PASTORS KILLED: Seventh-day Adventist pastors Peletso Lesang and Tsepa Mokgabe, from Botswana, were killed June 22 when the vehicle they were traveling in overturned near Koster, South Africa. They were returning from a weekend seminar held near Pretoria. A third passenger, Pastor Stephen Mpatane, remains hospitalized and is recovering from his injuries. Botswana’s population is about 1.5 million, while the Adventist Church membership stands at 23,000.
ADRA MEETING: The South America regional office of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) hosted the ADRA South America Quinquennial Meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil May 30 to June 5. More than 80 regional Seventh-day Adventist Church and ADRA leaders attended. The meeting provided an ADRA orientation for new leadership and enhanced current church leadership’s understanding and knowledge of ADRA’s work. Church administrators were encouraged to increase their support of ADRA through dedicated local, national, and regional activity and corporate leadership.
WHITE CENTER IN JAMAICA: Two leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist world church will visit Northern Caribbean University in July to launch the Ellen G. White Seventh-day Adventist Research Center. James Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate, will declare the Center open during a ceremony to be held in the university’s main chapel July 10, while Israel Leito, regional president of the church, will offer a dedicatory prayer. Beginning in 1974, the White Estate has established research centers on the campuses of 11 Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities outside North America in memory of Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the church and seminal writer.
CHRISTIANS IN BRITISH POLITICS: Seventh-day Adventist Church representatives were among those noting the launch of a “Christians in Politics” poster campaign June 17 at Premier Radio’s headquarters in London. The poster is designed to be placed on church notice boards, and encourage churchgoers to discover more about the CIP campaign. “We would be failing in our responsibility as Adventist Christians if we did not listen to the voices of the world around us and then go beyond being concerned. It was C. S. Lewis who said, ‘Christians, who have so much hope for the next world, are the most effective in this.’ Getting involved in local, or even national politics, is one way of being effective in our world,” said Adventist pastor David Neal, who, along with John Surridge, communication director for the church in Britain, attended the event.
