Mexico: Student Killed in Shooting At School

Police are questioning a 13-year-old male student in the May 13 fatal shooting of a female student, also age 13, at the Instituto Angel del Campo, an Adventist school in the eastern district of the city, an area where crime is widespread. Seventh-day Adventist Church officials in Mexico City expressed sorrow and offered condolences to the family of the female student, who died five days after the incident, said Pastor Sergio Balboa, president of the church in North Mexico. School administrators are providing counseling to the students who witnessed the incident, and have taken measures to secure the safety of the students in the crime-ridden community, Balboa added. [Libna Stevens]

North America: Chaplains Meet, Discuss Ministry

The 50th annual meeting of the Seventh-day Adventist Military-related Chaplains Association drew 38 American and Canadian military chaplains to the church’s world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Delegates attended business sessions and met with Adventist theologians for continuing education. The chaplains are not paid by the Adventist church, but work in the United States and Canadian military as chaplains who represent the church. As of March 2004, there are 1.4 million Americans on active military service; providing chaplains for service members has been a national tradition since the days of America’s Revolutionary War.

A denomination’s endorser as well as their branch of military service must approve military chaplains. The current Adventist Church endorser is U.S. Army Col. Richard Stenbakken (Ret.), who will retire as director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries in July.  Delegates met U.S. Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black at the Capitol building May 13. Black, retired chief of U.S. Naval chaplains, is the first Adventist, first military chaplain, and first African-American to hold the Senate post. [Ansel Oliver]