News Articles

Like many, NASA scientist R. Aileen Yingst (Andrews Academy alumna) was home watching as the NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California skillfully landed the small car-size rover after its seven-month journey in space. But as a member of the Sherloc instrument team, she’s responsible for helping to analyze photographs of the planet’s geology, looking for any clues in rocks or sand grains that might tell scientists whether Mars could have supported life. So when she heard the words, “Touchdown complete,” it was an emotional culmination of years of hard work.

Pain comes in all shapes and sizes. Think about all the businesses that have been forced to close. How will the hundreds of thousands who’ve lost work pay their rent? How will they explain to their families that they might soon be living on the street? You and I can both extend the list of the agonies that plague our fractured planet and the people who live here. But there is always hope, healing hope.

With phase 1 of Healthy Campus 2020® completed and now in its maintenance and sustainability stage, Oakwood University is looking toward phase 2, Healthy Campus, Healthy Community®, where the university intends to promote health beyond its campus and address the needs of community members — one neighborhood at a time — through its Mobile Market.

In February 2021, Eyes for India held its annual eye camp in Barabanki district, India. At this year's camp, the It Is Written project was able to restore sight to thousands of people.

Southwestern Adventist University president Ken Shaw has announced that he has accepted an offer to serve as the 27th president of Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. His transition will take place at the end of this academic year.

The Southern Adventist University Board of Trustees voted unanimously on February 28 for Ken Shaw, EdD, to become the 27th president of the university. He will assume office on June 1. For the past seven years, Shaw has served as president of Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas.

During the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists (NAD) Executive Committee meeting on February 25, 2021, G. Alexander Bryant, NAD president, shared an outline of the division’s quinquennial strategic focus “Together in Mission.” This focus, which the committee voted to accept, will incorporate the General Conference theme “I Will Go,” with special divisional emphasis on media, multiplying, and mentorship.

On Feb. 25, 2021, the North American Division Executive Committee met to vote on a quinquennial strategic focus and approve an April 29 business meeting to hold NAD vice president, director, and associate director elections. NAD president G. Alexander Bryant chaired the meeting, disseminating the proposed strategic focus.

Adventist churches and ministries – including some of the 1,358 centers supported by Adventist Community Services – sprung to action to serve the immediate needs of their communities since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that was officially declared on March 11, 2020.

On Thursday, February 25, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives once again passed the LGBT anti-discrimination bill “The Equality Act” (H.R. 5). While the Seventh-day Adventist Church firmly believes that everyone is created in the image of God and should be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect, the Church remains concerned that the Equality Act as drafted would further erode the religious liberty of faith communities and their members. Encouraging to the Church is the diminished support of the Equality Act and the growing support of the Fairness for All Act, which was reintroduced on Friday, February 26.