ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
February 22, 2005

In This Issue:
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* World Church: Adventist Youth, Young Adults Training for Community
Ourtreach
* Guam: Adventist World Radio to Rededicate a Renovated Station
* Myanmar: Religious Liberty Affirmed as Christian Leaders Meet
* World Poorer Today, United Nations Report Reveals
* South Pacific: Outreach to University Students Planned
* Puerto Rico: Students Take A Stand Against Smoking
* News Briefs
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World Church: Adventist Youth, Young Adults Training for Community
Ourtreach
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Taashi Rowe/ANN]
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For 400 Seventh-day Adventist youth and young adults from around the
world, evangelism is personal. This group will be in the streets of St.
Louis, Missouri, June 29 through July 9, sharing the gospel with others
while the Seventh-day Adventist world church holds its major business
meeting -- the General Conference Session -- which occurs every five
years.

The evangelism event, "Impact St. Louis," is an intense, two-week
training and practicum using traditional and non-traditional methods of
outreach, such as hosting a Christian café, learning sign language or
using puppets. The event is geared for Adventists ages 16 to 35.

While the event takes place in North America, the youth delegation will
be like the General Conference Session delegates -- international.
James L. Black Sr., youth ministries director for the North American
region of the Adventist Church, says each region of the church has a
set number of delegates.

"Anytime you expose youth and young adults to the world church there is
going to be a phenomenal blessing," Black says. "Many have only been
exposed to their local church. Here they will see that the church is
much bigger [than their local communities]."

This will be the third such "Impact" session, whose origin goes back to
the 1995 General Conference Session in Utrecht, Netherlands. Another
was held in Toronto, Canada in 2000; there, 209 youth and young adults
came from 30 countries to participate.

"It is my job to teach these young people that they have an important
part to play in the life of the church," says Black, referring to both
St. Louis and his everyday work.

Impact St. Louis is "very important for the world church because we are
preparing young people to get involved in the mission of the church
through service projects, community-oriented projects," adds Baraka
Muganda, Adventist world church youth ministries director. "In every
church we've got to develop a permanent lifestyle of serving."

It will also be an opportunity for students to equate evangelism with
fun, says Cloveth Smith, who works with Black his assistant and
ministries coordinator. "Ministry is not only for old people and it
doesn't have to be boring," she notes.

It helps that those teaching the classes have been using these unique
evangelism methods in their own local church communities, says Smith.

"The greatest impact will be what we leave with people there [in St.
Louis]," says Smith, who was in Toronto five years ago. At the
Christian Café in Toronto, Smith says she met people who were homeless,
people who lived in hostels, and people who were just curious about the
Adventist Church.

Along with sharing God with thousands on the streets of Toronto, the
group packed food to serve 6,000 meals.

"This is not something we are doing for the community. It is something
we are doing with the community," Black stresses, explaining that the
group will work with local churches. These churches will follow up
with those who show interest in learning more about God this summer.


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Guam: Adventist World Radio to Rededicate a Renovated Station
Agana, Guam .... [Shelley Nolan Freesland/ANN Staff]
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Agana, Guam [Shelley Nolan Freesland/ANN Staff] Four years of
renovation will be celebrated Feb. 26 when Pastor Jan Paulsen,
president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, visits the
Adventist World Radio (AWR) studio and broadcasting station in Guam to
rededicate the renewed facility.

Millions of radio listeners in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and
many other countries throughout the Asia/Pacific region are able to
hear of God's love for the first time through programs that originate
in the Guam studio, which was first opened in 1987.

Guam's frequent typhoons, as well as the need to reduce transmitter
maintenance problems caused by dust and dirt, led to the renovations.
AWR embarked on a multi-phase modernization project in 2000 that
continued through 2004. This project increased the property's value by
nearly U.S. $5 million, without incurring any debt. Funding for the
replacement of existing equipment and facilities, as well as future
improvements, was arranged from each year's operating gifts in
anticipation of such a need.

"To deliver messages of hope to hard-to-reach listeners, we need to
provide the most reliable broadcast service possible. In this case,
reliability means every minute that we transmit is precious," says
Brook Powers, site manager for AWR in Guam.

Among efforts undertaken by renovators was increasing the reliability
of broadcast operations. This included everything from installing more
reliable transmitters to adding an apartment for an engineer who could
respond quickly to problems.

"We now have the ability to keep all four antennas on the air spreading
the gospel every day," says AWR Guam maintenance director Gordon
Garner. "When a problem arises with a transmitter, the programming can
be transferred to a different transmitter. This makes it possible to
maximize the broadcast time."

In addition, transmitters were stabilized on one platform to make
maintenance easier, and automatic measurements of system data were
implemented to enable better and faster troubleshooting.

Even ground erosion control was a factor in the project. Gravel and
water control systems were added to the antenna fields so preventative
maintenance can occur anytime of the year, even immediately after a
typhoon, when nearly 20 inches of rain can be dropped within 24 hours.

Adventist World Radio's mission is to broadcast the Adventist hope in
Christ to the hardest-to-reach people groups of the world in their own
languages. AWR has its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, and
maintains a Web site, www.awr.org.


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Myanmar: Religious Liberty Affirmed as Christian Leaders Meet
Rangoon, Myanmar .... [IRLA/ANN Staff]
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For the first time since the once open nation of Burma entered a phase
of martial law, renamed itself Myanmar, and turned away from
significant contact with the world community, a conference of more than
40 leaders of the Christian community was held in Myanmar Feb. 10 in
Rangoon to express commitment to religious freedom and Christian
solidarity.

The meeting was propelled by the visit of John Graz, secretary-general
of the Conference of Secretaries of the Christian World Communions and
secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association
(IRLA); Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty Magazine; and Dr. Hiskiah
Missah, regional IRLA director, based in the Philippines.

The Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC), the umbrella group most
recognized by the government, called the meeting and invited several
Christian groups not normally associated with the MCC.

Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country, with just 6 percent
Christians in a population of 52 million. Community resistance and
government suspicion bring difficulties for Christian witness.

Smith N. Za Thawng, general secretary of the MCC, and Saw Mar Gay Gyi,
president of the MCC and general secretary for the Bible Society in
Myanmar, welcomed overseas guests and Christian delegations from the
Catholic Bishops Conference of Myanmar, the Myanmar Evangelical
Christian Fellowship, the Church of the Brethren, Myanmar Baptist
Convention, the Methodist Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the
Presbyterian Church of Myanmar and other groups.

The group discussed ways to maximize Christian cooperation in Myanmar.


"This is an important time," said Thawng, "because in a few days
Myanmar is beginning the process of developing a new constitution."

While the government has in the past appropriated church property and
continues to restrict some church activities, most attendees see hope
in recent developments. "Yes, there is a slight bias against Christian
and Western influence, " said Tin Maung Tun, head of the Church of the
Brethren, "but that is changing." He sees developing respect and an
awareness that "we are Christians on a national level."

Leaders told of many cases of individual community leaders and
government officials facilitating Christian activity -- and while some
Buddhist priests have been hostile, others have opened their
communities to them.

MCC leadership expressed thanks to the Adventist Church and Kenneth
Htang Suanzanang, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director for the
church in Myanmar, for working with them to make the historic gathering
possible. The group committed to holding more such consultations.

The IRLA was founded in 1893 by Adventist church leaders and has
developed into a non-sectarian organization dedicated to safeguarding
religious civil rights around the world.


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World Poorer Today, United Nations Report Reveals
New York, New York, United States .... [ANN Staff]
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"One quarter of the world population is poorer today than they were 10
years ago," according to a video report presented by the United
Nations' Commission for Social Development in New York on Feb. 17.

Following the presentation, Vusi Madonsela, director general of the
Department of Social Development of the government of South Africa,
spoke of his ongoing concerns since the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration.

"In Copenhagen, countries agreed to improve the framework for
cooperation for social development," Madonsela said. "Ten years later,
we find ourselves in a world of even greater interdependence ... yet
conflict, poverty and disease continue to foreshorten the lives of
many."

He added, "Much work remains if the goals are to be realized. What is
needed is a people-centered approach, above abstract thinking. My
government hopes that capitals will now give the outcome full
consideration by addressing the most important questions facing this
age: the imprisonment of poverty, unemployment and social
disintegration. That is the least the citizens of the world expect from
us."

Reviewing past performance, Johan Scholvinck, director of the United
Nation's division for Social Policy, highlighted the fact that U.S. $1
trillion is spent every year on military defense -- 20 times more than
is spent on social development.

Representing the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the Commission
meetings were Jonathan Gallagher, U.N. Liaison director, and
Christopher Banks, volunteer intern.

"As a world church, we follow the clear example of Jesus who announced
the gospel to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, and deliverance to
the captives," said Gallagher. "We are committed to the betterment of
humanity, in the physical sphere as well as the spiritual. Adventists
around the globe would endorse the statement made in the report, that
'no human being should be consigned to a life of poverty just because
of their place of birth, gender, social status, religious affiliation,
or ethnicity.'"

In a statement on homelessness and poverty voted in 1990, the church
recognized that "individuals and families are destituted by political,
economic, cultural, or social events largely beyond their control," and
that as Christians "we are to restore and care for the poor. If we
carry out the principles of the law of God in acts of mercy and love,
we will represent the character of God to the world."


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South Pacific: Outreach to University Students Planned
Warburton, Victoria, Australia .... [Nathan Brown/ANN]
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Realizing that college students could lose a connection to God and
their church under the pressure of university studies, the Adventist
Student Association (ASA) has renewed its focus on ministry and
outreach to those students in the South Pacific. This included a recent
leadership training session and a call for church members to help them
connect with these students.

"According to a recent review of Australian data over 15 years, about
70 percent of Adventist university students stop attending church in
their first two months of study," says ASA president Dr. Sven Ostring.


"Most don't purposely reject church or God. They're just tired and
under time pressure, or they know no one in their new city," he says.
"But if they're not contacted and welcomed, they can soon drop out
permanently."

ASA is the coordinating organization for tertiary-student ministry,
connecting a number of local Adventist student societies and working
with conference-appointed chaplains. ASA -- which receives support and
funding from both the South Pacific church region and Australian church
leadership -- plans to contact an estimated 3,000 Adventist university
students across Australia and New Zealand in March.

But, says Ostring, they need church members' help to know who and where
the students are. "Our 'Dob in [Suggest] a Student' campaign asks
friends, family, youth leaders, church elders -- anyone who knows and
cares about a university student -- to send their names and contact
details to ASA," he says. "We'll invite them to a local church, to
student socials and camps, and to service opportunities."

This campaign reflects the renewed focus on university student
ministry, evident at -- and further inspired by -- the ASA leadership
training held in Adelaide from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, according to Ostring.


"The new direction of ASA is purposeful mission in taking the gospel to
university campuses both locally, nationally and across the
Asia-Pacific region," says Ostring.

As part of this push, ASA has also formulated plans to extend their
impact beyond the existing local student societies. "At the leadership
training event, there were students ... who went away inspired to
develop student ministries in their locations," reports Ostring. "ASA
has plans to visit Canberra, Hobart and Darwin with the view to
establishing university ministries there. And the university chaplain
from Fiji also attended the ASA leadership training. He also has the
task of building up the student ministry in Vanuatu and other Pacific
islands."

Ostring describes the leadership training and interaction with other
leaders as inspiring, "leaving student leaders with a clear sense of
the exciting mission that God has for them back in their home
universities and overseas." He says the main reason the ASA leadership
training was a success is that God has evidently placed on many
people's hearts the love that He has for university students.


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Puerto Rico: Students Take A Stand Against Smoking
San Juan, Puerto Rico .... [Libna Stevens/IAD/ANN]
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Nearly 3,000 Seventh-day Adventist students and teachers marched
through the streets of Puerto Rico's capital city of San Juan on Feb.
10, the island's National No Smoking Day. The march's theme "Dare to
be Different," was organized to promote awareness concerning the
dangers of smoking.

Elementary and high school students from throughout the island's 25
Adventist Church-operated schools walked the streets of Old San Juan
displaying anti-smoking and anti-drug banners.

"We have never organized this large of a march against smoking before,"
says Hector Matias, communication director for the Adventist Church in
Puerto Rico.

"This year, the church in Puerto Rico wanted to take a united stand
against the smoking habit that is prevalent in our society, and which
is taking ahold of young people early on," explains Matias.

The event was largely organized by the church's Health and Education
departments in the region, says Elie S. Honore, health ministries
director for the church in Inter-America. Honore, who marched with
students, also spoke following the march at the city's main square,
Plaza de Armas.

Church leaders have already declared that the march will become an
annual event for the church in Puerto Rico. Organizers have begun
planning for next year's march.

Seventh-day Adventists are committed to promoting a positive and
healthy way of life that avoids smoking and the use of alcohol and
other drugs. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Puerto Rico operates
25 schools, one university and has more than 34,700 members worshiping
in 275 churches.


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News Briefs
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Compiled by ANN Staff]
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Russia: Cold War Hot Spot to Receive Satellite Evangelism

Sakhalin Island, Russia [Valery Ivanov] ... Sakhalin Island, a remote
Russian island, will soon receive a new message of hope when satellite
evangelism reaches this remote Russian outpost for the first time.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Youzhno-Sakhalinsk, the island's
capital, received a satellite signal on Feb. 17, something many told
Pastor Michael Tretiak was "impossible."

The signal, which was from the Hope Channel, a Seventh-day Adventist
Church satellite broadcasting outreach, is a precursor to the March 4
"Net 2005" satellite evangelism series that will originate from Kiev,
Ukraine. Local church members have rented three halls on Sakhalin
Island to host downlinks of the series. An estimated 46,000 invitations
to the series have been distributed on Sakhalin Island for the event.


Egypt: Sudanese Expatriates Celebrate Peace at Cairo Meeting

Cairo, Egypt [MEU/ANN] ... The Jan. 9 peace agreement ending a 21-year
civil war in Sudan was celebrated two weeks later with a thanksgiving
meeting of approximately 1,500 Sudanese expatriates at the Ramses
Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cairo. The war in Sudan has been one of
the longest wars in the history of the world, and an estimated 2
million people have been killed. In addition, 1 million have left the
country and are scattered around the world.

All Sudanese communities in Egypt were invited to participate in the
meeting. Various choirs shared in praising God, in their own languages.
Representatives from various Sudanese communities, regions and
organizations gave speeches. The main speaker was Sudanese Adventist
church leader Francis Oryem Alexander, who reminded the audience about
the story of Israel, being rescued by God after 430 years of bondage in
Egypt.
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