Jan. 28, 2003 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

ANN Staff

United States: Armed Robbery During Church Prayer Meeting

Two men are in jail after allegedly shooting a man and beating another during an armed robbery at the Sanford Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist Church in North Carolina, United States, Jan. 22.

Both men, in their early 20s, reportedly stormed into the church and demanded money of the 20 church members present. They shot one member in the leg and hit another with the butt of a rifle. They fled with purses and cash.

Police found the two suspects in an apartment about a mile from the church. The shooting victim was in stable condition at a hospital the next day and the other was treated and released.

Tokyo: Adventist Hospital Receives Coveted Certificate

Tokyo Seventh-day Adventist Hospital was one of two hospitals in Japan that were chosen for the International Organization for Standardization 9001 Certificate, an international model for quality assurance.

“Our hospital was chosen because of excellent quality work for a long time,” says Teruo Koromogawa, hospital manager.

The ISO was established as a non-government organization in 1947. ISO 9001, active in nearly 130 countries, is a documented system that outlines 20 specific elements of quality, and creates, administers and monitors worldwide quality standards in technical industry and commerce.

Tokyo Adventist Hospital began in 1929. The church in Japan also operates two other hospitals—in Kobe and Okinawa.

New President for Spicer Memorial College

Justus Devadas, Ph.D., has been chosen as the new president of Spicer Memorial College, his alma mater, in India after a vote Jan. 27 by the college board and the Southern Asia Division Executive Committee.

The outgoing president, Dr. Samuel Gaikwad, and his wife, Dr. Prema Gaikwad, have accepted teaching positions in the department of curriculum and instruction at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies in the Philippines. 

Devadas earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at Pune University and has served at the Southern Asia Division, or administrative region, since 1992—first as the director of public affairs and religious liberty, and later as the education director. 

Established in 1915 and moved to its present location in 1942, Spicer Memorial College currently has more than 1,000 students.

Switzerland: Well-known Adventist Theologian Dies

Dr. Jean Zurcher, a well-known Swiss Seventh-day Adventist writer, theologian and educator, died Jan. 28 at the Clinique La Ligniere, the Adventist hospital in Gland, Switzerland. He was 84 years old.

According to John Graz, public affairs and religious liberty director for the world church, during the last several decades Zurcher exerted a very strong theological influence on the church in Europe. “He was not someone who played a secondary role,” Graz said.

Zurcher’s nearly 40 years of church work included serving as president of the church’s French Seminary at Campus Adventiste du Saleve in Collonges-sous-Saleve, France, for 10 years, secretary of the Euro-Africa Division, or administrative region, of the church for 15 years, and a member of the Ellen G. White Estate board. He was also a professor, a missionary and the author of several books on the nature of Jesus, Biblical anthropology and prophecy.

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