 million consumers have heard this same message.

On Nov. 3, 2019, day four of the NAD Year-End Meeting, representatives from the GC presented the world church's strategic plan, "I Will Go," for the next quinquennium. Media Ministries and several NAD institutions and ministries also shared reports during the business sessions that concluded with a touching tribute to Kirsten Wolcott, a student missionary who lost her life 10 years ago.