News reports from Southern Adventist University, the Hungarian Union Conference, Jordan, AdventHealth and GAIN Europe:

According to the Southern Accent, Southern Adventist University’s Marketing and University Relations is sponsoring Project Refresh, a Carolina Conference online content project for young adults in the Seventh-day Adventist church. According to the Southern Accent, the content is geared to young adults aged 18-35 and features “vlogs that include how-to’s on adulting, a podcast called “Echo” that discusses difficult topics within the church, and “Tiny Chair Talks,” which addresses subjects that no one is readily willing to discuss.”

From Trans-European (TED) News – Jeno Szigeti, a former president of the denomination’s Hungarian Union Conference and a church historian, was given the Wallenberg Prize for his life-long work in higher education and pastoral care, focused on minorities. The prize is given to individuals who uplift high ethical standards and demonstrate serving minorities, those discriminated against or underprivileged people. The deputy ambassador of Sweden together with a deputy cabinet minister of the Hungarian Government presented the prize at a ceremony hosted by the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities on 16 January. Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who served in Hungary during World War II and saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews under Nazi occupation. Adventists in Hungary worked with Wallenberg to hide Jews in the central church building in Budapest and other places. They helped to feed them and to smuggle them to safety.

FROM ANN (Adventist News Network) – A Seventh-day Adventist school operating for 78 years in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan has doubled in size as it grows its curriculum to include after-school classes on health, language, and music for the local community.

A renovation took place during the summer vacation months of June to August 2019, and two new floors were added after that, said Mazen W. Shaman, founding partner and general manager of Sha’ban Architects and Engineers. Usable space in the school complex, which includes an Adventist church and guestrooms, expanded to 23,142 square feet (2,150 square meters) from the previous 11,302 square feet (1,050 square meters), he said by email.

A year ago Adventist Health System became AdventHealth, a “rebranding” of one of the largest faith-based health systems in the United States. “We embarked on this transformation because we wanted to be a truly consumer-focused organization,” said Terry Shaw, president/CEO for AdventHealth. “Adopting one unified brand across the system was an essential element to achieving that goal.” Twelve months later, AdventHealth is making health care easier and fostering wholeness for consumers. What was once about 30 different hospital brands is now one distinct identity which is tied to the most important element of the Adventist faith: the second Advent of Christ. Creating greater connectivity through a unified brand also meant ensuring that there was continuity in the experience consumers have at AdventHealth facilities. To do this, more than 60,000 team members across the organization took part in an immersive training experience to align on its mission, vision, values and service standards so that consumers would have a consistent, exceptional whole-person care experience at each and every care location. “The response from consumers has been favorable,” said Shaw.

The Global Adventist Internet Network (GAIN) has scheduled a GAIN Europe gathering for 24-28 April in Bucharest, Romania. More information is available here.

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