News reports from the NAD, Ghana, Australia, Spectrum Magazine and the Adventist Virtual Global Campmeeting:

From an NAD news story (edited for length): Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the North American Division (NAD) recently released a comprehensive, digital resource to educate youth on mental health, and offer encouragement and community for those seeking help. OneTeam Mental Health is a website with material on depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and wellness. In addition, sermons from the ministry’s weekly online Sabbath services are available on the site to show how lessons from the Bible can help provide encouragement during challenging times.

The announcement comes during Mental Health Awareness Month, which has been observed each May in the United States since first introduced by Mental Health America in 1949. From May 1 to May 31, numerous mental health organizations and advocates share information on removing stigma, recognizing symptoms, and providing resources for treatment and management.

According to the Ghanaian Times, the father of an Adventist teenager who was found hanging by a nylon rope at her school in Ghana is refuting claims his daughter died by suicide.

William Kyere claimed preliminary physical examination of the body of his daughter Leticia Kyere Pinaman, points to foul play.

“At the Regional Hospital in Sunyani, they saw a mark inside her left arm indicating that something untoward has happened to my daughter. After the doctor’s physical examination on the body it was discovered that she had neither urinated nor eased on herself,” said Kyere to journalists in Sunyani.

“The tongue is intact, the eyes were closed, and those saying that she has committed suicide are neither here nor there. They did not sight any suicide note as purported by the public,” said the teen’s father, claiming the note found was faked and a necklace allegedly left behind was not his daughter’s.

“My daughter is an Adventist and she does not wear rings and necklaces, so all those things are fabrications,” said Kyere, adding, “We are waiting for the pathologist to confirm or otherwise.”

From Australia’s Adventist Record (edited for length): In an effort to better serve their local community, Hillview Adventist Church members relocated their ADRA Op Shop from Tuggerah to larger premises in the industrial area of Morisset (NSW) in August last year, closer to where volunteers live, allowing it to be a more effective community hub. Alongside providing affordable household and clothing items, the facility also offers important services to the community.

Pastor Paul Rankin, store manager, says that while the op shop generates a good profit each day, the focus is not on profit but on “creating opportunities” and doing the loving thing. With many homeless and disadvantaged people in the area, profits earned are intentionally reinvested into providing services and ministries that can enable the less fortunate to seek better lives for themselves.

An announcement from Spectrum Magazine titled “Adieu Alisa”:

On Sabbath, April 19, 2014, in a first-of-its kind program, Andrews University conducted a conversation with LGBT students that focused on listening, understanding, and caring. A local writer by the name of Alisa Williams covered the event for Spectrum in the first of many articles that she would write for www.spectrummagazine.org.

The following year, Alisa took on the responsibility of Spirituality Section Editor for Spectrum. She found and championed writers, essayists, and poets who reflected on the contemplative life. When we put together a team of writers for the General Conference (GC) Session in San Antonio that year, Alisa helped with the comprehensive tweeting that changed the way many people followed a GC Session. She also gathered reflections from Millennials to the event where the controversial issue involved ordination of women. In 2017, she became the managing editor of www.spectrummagazine.org.

Alisa’s passion for social justice, for Millennial voices, and social media have been outstanding contributions to Spectrum. She has also reported significantly on church meetings, such as the Annual Council and North American Division Year-End Meetings, as well as on gatherings of church media professionals in Brazil, Jordan, and Iceland.

Today we bid Alisa farewell as she pursues new opportunities as a writer. We are grateful for her creative contributions to Spectrum, and the church community. We wish her well in her new endeavors.

In another first event of its kind, the May 19-23 Adventist Virtual Global Campmeeting seeks to bring the world church together for worship and to showcase Adventist ministries around the world.

According to Seventh-day Adventist denominational advertising, the event offers hundreds of presentations, seminars, and workshops on discipleship, education, health ministries, media, missions and theology, as well as roundtable discussions with church leaders.

The Adventist Virtual Global Campmeeting will have programming centered around three major regions. Asia-Pacific, Euro-Africa and the Americas. Seminars will be scheduled for convenient access from time zones around the world.

Click here for more information or to register.

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