News Articles

The 2020 enditnow Summit on Abuse took place virtually November 13 and 14, streaming on the enditnow website and on Facebook. The annual event organized by North American Division was created to help empower church leaders, school administrators and teachers, pastors, and members to recognize the signs of abuse, follow laws and protocols when reporting abuse, and help heal victims of abuse.

Carolyn Forrest, associate secretary of the North American Division, and director of NAD Human Relations, Interdivision/International Service Employee Resources, and Archives and Statistics, along with Orlan Johnson, director of NAD Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, led out the session under the title of “Biblical Justice and Biblical Ethics in a World of Social Unrest.”

For the past seven years, SciFEST has been held on the Andrews University campus. This year, however, the faculty adjusted to meet the new requirements of COVID-19 physical distancing. All SciFEST activities were conducted remotely through LearningHub and Zoom from September 21 to October 4.

Southwestern Adventist University has been selected as a recipient for a $90,000 Nursing Innovation Grant Program (NIGP) award. Funding from this grant will allow SWAU’s department of nursing to purchase additional simulation equipment and expand their clinical learning program on campus.

A unique component of the 2020 Year-End Meeting of the North American Division was virtual breakout sessions that were curated to prompt specific, productive engagement among the division’s executive committee members via Zoom. From assisting in the strategic planning of the 2020-2025 quinquennium, to grappling with the church’s role in a time of social unrest, considerable time was spent activating leaders to consider hard questions, reimagine mission, and reflect on mental health of themselves and their constituents.

Every five years, department reports are shared at the division year-end meeting, following GC Session. Although the GC Session has been postponed to May 2021, the NAD ministries, services, institutions, and entities shared their reports during the NAD YEM held Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. The reports are organized here in the order they were shown, or scheduled to be shown.

On November 3, Bonita Shields, North American Division vice president for ministries, started the final breakout of the 2020 NAD Year-End Meeting. Shields explained that this mental health segment would include a survey, a video, and small group breakout sessions. She then introduced Angeline Brauer, DrPH, MHS, RDN, NAD Health Ministries director, who coordinated the poll that executive committee delegates answered through a Zoom pop-up.

Following a battle with cancer, Seventh-day Adventist music legend Max Mace passed to his rest November 4, 2020, one day before his 83rd birthday. His family said Mace was home in Placerville, California, United States, when he died.

The final day of the 2020 North American Division Year-End Meeting included the Oakwood University report, presentation by Sterling Volunteers, a “pastors with disabilities” report, NAD policy amendments, church manual and consent agenda items, several quinquennial department reports, and a special presentation and breakout session on mental health.

Before diving into his report, Robinson provided a framework for the financial state of the division against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest, and political issues. “We started out 2020 very strong financially, with double digit tithe increases through January and February,” he started. “But then in March the COVID-19 crisis arrived."