Brazil: Church Holds “Week of Harvest”

Brasilia, Brazil…[ASN/ANN Staff] An interactive Bible course, broadcast throughout Brazil on 2,100 radio stations, including Radio Novo Tempo, a Seventh-day Adventist-operated network with locations across South America, was one of the supporting media features preparing 5,000 congregations for a mega evangelistic program called “Week of Harvest.”

During the first week of December the Adventist Church held a massive evangelistic thrust that drew the attention of several million people from all over South America. Broadcast on both television and radio in Spanish and Portuguese, the event was a culmination of nearly three months of preparation.

South American church leaders emphasized that evangelism is the main objective of the church’s presence in society. According to Osmar Reis, leader of volunteer mobilization for the church in the South American region, “church members [gave] Bible studies to neighbors, friends and relatives” in preparation for the satellite media event that featured Alejandro Bullon, a prominent Adventist evangelist.

Sunday Law Not Supported by Dobson

Colorado Springs, Colorado…[ANN Staff] James Dobson, author and founder/president of Focus on the Family, is trying to quell rumors that he is advocating a national Sunday law in the United States. His letter to the Seventh-day Adventist Church said, “I have taken no such position, and have no intention of doing so in the future.”

Dobson indicated that similar rumors have persisted for years, and asked the church to help make his position known. He said he “would not under any circumstance try to undermine [Adventist’s] designated day of worship.”

The Adventist Church recognizes Dobson’s stand in regard to religious liberty, noting that freedom of conscience is one of the most basic of human liberties.

Retired La Sierra Professor Murdered in Home

Riverside, California…[Wendi Rogers/ANN] A fatal shooting has devastated a small, close-knit community after Brian Jacques, a 73-year-old retired professor, was killed while he was sitting in bed in his home on the evening of Jan. 2. The unknown attacker fired through closed window blinds into the couples’ master bedroom, hitting Brian in the chest. Florence Jacques, Brian’s wife of more than 50 years and retired nurse, tried to stop the bleeding, but Brian died at Riverside Community Hospital less than one hour later.

According to local homicide detective David Smith, a witness saw a car drive up the Jacques’ long driveway, heard two to three gunshots, and then saw the car leave.

“It’s just an odd set of circumstances,” Smith says, and notes that police are not ruling out any possible motives, including the chance that the murder was random.

“We are all saddened and shocked by this senseless tragedy,” says Ella Simmons, La Sierra University provost and vice president for academic administration. “Many on our campus remember Brian as an individual of consistent faith and dedicated, unselfish service. The effects of this loss will ripple around the world, because he taught so many students for so many years and our graduates live and work in practically every part of the world.”

Jacques was a 26-year communication professor at La Sierra University, a Seventh-day Adventist institution in Riverside, California, United States. He retired in 1996.