News Briefs for October 12, 2018
News reports from St. Helena, California; the North American Division, Oakwood University, Southern Adventist University, Indianapolis, Indiana and Newbold College.
Jeff Wood, who wrote the song Side by Side for a week of prayer at Rio Lindo Adventist Academy, died this week at St. Helena Hospital. He was one of the original members of the Heritage Singers. He also produced and directed many television programs, including several at the Adventist Media Center.
According to the North American Division of the Adventist Church, Washington Johnson II, associate director of the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries (ACM), was promoted to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve this month. Johnson is the sixth Adventist chaplain to reach the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy and the first of them to be promoted while employed by the North American Division.
Oakwood University announced on its Facebook page that a scholarship fund has been set up in the name of Carvell Goodlow, an Oakwood student who was killed by gunshot on September 17. A donor who attended his memorial service decided to commemorate his life with the scholarship, which is open to alumni of the Caught Up mentorship program who are matriculating at Oakwood University.
According to a Southern Adventist University Facebook post, recent SAU graduate, Matthew Lopez, ’18, was awarded a National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholarship which fully covers tuition and living expenses for four years at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. As an NHSC Scholar, Matthew will eventually go on to serve in a designated Health Professional Shortage Area.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Director, Ben Carson has spoken out against Facebook-based protocols that discriminate against potential low-income housing tenants that have disabilities. The HUD filed a complaint against Facebook in August, claiming its advertising system permits landlords and sellers to discriminate by preventing specific users from seeing ads. “Housing discrimination should never find a safe haven online — or offline, for that matter,” said Carson at an event in Indianapolis according to the IndyStar.
John Lamberton Bell, a Scottish hymn-writer and Church of Scotland minister, presented the annual Beach Lecture on October 9. The lecture was one of the regularly held diversity presentations at Newbold College in Berkshire, England. His title was “Music in Worship – Ecumenical Bridge Builder or Barrier?” According to a Newbold Facebook post, Bell presents internationally and is primarily focused on the renewal of congregational worship at the grass roots level.
On Sept. 13, 2018, the North American Division (NAD) Administrative Committee voted to adopt and endorse the Adventist Women Leaders (AWL) initiative, a fast-growing community of female leaders with an email newsletter that is published twice a month.
“AWL is a community where we can connect, tell our stories, learn from others’ experiences and find inspiration in our shared journeys,” says Debra Brill, NAD Vice President for Ministries, who chairs the initiative. To join AWL, click here.
