By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Mark A. Kellner, with reporting from NAD Office of Communication)

In May of 2001, Seventh-day Adventist pastor and evangelist Walter L. Pearson, Jr., then the speaker/director of Breath of Life, the church’s television outreach focused on the African American community, gave the dedicatory sermon for the new building that would house the South Nashville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tennessee, pastored by Carlton P. Byrd.
Several months later, Pearson, who passed to his rest on June 7, 2020, at the age of 74, returned to Byrd’s congregation as part of a…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Felipe Lemos)

Despite the restrictions imposed by quarantines related to the Covid-19 pandemic, membership in the South American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church grew by 1.76 percent in the first four months of 2020. The division supports church activities in eight nations on the South American continent.
By the end of April, the South American Division closed its books with 2,487,669 members. The 1.76 percent increase over 2019 reflects “real growth,” defined as the difference between the number…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Sandra Blackmer)

When COVID-19 hit Norway late last February and turned the lives of its residents upside down, Delfred and Hannah Onde thought that everything their team was accomplishing in the Oslo community would come to a grinding halt. It wasn’t long, however, before the Holy Spirit helped them to begin thinking outside the box. Passion for Mission Originally from the Philippines, Delfred, a pastor, and Hannah, a nurse, have served as missionaries in various world regions—including South Korea,…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Rosmery Sánchez)

Dozens of volunteers from the Agency for Development and Assistance Resources (ADRA Peru) arrived in the Nauta area of Loreto, Peru, on May 31st to deliver 430 economic vouchers and 70 basic food kits to poverty stricken families in the region.
Ing. Santos Guerrero, head of Special Projects for ADRA Peru says, “The need is wide and the health emergency has led to an economic emergency. Now there is the desperation of not having access to food. These basic baskets, at least, will help [the…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Ellen Hostetler, It Is Written, and Adventist Review)

In May 2020, the It Is Written television ministry won five Telly Awards for two programs, “Innocents Lost” and “The Scottsboro Nine.” The two winning programs deal with hard subjects, ministry leaders said.
“Innocents Lost” carefully covers the difficult topic of miscarriage. It explores the heartbreaking reality of losing someone who was never able to be truly known. John Bradshaw, It Is Written president, interviews a mother who has walked through this painful journey, and a physician who…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Office of Adventist Mission)

Adventist churches around the world are being asked to collect a special COVID-19 offering on July 11 to support communities devastated by the pandemic. Funds raised by local churches will be used to help respond within their region of the world.
This means that all COVID-19 Response offerings given by church members will go to their local division and local fields to fund initiatives to help those suffering from this pandemic. Masks. Essential supplies. Counseling . . . Whatever it takes.
…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Cwayita Madala, Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division)

Over the last couple of months, I’ve experienced more deaths in my life than ever before. Two of my cousins and two people I looked up to for years died. In addition to this, two loved ones had miscarriages. The grief brought on by these deaths came with a reminder of my own mortality. It made me reflect on my understanding and feelings around death and how that affects how I live.
As humans, we can be very dismissive of death. Death as a topic of discussion is taboo–especially the discussion…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Jhenifer Costa)

Does a couple that exercises together stay together? That’s what Odailson and Ellen Fonseca, married for 20 years and parents of preteen Thalissa, believe. Odailson is director of communication and religious liberty for the Adventist Church in São Paulo and Ellen is an elementary school teacher at the Adventist College of Artur Nogueira , in the interior of São Paulo.
Since they began dating, both have maintained an exercise routine and living together has allowed them to practice various…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (AdventHealth)

About a year into his job as a chaplain at AdventHealth Orlando in central Florida, Jamie Ricketts, a native of Alberta, Canada, encountered something none of his training prepared him for: a global pandemic had reached the community he serves.
“Who could have imagined something like this happening?” Ricketts said. “The impact is so unprecedented it requires us to innovate as we work.”
Worldwide, according to data released June 8* by Johns Hopkins University, more than 7 million people have…

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By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Rosmery Sánchez)

Despite massive infections of the COVID-19 virus affecting 190 of its 245 employees, the Ana Stahl Adventist Clinic (Clínica Adventista Ana Stahl in Spanish) in Iquitos, Peru, is back in operation.
Substitute workers from Lima, Peru’s capital some 745 miles away, and doctors from Cuba came to the 94-year-old hospital at the gateway to Peru’s Amazon region to help while many regular staffers were ill. Reports indicated 80 percent of the population of Iquitos had contracted the new coronavirus,…

Source:: sda website