Fiji: Woman Named New Treasurer

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fiji has appointed the first woman to serve as treasurer. Suruj Deo, one of only 300 Adventist Indians in Fiji, has worked for the church in that country since 1980. She encourages more women to work for the church, in any occupation. “Women can work in any field,” she says. [Brenton Stacey]

Somalia ADRA Worker Slain

Oyaw Abdwahd Ukash, a security guard for the ADRA Somalia office in Gedo, Somalia, was shot and killed Sept. 14 while traveling with coworkers from El Wak, Kenya, to a water project site in Dhamasa, Somalia. He had been employed by the Adventist relief agency since 2002. Government officials are investigating the attack. [Todd Reese]

International Day of Peace Commemorated by Mega-Concert at Adventist University

Two thousand people attended an open-air concert at Southern Adventist University commemorating the International Day of Peace Sept. 19. “In a time of war and conflict, taking time to reflect and celebrate peace is paramount,” said Dr. Gordon Bietz, University president. The celebration in Coolidge Park, Chattanooga, was “testimony to the Adventist church’s long history of promoting peace and non-violence,” said the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s United Nations liaison director, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. [Viola Hughes]

Inter-America: Church Prepares for Year of Evangelism

More than 250 Seventh-day Adventist church leaders and representatives from all over the Inter-American region met Sept. 9 to 12 in Montego, Jamaica, to make plans for the world church’s “Year of Evangelism 2004,” an outreach initiative to involve church members worldwide in witness. Some of the goals set by the church in Inter-America for the Year of Evangelism include involving every Adventist church in a specific evangelistic activity in 2004, getting every Adventist employee to present a message in a personal or public setting, and holding 30,000 public evangelistic series, small group outreach programs, or church planting projects. [Leon Wellington]

Inter-America: Church Hosts Second Biblical Institute

Seventh-day Adventist church representatives from throughout the Caribbean, West Indies and the French territories met in Miami, Florida, Sept. 14 to 17 for the second Biblical Stewardship Institute. Some 100 pastors, church elders and laypeople received six different courses in biblical stewardship. “I’m so excited because we are getting the true focus of stewardship,” says Thelor Lambert, stewardship director for the church in Martinique. “We believe that stewardship is the center of what we do, so this will definitely benefit our field.” [Libna Stevens]