The Seventh-day Adventist Church invests much in sharing the biblical record of creation and the hope this brings to the world. One example is Creation Sabbath, celebrated this year on October 28. And to help celebrate creation on a year around basis, the North Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (NPUC) opened a Creation Study Center outreach service this September. The center is led by Stan Hudson, Ph.D., a pastor with training in geology, a life-long interest in nature, and extensive experience successfully educating others about the creation.

Jim Gibson, director of the Adventist Church’s Geoscience Research Institute (GRI), was on-hand for the opening ceremonies. 

“It’s really impressive to see what has been done with this resource center, and it reminds me of the significance of the creation in the life of a Christian," said Gibson during the NPUC Creation Study Center opening. "It's the creation story that gives us confidence in His [Christ’s] salvation; it tells us that He is able to create in us a clean heart.”

Max Torkelsen II, recently retired president of the NPUC, whose vision lies behind the Creation Study Center, said, “When you look at the biblical record, there’s nothing more foundational than the creation story and it effects everything that we believe. … [T]he reason for the establishment of this Creation Study Center is to provide a place where people can come and get reliable, academic, scientific information that supports the biblical view.”

The Creation Study Center is headquartered in the NPUC offices in Ridgefield, Washington. Some of the exhibit space contains displays with amazing fossil specimens, including a dinosaur leg bone almost as tall as Hudson. There is also beautiful artwork illustrating how the fossil record was formed, and other resources to teach about the sciences of geology and paleontology from a biblical worldview.

But the Creation Study Center will be more than a physical location with fascinating things for visitors to examine. There are plans for printed resources and a dynamic website with more resources and videos. In addition to this, Hudson is available to visit schools, churches, and other venues. And he will be a busy man this October's Creation Sabbath, when the entire Seventh-day Adventist Church celebrates the biblical doctrine of Creation.

Speaking for the Geoscience Research Institute, Gibson saluted the North Pacific Union Conference “for their vision of creating a creation resource center.” He added, “I certainly would invite everyone to come and take a look at it.”

Creation resource centers are something that the Geoscience Research Institute has worked to develop with church entities around the world. Currently, there are GRI-affiliated resource centers in South America, North America, Europe, and Asia, with plans for developing them on the African continent. Information about some of these can be found at: http://grisda.org/about-gri/resource-centers/.  

The NPUC Creation Study Center, along with other creation resource centers and celebration of Creation Sabbath, all serve as positive affirmations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s firm commitment to biblical creation. More information about Creation Sabbath can be found at: www.creationsabbath.net. And click here for more about opening of the NPUC Creation Resource Center.

— Timothy G. Standish, Ph.D., is senior scientist at the Geoscience Research Institute in California. GRI is a church-sponsored group of scientists headquartered in Loma Linda, California. It seeks to provide an accurate and faith-affirming understanding of science, particularly as it relates to questions of origins.