-- Adventist World Radio Announced English Shortwave Change -- Pitcairn Adventists Get Support -- George Nelson, Kettering Hospital Founding CEO, Dies
ENGLISH SHORTWAVE PROGRAMMING CHANGE: Adventist World Radio’s English language service will convert from a centralized global service to a regionalized one in January 2005, according to AWR president Ben Schoun. Under the new plan, local studios—primarily in Africa and the Asia/Pacific region—will produce their own English programs, consistent with the format for AWR’s other services. English language production operations in England will end later this year. “This move will also make us be more consistent with our mission, which is to reach people groups in their own languages,” says Schoun. [Shelley Nolan Freesland/AWR]
PITCAIRN ADVENTISTS GET SUPPORT: The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific has sent pastoral support to remote Pitcairn Island during an upcoming trial of seven residents on abuse charges. Pastor Ray Coombe and his wife, Daphne, departed for the island on Sept. 19. It will take the couple five days to get to the island, using a combination of boat and plane, but Coombe says it will be “well worth it.”
He adds, “The church and community there needs pastoral support during the trial and media attention. We want them to know that we care for them.” The Coombes will stay on the island until mid-October when Pitcairn’s replacement pastor is due. Although Pitcairn once boasted a large Adventist community, only eight to 10 people, out of just under 50 residents, attend weekly church services. [Adam Sparke/ANN]
KETTERING HOSPITAL EXECUTIVE DIES: George Nelson, age 99, founding president of Charles F. Kettering Memorial Hospital, died Sept. 5 in Kettering, Ohio. Previously president of Glendale Adventist Hospital, he was appointed chief executive of the Ohio facility in 1959, when the Kettering family decided to build a hospital in memory of their father. Nelson retired in January of 1969, after opening the maternity unit, the heart catheterization lab, a cardiac care unit, the Kettering College of Medical Arts, and pulmonary outpatient clinic, among other Kettering institutions. [Kevin Lavoie]
