Reviewing the Recorder

December 2007

In this issue, Tom Mostert, President of the Pacific Union Conference, says goodbye. Central California continues to record a lively youth ministry, and Arizona Pathfinder's tear down and rebuild the home, damaged by fire, of two children who attend the Maricopa Village Adventist Christian School on an unnamed Native American reservation in Arizona.

Unfortunately, Operation Global Rain seems to be gathering steam. Beginning January 2, there will be 10 days of prayer for former and inactive Seventh-day Adventists. Beginning May 1, there will be 10 days of prayer for people of the congregation's community, including family and friends. Beginning August 28, there will be another 10 days of prayer for the people belonging to the congregation's community, including family and friends. These 10-day prayer periods will each be followed by 110 days of united and intentional “outreach”. That's 30 days lost because church members don't seem to be able to pray and do “outreach” at the same time. Or maybe those involved believe that God is more apt to get behind the program if He is petitioned for 30 days.

It's almost expected. "La Sierra University Students In Free Enterprise" win the World Cup again. These guys and gals are perennial world champions, and while we have a picture of the team, I'll bet family and friends of these amazing students would appreciate it if names accompanied the picture.

The Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital’s “Cops for Kids Fly-in” brought joy to kids facing medical problems that daunt the most mature Christian adults.

The Northern California conference staged quite a convocation! The theme was “Be Bold for God”. There were 5000+ Adventists in Sacramento’s Convention Center. A 450 member choir composed of choir members from all over the Conference sang with the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Christian Edition, a men’s chorus, also provided musical inspiration. My only complaint about the Recorder’s coverage is that Sacramento Adventist Academy kids and adults that provided box lunches were pictured, but their names were not included.

Norman Fairly who spoke at a “Lunch and Liberty” event in Corona, California, sounds like a guy who has his head screwed on in the right. His speech dealt with the heresy of the United States as a “Christian” nation. Students at Pacific Union College are working hard to serve their community in a way that will demolish the stereotype of at Adventists as nonalcoholic vegetarians. Feather River Hospital has a new pharmacy robot, and three LA Dodgers visited the White Memorial Medical Center to visit patients in the Pediatric Unit, and were serenaded by children from a hospital's Pediatric Rehabilitation and Cleft Palate programs.

Dr. Nancy I. Meister was honored on October 24, as a Woman of the Year by the Association of Adventist Women. She has worked in Argentina and the Philippines, was a translator and editor for the Seventh-day Adventist Commentary, and designed the Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry Programs offered by the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies in the Philippines. She and her husband retired in 2000, and now she has time to do special projects in India, Mexico, and Africa. My note in the margin of the Recorder opposite her résumé is simply, “Wow”!

Los Sierra Academy celebrated its eighty-fifth anniversary. Southern California’s Heritage Mission Teams are doing amazing work in Africa. (Contact Ron Pollard, 818-482-9545, if you want to be part of that exciting program.) Newbury Park Academy sponsored a golf tournament that raised $36,000. And my old alma mater, the Glendale City Church, has a new, high tech pipe organ.

Mark F. Carr suggests that there are a great many Muslims who are doing a great deal to promote a moderate and peace-loving Islam. He suggests that readers checkout www.acommonword.com. He makes the case that peace and understanding are foundational to the principles of both faiths.

George Knight was rated both the most valuable and least valuable speaker at the Pacific Union’s Ministerial Council. That's unsurprising. His evening presentations were presented as individual aspects of “The Apocalyptic Vision and the Neutering of Adventism”. That title suggests a “neutered” version of the huge statue that got Daniel’s friends in trouble. Disturbing!

The Southern California fires devastated what was once the campus of San Pasqual Academy located about twenty miles north of San Diego. Most of the Church numbers that lived in the area were burned out. One bright spot: ADRA was on the scene with $50,000 for fire relief efforts.

The advertisement pages of the recorder always fascinated me. There just isn’t the stereotypical Adventist anymore. That’s also were the sunset table is published. In that table, Sabbath always comes earliest in Alturas and latest in Honolulu. Of course it’s really the earliest the previous day on Chatham Islands just east of New Zealand.