Comments of the Week June 23-29
Comments of the Week June 9-16 “Well done, Jescah Gesare, for carrying through with this case. Too many Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs) believe that it is wrong to take those who have wronged them to court, hiding behind the false belief it is ‘unchristian’ to do so. When treated illegally by […]
Editorial: “AT Prepares to Cover the Good, Bad, and Ugly at the St. Louis GC Session”
Many love it. Many love to hate it. The 62nd General Conference (GC) Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is nearly upon us, set to unfold from July 3-12 in St. Louis, Missouri. Adventist Today will be on the ground to cover it. This gathering, held every five years (though […]
Northern New England Conference President Says Ron Kelly Will Not Be Executive Secretary
27 June 2025 | In a recent Northern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (NNEC) town hall meeting, president Gary Blanchard said that Ron Kelly, fired pastor of the Berrien Springs Village Church, would not be the conference’s executive secretary. Anybody heard of Spectrum magazine? I have gotten lots of […]
Reclaiming the Prophet: How to Believe in Ellen White
by Reinder Bruinsma | 27 June 2025 | Read part 1 here. Opening the third section of Reclaiming the Prophet, veteran Adventist historian George R. Knight recaps much of what he’s written in his other books about Adventist church history. He recounts how the original perspective on the ministry of […]
Adventist Church Denied Injuction in Hiring Rights Lawsuit
27 June 2025 | A ruling was granted this month regarding the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s October 2023 lawsuit against the members and executive director of the Maryland Civil Rights Commission. The church had requested religious exemption from the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act. According to The […]
ATSS: Charles Scriven, “Can We Grow Up? Truthfulness, Matthew 18, Community & Conversation”
28 June 2025 | Conversation among different kinds of Adventists is often either a bit mean-spirited, or entirely non-existent. I will use both contemporary philosophy of knowledge and a key passage from Matthew to argue that failure by Adventists to interact across lines of convictional difference in vigorous, open-minded conversation […]
Reclaiming the Prophet: How to Read Ellen White
by Reinder Bruinsma | 26 June 2025 | I first became aware of Reclaiming the Prophet when I saw urgent warning to stay far away from it on the website of the far-right website Fulcrum7. It was clear from the description that the author of the short, ultra-negative piece had […]
News from Scotland, the General Conference, Southern Adventist University, and Chicago
26 June 2025 | News from Scotland “Audrey Mutongi-Darko, founder of The No.1 Befriending Agency, has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) on May 23 in recognition of her outstanding work to combat loneliness and isolation among older people in Glasgow. Mutongi-Darko is also invited to attend a royal […]
“I Alone Can Fix It,” Part 3: Centralization Isn’t Unity
by Mark Johnson | 25 June 2025 | (Read part 1 of this series here.) (Read part 2 of this series here.) I wrote before about how the accreditation of Loma Linda propagated accreditation and higher education down the line, to our colleges, and eventually even to our seminaries. It […]
“I Alone Can Fix It,” Part 2: Wholism
by Mark Johnson | 24 June 2025 | (Read part 1 of this series here.) In this installment I’m discussing an idea of central importance to Adventists—one that has largely been sidelined. It’s called wholism. Our doctrine of wholism (and for my purposes, the “w” seems essential) has often fallen […]
ADRA Romania Works to Raise Awareness for Domestic Violence
24 June 2025 | 2,958 runners, of whom 739 were children, participated in a charity run to support victims of domestic violence. ADRA Romania in collaboration with AMiCUS Romania Student Federation hosted the fourth edition of the charity cross-country race entitled “I’m Running for My Mother.” The charity run occurred […]
Former Employee Wins Court Case Against Central Rift Valley Conference for Unethical Dismissal
24 June 2025 | According to multiple reports: The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kenya has ruled that the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Central Rift Valley Conference, must compensate former employee Jescah Gesare over KSh 800,000 [US$ 6,20o] for unfair dismissal. The lawsuit was founded on the church’s suspicion […]
How can I be an LGBTQ ally without endangering my employment?
23 June 2025 | Dear Aunt Sevvy, How can I be an LGBTQ ally without endangering my employment? Signed, Church Worker Dear Church Worker: Right now, as things stand in the church, you probably can’t—at least in most places. Be kind to your LGBTQ+ friends personally, but you dare not, […]
To The Point
News
Erton C. Köhler Elected General Conference President
4 July 2025 | On July 4, 2025, Erton C. Köhler was elected to be president of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist world church. Köhler is transitioning from his role as executive secretary for the General Conference. The Southern Brazil native served as advisor to the Office of Adventist Mission; the Office of […]
Commentary
St. Louis GC Session 2025, Day 2: Treasurer’s Report & Nominating Committee
by Loren Seibold | 4 July 2025 | This afternoon kicked off with the report from General Conference (GC) treasurer Paul Douglas. Short version: the church is making good money. Slightly longer version, courtesy of Bjorn: World tithe is up about 16% over the last five years. World tithe is over $3 billion annually. Douglas […]
Features
ATSS: Michael Scofield, “The Rise & Fall of Adventist Publishing”
2 July 2025 | The Adventist publishing “industry” is 170 years old. Publishing was vigorous even before Adventist education and healthcare began to expand. In an effort to reach the whole world “in this generation,” publishing houses and journals were established all over the world, ever adding more languages whenever possible. Books and journals provide […]