Two More Days For Matching Grant
September 10, 2010
Source: News Releases
The Government of Canada Matching Grant opportunity ends in only two days but you can still double your dollar in Pakistan.>>Read MoreOriginal Post: http://www.adra.ca/Page.aspx?pid=363
Adventist world church president dismayed by planned Quran burning
September 8, 2010
Source: Adventist News Network
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is deeply dismayed by a non-denominational pastor's plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11.
In a statement released today, Adventist world church President Ted N.C. Wilson said the so-called "Burn a Quran Day" is "directly contrary" to the belief that Christians ought to relate to others with mutual respect.
Terry Jones, pastor of the Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center, recently announced his intention to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The church has since been denied a permit to set a bonfire, but Jones has vowed to proceed with the burning, the Associated Press reported this week.
"This causes us great consternation," Wilson said. "Efforts deliberately designed to inflame tensions between faith communities are irresponsible and deeply harmful."
Any deliberate show of disrespect to the Quran is viewed as offensive to Muslims, who consider the Quran the word of God and regard it with utmost respect.
Already eliciting widespread protests, international criticism and government warnings, the burning -- if carried out -- could kindle a significant reaction from the Muslim community, religious liberty advocates have warned. Many have predicted results similar to what followed a series of controversial cartoons depicting Mohammed published by a Danish newspaper in 2006.
In a climate increasingly "marked by growing intolerance and prejudice," the Adventist Church is "working diligently to end religiously motivated repression and violence," Wilson said.
"A hallmark of the Adventist Church is its defense of freedom of conscience, which it holds as a God-given universal human right for all peaceful people of faith, regardless of religious affiliation," he said.
Read Wilson's full statement here.
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Adventist archaeological dig yields Iron Age temple
September 8, 2010
Source: Adventist News Network
Confirming a modern-day view of Bible history, a Seventh-day Adventist archaeologist and historian has unearthed pivotal ruins and artifacts from the 3,000-year-old Iron Age at a temple site in Ataruz, Jordan.
"[This is] the largest and best-preserved temple from the biblical period. It will shed important light on the cultic, or religious, life of that period," said Dr. Chang Ho Ji, chairman and professor in the Counseling and School Psychology department and a collaborating faculty member in the History department of La Sierra University, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Riverside, California.
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Jordanian officials announced the discovery at a news conference in Amman on September 1.
"This is an extremely important find and one that has relationships to biblical history; it is very exciting," said Dr. Lawrence Geraty, president emeritus of the school and an archaeology professor there, in an e-mail to Adventist Review. Geraty pioneered the cooperation among several Adventist institutions, including Atlantic Union College, Canadian Union College, Andrews University, and La Sierra, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, starting in 1984 with a dig at Tall al-'Umayri.
Jordanian Department of Antiquities (DoA) Director General Ziad Saad announced the recent discovery as the largest early Iron Age II temple in the region, dating back to between 1000 and 800 BC.
The multi-chambered temple, which includes a 20-by-20-meter courtyard, yielded over 300 cultic artifacts, leading experts to believe it was once a political and religious base for either the Moabite or the northern Israelite kingdom.
Vessels, jars and statues of deities were among recent temple-related discoveries at Khirbet Ataruz, near Dhiban, approximately 30 miles south of Amman, located on the western slope of Jabal Bani Hamida. The actual site is just off the road leading to the site of King Herod the Great's winter palace, Dr. Ji said.
According to media reports, the items, many of which were unearthed last month, give experts a more complete view of the Iron Age civilization and Jordan's heritage.
More than 1,000 years before the Nabataeans built an empire of trade through the rose-red, rock-hewn city of Petra, the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites dominated the region in what is seen as a time of science, expansion and culture, the Jordan Times indicated in a news report.
"This is a very important period of Jordan's history. The Iron Age was a period of great historical and political importance and strong kingdoms that saw many technological advancements," Saad said.
Ataruz is mentioned both in the Bible and the Mesha Stele as "Ataroth," but the true meaning of the name "has yet to be uncovered," Saad told The Jordan Times.
Although historical documents frequently refer to the Iron Age kingdoms east of the River Jordan, Saad pointed out that the Khirbet Ataruz findings mark the first time experts have archaeological evidence to back up theories of the civilization's scientific, cultural and economic sophistication.
The bulk of the historic findings were uncovered in August by a La Sierra University team that has been excavating Khirbet Ataruz since 2000 with support from Versacare, Inc., a charity in Riverside.
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Among the findings are a statue of a bull-faced god and nearly 300 vessels, lamps and altars for religious rituals. In antiquity, the bull was often tied to the principal deities of the region, including El, Hadad and Baal.
The quality, diversity and condition of the pieces, made from clay, stone, basalt and bronze, show an advanced technology and a thriving economy on the east bank of the River Jordan more than three millennia ago.
Despite being in good condition, most of the Ataruz pieces were broken, indicating that the temple in central Jordan met a violent end, Saad said.
Much of what is known of the Ataruz temple has been learned from King Mesha, immortalized in a basalt tablet listing his victories and accomplishments. Known as the Mesha Stele, the tablet was discovered near Dhiban and is now on display in the Louvre in Paris.
The Moabites -- whom the Bible says are descended from Moab, a grandson of Lot and a nephew of Abraham -- are believed to have been Canaanite tribes that settled in the land between the River Jordan and the Eastern Desert near what is now Dhiban in the 14th century BC. Their reign came to an end with the Persian invasion around the 7th century BC.
According to Saad, experts will now work to catalogue, test and research the Ataruz artifacts in order to get a full picture of the Iron Age kingdoms that once ruled Jordan.
--portions of this report are reprinted, with the author's permission, from a news article in the September 2 issue of The Jordan Times.
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New Zealand Members Safe After 7.1 Earthquake
September 8, 2010
Source: Adventist Review News
U.S. $1.4 billion in damage to area.Click here for the full article.
Original Post: http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=3740
GC President Dismayed at Planned Quran Burning
September 8, 2010
Source: Adventist Review News
Inciting religious tensions,'irresponsible, harmful,' Wilson says.Click here for the full article.
Original Post: http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=3747
Adventist Pastor/Biker Reaches Out at Motorcycle Rally
September 8, 2010
Source: Adventist Review News
Special edition of Steps to Christ handed out at Sturgis rally.Click here for the full article.
Original Post: http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=3737
Adventist Archaeological Dig Yields Iron Age Temple
September 8, 2010
Source: Adventist Review News
Relates to biblical history, documents Moabite worship, officials say.Click here for the full article.
Original Post: http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=3741
Church canceled in Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday after massive earthquake
September 7, 2010
Source: Adventist News Network
A state of emergency remains in Christchurch September 7, as aftershocks as large as magnitude 5.4 continued to rumble through the region.
More than 100,000 homes were damaged after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit at 4:35 a.m. on Saturday morning, disrupting power, water and sewage services.
Most Seventh-day Adventist churches in and around Christchurch did not hold worship services that day, although reports have been received of at least one group meeting in their sanctuary.
Though few injuries were reported among the general population, estimates of property damage are approaching US$1.5 billion. Five out of every eight homes needs to be assessed by civil engineers.
The Ministry of Education has ordered all schools stay closed until September 13. Danny Carrasco, principal of Christchurch Adventist School, has been cleaning up the mess left from the earthquake. The school building didn't suffer any structural damage.
An estimated 15,000 earthquakes strike New Zealand, located in the "Ring of Fire" Pacific earthquake zone, annually, media reports said.
Since the weekend, Craig Gillis, president of the Adventist Church in South New Zealand has been engaging with emergency managers to identify and address the most pressing community needs. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency New Zealand -- in partnership with the church's South New Zealand Conference -- is encouraging church members and volunteers to support community-focused action, as some 300 people are currently housed in welfare shelters.
"I believe the toughest days are to come," Gillis said. "The redevelopment of infrastructure and people's homes and lives will be the most critical. We're asking church members to look to their own neighborhoods and communities to help those in need."
Barricades remain in place around the restricted access zones in the central city and in Kaiapoi. On the ground in Christchurch's Cranmer Square -- in the heart of the inner city but not completely cordoned off -- is as close as ADRA staff can get on foot to some of the most severe damage the earthquake has left in its wake.
ADRA NZ has committed $10,000 toward the recovery effort and is accepting donations to add to this amount. For more information, visit www.adra.co.nz.
--additional reporting by Adventist Review staff
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In the South Pacific, discipleship key to supporting Adventist membership
September 7, 2010
Source: Adventist News Network
There are more than 420,844 baptized members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific, but on any given Saturday, services may draw more than a million worshippers, church officials in the region estimate.
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With one Adventist for every 86 people in the South Pacific, the region is focusing on discipleship, regional President Barry Oliver told local church leaders during Year-End Meetings in Sydney, Australia last week. Oliver reminded them that Jesus' call in the New Testament to "make disciples" is an "imperative."
Providing spiritual nurture and houses of worship for members will help maintain dramatic church growth in countries such as Papua New Guinea, which is also experiencing high numbers leaving the church. There are still 3,000 people per year who stop attending church in the country, down from 5,000 in 2006, church officials said.
The church's educational institution in the region is also growing, church education officials said. Enrollment over the past five years at church-run Avondale College in New South Wales, Australia, has increased by 40 percent to 1,300 students. Twenty-two of those students are currently enrolled in the school's new doctoral program and 14 are completing master's degrees in research. Avondale College anticipates earning full university status by 2016.
The church's media center in the South Pacific is experiencing similar expansion. About 10 percent of the church's growth in Australia and New Zealand is directly attributed to Bible study courses taken through Adventist Media, church leaders said.
The South Pacific region was the first of the church's 13 world regions to hold its Year-End Meetings, during which regional church officials vote on policy and finance matters and appoint departmental directors. Most regions hold such meetings in late October or early November.
Original Post: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ann-en/~3/4dBRvsVzWUM/in-the-south-pacific.html
Adventist Education must create value, Beardsley says
September 2, 2010
Source: Adventist News Network
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Lisa Beardsley wants to create value for the education consumer.
In business school she analyzed why people chose to pay $4 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. She now takes that same analysis and applies it to Adventist education, examining why spenders would offer a premium for its values and mission.
For Beardsley, the recently-appointed Education director for the Seventh-day Adventist world church, that analysis and its subsequent results, she hopes, will offer administrators and students clearer choices to navigate change in Adventist education. The system struggles to maintain Adventist identity in areas of surging growth and offer competitive programs in stagnating regions.
The typical college student is no longer just an 18-year-old coming to live in the dorm. Demand is increasing for graduate and professional degrees. Parents are returning to school, sometimes in downtown extension buildings or via online classrooms. The challenge, Beardsley says, is how to make each of those points in the delivery of the academic experience, whether rural or urban, distinctly Adventist. This updates the old business model of building Adventist boarding schools and colleges at the end of rural roads.
Much of that analysis will need to take place over the course of her department's five-year term. She and four associates comprise the core of the Adventist Accrediting Association.
Where's the growth?
For now, analysis of 1.7 millions students in Adventist education worldwide reveals their preferences by their tuition payments and attendance. The results: The church's education system is growing fast, mainly outside of North America.
While growth exists in the United States and Canada, Beardsley says enrollment in Adventist higher education only grew there about 3 percent over the past five years. Long established denominational infrastructure is waning in a few areas. Education leaders in North America say many academies built in the early 1960s to accommodate Baby Boomers are down in attendance from their prime. Beardsley points out that most colleges are strong, but changing demographics and market demand mean once flourishing schools should scale back operations, a few more radically.
Take Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts, which is on the verge of losing accreditation for financial reasons. It could perhaps re-emerge successfully as a junior college, Beardsley says, referring to the nation's "booming" demand for community colleges.
"If people aren't able to pay or aren't willing to pay, and if [certain areas] close up, we should prayerfully consider what the Lord would have us do," Beardsley says during an interview in her office. "There are other places where we can't manage the growth. I don't think we should keep other things on life support."
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Worldwide, however, higher Adventist education is growing so fast -- about a 26-percent enrollment increase over the past five years -- that more and more teachers are hired who aren't Adventist. Increasingly, they're teaching students who aren't Adventist either.
Granted, when 40 percent of students aren't Adventist, it's an opportunity to share the church's mission. But what defines Adventist education, Beardsley says, is who's teaching the class.
That's why one of her goals over the course of her term is to empower teachers to continue integrating faith with learning and increase the percentage of professors who are members of the denomination.
"All of our teachers, even those teaching in an MBA program at night, need to understand how they can further redemptive purposes in their instruction," Beardsley says.
Additionally, she wants to increase spirituality on Adventist campuses, which emphasizes a balance of study, work, service and rest. That might include somehow boosting the influence of religion and theology departments on campus. The programs are shrinking relative to other disciplines in response to market demand and now have less of an influence on a campus culture, Beardsley says.
"We need those teachers to exert leadership and influence not just for their students, but for the intellectual and spiritual climate of the entire campus," she says.
Although she seeks to increase Adventist identity and spirituality on denominational campuses, Beardsley isn't opposed to exposing students to a variety of ideas and evidence, even when in conflict with official Adventist beliefs.
"It needs to be done, but in balance with Adventist identity and mission," she says. "It needs to be done in appropriate context at the right time and with sufficient support for students as they wrestle through intellectual issues, such as what is the current scientific thinking about the age of the earth, and how do we reconcile that with our belief that God is our creator."
Still, she cautions that such topics should be taught with "maturity, judiciousness and mindfulness."
"There are things that academics talk about among themselves with other professors and there are things they talk about with undergraduates. And it's not the same thing. ...We should never throw our students to the wolves and let it be survival of the fittest."
Calling to ministry
Beardsley, 52, is fluent in English and Finnish (she's half Finnish and half Japanese) and a longtime professor and student in Adventist and public schools around the world.
She took the theology track in college in Europe, not realizing until her junior year that a woman couldn't serve as an Adventist minister. When asked about it, she says she was "shocked" at the time, but that her calling now is through the ministry of education.
Still, she put that theology training to use during two stints as a hospital chaplain between teaching and pursuing academic degrees, which now form the alphabet soup following her name -- Ph.D., MBA, MPH.
Her four degrees -- in education, business, health and theology -- make up the four largest disciplines now on Adventist campuses.
Reaching students
Most recently, Beardsley served as a department associate director and editor-in-chief of Dialogue, a journal geared toward Adventist students on public campuses. That's where roughly 70 percent of Adventist college students in North America study. And she'd like to have more of them in Adventist schools.
Wouldn't that crowd existing campuses? Not outside North America, she says.
Her own career has more or less been aided by a rotation of schools and developing connections -- "social capital," she calls it. Today, e-mails to executives in Indonesia or Pakistan aren't misinterpreted because of culture. Familiarity and trust was built on campuses decades ago. The denomination functions on that capital, she says.
"I tell students, 'Don't just think of the school closest to you. Think of the world.' My own experience -- two years in England, two years in the Philippines, a year and a half at Loma Linda -- gave me an understanding of the world I could not have gained any other way."
--write her at beardsleyL@gc.adventist.org
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