When Seventh-day Adventist world church president Pastor Jan Paulsen says "Let's Talk," it's much more than a catchphrase. With a reported 75 percent of the global church membership comprised of young people, church leaders recognize that continued candid dialogue with that demographic is vital to the church's future.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Hundreds of thousands are pouring out of Southern Lebanon trying to escape violence there. They arrive in the North of the country often with nothing and nowhere to go. Some are receiving help and finding shelter from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and the Seventh-day Adventist Church there that have teamed up to help these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Larry and Carol Stevenson may not have planned to become advocates for endangered sea turtles. But, in 2004, they realized many endangered sea turtles were being harvested for consumption from the waters around Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras. So they struck a bargain with local fishermen to "reclaim" as many turtles as they could and return them to the inshore waters of the island.
Roatan, Honduras
Despite the current crisis in Lebanon, Seventh-day Adventist Christians continue to meet for Sabbath worship at approximately five locations every week, church leaders say.
Beirut, Lebanon
Nearly a half-century after the first Seventh-day Adventist literature evangelist visited the island where the apostle Paul was shipwrecked in AD 60, Malta has a Seventh-day Adventist Church with its own building and 17 members.
Birkirkara, Malta
"The situation in Northern Israel continues to be difficult,"reports Richard Elofer, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Israel. Many Adventists and Jews celebrated this Sabbath in bomb shelters with frequent interruptions by blaring sirens and explosions of fired rockets."
Haifa, Israel
Baptism in the Seventh-day Adventist Church isn't for infants - the church generally will baptize those who have reached an "age of accountability," and who are fully aware of the solemn step that immersion represents.
Wilson, North Carolina, United States
A tragic bus accident on the evening of July 21 claimed the lives of a bus driver and five women from the Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nairobi, Kenya. They were part of a group en route to an orphanage in Isiolo village, about 124 miles (200 kilometers) Northeast of the Kenyan capital.
Meru, Kenya
Joining earlier calls from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in Israel and other parts of the Middle East, Pastor Bertil Wiklander, president of the church's Trans-European region, said the current crisis must not endanger the hope for peace.
St. Albans, United Kingdom and Beirut, Lebanon
Delegates from Cambodia to California met on the campus of Columbia Union College and Washington Adventist Hospital from July 14 to 16 for a Global Tobacco Control Summit organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Takoma Park, Maryland, United States