Adventist World - July 2018

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16,000 Gather for Youth Congress

The Religion of Business

Sleeping Through the Storm

July 2018 ISSN 255003/09614

Support Your Minister

By Bill Knott

P n o r way

About the Cover Linea Søgaard just completed her final year at Norwegian Junior College (Tyrifjord Videregående Skole). She is a member of the college church, and is active in both church and college. In July she begins a one-year internship in the Youth department of the Norwegian Union Conference. Linea is the editor of the union’s youth magazine, and she intends to study journalism when her internship is completed.

Photo: Tor Tjeransen/ADAMS

Focus 10 The Religion of Business The Word 20 Devotional 26 Bible Questions Answered My Church 16 Spirit of Prophecy 18 Global View 23 Millennial Voices 24 Looking Back Living Faith 22 Faith in Action 27 Health and Wellness

astor, teacher, doctor, nurse . . .

For most of the first 125 years of this movement, these important helping professions—each one a noble calling—received a disproportionate share of attention and esteem among Seventh-day Adventists. Preparing for one of these occupations was a much-traveled path to denominational employment, for the church’s worldwide witness and medical ministry were expanding rapidly. Eager parents coached their children toward careers that would keep them closely tied to the church’s mission. Young adults recognized in these callings a way to express their personal commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission.

In our early decades, a surprisingly high percentage of graduates from the church’s colleges moved into these roles. Professions not immediately connected with church employment—law, civil service, music, graphic arts, and business, for example—were sometimes chiefly valued because those engaged in them would presumably return a faithful tithe.

But a welcome breeze has been blowing through the church for the last 25 years that now both honors and affirms the great variety of faithful career choices available to young Adventists. “Ministry” is no longer a category reserved for those paid by tithe or employed by church institutions. A rediscovery of the biblical model of “tentmaking ministry”—begun by the hands of the apostle Paul himself—now validates the work and witness of millions of Adventists who neither seek nor want employment by their church. In the real market of goods and services, in professions that increasingly intersect with culture, technology, agriculture, and emerging industries, believers are discovering that they may make of almost any job a ministry. Ministry is not defined by where the paycheck comes from, but by the passion and commitment of the architect, the judge, the engineer, and the artist.

In this months’ edition of Adventist World, we tell the stories of those who are doing the Lord’s business as entrepreneurs, innovators, and providers of the products that the culture wants and needs. The things they create and the services they offer bring them into daily contact with millions of people hungry for quality workmanship, for ethical leadership, and for faithful Adventists who can offer moral guidance in the marketplace.

Adventists everywhere should join these “ministers” in praying, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands—O prosper the work of our hands!” (Ps. 90:17, NRSV*).

28 May I Tell You a Story?

* Bible texts credited to NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of

30 Growing Faith—Children’s Page

Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.

We believe in the power of prayer, and we welcome prayer requests that can be shared at our weekly staff worship every Wednesday morning. Send your requests to prayer@adventistworld.org, and pray for us as we work together to advance God’s kingdom.

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News Moment

An It Is Written evangelistic team recently baptized 71 people in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, fulďŹ lling a request by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, in A.D. 1266 for Christian missionaries to come back and teach his people about the gospel.

Photo: It Is Written

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News in Brief

1,672 Number of cataract surgeries performed by the It Is Written Eyes for India team in the remote forest village of Hardiakol, Barabanki, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

Approximately 60 percent of registered patients were blind in both eyes. The Eyes for India project seeks, through a simple cataract surgery and intraocular lens implantation, to restore sight to some of the 15 million in India who are blind.

“We should never expect more if we have never invested anything at all.”

—Eliki Kenivale, chaplain for the Pacific Tertiary Evangelistic Center addressing attendees at a youth rally in Fiji. Kenivale challenged attendees to personally invest in people before inviting them to an evangelistic meeting. “One cannot lead a soul to Jesus if he or she has not invested some effort, time, money and the like to develop and build up a relationship with a friend or colleague,” he concluded.

Five The number of elements that came together in 2017 that resulted in a positive financial report for the General Conference. They are: a positive U.S. financial market, a tithe increase in the North American Division church region, steady exchange rates in major foreign currencies, an intentional focus on fiscal discipline, and a maintaining of an adequate liquidity level. The General Conference reported a surplus of US$1.6 million at the end of 2017. Total global tithe for the year was reported at US$2.44 billion.

“God’s church will rise to its destiny, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

—Mark Finley, evangelist and assistant to the Adventist world church president in his address to members of the world church’s Executive Committee attending Spring Meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, in April. Finley outlined challenges facing the church, but concluded that the church’s survival is guaranteed because of God’s grace.

“Adventist Radio London will unashamedly extend the teaching, preaching, and healing ministries of Christ to the diverse millennial mindset of London, discipling them to wholistic living and knowing Jesus their Savior, the only hope for mankind.”

—Michael Hamilton (center), director of Adventist Radio London (ARL).

In collaboration with Adventist World Radio, ARL went on the air in April after receiving a highly coveted license. Programming will be millennial staff (pictured).

Photo: Trans-European Division News 4

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News in Brief

“We are talking about the largest generation of young adults in human history.”

—Allan Martin, teaching pastor of Younger Generation, a ministry of the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church in Texas, United States. Martin spoke for the Reaching Millennial Generations symposium recently hosted on the campus of Andrews University. Multiple presenters tackled subjects dealing with the relationship between the Adventist Church and its millennial members.

Government Harassment and Use of Force Against Religious Groups Percent of countries in each region with increases in government harassment or use of force against religious groups between 2014 and 2015 53% Europe 48% Sub-Saharan Africa

“A development of the system of religious education is of great importance for our society. Thus the Russian government is interested in helping religious organizations solve urgent problems related to the work of religious educational institutions.” ­ Alexander Kudryavtsev, deputy head of the — Department for Humanitarian Policy and Public Relations for the Russian Federation, in opening remarks at an event entitled “Actual Problems in the Development of Religious Education and Science in the Russian Federation.” Adventist administrators were among other public and religious leaders who attended the event, which sought to discuss the future of religious education in the Russian Federation.

37% Americas 30% Middle-East–North Africa 26% Asia-Pacific 0

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95% Middle-East–North Africa 89% Europe 83% Sub-Saharan Africa 80% Americas 72% Asia-Pacific Percent of countries in each region that experienced government harassment or use of force against religious groups in 2015.

Source: Pew Research Center

“Electronic Bibles have the effect of reshaping the effective canon, the form and content of the Scriptures as they are experienced in a particular community or by an individual.”

—Tim Hutchings, research fellow in Digital Discipleship at Durham University, England, discussing the opportunities and challenges of digital technology in the context of the church in a recent lecture at Newbold College, a Seventh-day Adventist institution in England.

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News in Depth

More Than 16,000 Gather for Adventist Youth Congress

Twenty-four-hour prayer feature highlighted the five-day event.

By Teresa Costello and Jade Yerro-Soreno, Southern Asia-Pacific Division News

A youth congress held in the southern Philippines attracted more than 16,000 young people. With a theme “Pass It On: Equip, Engage, and Empower,” the April 9-14, 2018, biunion event challenged young people to step away from gadgets and other distractions. Instead, they had five days of opportunities to make new friends and learn new skills while deepening their relationships with God. Hosted by the Central Philippine Union Conference (CPUC) and the South Philippine Union Conference (SPUC), the congress featured 5:00 a.m. worships, 7:30 a.m. devotionals, three morning plenary seminars on youth issues, and four hours of physical activity in the afternoon.

PRAYER THE MAIN FOCUS

Young people also participated in team-building activities, donated blood, and learned practical skills, such as how to make laundry detergent. While these activities, along with the talent night and evening cultural programs, were popular, based on activity in the prayer room, many attendees seemed to focus on their need for prayer.

The prayer room offered a new feature: hourly prayer for each day of the congress. During that time more than 800 youth volunteers prayed for the event and attendees, in addition to the 4,000 prayer requests received. Some requests came from a hotline specially set up for the event. Every day, starting at 5:00 a.m. and ending at 5:00 p.m., youth came for prayer. Afterward they were encouraged to go and invite others to pray with them, thus passing along the experience.

A GREATER CONNECTION WITH GOD

Speakers such as Dan Smith from California; Baraka Muganda, a vice president of Washington Adventist University (NAD); and Jobbie Yabut, youth director of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD), highlighted the value God places on youth. They and other speakers reinforced the need for a greater connection with God. This connection, they emphasized, helps youth make positive choices that better themselves, their churches, and their communities.

For many attendees, connecting with other Adventist youth reminded them that they are part of something larger than themselves and added to their growing faith. “Knowing that you have a loving community around you makes the Christian life journey a lot easier,” said Anthony Stanyer, SSD youth coordinator.

Working with youth from the two union conferences brought a valuable exchange of new ideas and methods of youth ministry for organizers. Yet the reality of seeing youth connect with God and others was most inspirational.

“The fellowship of a huge crowd of friends and colleagues, and the joy of witnessing our young people taking up leadership responsibilities and stepping up for a closer walk with Jesus Christ are invaluable!” shared SPUC youth director Jemsly Lantaya. CPUC youth director Von John Sanchez got a glimpse of what is to come. “With . . . [all these] youth in attendance, I imagine what it must have been like in the time of biblical holy festivals when Israelites gathered from different regions. Each [here] has a common purpose: to showcase Christian fellowship and foreshadow a future gathering one day in heaven,” he said.

The packed schedule concluded with nightly meetings encouraging youth to share what they gained at the event. “The church was filled to the brim. You could really feel the sincerity of those in attendance,” noted Stanyer.

Additional reporting by Edward Rodriguez.

Photo: Southern Asia-Pacific Division 6

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News in Depth

General Conference Corporation Board Reviews and Refines Investment Practices

By Adventist News Network and Adventist World

The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (GC) has reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to making investments consistent wth its ethical and fiduciary commitments.

The GC Corporation board—the property holding body of the General Conference—met on March 20, 2018, to review and refine current investment practices of the General Conference.

The General Conference Investment Management Committee, through the GC Investment Office, is given investment management responsibilities by the GC Corporation and the various denominational trustees of the funds. Its mandate includes managing funds entrusted to the GC by church organizations, retirement funds, and institutions.

The Investment Management Committee seeks “to invest these funds in a professional, fiduciary, prudent, and consistent manner.” The committee adds that “as a general rule, the General Conference follows the ‘prudent investor Rule’ of maintaining a highly diversified investment portfolio using different investment strategies based on the most competent professional advice we are able to secure.”

In a review of investing practices, the Corporation Board reviewed and revised the criteria used in investing practices. At its meeting on March 20, the board reaffirmed the following criteria for investment screening: “We reaffirm our current investment restrictions for companies involved with or in the following industries: alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography, meat products,

Photo: Brandon Roberts/GC Communication

and caffeinated beverages. We direct the GC Investment Committee to ensure that all investment exclusions be consistent with the use of products and services that are in keeping with our prescribed standard of practice and in keeping with Seventh-day Adventist values in practical daily living as Seventh-day Adventists.”

The board additionally voted “that in keeping with our longstanding position on noncombatantcy, we direct the GC Investment Management Committee to screen all present and potential investments in order to exclude companies whose revenues are derived primarily or substantially from the manufacture and sale of weapons, combat vehicles, munitions, or other warfare systems. In addition, we direct the GC Investment Management Committee to avoid investments in any companies that are engaged in the manufacture of cluster munitions, land mines, or nuclear weapons and to exclude such regardless of the proportion

of company revenues or sales that these products represent.”

“As a spiritual organization, we hold ourselves accountable to ensure that our financial strategies and investments align with our established values and commitments,” said Tim Aka, GC associate treasurer responsible for the management for GC investments. “This process is ongoing and continues to be of vital importance for the GC Investment Office.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, in an official statement entitled ”Call for Peace,” which was released in 2002, declared that “churches should not only be known for spiritual contributions— though these are foundational—but also for their support of quality of life, and in this connection peacemaking is essential.”

“In the spirit of that statement and as an ongoing process,” concludes Aka, “the General Conference has attempted to mitigate against such incongruous investments yet uphold their fiduciary responsibilities.”

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News Focus Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD)

“I hope it will be an opportunity to raise the value of existence of Adventist schools in Korean society.”

—Kang SukWoo, Korean Union Conference education director, commenting on a recent milestone partnership between Sahmyook University and 25 Adventist primary and secondary schools in Korea. From now on, the university and Korean Adventist schools will share programs for character education and exchange opportunities and resources. The university will also conduct self-developed character education programs for students and teachers in Adventist schools.

“There are big challenges ahead. It is the reason we need prayer more than ever.”

—Japanese pastor Shigenori Matsueda commenting on cultural shifts in Japan which present challenges to church growth among native populations. Intentional prayer was a key element of the Total Member Involvement nation-wide evangelistic initiative in May during which dozens of coordinated evangelistic meetings took place throughout Japan. (^-)

734,091 NSD membership as of March 31, 2018

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The number of local churches in the capital city of Mongolia, which together organized a series of evangelistic meetings that focused on such universal questions as “Who is God and why does it matter?” and “What can God do about suffering and evil?”

The event was entitled “Questions That Demand Answers” and featured presentations by Ron Clouzet, NSD Ministerial Association director.

“Now I understand why Gideon said that he was the least in his father’s house. I believe that God will be with our Adventist church members in the NSD and with me, just as He was with Gideon. This heavy responsibility is a God-given mission.”

—Si Young Kim, president of the Northern AsiaPacific Division, commenting after his election in 2017. Kim has served as a pastor, hospital chaplain, administrator and most recently NorthKorea Mission director.

Photo: Adventist World 8

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Perspective

By Susan Allen, Doctor of Nursing Program director, Andrews University

Photo: Rohit Choudhari

The Bigger Issue Behind Gun Violence Has society revived the Roman Colosseum?

In the wake of some recent tragedies involving gun violence, I read many social media posts from both sides of the issue, many focusing on gun control.

I believe we are overlooking the bigger issue.

How does a society get to the point that these types of things seem not to be isolated events anymore? I don’t believe this has to do with guns or how many bullets the guns can hold. This has more to do with the desensitization of murder, shooting, torture, and violence in our society. Perhaps our brains are even being trained in violence. How did we as a society get to this point?

Modern, civilized societies often look back in history to the games and events that took place in the Colosseum of Rome as a barbaric, bloodthirsty form of entertain-

ment; I’m not sure our society is much different, with the barbaric and bloodthirsty movies that are shown on TV and in theaters as entertainment.

In addition, the video games that children play are laden with violence and killing. Children often spend hours playing video games in which they participate in the act of shooting and killing the opponents on screen.

Many think the human brain can separate reality from fiction.

Research has proven otherwise.

Norwegian researcher Christian Keysers wrote a book about his research entitled The Empathic Brain. In this book he unpacks the research that has been done on the mirror neurons of the brain. The research is too in-depth to cover in this limited space. But Keysers says that the mirror neurons of the brain interpret what a person is watching as “your actions become my actions.”

The neurons of the brain can’t tell the difference between what we see others do and what we actually do ourselves. In other words, our brains interpret what is seen on

television and video games as if we ourselves perform the acts. By beholding, we truly become changed.

So what is the answer? I’ve read the analogy about taking the stick away from two children on the playground who are using the stick to fight each other. The implication is that we should take the stick away from all children on all playgrounds because of these two. This doesn’t solve the problem.

I suggest that instead of playing violent video games and watching violent movies we turn our thoughts to things that are good, kind, noble, and true. Instead, let our children experience the blessing that comes from serving others.

What does that look like in everyday life? It could be taking your children to help clean the house of an elderly shut-in, volunteering at a homeless shelter, or helping flood victims and victims of other disasters to help alleviate their suffering.

It is time for the church to join hands to propagate good in the lives of others. By doing so we will create a better world for ourselves and our children.

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Focus

The Religion of Business For Christians, every business is a service industry.

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eligion and business are not two separate things; they are one.”1

WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?

Imagine for a moment a world in which business and religion were truly united, a world in which the golden rule—a common reference to Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount (“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you” [Matt. 7:12, NLT]2—was the genuine mission statement of every organization. A world in which faith in a better tomorrow was the driving anthem of both business and religion.

What would that look like? What questions would be asked in the 10

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boardrooms of these organizations?

What would happen if a large Fortune 500 company, or faithbased entity, formally adopted and genuinely lived out Jesus’ golden rule as its mission statement? If it relentlessly focused on these questions: What are people’s true, life-motivating needs? And how can we not only meet, but exceed, those needs?

What would happen if the principles of the golden rule were sown into the very fabric of its organizational culture and people kept each other accountable regardless of hierarchy? Can we envision the trickle-down effects that such a profound expression of other-centeredness would have on how organizations operate?

In this context individuals who previously focused on driving organizational goals that simply sought to satisfy people’s basic needs (more often than not for selfish gain) would now seek to explore and personally understand the real life needs of people and focus on the explicit desire to create delight in everyday human experience.

Take, for example, Steve Wheen, a British designer who began planting flowers and miniature gardens in the potholes that appeared in the public footpaths of London. Where people once stepped around to avoid hazardous potholes, they were now stopping and taking pictures, enjoying the very scene that had been created. Wheen states that

this project was “all about creating unexpected moments of happiness.”3 The walking public was captivated by these beautiful engaging garden scenes “growing” out of the menacing holes in the sidewalk.

Not only did they avoid potential hazards, but the scene aroused in them surprising joy and delight.

Wheen’s focus on creating unexpected moments of happiness resulted in his creating an experience for an everyday problem that far exceeded people’s expectations.

Whether Wheen realized it or not, he was living out the golden rule.

Jesus’ directive encapsulated in the golden rule is much deeper than simply doing the minimum for each other. Although it is a good place to start, it is less likely to make people stop, think, and be engaged with a message, a product, a service, and ultimately with each other. If Wheen had simply placed a warning sign next to the potholes, it would have been a thoughtful gesture. Many would have acknowledged and perhaps quietly appreciated the helpful directive as they continued walking on their way.

But the unexpected beauty of God’s creation, a garden springing forth from dark and dirty potholes, captivated people’s imaginations. A thoughtful, simple, creative act of human kindness made people pause in their busy lives and wonder at the arresting scene before them.

A CELEBRATION OF RISK

A common premise of both business and religion is a willingness to take risks. Small business owners invest in a strategic location before realizing any returns. A consecrated pastor moves his family into a community with no Adventist presence, believing that building relationships and providing compassionate neighborliness will result in planting a church to the

glory of God. A venture capitalist invests in multiple ventures in hopes that just one will be a success. Faith in a better tomorrow drives both religion and business to believe that taking a risk is worth the potential reward.

Likewise, Ellen White wrote, “Christ risked all. For our redemption, heaven itself was imperiled.”4 When “Christ risked all,” His risk was not for a moment of happiness; it rather set the groundwork for an eternity of joy.

This is something to make us stop and wonder in complete awe.

We are so greatly valued that God would risk everything so that we would have the opportunity to live out an eternity of bliss with Him in heaven. For God, the reward was worth the risk.

Living out the golden rule in the world of business and religion requires risk. Not everyone will appreciate our desire to exceed their expectations, yet Christ commanded “love your enemies” (Matt.

5:44), an imperative with which humanity indeed wrestles.

In the highly competitive business world, for example, commercial organizations often imply that the accelerating pace of change in all aspects of business makes it difficult to adhere to a mission statement that explicitly espouses its intention to do good in the world. However, as Len Sherman, a professor at Columbia Business School, states: “It is precisely because of, not despite, the rapidly changing business environment, that a company needs an anchoring ideology to guide it.”5 The ideology is made even more powerful when we realize that Scripture does not simply provide an ideology; it provides an anchoring, life-giving truth informing the way we live our lives and do business.

Thus the golden rule, the desire to

Never stop planting flowers in the potholes of people’s lives. glorify God in every aspect of our life, becomes our unwavering North Star.

When we experience the transforming love of God as He creates beauty out of the darkest potholes of our lives, we organically live out the golden rule in every human interaction. Our focus will not be on simply doing the minimum for others—but we will unselfishly desire to exceed every expectation: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

How differently might the world move if our business ideology and religious theology were genuinely anchored within the principle of “do to others whatever you would like them to do to you”?

Even if kindness is not reciprocated, start and never stop planting flowers in the potholes of people’s lives.

Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn. , 1900, 1941), p. 349.

2 Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 20015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

3 www.thepotholegardener.com/about-1/.

4 E. G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 196.

5 www.forbes.com/sites/lensherman/2017/04/03/corporatemission-statements-dont-really-matter-unless-you-want-to-be-agreat-leader/2/#7ef78b1b11aa 1

Jared Thurmon leads strategy and innovation for Adventist World.

Daniel Bruneau, Ph.D., leads user experience research, branding, and design for Adventist World.

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My Life’s Destiny

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trained as a medical doctor at the University of Cape Town and practiced full-time for 12 years. I had always been passionate about sharing the gospel, making sure to have Christian material to share with my patients.

In 2012 my husband, Aaron Machewane, who runs our family’s construction-engineering business, was approached by an elder from our church in Johannesburg, looking for a partner funder to start an Adventist

A Unique Mission Field

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spent two years as a missionary to one of the most unreached people groups in the world. The natives are extremely skeptical about all things related to God and faith; most don’t believe God exists; and they speak a different language. They are some of the most healthy, athletic, and intelligent people on the planet. Most of their earthly needs are satisfied, and as the Bible tells us in Proverbs,

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TV station. Knowing my passion for the gospel, he asked if I would be interested. My answer was “Yes!” On March 1, 2013, we went on the air.

I stopped practicing medicine. I learned to talk to God about everything, including how to operate with no content and only external funding.

After much prayer the Lord impressed us to use proceeds from our business to run the channel. We experienced a sudden peace of mind. We took all the risks and left the consequences to God. I learned that when the Lord has given you a task for His mission, you should not be discouraged when people do not understand or support your calling. Just look to God. The one who authored your life script will give you the strength and supply all you need to carry on.

Life Destiny TV (www.lifedestinytv.co.za) is a satellite TV channel run by individual Adventists in South Africa.

Our channel reaches the entire African continent, and we stream live from our Web site for worldwide reach.

It’s been five years since we went on the air. I so thoroughly enjoy what I do. I may go back to medical practice later, but for now I believe this is what the Lord wants me to do.

Charlotte Mhlongo is a medical doctor, businesswoman, and founder of Life Destiny TV. She and her husband live near Johannesburg, South Africa, are blessed with two children.

satisfied souls have little interest in the things of God. To make it even more challenging, the numbers were not in my favor. I was the only Adventist Christian in a population of about 2,000. That ratio is worse than the ratio of Adventists to nonmembers in the 10/40 window. This mission field was the Harvard Business School.

SERVING THE THREE W’S

Think about a prestigious secular university as an untapped mission field. There are no Bible workers or pastors; most of the natives are atheist. And God is rarely, if ever, a topic of conversation.

My experience represents a much larger mission field made up

of a people group the Nicodemus Society refers to as the wealthy, worldly, and well-educated (W3s).

The Nicodemus Society is dedicated to sharing the gospel with the W3s of society. We believe W3s need Jesus, but they have been evangelistically neglected and require different approaches.

We provide training about how to naturally and authentically live our faith in all aspects of our lives, and how to proactively and intentionally have spiritual conversations that lead to Bible studies.

The challenge is that W3s are difficult to access; and one must have both intellectual and personal credibility to be a witness. In short, heart-converted Adventist W3s are

Marrying Medicine and Technology Allan Das is an engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur.

He and his team at Hummingtec in Pune, India, are developing MedBox, a device that helps monitor medication delivery and reminds people about the prescriptions they’re supposed to take.—Editors.

How does your faith inform how you conduct business?

When my clients buy products from me, they do not pay me because the product is great—they pay because they trust me. That is how a brand is built: by proving to be trustworthy.

Over the years God has proved that He can be trusted.

God has never failed to bring new clients or resources we need to survive and grow. My faith compels me to be trustworthy in everything.

What product do you produce, and who, specifically, is your clientele?

We will be producing a medication dispenser; our clients will be doctors, medical administrators, patients, pharmacies, and insurance companies. The medical superintendent of one of the top three hospitals in

the best means of reaching other W3s with the message of God’s love.

We need more Adventists in business, law, science, engineering, academia, government, the arts, and health care reaching their fellow W3 coworkers, neighbors, and friends.

This means equipping Adventist professionals, as well as encouraging Adventist young people to pursue careers in these fields. This means expanding the definition of a mission field beyond a place you need a passport to reach, or where donations and relief efforts are the norm. Ellen White wrote extensively about the importance of the W3 mission field. For example: “It requires a strong spiritual nerve to bring religion into the workshop

India asked when we would be able to deliver the product. We have applied for a patent, but we are self-funding, so we are not yet in the production phase.

How is your product an improvement on what’s existed before?

We help doctors monitor the medications of their patients. The device communicates with pharmacists and insurance companies so that a patient’s entire medication process will be seamless.

Can you share a story about how your product has improved the life of an individual?

I visited a slum on one of my field survey trips. After I had explained my product to students from the local community, a boy asked how much the product cost.

I had only a prototype with me, so I told him that the product was not yet ready for sale. I asked for whom he wanted to buy it. He told me that his mother, a daywage worker, was asthmatic and had to take medications regularly. If she forgot to take her medications she would struggle to sleep after a long day’s work. Though the problem may seem trivial, people lose their lives because they do not take their medications regularly.

and the business office, sanctifying the details of everyday life, and ordering every transaction according to the standard of God’s Word. But this is what the Lord requires.”* We may be the only Adventist Christians our W3 friends will ever meet, or the only ones with whom our W3 friends would be willing to discuss matters of God and faith. Will we accept the call to this mission field? * Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1913), p. 279.

Cynthia Heidi is a management consultant and cofounder of the Nicodemus Society (www. nicodemussociety.org).

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opening, a show organizer responsible for awarding the prestigious Nexty Award, a best-in-show contest, stopped by to taste our products and experience our farm-to-table traceability via QR code scan.

While meeting each farmer via video and photo essay on her own phone for the loaf of bread she was sampling, the show organizer’s eyes widened, and she said, “I didn’t know you could do that!” Eight weeks later we won this coveted prize, which was a catalyst for rapid acceptance by the industry’s top retailers.

It’s a challenge, as a Seventh-day Adventist-owned and-operated business, to convey to customers at heavily trafficked trade shows that we value their business when our booth is closed on Sabbath. We responded with a two-tiered approach: education for our broker network on the benefits of keeping Sabbath, and a carefully crafted postcard that shared the importance of Sabbath as a day of rest.

PROFIT STATEMENT

Organic Witnessing

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y father-in-law and future business partner, Stan Smith, shook his head in disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right?” He looked at his director of procurement, who had just informed him that they were buying apple puree from Chile.

Silver Hills Bakery is based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, a region prized for its apple production.

Through a combination of trade agreements and affordable transportation, Chilean apple puree was cheaper, and was being used as a sweetener for a special variety of bread formulated for diabetics called Steady Eddie.

One Degree Organic Foods was christened to convey to customers that they were never more than one degree removed from the farmers who grow the organic ingredients in our products. This new start-up would document the farmers and ingredient suppliers for every single ingredient in every product, and share each story with the consumer from the front of the package.

READY FOR MARKET

Eighteen months later we officially launched One Degree Organic Foods at the premier natural and organic food trade show called Expo West, held annually in Anaheim, California. With more than 70,000 attendees, we were excited to gauge how One Degree would be accepted. Within 15 minutes of the show floor 14

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Documenting every single ingredient in our supply chain requires careful planning, a robust travel schedule, and extensive farmer networking. While on a trip to Canada’s largest organic farm, my wife, Sondra, and I met a couple named Juergen and Faranak Borchers, who worked in the farm management and finance office.

A friendship quickly developed, and soon they both applied for positions at One Degree and were hired.

We had perceived an openness to spiritual topics when we first met Juergen and Faranak, and began inviting them to our local church. Bible studies followed. In August 2015 they were both baptized at the ASI convention in Spokane, Washington.

Nothing compares to sharing the truth about the real Source of life in our business sphere. One Degree Organic Food’s highest use is as a platform to share Christ.

Danny Houghton is a founding partner and vice president of sales of One Degree Organic Foods. He and his wife, Sondra, live in Lynden, Washington, United States, with their 1-year-old son, Andrew.

The Spiritual Impact of Entrepreneurship

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any Adventist pioneers were great innovators and entrepreneurs. Uriah Smith patented a prosthetic leg. Joshua Himes was the marketing genius behind the Millerite movement.

John Harvey Kellogg invented types of exercise equipment that is still used today. E. A. Sutherland and his team at Madison College created 30 different products derived from soy.

founder of the company used to be a punk rocker. After his conversion he felt that the Lord was giving him a second chance. He developed an innovative product called “Re†hink,” sharing the message that God is able to erase our past and give everyone a second chance.

Human trafficking often involves tattooing the victims so that they can’t run away. With this product thousands are given an opportunity to be free again.

The more customers they minister to, the more profitable the company becomes, and the more people benefit spiritually.

Our church pioneers were successful because of their innovative and entrepreneurial and missionary spirit, which is just an extension of the Holy Spirit.

Ellen G. White, Counsels on Stewardship (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1940), p. 148.

“Millennials at Work,” Bentley University, 2014. Retrieved from https://www.bentley.edu/newsroom/ latest-headlines/mind-of-millennial.

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STARTING WITH A PLAN

A few friends and I share a dream of faith-based entrepreneurship. We dream of creating new ways of doing business that are not only powerful agents for social change but influence the world spiritually. That’s how the Hyvecamp community of faith-based innovators was born.

One of the major obstacles we faced was overcoming the stereotype that business and religion are incompatible. Medieval Christianity erroneously developed the idea that the pursuit of wealth was inherently worldly, and that true spirituality was linked to monastic poverty. The Protestant Reformation unveiled the notion that although the love of money is the root of all evil, wealth is also a powerful tool that can be used for good.

Ellen White wrote, “The desire to accumulate wealth is an original affection of our nature, implanted there by our heavenly Father for noble ends.”1 LINKING IDEAS AND RESOURCES

A Bentley University survey found 66 percent of millennials want to start their own businesses.2 However, more than just wanting to start something, members of the Hyvecamp community seek to be part of something meaningful, something that intertwines faith and practice. This is also true of the seasoned businesspeople and other professionals who attended the event seeking to contribute their know-how, influence, and financial means.

Hyvecamp’s desire to reshape society is best manifested through the startups that participate. For example, the winners of the 2017 pitch competition were developers of a natural tattoo removal cream. The

Jesse Zwiker is one of the cofounders of Hyvecamp International (Hyvecamp.com), and lives with his family in Heidelberg, Germany.

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llen White wrote about business and its principles more than many realize. We hope the following words inspire you with the same zeal that inspired the pioneers of the Adventist movement.—Editors.

Spirit of Prophecy

Risky Business Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“There is a fearfulness to venture out and to run risks in this great work, fearing that the expenditure of means would not bring returns. What if means are used and yet we cannot see that souls have been saved by it? What if there is a dead loss of a portion of our means? Better work and keep at work than to do nothing. You know not which shall prosper, this or that.”1 Speaking to the inclination to bury talents God has given, she wrote, “Many become inefficient by evading responsibilities for fear of failure.”2 “Remember that Christ risked all.

For our redemption, heaven itself was imperiled.”3 “Some have no idea of running any risk or venturing anything themselves.

But somebody must venture; someone must run risks in this cause.”4 BACK TO THE FUTURE

Have you heard of the Waldenses? Of these “renegades” Ellen White wrote in The Great Controversy: “To have made known the object of their mission would have ensured its defeat; therefore they carefully concealed their real character. Every minister possessed a knowledge of some trade or profession, and the missionaries prosecuted their work under cover of a secular calling. Usually they chose that of merchant or peddler. ‘They carried silks, jewelry, and other articles, at that time not easily purchasable save at distant marts; and they were welcomed as merchants where they would have been spurned as missionaries.’—Wylie, b. 1, ch. 7.

“All the while their hearts were uplifted to God for wisdom to present a treasure more precious than gold or gems. They secretly carried about with them copies of the Bible, in whole or in part; and whenever an opportunity was presented, they called the attention of their customers to these manuscripts. Often an 16

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Photo: Greg Rakozy

interest to read God’s Word was thus awakened, and some portion was gladly left with those who desired to receive it.”5 CREATING A KIND WORK CULTURE

It costs nothing to speak kindly, and kindness fulfills the law of Christ.

“All the workers in the office are under the supervision of God, and are expected to speak respectfully because they are in His presence just as verily as if they could see him. They are to show love and respect, cheerfulness and true courtesy, to one another, remembering that in this life they are in a school where they can learn lessons that will prepare them for promotion to the school above.

“It costs nothing to speak kindly, and kindness fulfills the law of Christ. By the constant practice of this virtue, habits are formed that will make beautiful characters—characters fit for entrance into the courts above. Thus men and women may become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. My brethren and sisters, will you not set a watch upon your lips, that you may speak no unpleasant words?”6 “Words of kindness are as welcome as the smile of angels.”7 CREATING AN AMAZING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

“In your association with others, put yourself in their place. Enter into their feelings, their difficulties, their disappointments, their joys, and their sorrows. Identify yourself with them, and then do to them as, were you to exchange places with them, you would wish them to deal with you. This is the true rule of honesty. It is another expression of the law, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Matthew 22:39.”8 WITNESSING THROUGH BUSINESS

“A kind, courteous Christian is the most powerful argument in favor of the gospel that can be produced.”9 BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

“The Lord disciplines His workers, that they may be prepared to fill the places appointed them. He desires to fit them to do more acceptable service. There are those who wish to be a ruling power, and who need the sanctification of submis-

sion. God brings about a change in their lives. Perhaps He places before them duties that they would not choose. If they are willing to be guided by Him, He will give them grace and strength to perform these duties in a spirit of submission and helpfulness. Thus they are being qualified to fill places where their disciplined abilities will make them of great service. . . .

“There are many who are not satisfied to serve God cheerfully in the place that He has marked out for them, or to do uncomplainingly the work that He has placed in their hands. It is right to be dissatisfied with the way in which we perform duty, but we are not to be dissatisfied with the duty itself because we would rather do something else.

In His providence God places before human beings service that will be as medicine to their diseased minds. Thus He seeks to lead them to put aside the selfish preference, which, if gratified, would disqualify them for the work He has for them. If they accept and perform this service, their minds will be cured.

If they refuse it, they will be left at strife with themselves and others.”10 WORK IN HEAVEN?

“There will be employment in heaven.

The redeemed state is not one of idle repose. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, but it is a rest found in loving service.”11 Ellen G. White, The Publishing Ministry (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1983), p. 391.

2 Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1905), p. 500.

3 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900, 1941), p. 196.

4 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 3, p. 316.

5 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 71.

6 Ellen G. White, Ellen G. White 1888 Materials (Silver Spring, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1987), vol. 4, pp. 1790, 1791.

7 Ellen G. White, Christian Service (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1925), p. 189.

8 Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), pp. 134, 135.

9 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 3, p.238.

10 Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1915), pp. 269, 270.

11 Ellen G. White, Letter 203, 1905, in The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, vol. 3, p. 1164.

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Seventh-day Adventists believe that Ellen G. White (1827-1915) exercised the spiritual gift of prophecy during more than 70 years of public ministry.

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Kathy Yawingu,Northeastern Conference’s Health Ministries director for the Connecticut area, left, and Eduardo Garcia, Southern New England Conference’s Health Ministries director, right, open the program with Tom Dombrowski, pastor of the Connecticut Valley church.

Global View

Going About Our Father’s Business A ministry for all

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he task seems nearly impossible—in fact, it is impossible on our own. How do we reach more than 120 million people living in Japan with the good news of Christ and His soon return? In Japan, about 1 percent of the population is Christian, and of that, only 15,000 are Seventh-day Adventist. What is that among millions?

Nevertheless, Adventist leaders in Japan decided to move forward boldly, praying and planning to hold more than 160 evangelistic series across the country.

Most of the meetings were held in May 2018, with several focusing on Tokyo, the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million people. The three angels’ messages were proclaimed nightly in venues ranging from large churches to small groups. Most of the presenters were native to Japan.

Much planning and preparation went into this first-ever event for that country. An evangelism field school was offered, and a pilot program with 29 evangelistic meetings was conducted. From this successful experience, leaders confirmed that holding evangelistic meetings was still an effective method of evangelism, even in modern Japanese culture.

Adventist World Radio (AWR) planned to broadcast special health programs, including announcements of upcoming health seminars. Several large radio stations in Tokyo were approached, but all refused to broadcast the programs if they mentioned a Seventh-day Adventist church or hospital.

In Japan, radio stations are strict about broadcasting programs with religious content, even if it is just the mention of a church’s name.

AN OPEN DOOR

But God opened another door. The Adventist church had a small radio program that had been broadcast on Radio NIKKEI, a shortwave station, since 18

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2000. Leaders at the Japan Union Conference decided to approach Radio NIKKEI about the possibility of broadcasting the health programs and announcements.

To their delight, Radio NIKKEI accepted, even creating a Web site for the programs at no cost!

Furthermore, broadcasting from Radio NIKKEI was significantly cheaper than on the radio stations that refused to carry the programs.

In November 2017 the first Health for Every Day program was broadcast on Radio NIKKEI. Just two months later seven community FM stations in Tokyo were broadcasting the programs as well. Since that time, the listening audience on NIKKEI’s Web site has grown to more than 30,000, not counting additional listeners from the FM stations. These health programs played an active role in breaking down barriers leading up to the evangelistic meetings.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

While these events were taking place in Japan, excitement was building half a world away in the state of Connecticut. Located in the northeast part of the United States known as New England, this area is recognized as being somewhat challenging for evangelism.

Nevertheless, combining passion and planning, mission and members, Seventh-day Adventists Photo: Ari Williams

in the Southern New England and Northeastern conferences came together to reach their communities for Christ.

Through a lay-developed ministry called CHAT (Community Health Advocate Training), members are trained to work together with their churches in a sustained cycle using Christ’s method of evangelism.

Area pastors, local church leaders, and conference officials were invited to join lay members for the initial training event held earlier this year at the Connecticut Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Windsor, located just north of the state capital of Hartford.

Even the city’s mayor, Saud Anwar, attended. During his remarks Dr. Anwar, a medical doctor who entered politics to improve the health of his community, appealed to the Adventists for help.

“We are working on healthy aging here in South Windsor,” he told the group. “In Loma Linda [California], the Seventh-day Adventist faith community made a difference.

They’ve been able to increase the lifespan of the people. . . . We should be able to do it here. We have all the ingredients—we have a Seventh-day Adventist church!”1 A SUSTAINABLE WORK

Preparing to meet this challenge, Adventists in the area hosted a Great Health Controversy weekend in May. The weekend served “as a catalyst for the members to capture the vision of the great work that lays before them to reach the cities with the three angels’ messages,” said Tom Dombrowski, pastor of the Connecticut Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church. “It also helped the members to recognize that the nature of this work requires not only every member involvement, but cooperation between churches, so they operate . . . as one body.”

Dombrowski explained that they are following a plan based on Scripture, the Spirit of Prophecy, and statistics provided by sociologists about cities. He plans to have a continual, sustainable work to accomplish the mission of reaching the metropolitan area.

Currently more than 100 Seventh-day Adventists from 22 churches in the Southern New England and Northeastern conferences are actively involved in reaching their urban communities through healthy lifestyle evangelism.

Dombrowski believes that “the cooperative work of the members, pastors, and administrators from both Southern New England Conference and Northeastern Conference churches on behalf of the mission in this area can serve as a model for the North American Division, and even the world church as they follow the inspired counsel for how to conduct this work.”

STRONG FACTOR FOR UNITY

Whether in Japan, New England, or in other places around the globe, one of the strongest factors for uniting God’s believers is members, churches, conferences, and union conferences having a clear vision of their calling—a special calling of proclaiming God’s last-day three angels’ messages to the world—and combining that proclamation with health ministry. This is the winning combination that Jesus used, and we are guaranteed success when we, submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, follow it.

Whether it is large evangelistic meetings, health education programs, Bible studies, literature distribution, community outreach, or sharing your faith with a neighbor or coworker, there is a place for all to be involved in winning souls for Christ.

All—women and men, boys and girls—all are needed for this work

Combining passion and planning, mission and members, Seventhday Adventists came together to reach their communities for Christ. through Total Member Involvement. We have been given this inspired testimony: “The leaders in God’s cause, as wise generals, are to lay plans for advance moves all along the line.

In their planning they are to give special study to the work that can be done by the laity for their friends and neighbors. The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers.

“The salvation of sinners requires earnest, personal labor. We are to bear to them the word of life, not to wait for them to come to us. Oh, that I could speak words to men and women that would arouse them to diligent action! The moments now granted to us are few. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. We have no time to lose. Every moment is golden and altogether too precious to be devoted merely to self-serving. Who will seek God earnestly and from Him draw strength and grace to be His faithful workers in the missionary field?”2 As reported by Sandra Dombrowski, communication liaison, Connecticut Valley church, in the Atlantic Union Gleaner, April 2018, p. 16.

2 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 9, pp. 116, 117.

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Ted N. C. Wilson is president of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. Additional articles and commentaries are available from the president’s office on Twitter: @pastortedwilson and on Facebook: @Pastor Ted Wilson.

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Devotional

Sleeping Through the Storm

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love flying. It embodies movement, adventure, discovery—things that evoke joy and a sense of freedom. Wilbur Wright described the feeling superbly: “More than anything else, the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost.”1 I remember one such flight with my husband in 2016. Onboard a flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, we were informed that the airline’s central computer system had failed.

Flights were grounded worldwide.

Seven hours later, having been given permission to take off, the captain announced that a typhoon had moved into our flight path.

We would need to reroute 650 kilomers (400 miles) to the south.

He assured a safe flight, but that it would be “a little bumpy.”

I consider myself to be a relaxed passenger, but this flight had me on edge. I soon realized that the captain’s definition of “a little bumpy” and mine were vastly different. The sensation was more one of constantly falling than flying. For six hours the airplane shook with turbulence, and the vibration of everything being moved from its place resounded throughout the cabin.

I wanted to sleep. But my mind raced with thoughts of what might happen in a typhoon at 10,600 meters (34,800 feet). I closed my eyes and began praying for safety and rest. During my prayer a scene came to mind. I envisioned a furious storm, much like the one raging outside. The wind was wild and the waves roared. I heard the ship crack as it slammed down a monstrous swell and I saw fear in the eyes of the men aboard. Then another scene: a man sleeping peacefully

Photo: Ethan Sykes

below deck as the storm whirled above. Peacefully sleeping through the storm! Just what I desired.

WHY ARE YOU AFRAID?

I heard Christ’s words to His disciples as if spoken directly to me: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40, ESV).2 The word “still” implies previous scenarios in which faith should have developed—times Jesus had proven Himself worthy of their trust. Yet amid trial, the Almighty had been forgotten.

Christ still calls us to remember how He has led, cared for, and blessed along the way. During the turbulence I had trusted in engineers, pilots, and machines rather than the One who “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3, ESV). But when I remembered Christ’s words to the disciples—His words to me—I felt Him reminding me of who He was. Lord of All! Only then did I slip into a peaceful sleep.

IN THE MIDST OF TRIAL

How often is this our experience? We have all faced situations that seem insurmountable. At times, overwhelmed by discouragement and despair, we reach out, trying to grab hold of a solution. We often pour all our trust into money, medicine, or our own recovery plan.

We trust in our own strength and fight until we have exhausted every effort and are overcome with weariness.

At this moment of greatest weakness Satan seeks to sow distrust and disbelief into our hearts. We doubt that God sees our suffering or hears our prayers. Just as the disciples in the boat on Lake Gennesaret, we lose sight of a Father who watches over us and cares for our every need.

HEAVENLY COMMENDATION

Scripture is full of heroes of faith and their testimonies of endurance and overcoming trial and tribulation.

Abraham, Jacob, Elijah, Job, and others inspire us to greater heights. Similarly, we hear wonderful testimonies from friends and family after they have overcome great trials. Just as the Israelites sang after crossing the sea, they can clearly see God’s leading as they look back.

But what of the testimony of those still experiencing trial? How do they relate to God? How are they allowing their faith to be molded right now, in the moment?

For every hero of faith, Scripture also records times of doubt and weakness. Relying on himself, Abraham lied; Jacob feared; Elijah fled; and Job questioned. But Christ—the author and finisher of our faith—led them to depend on Him. He promised that for every trial He will “make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).

We can experience that same faith and dependence.

“These things were not written merely that we might read and wonder,” wrote Ellen White, “but that the same faith which wrought in God’s servants of old might work in us. In no less marked a manner than He wrought then will He work now wherever there are hearts of faith to be channels of His power.”3 The very fact that we are called to experience trials can bring a sense of peace. Peace, knowing that not only will He provide strength to overcome, but also that He has faith in us to endure! Our trials become heavenly commendations of our faith!

Since that flight in 2016, my husband and I have faced much more serious trials together. Knowing some of these trials, someone recently said to me, “You seem to be at peace.”

I don’t always feel at peace. Some days I do; others I feel more resigned to the fact that I am not the one in control. I have learned that after self-reliance has failed me, I resort to faith and finally remember Jesus and His constant care.

I often remember when I slept through the turbulence.

It reminds me that I can testify of perfect peace while every nerve is strained to the utmost. We can encourage others with our testimony, not only once the trial is over, but as we wrestle in the moment. In the midst of trial the knowledge of how the Father has led in our past informs our present faith. We can share and encourage others with what we are learning, how our faith is developing, and how the Father is working with us.

“As witnesses for Christ, we are to tell what we know, what we ourselves have seen and heard and felt. If we have been following Jesus step by step, we shall have something right to the point to tell concerning the way in which He has led us. We can tell how we have tested His promise, and found the promise true. We can bear witness to what we have known of the grace of Christ.

This is the witness for which our Lord calls, and for want of which the world is perishing.”4 David McCullough, The Wright Brothers (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), p. 126.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001

by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

3 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903, 1952), p. 256.

4 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 340.

1 2

Sierra Bruneau is the financial manager for a startup, serves as treasurer for her local congregation, and lives outside Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

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Faith in Action

A Father’s Prayer— An Unexpected Answer

R Emiko (center) with her Aussie dad, Roy (right), and former church pastor Danny Milenkov.

oy Olsen’s son Graham hadn’t attended church for more than 10 years, and there didn’t seem to be much hope that he’d ever come back. After years of praying, Roy offered up a plea to heaven: “Please, Lord, do what it takes to bring my son back into a loving relationship with You.” Shortly after Roy’s prayer, Graham was diagnosed with bowel cancer. The family was shocked. This wasn’t what they’d prayed for. Graham underwent surgery to remove a piece of his bowel. The operation was a success, but sometime later a secondary growth was discovered lodged in Graham’s liver. This time chemotherapy was unsuccessful.

Graham decided to take a trip to Japan, where he met a young woman named Emiko.

After Graham returned to Australia, he and Emiko kept in touch. Several months later Graham returned to Japan and proposed to Emiko; and she accepted. By this time, however, Graham’s cancer was quite advanced, and he was hospitalized in Japan. The doctors were able to stabilize him to fly back to Australia for one last round of treatment, and Emiko followed him, sitting by his bedside day and night.

Things soon took a turn for the worse. As his parents and Emiko looked on, Graham’s sister, Glenda, invited him to accept Jesus as his Savior. Graham responded positively and soon after closed his eyes for the last time.

Though heartbroken, Graham’s family was comforted by the knowledge that he’d accepted Jesus. Emiko, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure. She returned to Japan confused, but the Holy Spirit had touched her heart as she watched her fiancé find peace.

Knowing how much Emiko was hurting, Roy started to e-mail her. Emiko was impressed by Roy’s kindness and decided to come and stay with her adopted Australian “mum and dad.”

While in Australia, Roy and his wife, Kathleen, continued praying for Emiko and answering her spiritual questions. Emiko began attending church with them, as well as a series of evangelistic meetings. Emiko gave her heart to Jesus and asked to be baptized.

Emiko is now back in Japan and has joined an Adventist church close to her home. She says she now has the hope in her heart that she will not only be able to spend eternity with Jesus but with Graham too.

“My prayer was simply for God to do as only He knew how with my wayward son,” Roy says. “God’s ways are not our ways. He has a thousand ways of doing things we have no knowledge of. But His way—no matter how strange it may seem—is always the best.”

Roy Olsen continues to be Emiko’s “adopted dad,” and looks forward to reuniting with his son, Graham, at Christ’s second coming.

Maritza Brunt is an assistant editor for Adventist Record in New South Wales, Australia.

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Photo: Courtesy of Adventist Record

Millennial Voices

Game Over!

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h, nooooo!” The piercing cry escaped my lips, seeming to shatter the still night air into countless shards. My world was engulfed in darkness as I closed my eyes, expecting the worst, resigned to my fate. Then suddenly, without warning—the horn of my car blared incessantly, jolting me out of my temporary stupor. I’m alive!

I had been driving home after attending a series of evangelistic meetings at the Newlife church, Nairobi.

I took my usual route home almost absentmindedly, quietly reflecting on the day’s events. Just as I turned into an intersection I was met by the headlights of an oncoming car at full speed, driving recklessly on the wrong side of the road.

I had no time to react. No time to swerve.

No time to whisper a quick desperate prayer to my Maker. I was a sitting duck!

I knew that was it. There was no way I could survive such a head-on collision.

My airbags inflated, the windshield shattered, the car’s engine was knocked out of its place, and headlamps were broken. My car was a write-off. Miraculously, I survived the grisly accident without a scratch. The driver who had hit me was completely drunk and fled the scene of the accident. The police eventually caught up with him.

Growing up, I had always imagined that at the moment of my death, I would have a couple of seconds to mumble a quick prayer of confession for my sins, pleading with the Lord to remember me in His kingdom, just as did the dying thief on the cross. The stark reality dawned on me: Many of us will never be afforded that luxury. Why? James reminds us: “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).* Our days “quickly pass, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10).

Because of the brevity and unpredictability of life we are exhorted to live each day as if it is our last. This may sound like a cliché for

In a small way, God reminded me that we are all currently living our last life, without any spares in our bag.

some, I know. But the salient question remains: Is your life worth gambling with? What do you have to lose by giving up “fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25) for an “eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17)?

As a child, the Super Mario videogame gave me countless hours of pleasure, mostly because the game character had many “lives,” allowing me to correct my mistakes and attain higher levels with the goal of rescuing the prized princess in the end. But my heart pounded uncontrollably when I had only one more “life” remaining because I knew that that was my last chance before the dreaded words would appeared on my screen: Game Over.

In a small way, God reminded me that we are all living our last life, without any spares in our bag. Our time is quickly running out, and every single second we are alive is a gift from Him, granting us one more chance, ”he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus’ soon return, or our premature death, whichever comes first, is a stark reality for each of us. Are we ready for either? Soon it will be Game Over for all of us. But having placed our lives in His hands, Game Over on earth will herald the promise of infinite “lives” in eternity with Jesus as the ultimate goal.

Let’s determine to run the race “in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Cor. 9:24). *Bible texts in this article are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Frederick Kimani is a consultant physician born in Nairobi, Kenya, who is passionate about building bridges between God and young people through music.

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Looking Back

A Safe Place Without Walls M

ahlon Ellsworth Olsen lost his job. The board of governors of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, terminated him in early 1923, after what General Conference treasurer J. L. Shaw described as “twenty-nine years of earnest, efficient, and faithful service.”1 What would he do next? And why was he fired?

THE FIRST 50 YEARS

Mahlon Olsen, son of Ole Andres Olsen, General Conference president from 1888 to 1897, had distinguished himself academically by becoming only the second Adventist to receive a Ph.D. His dissertation, Evolution of Biblical Prose, completed at the University of Michigan in 1909, was later condensed and published as a book by the denomination.

But Olsen’s accomplishments were hardly limited to academia, and preparation for his many years of distinguished service had been thorough and lifelong.

Olsen recalled feeling very comfortable in Ellen White’s company when she visited his childhood homes in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Christiana (Oslo), Norway, after his father moved there to lead the Adventist work in Scandinavia. Ellen and her husband, James, seemed so understanding of their needs that even favorite aunts and uncles “did not more completely win our hearts and affections than did James and Ellen White,” Olsen later wrote.2 When his father became General Conference president and moved his family back to the United States, Mahlon found a new and wonderful mentor in Goodloe Harper Bell, a professor of English. For the rest of his life Bell would share with Olsen the joys and insights of English and American literature, Wordsworth in particular, Bell’s favorite poet.

Between his graduation at Battle Creek College in 1894 and the turn of the century, Olsen worked as secretary to his father, still General Conference president, took advanced work in English at the University of Michigan, and wrote his earliest articles for the Adventist Review, the first of almost 300 articles that bore his byline in Adventist periodicals.

During the first decade of the new century, Olsen helped his physician

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M. E. Olsen, Home Study Institute pioneer

brother, A. B. Olsen, in aggressive health work in England. Good Health, the magazine they launched in November 1901, reached 75,000 subscriptions by 1906.

It became the widest circulated health journal in Great Britain, with copies placed in all the country’s major public libraries.

That year also saw publication of two books by the Olsen brothers: Good Health, dealing with physiology and related topics, and One Hundred Hygienic Food Recipes, a cookbook. Olsen also published his own book, Out-ofDoors. Its advocacy about walking and jogging for health is very much in vogue 100 years later. Olsen dedicated it to United States president Theodore Roosevelt, an outdoorsman he admired. His book achieved great popularity and was published again four years later in the United States.

After his return to the United States, Olsen’s teaching career began in earnest at Washington Foreign Mission Seminary, a new school for training missionaries near Washington, D.C. He simultaneously undertook the task of writing what would eventually appear, 16 years later, as A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists.

Lydia Christensen, a pastor’s daughter from Denmark, was in Olsen’s classes because she wanted to learn English. She also took private lessons with him. They learned a lot more than English, enough to conclude that they could spend the rest of their lives learning together.

They married in 1910. In five years’ time their family grew to five, including children Alice, Olan, and Yvonne.

In 1917 Olsen moved to Massachusetts to lead South Lancaster Academy, following in the footsteps of Bell, his mentor. The next year the school was renamed Lancaster Junior College (recently known as Atlantic Union College).

Olsen emphasized practical training, such as hydrotherapy, carpentry, and sewing, and promoted missionary activities. He served until 1920, when he moved to Union College to lead the English Department. His abrupt termination in 1923 left him to speculate about the reason.

It turned out that the immediate issue that led to his firing was politics rather than ideology. His department’s other English teacher, Rochelle Philmon, apparently wished to run the department herself. A deeper cause, perhaps, lay in certain questions concerning the required reading for Olsen’s English classes.

FROM FIRESIDE TO HSI

Within Adventist education, Goodloe Harper Bell, as well as educators at Walla Walla College and Keene Academy, had made brief attempts to develop correspondence schools. Frederick Griggs’s Fireside Correspondence School, founded in Washington, D.C., in 1909, with W. E. Howell as principal, was still going.

And whether it was church leaders’ memory of Olsen as a correspondence school promoter, or his solid academic credentials, or because J. L. Shaw, General Conference Photo: General Conference Archives

The only safe place for Adventist young people was in Adventist schools.

treasurer, was so convinced of his value, or simply because he was available, or because God had been fitting him all along for a spot that now needed filling, church leaders called Olsen to lead Fireside in 1923.

Olsen soon arrived in Washington and proceeded to engage vigorously. By the end of 1927 Fireside had grown to the largest enrollment of any school within the denomination. In 1930, the year Fireside was renamed Home Study Institute (HSI), enrollment was 2,711 students, representing more than 50 countries; new branches soon opened in Asia, India, Australia, South America, and Europe.

For Olsen, the only safe place for Adventist young people was in Adventist schools, and HSI was to help those who were “temporarily hindered from attending a resident college.”3 Other Adventist colleges were not always so accommodating. In 1942 Emmanuel Missionary College (EMC) requested a refund for George Vandeman so he could concentrate on his EMC studies.

Nevertheless, Olsen’s 23 years at HSI built it into an elementary-through-college institution that served the entire world field.

LATER YEARS (1946-1952)

Retirement at the age of 73 gave Olsen more time to write. His last major project, completed just weeks before his death, culminated in the publication of MuchLoved Books, an examination of literary works by Luther, Wordsworth, Thoreau, and Whittier, among others, including a chapter on James and Ellen White. The book advocated for Bible study, not merely as great literature, but as a power to transform lives.

Retirement also allowed Olsen to teach an upper-division literature class at Washington Missionary College (now Washington Adventist University). Students often dropped by to visit with their professor, an excellent conversationalist and a sympathetic listener.

In 1952 Olsen passed quietly into history. But his influence lives on through his work as health promoter, pioneer in Adventist higher education, church historian, prolific writer, and friend of students.

1 2 3

J. L. Shaw to M. E. Olsen, Apr. 18, 1923.

M. E. Olsen, Much-Loved Books (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1952), pp. 56, 57.

M. E. Olsen, “An Alarming Situation: Are We Facing It Courageously?” Review and Herald, May 11, 1933, p. 19.

John Wesley Taylor V is an associate director of education for the General Conference in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

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Bible Questions Answered

A Place of Reunion and Revelation Q

What is the mercy seat that is located above the ark of the covenant?

A

The ark of the covenant was a box containing the tables of Ten Commandments (Ex. 25:21, 22). The mercy seat was a slab of pure gold on which stood two cherubim, carved as one piece with the mercy seat, facing each other looking down and with wings extending upward (verse 20). It is described as a piece of the sanctuary furniture placed over the ark of the covenant (verse 19; 26:34). In a sense it was the cover of the ark, even though it had its own purpose and function.

Therefore it provided access to Him in a unique space from which He could speak to His servants. The Lord said to Moses: “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites” (Ex. 25:22, NIV). God localized Himself in this place in order to instruct His people and reveal to them the will of the covenant Lord. Direct access to this most holy object was restricted to Moses and Aaron, but from there God was accessible to all the people of Israel.

For the Israelites the tabernacle was a tent of meeting or encounter with the Lord. But in reality they stood before the kapporet from a distance, to be instructed

by God through sacrificial and priestly mediators.

Priests took the people’s joys, gratitude, and sins, and gave them to the Lord, who sat enthroned above the kapporet, and from the Lord they brought to people the assurance of forgiveness, acceptance, and blessings.

1. PLACE OF ATONEMENT

3. COSMIC CENTER

The Hebrew word translated mercy seat (kapporet) is etymologically related to the verb kipper (“to expiate, to make atonement”), suggesting that it probably means “the place of expiation/atonement.” During the Day of Atonement the blood of a sacrifice was sprinkled on it and in front of it to remove sin and uncleanliness from the Most Holy Place (Lev. 16:14-16). This was necessary because God, through the sacrificial system, expiated/ removed the sins from the people by transferring them to His very presence. The kapporet was the place where God, on the basis of sacrificial blood, made atonement effective by granting forgiveness. There He received the blood of the sacrifices in place of the life of sinners. On the Day of Atonement sin and impurity were removed from His presence and sent to their place of origin: to Azazel (verses 10, 21, 22).

The kapporet speaks to us about a God who interacts with human beings in a world of sin and impurity. He is present and near to us, yet distant from us in the Most Holy Place, the place where heaven and earth touch each other in a unique way because the Lord is present in both. From the tabernacle, called the house of the kapporet, God met with His people and spoke to them. Christ now officiates for us before the Father in the heavenly temple, where the cosmic administrative center of order and atonement are located.

2. PLACE OF REUNION AND REVELATION

The kapporet was the supreme symbol of God’s localized presence among His people. Between the cherubim the glory of God’s presence was visibly manifested.

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Angel Manuel Rodríguez is retired after a career serving as a pastor, professor, and theologian.

Health & Wellness

Emotional Health Is it part of the Adventist health message?

I am 24 years old, and it seems to me that our church health emphasis is only on food and diet. Many of my friends have anxiety and depression. Does the Adventist Church focus on just physical health, or on mental and emotional health as well?

W

e empathize with you. From the correspondence we receive, and sometimes the spirit in which it is written, it seems to us that food and nutrition are the topics foremost on the minds of many. Our Creator’s intent from the beginning, however, and the distinctive characteristic of the Adventist health message from our founding as a church, have been wholistic and include the well-being of body, mind, and spirit, as well as social and emotional dimensions.

While it is necessary to follow healthful principles of nutrition, it is as important to drink clean water; rest and sleep adequately; engage in daily, healthful physical activity; have safe exposure to sunshine; breathe fresh clean air, where possible; be temperate and balanced by avoiding all things harmful, and using good things wisely; and enjoy healthy relationships and social support. We need to truly know and trust God; this key relationship will help us to have wholeness even in our brokenness. Robust evidence from research and science confirm that when rightly applied, the Adventist health message benefits our mental and emotional well-being.

Mental and emotional health issues are the leading causes of disability today.

KEY FACTS 1

Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders, affecting an estimated 300 million people worldwide. It is one of the main causes of disability.

Bipolar affective disorder affects approximately 60 million people worldwide. This condition typically consists of episodes that vary Photo: Chad Madden

between depression and times of excessive activity, decreased need for sleep, and irritable moods.

An estimated 50 million people globally have dementia, and this number is expected to triple in the next 30 years.

Psychoses such as schizophrenia are another form of mental illness and are characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, and behavior. Schizophrenia affects about 23 million people worldwide.

Anxiety and depression disorders cost the global economy US$1 trillion each year.

Adventist Health Ministries of the General Conference regards mental and emotional health and well-being of such importance that as of July 1, 2018, Dr. Torben Bergland, a psychiatrist, will join our team as an associate director. His coming lends additional strength and expertise to the excellent service of Drs. Carlos Fayard and David Williams, both honorary associate directors of Adventist Health Ministries. Together with other experts, they generously sacrifice time and effort to raise awareness regarding mental health. We educate, help decrease stigmatization of mental and emotional health issues, and produce resources for the world church on mental health.

We appreciate the contributions of our dedicated health professionals around the world who are making the difference in the area of mental and emotional health.

Our Savior came that we “may have life, and have it to the full”! (John 10:10, NIV3). Together, we can do more for all to enjoy better mental health! http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders; www.who.int/news-room/detail/13-04-2016-investing-in-treatment-fordepression-and-anxiety-leads-to-fourfold-return 2 Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

1

Peter N. Landless, a board-certified nuclear cardiologist, is director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference.

Zeno L. Charles-Marcel, a board-certified internist, is an associate director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference.

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Frank’s Baby O “May I Tell You a Story?”

BY DICK DUERKSEN

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nce upon a time (in 1984), in a land far away (the United States), a group of church leaders decided to create the first-ever all-world International camporee for Pathfinders. They made the decision, not knowing that God was already far ahead of them in preparation.

The chosen location was an empty valley in the state of Colorado. Empty, because the United States Army had abandoned the old Tenth Mountain Division camp and torn down everything they had built in the valley. “Camp Hale” was gone, but there was enough room for 6,000 Pathfinders to pitch tents, work on honors, and hold giant international worships together.

I had been asked to coordinate the logistics. “Take the old Camp Hale site,” the committee told me, “and turn it into a town for 6,000 Pathfinders and their leaders. Make sure there’s water, toilets, food, ice, a stage, sound equipment, a tepee welcome center, and telephones.

Operate the camp for eight days, then tear it down so that no one can tell we were ever there.”

“Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” I saluted.

I lived in California, but I knew Colorado well; so I was excited about the challenges. In a few weeks I had a team

of Pathfinder leaders who knew more about water, tents, and camping than I did, and we started planning.

The expected numbers grew from 6,000 to 8,000, then to 14,000 Pathfinders. Our planning team ordered more portable toilets, found someone to coordinate daily ice delivery, organized river rafting trips, designed a giant stage, and who knows what more! *** Then the Pathfinder director for the North American Division called.

“Dick,” he began. “I have just received a thick letter from the Department of Social Services in Colorado. These people say we must register as a childcare center before we can have the camporee.

I’m sending you the packet. Fix it.”

“Right now” seemed a very good time to pray! I gathered my family and the planning team, and we prayed for God to work a miracle with the Department of Social Services in Colorado.

FedEx delivered the packet.

“We understand,” the letter read, “that you are planning to hold an event for children at the old Camp Hale Army base on the Eagle River. Accordingly, you must register as a childcare center.

Please review the enclosed 250-page manual and complete the appropriate application.” Signed by Mr. Frank.

There was no way we could meet the department’s long list of requirements for a full childcare license. They even required a toilet for every seven children. That would be about 2,000 Photo: Dick Duerksen

portable toilets! We needed a miracle.

I called Colorado, made an appointment with Mr. Frank, flew from California to Colorado, picked up my rental car, and drove to Mr. Frank’s office in downtown Denver. I prayed all the way.

“God, there’s no way we can have the camporee without Your intervention.

Please take over my words and my spirit.

May I represent You clearly. Please show Your power today.” *** The elevator clanked and groaned as it carried me to the fourth floor. Ugly gray elevator. Uglier gray concrete hallway. It was dark and cold, and I was depressed and fearful.

I knocked and prayed.

The door buzzed and I walked through to the reception desk.

“I’m here to see Mr. Frank. My name is Dick Duerksen. I’m with the Pathfinder camporee at Camp Hale.”

The receptionist gave me a long, hard look, making me feel distinctly unwelcome.

“Frank,” she shouted. “He’s here.”

My heart dropped as a giant bearlike man with a huge black beard stood and unhappily waved for me to come to his desk. This wasn’t going to go well.

“Lord?” I prayed.

“The rules are the rules,” Mr. Frank pronounced after I had explained about Pathfinders and camporees and shown him the site plan. “We can’t bend the rules, no matter how many kids you have or what they’re here for.”

My heart was crushed. “God, where are You?” Mr. Frank had stood to say farewell.

“What did you say your name was?

Duerksen?”

“Yes,” I said. “Duerksen. Dick Duerksen.”

“Do you have any relatives in Denver?”

I did. One uncle, a medical doctor who has delivered thousands of babies in California, British Guiana, and Colorado.

Some people love my uncle Eddie.

Others, not so much.

“Yes, I whispered. One. An uncle. Eddie.”

“Is Dr. Edward Duerksen your uncle?”

Mr. Frank—cowboy boots, worn jeans, Western shirt, and giant black beard,

now stood mere inches from my face.

“Yes sir!” I smiled as Mr. Frank’s giant hands clasped mine.

“Sit down,” Mr. Frank said. “Just about a year ago my wife and I were having a baby—a boy we hoped—and Dr. Edward Duerksen was our physician. The baby arrived early, and it was a very hard delivery for my wife and our son. We weren’t sure if either the baby or my wife would live.”

Mr. Frank, the giant bear of a man who had frightened me so terribly, now sat squeezing my hands as bear-sized tears slipped from his eyes.

“Dr. Edward Duerksen had a special cot set up in my wife’s hospital room. He slept there for three nights, just to be sure my wife and son were OK. He’s a Seventh-day Adventist like you are, right?”

“Right.” I said. “And a Pathfinder.”

Mr. Frank laughed and told me to come with him. We walked through the office, Mr. Frank boisterously introducing me as “Dr. Duerksen’s nephew,” at every desk and cubicle. Then he threw open the door to the big boss’s office.

“Mrs. Elizabeth, this is Dick Duerksen from the Pathfinder camporee at Camp Hale. He’s my Dr. Duerksen’s nephew. They’ve got a great plan for this camporee here, and I think we ought to approve it just as it is.”

I called Dr. Eddie that evening and told him the story. He cried. Then he said, “Dick, I probably slept on a cot in 30 different hospital rooms last year. How about that. Maybe God still can use an old man like me!” Then Eddie and I cried and prayed together. *** A permit from the Colorado Department of Social Services hangs on the wall beside my desk. It reads: “Granted a License to Operate a Resident Camp for 18,000 Children, 9 Years to 16 Years, Between July 19, 1985, and July 19, 1987, at Camp Hale, Colorado.”

Publisher The Adventist World, an international periodical of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The General Conference, Northern Asia-Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists®, is the publisher.

Executive Editor/Director of Adventist Review Ministries Bill Knott International Publishing Manager Chun, Pyung Duk Adventist World Coordinating Committee Si Young Kim, chair; Yukata Inada; German Lust; Chun, Pyung Duk; Han, Suk Hee; Lyu, Dong Jin Associate Editors/Directors, Adventist Review Ministries Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Greg Scott Editors based in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA Sandra Blackmer, Stephen Chavez, Costin Jordache, Wilona Karimabadi Editors based in Seoul, Korea Chun, Pyung Duk; Park, Jae Man; Kim, Hyo-Jun Operations Manager Merle Poirier Editors-at-Large/Advisors Mark A. Finley, John M. Fowler, E. Edward Zinke Financial Manager Kimberly Brown Management Board Si Young Kim, chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Chun, Pyung Duk; Karnik Doukmetzian; Han, Suk Hee; Yutaka Inada; German Lust; Ray Wahlen; Ex-officio: Juan Prestol-Puesán; G. T. Ng; Ted N. C. Wilson Art Direction and Design Types & Symbols To Writers: We welcome unsolicited manuscripts. Address all editorial correspondence to 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600, U.S.A. Editorial office fax number: (301) 680-6638 E-mail: worldeditor@gc.adventist.org Web site: www.adventistworld.org Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible references are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Unless otherwise noted, all prominent photos are © Thinkstock 2017.

Adventist World is published monthly and printed simultaneously in Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States.

Vol. 14, No. 7

Dick Duerksen, a pastor and storyteller living in Portland, Oregon, United States, is known around the world as “an itinerant pollinator of grace.”

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Growing Faith

Fun-filled page for younger ages

Kids Can Do Ministry Too!

S

ome adults think kids should just be kids. They should play, go to school, and be quiet while grownups work, talk, or make decisions.

But those people would be mistaken. Kids have talents, just like grownups. Kids can do what grownups do (sometimes even better!).

In fact, Jesus called everyone—not just adults—to be a part of the most important plan in the history of the world.

Jesus has all the power to work through us to make us successful witnesses for Him. What Jesus has asked us to do is a pretty big job! Imagine how many people in the world today have never heard of Jesus or His love for them. How can kids help to reach them with this good news?

Each of us has talents that 30

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Jesus has given to us. The Bible often calls these spiritual gifts.

Sometimes we don’t know our skill or gift, and we have to ask those around us to help us identify them. When you figure out what your talents are, then put them to work for Jesus. You can change the world!

Here’s a challenge: Ask your parents, friends, relatives, pastor, or teacher what they think your spiritual gift is. Do some thinking on your own about what you like to do. Ask yourself: What am I good at? What do I really enjoy doing? When I do this thing, does it make people happy? How could I use it to tell others about Jesus?

Once you figure it out, you are ready to start your ministry!

Let’s say your gift is singing.

Who do you know that would be blessed by your gift? Maybe

you are a good baseball player.

Is there a way that can be used to tell others about Jesus? Are you good at math? Are you a good reader? Do people tell you that you have a nice smile? All these and more can be used to tell others about Jesus. That’s why God gave us gifts in the first place, to share them with others.

Once you know your gift(s), look for ways to share with others. Find others who are also interested in sharing Jesus and work together with them.

Soon you will find that you are touching people one by one until you have made a difference in your home, your school, your city, and the world! As you grow up and continue to use your gifts, you will find that the whole world is a mission field ready to be blessed by the special gifts the Lord has given you.

Illustration: Xuan Le

Obituaries CAMERON, Ian Douglas, born 26.10.1939; died 24.5.18 in Sydney, NSW. He is survived by his wife Dianne; children Susan, Fiona and Richard; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; brother Phil, sister Dorothy Hodder and sister-in-law Joy Cameron. Devoted to his career, Ian established the school of nursing at Atoifi Adventist Hospital, Solomon Islands, and spent 20 years as a nurse educator at Sydney Adventist Hospital. He now no longer needs to endure the challenges of his physical body. Ian’s family are so grateful for the precious time that they have shared in these “bonus” 18 years with this kind, dignified, cheeky, witty gentleman.

Mark Baines CUTHBERT , Donald, born

18.3.1931 in Preston, Vic; died 28.8.17 in Nunawading. He is survived by his brother Rodney and his family (Tas). Donald gave unselfishly to the care of his parents in their latter years, having previously worked as a shop assistant and then as a driver with the Postmaster-General’s Department. He was baptised by Pastor David Edgren on 8.6.02 and he involved himself deeply in the activities of his church at Preston. He was loved by all his church brothers and sisters. He was a faithful church member and his passing leaves a hole at Preston. He rests peacefully in the Yan Yean Cemetery at Whittlesea.

Tini Rimoni, Bob Eales

HERBERT, Wendy (nee Ingamells),

born 8.2.1937 in Kew, Vic; died 13.5.18 in Rossmoyne, WA. On 9.3.1993 she married Stewart Herbert, who predeceased her in 2001. She is survived by her children Julie (Kettering, Tas), Robyne, Wayne and Kelly (all of Sydney, NSW). Wendy was a very creative person who loved to help others. She also received help and support throughout her life. She met Jesus as her Friend through the support firstly of the Salvation Army in Melbourne and then through the Adventist Church in Perth. Her cheerful smile, quick wit and unlimited helpfulness will be missed until she is made new

by Jesus at the resurrection.

Roger Millist, Gervais Cangy, Jasmin Stankovic

HERMANN, Myrtle Guinevere (nee Anderson), born 30.7.1921; died

20.10.17 in Laidley, Qld. She was predeceased by her husband Sidney and son-in-law Michael.

She is survived by her children Midge and Ray, Ernie and Yvonne, Noelene and Vince, Allan and Heather, Brian and Daphne, and Melva. Mrs Hermann was the daughter of Pastor J D Anderson.

She was reportedly the first white baby born in Solomon Islands.

She was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother. Mrs Hermann was a valued member of Gatton church and was actively involved in prayer ministry. She was also a very gifted artist who was teaching art right up until several months before she passed away.

Darryl Groves

MASON, Jean (nee Wall), born

8.5.1926; died 17.5.18 in Avondale Aged Care, Cooranbong, NSW. Jean is survived by many nieces and nephews and is the only remaining member of her family. For many years she made Tasmania her home until moving to Toukley on the NSW Central Coast. In her early years Jean gave her life to Jesus and from that time onwards lived the principles of a Christian life.

Always pleased to assist with community needs, she was known and respected for her benevolence. She always took her church responsibilities cheerfully and responsibly.

David Hay, Lyndon Schick, Daniel Brunt

NEWBEGIN, Doreen Faye (nee Daniel), born 11.5.1938 in Nagambie, Vic; died 21.2.18 in Shepparton. On 14.9.1958 she married Kevin Newbegin. Doreen is survived by her husband; sons Theodore and Cheran and their partners and daughter Ganiele; 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Doreen had various occupations in her working life. She was a valued employee of Sanitarium Health Food Company for more than 20 years. Doreen was a passionate gardener and she enjoyed many hours in her garden where she felt a special closeness to her Lord and Saviour. She cherished her family and never grew tired of helping people in need.

Russell Bryan O’HERN, George Ernest, born

16.7.1935; died 6.5.18. He was married to Dorothy, who predeceased him. He is survived by his sons Allan (Newcastle, NSW) and Robert (Armidale). George will be remembered as a dedicated

husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle with a generous heart. He dedicated much of his life to helping others, especially Pathfinders and young people.

He was loved by all and will be remembered for his uncompromising faith. He now awaits the imminent return of his Saviour. A memorial service for George was held in Armidale church.

Steve Ward

Simpson, Ronald Michael, born 17.3.1935 in Cue, WA; died 1.11.17. He was predeceased by his first wife Dawn Whitby. He is survived by his second wife Joan; children Gail, Diane, Judith, Brenda,

Steven, Eric and Robert Boney; grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Ronald’s early schooling began at Cue. At the age of 20 he left Meekatharra and set out for Geraldton. He was a man who was upfront and took no nonsense. After marrying Joan he embraced Joan’s faith and became a member of the Adventist Church. Ronald was committed to Jesus Christ—he loved fellowship and worshipping God. Even with bad health in his elderly years, church became a driving force in his life.

John Browne

next issue: Adventist RECORD, July 21

POSITIONS VACANT

VOLUNTEER ADRA OP SHOP MANAGER Busselton, WA

Are you looking for a rewarding challenge in a beachside holiday location? The Busselton ADRA Op Shop has been successfully operating since 2002. With current leadership retiring, we are looking for a new shop manager to continue and develop a centre of influence in the community. A passionate heart to minister to those in need, managerial and administrative qualities, and the ability to lead and delegate are essential. We are seeking a dependable, self-motivated person with the ability to communicate and work with the local management committee.

This position is best suited to someone with a “can do” attitude and adaptability. Basic accounting and computing skills are preferable but not essential. Legitimate business expenses will be reimbursed as per our volunteer policy. A job description for this volunteer position, as well as more details, are available at <adra. org.au/work-for-us/>. If this role sounds like your calling, please email your CV, along with a covering letter outlining why you believe you are suited to this role and how you can contribute to this mission, to Suzanna Cuplovic <suzannacuplovic@adra.org. au>. See: ADRA Op Shop Busselton on Facebook. Applications close July 31, 2018.

PHYSIOTHERAPIST—ADVENTIST AGED CARE WAHROONGA, NSW

Adventist Aged Care Wahroonga is looking for a physiotherapist who can assist its residents in the area of pain management, health and mobility, and falls prevention. Must be a current AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) registered physiotherapist with a current Australian police check.

Experienced, new graduate or overseas physiotherapists are welcome to apply. For more information and a copy of the job description, please email <asmitramusk@adventist. org.au>. Applications close July 27, 2018.

FOR MORE AVAILABLE POSITIONS VISIT:

ADVENTISTEMPLOYMENT.ORG.AU

/SDAJOBS

Note: Neither the editor, Adventist Media, nor the Seventh-day Adventist Church is responsible for the quality of goods or services advertised. Publication does not indicate endorsement of a product or service. Classified advertisements in Adventist Record are available to Seventh-day Adventist members, churches and institutions only. All advertisements, appreciation, anniversary, wedding and obituary notices may be submitted via <ads@ record.net.au> or online at <record.adventistchurch.com>. Notices will not be reprinted unless there is an error of fact caused by Record staff.

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july 14, 2018 | Adventist record

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