(RNS)  A lifelong Seventh-day Adventist, Emmy Award–winning director/producer Kyle Portbury wasn’t always vocal about his faith tradition. Growing up, he recalls hesitating to talk about going to church on Saturday or observing a 24-hour Sabbath, fearing friends would find his faith “weird.” But after years of directing and co-producing The Hopeful, a film about the birth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he’s discovered that people are more open to learning about his tradition than he thought. “I think what it’s allowed me to do is feel confident that, actually, the origins of my fait ..read more

The first Living Hope Evaluation and Life Coach Reclaimer’s Training in the East Indonesia Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was held April 3-6 in Tahuna, on Sangihe Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. More than 70 attendees, including mission and conference administrators, field secretaries, and ministerial association directors from across the East Indonesia Union, participated in the event. Arnelio Gabin, a vice president of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, led the sessions. This event represents a significant milestone, Gabin said, as Tahuna, in the territory of the No ..read more

What did Adventist church leaders, including co-founders James and Ellen White, along with Joseph Bates, do and say as they wrestled with thorny issues of their day? How did they, along with other early pioneers, seek to address the needs of their community? These were among the questions at the heart of the two-day Lake Union Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL) summit held April 5-6, 2024, at Battle Creek’s Historic Adventist Village, under the banner “Early Pioneers and Civic Engagement.” On Saturday (Sabbath) morning, Dwight Nelson, former longtime pastor of the Pioneer M ..read more

At the March 25 extraordinary meeting of the Danish Union of Churches Conference (DUChC) Executive Committee, Bjørn Ottesen was elected president, following the departure of former president Thomas Müller to serve as school headteacher at Vejlefjordskolen, Daugård. With 40 years of experience, Ottesen is well-prepared for this responsibility of once again leading the church in Denmark. He has previously served as president in both Denmark and Sweden, as well as a local pastor, Bible teacher, and head of Theological Studies and Senior Lecturer at Newbold College of Higher Education in Bracknell ..read more

From March 16 to 23, the Bolivia Union Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church mobilized the Impacto Esperanza (“Hope Impact”) program, distributing more than half a million copies of the book El Gran Conflicto (The Great Controversy) throughout the nation’s territory. The South American Division’s Adventist Education department helped launch this activity by mobilizing students and teachers to distribute the books. In the city of Santa Cruz, students delivered the missionary book to the departmental commander of the police, as well as to all the personnel of that law enforcement instituti ..read more

As a result of the spring flood and dam break on April 5, water flooded half of the Old Town in the city of Orsk, Orenburg Oblast, Russia, on the left bank of the Ural River. Residential buildings, churches, and medical institutions were in the flood zone. On the night of April 7, water began to flood the New City. Villages nearby the city were also in the flood zone, authorities said. According to the mayor of Orsk, by the morning of April 9, more than 7,000 residential buildings remained in the flood zone. The Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that more than 3,000 people were evacuat ..read more

As part of an evangelism series in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a Vacation Bible School (VBS) has been held each night for two weeks at the Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church, and 14 children have been baptized. The children’s emphasis program was part of a two-week, island-wide evangelistic impact led by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which began on March 30. During the VBS meeting on April 10, Vincent David, pastor of the Bethel church, explained that Vacation Bible School “is part of the church’s ongoing children’s ministries initiative that meets the children a ..read more

Adventist HealthCare, based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States, has been named one of Newsweek’s Most Trustworthy Companies in America in 2024. The list of 700 U.S. companies was announced March 27 after an analysis by Newsweek and Statista, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. Adventist HealthCare was among only 10 hospitals and health-care systems in the U.S. to receive this prestigious recognition. Adventist HealthCare ranked 18th among 37 public and private organizations in the Healthcare and Life Sciences category, which included a broad range of care p ..read more

In March, 55 missionaries gathered in Tokyo, Japan, for a weeklong endeavor to reach hundreds of thousands through Bible-based tracts. The group of church members came from several countries including Australia, Canada, the United States, and some countries in South America. The mission trip was organized in conjunction with the Japanese Union Conference (JUC) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The missionary group distributed nearly 750,000 pamphlets, commonly known as GLOW (Giving Light to Our World) tracts. The tracts, printed in Japanese, were written and produced by the General Conferen ..read more

At the 2024 Spring Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, held April 9-10, the General Conference Executive Committee accepted a recommendation from the church’s Ellen G. White Estate Board to establish an Ellen G. White Research Center at Asia-Pacific International University in Muak Lek, Saraburi, Thailand. Audrey Andersson, a General Conference vice president and chair of the White Estate Board, presented the proposal for the Thailand-based research center. Officers of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD) that will oversee the center expressed strong support for the recommendation ..read more