Lydia Newton from Arizona belongs to a small but growing club. At age 112, she is one of an estimated 180,000 people around the world who are a hundred years and older. Newton is also one of the 26 centenarians participating in the second Seventh-day Adventist Health Study conducted by Loma Linda University.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
In a world of six billion people --including 25 million who attend weekly Seventh-day Adventist Church worship services -- it's known that there are other Christian groups who observe the Sabbath, or Saturday, as their day of worship. A question for Adventists is how to deal with these groups of believers who operate outside the traditional organizational structure of the church.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Future prospects for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in what is called the "global South" may be very good, said Philip Jenkins, author and distinguished professor of religion and history at Pennsylvania State University in Pennsylvania, United States. That's because parts of the world where the Bible is read and taken seriously are prime candidates for the church's presentation of prophecy, as typified by the books of Daniel and Revelation.
Takoma Park, Maryland, United States
Joel David Klimkewicz is a United States Marine whose decision not to pick up a weapon, led to a court-martial, conviction and a seven-month jail sentence. He was released from jail at nearby Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, United States, on April 6; his prison sentence was suspended while his case is being appealed.
Jacksonville, North Carolina, United States
A positive comment on the process of church registration, made by the head of the Eritrean Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, brought a welcome from the UN representative of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Geneva, Switzerland
"Religious liberty is one of the most important issues on the world's agenda today," said United States Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who made the case for both freedom of religion and the right not to choose one, at a dinner sponsored by the International Religious Liberty Association, "Liberty" magazine and the North American Religious Liberty Association, three religious freedom outreaches sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called for major changes to the way human rights are investigated and applied, saying the current U.N. Commission on Human Rights has been "undermined by the politicization of its sessions," and its "declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole."
Geneva, Switzerland
Fifty-five of the world's largest cities will see gospel outreach programs funded in part by three major offering collections in Seventh-day Adventist congregations worldwide. Donations will support "Hope For Big Cities," a worldwide urban outreach by the Adventist Church, with more than 100 new congregations planned for those cities, church leaders say.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Facing a media climate in which Seventh-day Adventists are not widely known, church communicators from Indonesia and Southeast Asia were challenged "to change the picture and make the public know that we exist," a church leader said this week.
Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
With the close of its satellite evangelism series in Kiev, Ukraine, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has completed a satellite evangelism series throughout its 13 global church regions. Mark Finley, speaker/director emeritus of "It Is Written,' an Adventist television ministry, and director of the church's Center for Global Evangelism, led the series in an area of the world that was once hostile to any kind of religion.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States