Here

www.adventistreview.org 

March 14, 2013 

Prisoners of Fear 

Morris Venden Dies at 80 

Do I Need a Gun? 

7 

11 

24 

It Starts 

Here 

What happens when 

toddlers go to 

Sabbath school?

COVER FEATURE 

18 It Starts Here 

Wilona Karimabadi 

Sabbath school for 

toddlers? Why not? 

Devotional 

ARTICLES 

22 Red Shirt 

I 

eyeS 

By HEATHER had a student in the English class I 

THOMPSON-DAy was teaching at a community college 

a couple years ago tell me the 

most beautiful story. I was talking 

to them about my life growing up 

as a biracial child. For me, the combining 

of two different cultures has been 

precious. I have never had any real confusion 

about who I was or where I 

belonged. I grew up with both my Black 

father and White mother, who loved 

each other dearly. There really was not 

much room for confusion, because I 

knew them both, loved them both, and 

knew that they loved me. 

My student’s story was about her son. 

He had been attending his first year of 

school and often came home raving to 

his mother about his new friend. When 

Heather Thompson-Day 

There are all kinds of ways 

to describe each other. 

24 Do I Need a Gun? 

Claude Richli 

The question of selfdefense 

is a complicated 

one. 

22 (214) | www.AdventistReview.org | March 14, 2013 

“Behold, I come quickly . . .” 

Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His 

matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing 

Him better, and hope in His soon return. 

she tucked him in at night, he’d tell her 

all the fun stories from his school days 

playing with his comrade. In the mornings 

when he got up, he was excited to go 

back to school because he knew his 

friend was going to be there. One day she 

arrived at the school earlier than usual to 

pick up her son. He saw her at the door 

and came running, as children often do 

when they catch a glimpse of Mom. He 

gave her a hug and then immediately 

pointed across the room so that he could 

show her who his new friend was. 

“He’s right there!” he said, beaming 

and pointing. 

“Which one?” she asked, perplexed 

as she followed his tiny finger into a 

sea of children. 

“The kid in the red shirt!” 

When her eyes landed on her child’s 

friend, she couldn’t help smiling. In a 

Red 

18 22 11 6 

DEPARTMENTS 

4 Letters 

class with 25 or so children, every child 

in her son’s room was White except her 

son’s best friend, who was wearing a 

red shirt. In a room in which all but one 

shared the same skin tone, her son 

could not think of a single characteristic 

that would identify his friend to his 

mother from the other children in the 

room, except for his red shirt. 

7 Page 7 

8 World News & 

Perspectives 

Identifying Me 

When my student told me that story, I 

was moved. There is a reason that Christ 

said that in order to enter the kingdom 

of heaven, we would first need to 

become like children. Children are precious. 

Children don’t hate until they are 

first taught hate. 

There are a lot of things Jesus could 

13 Give & Take 

14 GLOW Stories 

15 Searching the Obvious 

28 Introducing the Why 

29 Etc. 

Shirt 

6 Bill Knott 

Reclaiming the Library 

EDITORIALS 

7 Stephen Chavez 


ON THE COVER 

Sabbath school isn’t just for 

big kids. The younger they 

start, the more they receive. 

Cover photo by Merle Poirier. 

31 Reflections 

Next Week 

Beyond Belief 

We used to say, “Once an 

Adventist, always an Adventist.” 

New research indicates 

that may no longer be true. 

Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® , Executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun, 

vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik 

Doukmetzian, legal adviser. Editor Bill Knott, Associate Editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating Editor Stephen Chavez, Online Editor Carlos Medley, Features Editor Sandra 

Blackmer, Young Adult Editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView Editor Wilona Karimabadi, News Editor Mark A. Kellner, Operations Manager Merle Poirier, Financial Manager Rachel 

Child, Editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the Editor Gina Wahlen, Quality Assurance/Social Media Coordinator Jean Boonstra, Marketing Director Claude Richli, 

Editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, Senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad Sales Glen Gohlke, Subscriber Services 

Steve Hanson. To Writers: Writer’s guidelines are available at the Adventist Review Web site: www.adventistreview.org and click “About the Review.” For a printed copy, send a self-addressed envelope 

to: Writer’s Guidelines, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. E-mail: revieweditor@gc.adventist.org. Web site: www.adventistreview.org. Postmaster: 

Send address changes to Adventist Review, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. 

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © Thinkstock 2013. The Adventist Review (ISSN 0161- 

1119), published since 1849, is the general paper of the Seventh-day Adventist ® Church. It is published by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® and is printed 

36 times a year on the second, third, and fourth Thursdays of each month by the Review and Herald ® Publishing Association, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 

21740. Periodical postage paid at Hagerstown, MD 21740. Copyright © 2013, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® . PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 190, No. 7 

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www.AdventistReview.org | March 14, 2013 | (195) 3

inbox 

Letters From Our Readers 

Only Adventist 

»» 

The January 24 article by 

Grenville Kent, “Listening to 

Atheists,” sums up the main 

reason I couldn’t be anything 

other than an Adventist. It’s 

not hard to see why so many 

Christians are leaving their 

churches and becoming 

atheists. I would too if I 

believed the common “Christian” 

belief in life after death 

and an eternally burning 

hell. I could never love or 

respect a God like that. 

I realize there are a lot of 

flaws in our people, myself 

included. I have been an 

Adventist all my life and 

don’t know of one member 

of my family who hasn’t been 

hurt emotionally, or in other 

ways, by someone in the 

church. After all, why would 

Satan try to discourage people 

who are not attempting 

to follow the truth of the 

Bible? . . . 

There are other reasons, 

too, for my love of the Adventist 

Church. Our Sabbath 

rest is wonderful, . . . then 

there is the health message. 

Most of all, when I think of 

my Best Friend, Jesus, agonizing 

on the cross for me, I 

have to know that Someone 

like that would never do anything 

to harm me, much less 

send me to an eternally 

burning hell. I’m so glad we 

know the end of the story as 

Revelation tells us. God wins, 

and I want to be on His side. 

Pauline N. Pierson 

Collegedale, Tennessee 

Tried and True, 

Old and New 

»» 

I appreciated Sandra Blackmer’s 

editorial “Tried and 

True” (Jan. 24, 2013). I identify 

with her not adapting 

readily to change. I also drive 

an older Honda, slightly 

younger than hers, but with 

398,000 miles. It has never 

left me stranded, and has 

required minimal repair. 

Those of us who don’t make 

a lot of money, but still want 

to be faithful in tithe and 

support for various church 

ministries, can do so by 

denying our desire for new 

toys and clothes. 

I too want to see our 

church utilize new technology 

as well as continue polishing 

the “tried and true” 

and using them to spread the 

gospel. If more people would 

put the Lord’s work first, 

there would be a huge difference 

in the funds that went 

into ministry versus personal 

desires. 

Tim Arner 

Knoxville, Tennessee 

Taking the Hint 

»» 

I appreciated Andrew 

McChesney’s article “Taking 

the Hint” (Jan. 24, 2013). The 

lesson he shares is based on 

the biblical principle that it 

is a sin to tempt or influence 

others to sin. Jesus Himself 

made this very plain in 

Luke 17:1, 2. 

As the author implies, this 

principle is often violated by 

the adoption of provocative 

worldly styles of dress. But 

another area of concern is 

the advertising done by the 

immoral gambling, alcohol, 

tobacco, and theatrical entertainment 

interests. As conscientious 

Christians we 

shouldn’t be involved in any 

way with the promotion or 

production of advertising for 

these morally degenerate 

businesses. 

Leonard Lang 

Newcastle, Wyoming 


Religious 

Freedom in 

the United 

States 

January 17, 2013 


Vol. 190, No. 2 

IS one of 

the most 

fundamental 

freedom 

unde attack? 

Religious Freedom 

in America 

»» 

I found Nicholas P. Miller’s 

brief historical sketch of the 

various viewpoints regarding 

church and state relations 

(“Religious Freedom in 

America,” Jan. 17, 2013) to be 

very helpful. Positioning 

Adventism with the “dissenting 

Protestants” and counseling 

us to support government 

involvement in “civil 

morality” while opposing its 

promotion of “spiritual 

morality” makes sense. 

r 

A Wave and a Gr eting 

Religiously Unaffiliated 

Swe l Worldwide 

Divine A sa sin? 

S 

7 

8 

26 

It seems to me that God 

cut the template for that 

approach when He fashioned 

the Ten Commandments. The 

first four define “spiritual 

morality”—a citizen’s relationship 

to religion, if he or 

she chooses to have such a 

relationship. Here civil governments 

should not intrude 

except as necessary to safeguard 

those freedoms. The 

last six commandments 

define “civil morality”— 

those that preserve the lives 

and well-being of all citizens, 

religious and secular. If civil 

governments do not enforce 

just laws here, the result is 

anarchy. 

Some might say that the 

commandment against coveting 

cannot be regulated by 

civil law since it is a sin of 

the mind. Even that commandment, 

however, can 

influence laws dealing with 

fraud, overreaching in business, 

unjust discrimination, 

etc. 

Lee Roy Holmes 

Kettle Falls, Washington 




Vol. 190, No. 1 

Ordination Study 

Commi t e Named 

Wi ling to Be Led 

God’s Peddler 

What Is a 

What Is a Mystic? 

»» 

This is just a note to thank 

you for publishing Eric 

Anderson’s article on mysticism 

(see “What Is a Mystic?” 

Jan. 10, 2013). I never 

expected to see such a thing, 

in view of my experience of 

the deep negativity toward 

8 

15 

27 

Mystic? 

Seeking 

companionShip 

with Christ 

4 (196) | www.AdventistReview.org | March 14, 2013

Christian mysticism in Seventh-day 

Adventist churches. 

I was especially pleased to 

see the references to the 

Ellen White comments 

Anderson selected, Evelyn 

Underhill (who may not be 

found in Internet sources), 

and C. S. Lewis. I liked the 

whole article, especially the 

last two paragraphs. . . . I 

hope this is not the last thing 

you write on the subject! 

Lynn P. Hartzler 

Sacramento, California 

»» 

I looked up the word “mysticism” 

in response to the 

recent article from Eric 

Anderson. If you do a search 

in E. G. White’s writings, you 

will find that “mysticism” is 

generally used as leading a 

person away from God’s 

truth, not in leading them 

closer. 

Mystics and mysticism 

have been around a long 

time. It came out of the study 

of Plato leading those followers 

who were Christians to 

go into monasteries to 

become the first Christian 

mystics. Anderson is blurring 

the edges so that one 

cannot see between good and 

evil. 

Read the following quote 

from Ellen White: “Spiritual 

darkness has covered the 

earth and gross darkness the 

people. There are in many 

churches skepticism and 

infidelity in the interpretation 

of the Scriptures. Many, 

very many, are questioning 

the verity and truth of the 

Scriptures. Human reasoning 

and the imaginings of 

the human heart are undermining 

the inspiration of the 

Word of God, and that which 

“I’m so glad we know the end of the story as Revelation 

tells us. God wins, and I want to be on His side. 

” 

—pauline N. pierson, Collegedale, Tennessee 

should be received as 

granted is surrounded with a 

cloud of mysticism. Nothing 

stands out in clear and distinct 

lines, upon rock bottom. 

This is one of the 

marked signs of the last 

days” (Selected Messages, 

book 1, p. 15). 

May the truth always 

stand clear! 

Bob Stewart 

via e-mail 

»» 

Eric Anderson’s article 

spoke to the whole issue in a 

positive, biblically informed, 

Ellen White-influenced, and 

personally experiential way. 

I was very moved by it. I plan 

to share his article regularly 

with my students and others 

who ask questions about 

spirituality, mysticism, and 

related issues. I want to 

thank Anderson for writing 

such a thoughtful and personally 

revealing piece, and 

to thank the Adventist 

Review team for giving prominence 

to a piece that will 

run counter to some unfortunate 

prejudices against 

learning from other Christians 

that can be found in 

certain Adventist circles. 

In a number of instances 

Christ held up the faith of 

Gentile outsiders, including 

the Syrophoenician woman 

and the Roman centurion, as 

models of spirituality from 

which the “chosen” could 

learn. Anyone who examines 

the library of Ellen White can 

see a similar openness to 

learning from the insights of 

other Christians. I just pray 

that the “chosen” of today 

can, along with their doctrinal 

faithfulness, exhibit a 

similar humility, grace, and 

openness. I think this was a 

very important article at a 

critical time, and I deeply 

appreciate the Review’s candor 

and courage in serving 

Christ and His church. 

Nicholas Miller 

Berrien Springs, Michigan 

The Place of 

a Servant 

»» 

Hooray for Jimmy Phillips 

and his article “The Place of a 

Servant” (Jan. 10, 2013)! His 

eloquent description of 

doing what we don’t feel like 

doing when people annoy us 

reminds me of the gospel 

song that goes something 

like “to put my human 

nature down, and let the 

Spirit take control of all I do 

. . .” Not easy. 

I am very proud of our 

magazine and the variety of 

views expressed in it. 

Phyllis E. DeLise 

New Port Richey, Florida 

Corrections 

»» 

We’ve published two 

errors related to photos. The 

photo that accompanied 

Steve R. Morris’ article “My 

Father Sang to Me” (Jan. 17) 

is a photo of 

another one of 

our authors, 

Larry Yeagley. 

Here is a photo 

of Morris. 

S. R. Morris 

South England 

Conference president 

Samuel Davis is the speaker 

mentioned in the caption 

with the bottom photo on 

page 10 of the February 14 

Review, not Pastor Ian Sweeney. 

Our apologies 

for these 

errors. 

S. davis 

We welcome your letters, noting, 

as always, that inclusion of a letter 

in this section does not imply that 

the ideas expressed are endorsed by 

either the editors of the Adventist 

Review or the General Conference. 

Short, specific, timely letters have 

the best chance at being published 

(please include your complete 

address and phone number—even 

with e-mail messages). Letters will 

be edited for space and clarity only. 

Send correspondence to Letters to 

the Editor, Adventist Review, 12501 

Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 

20904-6600; Internet: letters@ 

adventistreview.org. 


Editorials 

Bill 

Knott 

“A tiny minority 

of Adventists 

is now wielding 

unwarranted 

influence on 

the church’s 

educational, 

pastoral, and 

publishing 

ministries.” 

Reclaiming the Library 

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by 

little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”—Emerson. 

[DISCLAIMER 1: The citation of a justly famous proverb by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), the 

celebrated Unitarian clergyman and Transcendentalist, does not mean that I endorse all that Emerson 

ever wrote or thought or preached. I simply like the proverb and find it useful, especially in these combative 

times.] 

Emerson’s bon mot has been quoted by a century and a half of college English, religion, and philosophy 

teachers—yes, at Adventist colleges, too—who have been trying to crack the intellectual tundra that often 

accompanies the adolescent mind, hoping some new, green idea might emerge and even flower. Originally 

intended to cleverly skewer reactionary politicians, pedants, and preachers, his witticism has 

become a cultural warning of the dangers of the unsupple mind, the rigid and fearful consistency that 

insists on rolling the marble down the same groove, time after time. Had he been more daring, Emerson 

might have pointed to the work of his friend and sometime tenant Henry David Thoreau, the Transcendentalist 

who memorably chastised government, consumerism, and militarism. Thoreau also mentored 

at a distance of decades the developing ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

[DISCLOSURE 1: I have read extensively in Thoreau’s works, spending some of the happiest hours of 

my youth walking the muddy path around his beloved Walden Pond, and admiring the countercultural 

man who called respectable Victorian America to “Simplify, simplify” (Walden, 1854). His volumes, frequently 

dusted off, are some of those I would rush to save should fire strike my library.] 

[DISCLAIMER 2: Much as I admire the willingness of Thoreau to counter the acquisitiveness of his age 

(“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone”), I cannot make him into a 

Christian, or allow the impression to linger in a hundred little minds that I endorse everything he wrote.] 

Yet Emerson and Thoreau must have winced when fellow Concord resident and author Nathaniel Hawthorne 

took up his pen to mock the pretentiousness of Transcendentalist thought in a redux version of 

Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress that he cleverly titled “The Celestial Railroad.” 

[DISCLOSURE 2: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1843 6,700-word short story, deemed “a most happy exposure 

of the inconsistencies of popular religion,” was so prized by Review and Herald founder and editor 

James White that it was almost continuously offered for sale in booklet or tract form on the back page of 

this magazine in his lifetime.] 

The tortured shape of this editorial is a grim illustration of the fact that a tiny minority of Adventists 

is now wielding unwarranted influence on the church’s educational, pastoral, and publishing ministries 

by stoutly insisting that no reputable thought leader should read, own, or cite from a book by a non- 

Adventist author. They have invaded pastors’ offices, disrupted worship services, and left a trail of litter 

across a smattering of Web sites. 

Their position is clearly wrong, for by their test none of the church’s founders, including Ellen White 

herself, should have any credibility. The libraries of Ellen and James White, Uriah Smith, J. N. Andrews, 

John Loughborough, and every major Adventist officer or thought leader since the mid-nineteenth century 

have been filled with volumes by non-Adventist authors, well read and frequently dusted off. It is 

precisely Adventism’s engagement with the ideas, opinions, beliefs, and philosophies of the age that 

make this movement’s faith statements so compelling and ultimately victorious. We are winning the 

contest of ideas—which, of course, requires that we know what others are thinking. Weary of the soulless 

ideologies and isms of the contemporary world, millions of men and women around the globe are turning 

to the clearly biblical and rational ideas on which our faith rests. 

Now is no time to allow the well-intentioned but misguided fringes of this movement to distract us 

from the mission given us by Jesus, even when their anti-intellectualism is cloaked in memorized and 

repeated pieties. The faith of Jesus has always been—and should always be—a robust, resilient, and 

engaging faith that does not hesitate to understand the ideas around us, but tests them all by the clear 

and timeless Word of God. 

[DISCLOSURE 3: This magazine, for 164 years the journal of literate Adventism, will not be intimidated 

by those too fearful to read.] n 



Until recently members of our editorial staff took turns 

posting items on the Adventist Review’s Facebook page for a week at a time. Coincidentally, in 2012 

I was asked to monitor our Facebook account during the weeks just prior to Easter and Christmas. 

I know some Adventists see red every time they read the words “Easter” and “Christmas,” so I 

was careful not to use those words. Instead, I used terms such as “Christ’s death and resurrection,” 

and “Christ’s birth.” I know that Christ wasn’t likely born in December, and I know that 

pagan practices have been connected with both events. 

Still, the vehemence of the posts from our “friends” who objected to the very notion that we 

should join other Christians in commemorating these significant events surprised me. The inference 

seemed to be: “Don’t call us Christians; we’re Adventists!” 

I know some like to entertain the fantasy that our movement sprang out of some vacuum, and 

that before Seventh-day Adventists arrived, Christianity was apostate and infected with all kinds 

of pagan beliefs and practices. In fact, our movement is part of a progression of 2,000 years of 

Christian history—some good, some bad—that’s left us centuries of tradition (the good kind) 

from those who have faithfully transmitted “the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s 

holy people” (Jude 3). 

I feel bad for Adventists whose fear of being deceived leads them to view fellow Christians only 

with suspicion and suggest that because they aren’t Adventists and they commemorate Christ’s 

birth and resurrection they’re somehow deceived. 

In countries of the world in which Christianity is the predominant religion, the weeks leading 

up to the observance of Christ’s birth, His death, and His resurrection 

are prime opportunities to share our faith, not our fears. n 

Stephen 

Chavez 

While at the Palmer home 

on March 16, two days after 

receiving a vision on the great 

controversy, Ellen White is struck 

with severe paralysis, leaving her 

incapacitated. It takes six months 

to write what she has seen. White 

is later shown that the illness was 

a direct attack by Satan so the 

vision could not be shared. 

A House for God 

One home; five historical events in Adventism. 

1852 1853 

Joseph Bates returns to Palmer 

home and converts M. E. Cornell, 

who later converts John P. Kellogg, 

father of John Harvey Kellogg. 

1858 

1854 

DAN R. PALMER 

First convert of 

Joseph Bates in 

Michigan in 1849 

A prayer meeting is held in the home just before 

James and Ellen White leave on a train bound for 

Wisconsin. Shortly after leaving the station, it derails, 

injuring many, but the Whites are unharmed. 

Hiram S. Case and C. P. Russell are 

rebuked by Ellen White in the Palmer 

home for accusations against a woman 

in the company. They defect and begin 

the Messenger party, the first Seventhday 

Adventist offshoot movement. 

1854 

A council meeting is held in 

the Palmer home, and there 

is a decision to purchase an 

evangelistic tent—Adventism’s 

first in Michigan. Cornell 

(the converted minister from 

1852) left immediately for New 

York to make the purchase.

World News & Perspectives 

Photos: West Indonesian Union 

PRESIDENTIAL MEETING: General Conference president Pastor Ted N. C. Wilson, left, 

greets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, at the Halim Perdanakusuma 

Air Base, near the capital of Jakarta, on February 12, 2013. Wilson expressed gratitude to 

President Yudhoyono for the religious liberty granted in Indonesia, and pledged the help 

of Seventh-day Adventists in the nation. 

■■SOUTHERN ASIA-PACIFIC 

Wilson Meets Indonesia’s 

President Yudhoyono, 

Praises Religious Freedom 

Pledges cooperation to help people in need 

By MARK A. KELLNEr, news editor 

“It is an honor for us to be able to be in 

Indonesia and a good experience to meet 

with the president to share the views of 

the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 

helping the people,” Ted N. C. Wilson, 

president of the General Conference of 

Seventh-day Adventists, said to reporters 

after an audience with President Susilo 

Bambang Yudhoyono at the Halim Perdanakusuma 

Air Base near the capital of 

Jakarta, on February 12, 2013. 

Wilson is visiting Indonesia as part of 

celebrations of more than a century of 

Seventh-day Adventist work in the 

country. There are 1,547 Adventist congregations 

in Indonesia, and approximately 

250,000 baptized members in 

the nation, whose majority population 

is Muslim. 

“We are grateful for the opportunity 

to contribute in this country, and I am 

grateful to the president for the religious 

freedom granted to groups in 

Indonesia,” Wilson added. 

“It’s amazing to hear that Indonesia 

is a country with the second-highest 

economic growth. But President Yudhoyono 

is also aware of the need to do 

more things for his people,” Wilson 

explained. The General Conference president 

said the church is committed to 

help in various ways, whether social, 

physical, emotional, or spiritual, as well 

as assisting in disaster relief on the 

island of Sumatra after the 2004 

tsunami. 

“We are grateful for the opportunity 

to contribute in this country,” he said. 

The Seventh-day Adventist Church 

operates a number of facilities that 

help the Indonesian people, including 

Adventist hospitals in Bandung, 

Bandar Lampung, Manado and 

Medan. The church also operates 372 

schools and three universities in 

Indonesia. 

“We hope to help the people of Indonesia 

to solve a number of problems. 

God understands what is best for our 

lives,” Wilson concluded. 

During his visit, Wilson helped inaugurate 

a new wing of the Manado 

Adventist Hospital on February 15. The 

new three-story facility, which first 

opened in 2008, provides an additional 

55 beds. 

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the 

governor of the North Sulawesi Province, 

Sinyo Harry Sarundayang, said the 

additional facility was a response to primary 

health development goals of 

increasing longevity, reducing the 

infant mortality rate, and reducing the 

prevalence of malnutrition. 

“Optimizing private hospitals is our 

priority,” Sarundayang said. “Manado 

Adventist Hospital is a representation 

of strengthening community health 

resources and becomes the right answer 

to continuous development of welfare,” 

he said. 

The provincial government pledged 

US$400,000 for radio-diagnostic equipment 

and a new ambulance unit. 

The hospital has grown to employ 

265 people, up from 25 employees when 

it opened five years ago. 

On February 13 Wilson visited Bandung 

Adventist Hospital, which is 

located about 90 miles southeast of 

Jakarta, and considered one of the top 

hospitals in West Java. Founded in 1950, 

it now has 230 beds and employs 700 

people. A new $7 million building 

8 (200) 

| www.AdventistReview.org | March 14, 2013

facility was inaugurated last year. 

Wilson also visited Indonesian 

Adventist University in Bandung, which 

was first opened in 1929. He helped to 

dedicate ground for the construction of 

a new science center, and later 

addressed an assembly in the university’s 

Alumni Center. 

“You are an important part of the 

worldwide Adventist education process,” 

Wilson told a group of 2,000 faculty, 

staff, and students. “You may seek 

knowledge of science and philosophy 

and all other bodies of knowledge, but 

remember that the foundation of all 

true knowledge is the knowledge of 

God,” he said. 

The Adventist Church also operates 

hospitals in Bandar Lampung and 

Medan. 

Wilson was joined on the trip by his 

wife, Nancy; Alberto Gulfan, president 

of the Adventist Church’s Southern 

Asia-Pacific Division; Joseph Peranginangin, 

president of the West Indonesia 

HOSPITAL INAUGURATION: Nancy Wilson, left, joined her husband, Ted N. C. Wilson, at 

the dedication of a new wing for Manado Adventist Hospital. At right is the Honorable 

Sinyo Harry Sarundajang, governor of North Sulawesi province in Indonesia. 

Union; Noldy Sakul, president of the 

East Indonesia Union; and T. B. Silalahi, 

a retired Army lieutenant general who 

is an Adventist Church member. n 

—with information from local media 

reports and Adventist News Network 

■■NORTH AMERICA 

Adventist Schools, Security Leaders, 

Unite to Keep Campuses Safe 

PASS group to hold conference in July 2013 

By KERI SUAREZ, media relations specialist, Andrews University, writing from Berrien Springs, Michigan 

As national debates intensify over 

how to effectively safeguard our educational 

institutions against future acts of 

violence, Professional Adventists for 

Safety and Security (PASS) is preparing 

for their third annual meeting, to be 

held in July 2013. PASS was organized in 

2010 to bring together safety and security 

professionals serving at Seventhday 

Adventist schools, hospitals, and 

other institutions to discuss best practices, 

provide community resources, 

and maintain an Adventist network of 

security personnel to allow the distribution 

of important information. 

To date, there has been active involvement 

in PASS from campus security 

directors of Oakwood Adventist University, 

Southern Adventist University, 

Andrews University, and Loma Linda 

University, as well as the directors of 

security at ADRA, the General Conference 

of Seventh-day Adventists, and 

the Review and Herald Publishing 

Association. 

For years there were discussions 

about the need to establish an organization 

that would connect the various 

safety and security departments at 

Adventist institutions. Although there 

was an acknowledged need for communication 

between the different entities, 

attempts to form a professional network 

never moved beyond preliminary stages. 

When Dale Hodges became the director 

of the Office of Campus Safety at 

Andrews University, he was concerned 

about the negative perceptions that had 

developed between students and campus 

safety. The term “veggie cop,” a 

slang term commonly used in Adventist 

settings to refer to safety or security 

professionals, was new to Hodges. As a 

retired homicide detective, Hodges 

wanted to repair any negative perceptions 

while building the professionalism 

of his office. 

“It was my desire to establish standards 

of service and levels of professionalism 

that had not been seen 

before,” he says, hoping such improve- 



Andrews University photo 

SECURITY FOCUS: PASS officers. Back row, left to right: Lewis Eakins, vice president (chief of the Oakwood 

University Police Department); Melvin Harris, sergeant at arms (captain of the Oakwood University 

Police Department); Dale Hodges, president (director of the Office of Campus Safety, Andrews University). 

Front row, left to right: James Vines, General Conference director at large (director of Security and 

Safety for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists); Blaise Adams, secretary (office manager, 

Campus Safety, Southern Adventist University); Paul Muniz, chaplain (director of Agency Safety and 

Security for ADRA); Brian Worden, treasurer (foreman for Plant Services, Review and Herald Publishing 

Association). 

ments would eliminate negative perceptions. 

“When we raise the standards, 

everybody wins.” 

Hodges felt the best way to raise standards, 

both at Andrews and other 

Adventist institutions, was to develop 

an organization to provide models and 

lists of best practices for safety and 

security offices in the Adventist community. 

During the summer of 2010 

Hodges contacted his counterparts at 

various Adventist colleges and institutions 

to see whether there was interest 

in forming such an organization. The 

response was overwhelming. Some 

departments committed to attending 

the meetings, and those that could not 

stated their support. Meeting dates and 

an agenda were set and the rest fell into 

place. Hodges learned that many of his 

Photo courtesy Loma Linda University 

CONFERENCE ORGANIZER: Suzy Douma, 

a retired police captain, is director of security 

at Loma Linda University. She is organizing 

this year’s meeting of the Professional 

Adventists for Safety and Security, 

scheduled for July 15-16. 

counterparts were also 

retired law enforcement or 

active members of their 

local law enforcement 

communities with a diversified 

knowledge base and 

experience to share. 

“It’s my desire that this 

association will bring a 

level of professionalism 

across the board to all 

Adventist entities, so we’re 

all providing similar services 

in a professional 

manner,” says Hodges. 

“Setting the bar, so to 

speak.” 

During its second 

annual meeting in 2012, 

PASS adopted an official 

constitution and bylaws in 

addition to laying out several 

goals. One goal is the 

development of a Web 

page under the umbrella 

of the General Conference 

of Seventh-day Adventists. 

This Web site will allow 

PASS to provide its members 

with resources of 

working policies and 

guidelines for emergency 

management that include requirements 

published by the Department of Homeland 

Security and the Department of 

Education. Other goals include the 

development of a peer review team to 

evaluate the security services of institutions 

at their request and suggest possible 

improvements; the collection of a 

database for persons or things of interest; 

and recommendations for Clery Act 

compliance and adherence to NFPA, 

OSHA, and EPA regulations and guidelines 

within our institutions. 

The 2013 PASS conference is scheduled 

for July 15-16, 2013, at Loma Linda 

University. For information on attending, 

contact Dale Hodges, current PASS 

president and director of the Andrews 

University Office of Campus Safety, at 

dbhodges@andrews.edu. n 


■■NORTH AMERICA 

Morris Venden, Noted Adventist 

Preacher, Author, Dies at 80 

Ministered to generations, had wide influence 

By JAY WINTERMEYER, Upper Columbia Conference, reporting from College Place, Wash. 

Morris L. Venden, well-known husband, father, Seventhday 

Adventist preacher, teacher, and author, passed to his 

rest Sunday evening, February 10, 2013. Venden was 80 years 

old and died following a 10-year battle with frontotemporal 

dementia, or FTD, a comparatively 

rare form of dementia. 

His wife, Marilyn; one son, Lee, 

and his wife, Marji; two 

daughters, Lynn and LuAnn 

Venden; three grandchildren, 

Kris, Lindsey, and Mark; one 

brother, Louis, and Louis’ wife, 

Margie, survive. 

During his ministry Venden 

pastored several large 

Seventh-day Adventist congregations, 

including the La 

Sierra University Church and 

Pacific Union College Church 

in California and the Union 

College Church in Nebraska. 

Later he led the Azure Hills 

Seventh-day Adventist 

Church near Loma Linda, California, 

from which he retired 

in August 1998. 

At Azure Hills Venden held 

three services each Sabbath 

that were filled to capacity. 

His son, Lee, recalled his 

father’s advice, as he became 

a pastor: “The world and the 

Seventh-day Adventist 

Church are starving for more 

of Jesus. . . . Any pastor who 

will make Jesus the one string on his violin will be in 

demand.” 

In retirement Venden briefly joined the Voice of Prophecy 

(VOP) radio ministry team as an associate speaker. 

“Morrie agreed to preach on our 30-minute Sunday 

broadcast and also appeared at dozens of appointments 

and camp meetings for the VOP,” recalled Lonnie Melashenko, 

who at the time was VOP speaker/director. “Always 

UCC photo 

PREACHING LEGEND: Morris L. Venden, longtime Seventhday 

Adventist preacher, teacher, and author, passed to his 

rest on February 10, 2013. 

the consummate statesman, Morrie was deeply respected 

and admired everywhere he served,” he added. 

Along with writing more than 30 books about Jesus, Venden 

was a widely sought-after speaker and has been 

described as a master of the art 

of preaching, and most of all, 

someone who loved Jesus. 

“His books were like an 

oasis of fresh spirituality. They 

uplifted Christ, not just keeping 

the Sabbath and keeping 

the law,” said Ovidiu Radulescu, 

a pastor now living in 

Arkansas, who in Communist 

Romania secretly typed and 

distributed translated copies 

of Venden’s 1980 book “Faith 

That Works.” 

The tagline from that book, 

as listed on Amazon.com, is 

“You don’t get righteousness 

by seeking righteousness. 

Righteousness comes by seeking 

Jesus.” 

“I know several people who 

chose to stay in the church 

because of reading Morris Venden’s 

books,” Radulescu said. 

Venden’s son, Lee, said, “Dad 

will be remembered for the 

one string on his violin that he 

consistently talked about; 

Jesus, and the privilege available 

to everyone to have a 

meaningful friendship with 

Him. At this point it seems clear Dad will be able to sleep 

this disease off; the long sleep from our perspective, the 

short sleep from his.” 

Venden’s memorial service was scheduled to be held in 

the Loma Linda University Church, on Sunday, March 3, 

2013. n 

—with additional reporting by Mark A. Kellner and Adventist 

News Network 



BRAND-NEW CHURCH: Faith Seventh-day Adventist Church in the city of Higüey in the 

eastern part of the Dominican Republic was the twenty-fifth new church to be dedicated 

by the local union. It’s so new that the sign isn’t on the building yet. 

■■INTER-AMERICA 

Adventists to Open 25 New, 

25 Remodeled Churches 

in Dominican Republic 

Membership approaches 282,000 

attending 686 congregations. 

By BERNARDO MEDINA, Inter-American Division, reporting 

from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 

Maintaining existing worship 

facilities and building new ones is a 

goal Seventh-day Adventist church 

leaders in the Dominican Republic 

have in order to keep pace with the 

needs of a fast-growing membership. 

During a recent series of dedication 

ceremonies, 25 new churches throughout 

the island country were inaugurated. 

Another 25 are being remodeled, 

leaders said. 

“This has been possible only thanks 

to God’s grace and to the thousands of 

church members who have contributed 

toward the development of the church 

throughout the island,” said Pastor 

Cesario Acevedo, president of the 

church in the Dominican Republic. 

“We praise God because 25 new congregations 

can worship and glorify the 

name of our Lord in a dignified and 

proper way,” he added. 

With a membership of more than 

284,000 attending some 686 churches, 

the church leadership developed a plan 

to better some of the buildings that are 

in precarious conditions and in great 

need to be rebuilt, church leaders said. 

Church members jumped on board 

thanks to a united church, said Moise 

Javier, treasurer for the church in the 

Dominican Republic. “Each member has 

recognized their responsibility and is 

willing to contribute talents and 

resources in order to accomplish great 

things for the church and the 

community.” 

The Faith Adventist Church in the city 

of Higüey in the eastern part of the 

island was the twenty-fifth new church 

to be dedicated, an event that took place 

on the final Sabbath of 2012, December 

29. Church leaders and hundreds of 

members filled the church for a special 

thanksgiving program to commemorate 

the new building. 

Twenty-five more Adventist churches 

are scheduled to be rebuilt and remodeled 

this year, administrators said. 

Administrators have no doubts about 

reaching the goal this year thanks to a 

committed membership. 

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in 

the Dominican Republic operates a hospital, 

a university, dozens of primary 

and secondary schools, and 20 radio 

stations throughout the island. 

For more on the Seventh-day Adventist 

Church in the Dominican Republic, 

visit adventistas.org.do. n 

UNION PRESIDENT: Pastor Cesario Acevedo speaks during the inaugural ceremony for 

the La Fe (Faith) Seventh-day Adventist Church of Higüey in the eastern part of the 

island on December 29, 2012. 


© terry crews 

© terry crews 

adventist life 

Sound Bite 

“It is possible to lie without 

saying a word. People may do 

so by a nod of the head, a wink 

of the eye, a wave of the hand, 

or merely by remaining silent.” 

—Thomas Chitowe, Guruve, Zimbabwe, as a caution to 

Adventists to monitor their behavior in regard to 

truthfulness 

My wife recently told me an interesting story. When she was young, she went 

to her grandmother’s house for the summer. Her brother, a year younger than 

she, wrote her a letter. In the letter he told her that their family had turned vegetarian 

and that “now we are eating something that resembles rubber heels.” 

—N. Gordon Thomas, Angwin, California 

My husband, the boys’ dean, and I live in a boarding academy boys’ dormitory. 

As we eagerly awaited the birth of our first child this past summer, I was a little 

uncertain how the boys would feel about the baby when they returned to school. 

Would the baby make too much noise for the boys; would the boys make too 

much noise for the baby? Would they dislike the extra demands on our time? 

Shortly after the boys returned to school my husband told me that every 

night in worship with his RAs (resident assistants), one of them would pray, 

“Please help the baby to sleep so that Mrs. Knight can get some rest.” I’ve frequently 

been asked, “How’s the baby, Mrs. Knight?” or “Can I hold the baby, Mrs. 

Knight?” The baby even made a candid appearance with one of the boys in his 

school “Names and Faces” picture. 

I shouldn’t have worried. After all, one of the best things about boarding 

academy life is that we’re all just one big family! 

—Jaclyn Knight, Hutchinson, Minnesota 

did you know? 

Here are some interesting dates regarding vegetarianism in the United States. 

By the way, how’s that vegeburger? 

1838: Vegetarianism 

endorsed in the U.S. 

by the American 

Health Convention 

1971: Publication of Diet for a Small Planet, by 

Frances Moore Lappe, launches vegetarian movement 

in U.S. One percent of U.S. citizens describe 

themselves as vegetarian. 

1983: Dr. John McDougall’s The McDougall 

Plan—the first book promoting 

veganism by a credentialed Western 

medical authority—is published. 

2003: Vegetarian 

food (such as soy 

milk and textured 

vegetable protein) 

sales double since 

1998 to $1.6 billion. 

2011: MyPlate replaces MyPyramid, 

ending 19 years of food pyramid 

guidelines from the U.S. 

government. According to the 

diagram, “protein” is a component 

of a healthy diet, but meat 

is not specifically mentioned. 

1838 1990 2011 

1900-1960: As 

transportation and 

refrigeration improve, 

meat consumption 

increases. 

1974: Vegetarian 

Times magazine is 

founded by Paul Obis. 

1990s: Medical evidence supporting the superiority of vegetarian diets becomes overwhelming. 

The American Dietetic Association officially endorses vegetarianism, and 

books by prominent doctors promote low-fat vegan or mostly vegan diets (e.g., The 

McDougall Program and Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease). 

—from an October 12, 2012, TakePart article available at http://news.yahoo.com/look-around-america-vegetarianism-isnt-going-anywhere-155700692.html 


GLOW Stories 

Giving Light to Our World—GLOW—is an outreach 

initiative in multiple NAD conferences based on 

the concept of church members carrying Adventist 

literature with them wherever they go and handing 

it out, free of charge, at every opportunity. Here are 

two short stories of lives touched by GLOW: 

Giving Light to Our World 

Story 1 

A hairdresser in California found two pieces of literature 

addressing the topic of Sabbath in two different places. After 

she found the second one she wondered whether it might be a sign from 

God, so she prayed and asked the Lord to somehow give her one more piece 

of literature on that subject if she was supposed to learn more about the 

Sabbath. Not long after, a person distributing literature in Fresno handed 

her a GLOW tract—the topic was the seventh-day Sabbath. The woman 

broke into tears. She soon called the GLOW office number listed on the tract 

and signed up for Bible studies. She recently was baptized and now stocks 

her local Adventist church with GLOW tracts. 

Story 2 

A husband and wife who own a small store in which they sell 

wholesome, healthful bread placed a rack filled with GLOW 

tracts near the front of their store. One day two customers who at first 

looked like they were going to buy some bread instead expressed interest in 

the tracts. “When we go on walks, we like to give out religious literature 

door to door,” they told the store owners. “These GLOW tracts will be great 

to distribute.” The store owners said the customers inspired them to be 

faithful and to let their “light” shine more fully at every opportunity. 

Stories compiled by Central California Conference GLOW director Nelson Ernst. To learn 

more about GLOW, go to sdaglow.org. 

Ricardo Camacho 


Searching the Obvious 

Precious Item 

I forgot to pray. 

* * * 

At 7:30 a.m. my colleague and friend Martin stops by my office and places a box on the corner of my desk. 

It’s a gift from his wife, Tracy. He explains that over the weekend, as they walked through the botanical 

gardens, they saw this item and thought of me. I barely have a chance to thank Martin as he quickly heads 

out to teach. I have to get to my 8:00 class. 

I look at the box, the heavy lid and thick green bow. What exactly made them think of me? I carefully lift 

the lid and see the delicate, beautiful gift: a bonsai embedded in a beautiful clay pot. Engraved on the 

clay pot is the phrase: “Precious Item.” 

At the bottom of the box is a pamphlet. There it is, in bold print: Five Simple Steps to Care for 

Precious Item: Water, Soil, Housing, Pruning, and Light. As I quickly thumb through the 

“simple steps” (six pages with 10-point font, Arial Narrow), I feel an urgency to return the 

bonsai to Martin and Tracy with a note that would convey the sentiment “Thank you, but I 

don’t think so. This is too complicated.” Instead, I place the bonsai back in the box and 

begin my walk to the classroom. 

As I walk across campus I walk past students, colleagues, the janitor that sings every 

morning while she completes a final walk through of the building, the gardener that calls 

everyone sir and ma’am, and a few strangers that I cannot identify as visitors or students. 

Entering the classroom, I realize: I forgot to pray in my office. My day is dependent on constant prayer! 

I immediately say a silent prayer. 

Every morning when I reach my office I take a moment to pray for guidance, for strength to 

complete tasks I may not know are ahead for that day. I’ve already had a morning devotional at 

home; still I need the presence of the Holy Spirit in this environment. Working in a secular educational 

institution is a challenge. On a daily basis I recognize that my witness and ministry are by 

example. This is not always easy. I am conscious that I must walk these halls accompanied by 

heavenly grace. 

I glance at my lecture notes and notice I have inadvertently included the bonsai pamphlet in my lecture 

folder. Water, soil, housing, pruning, and light. Any precious item would thrive with those components. Any 

precious item would grow and take a beautiful shape with these components. Precious “items” like the 

students sitting here, like Martin, Tracy, and me. Suddenly my mind is inundated with reminders of Bible 

verses that speak of these components as necessary: living water, seed that fell on good soil, house built on rock, the 

vine and the branches, the light and the way. I am amazed at the extraordinary ways in which God reminds me of 

the ministry I am called to bear witness to. 

* * * 

Back in my office I consult the pamphlet to find the best housing for the bonsai. I am certain a proper 

name is in order. As I work, Tracy stops by for a visit. She arrives as I am placing the bonsai near the window 

to soak in the light. I am grateful to have the opportunity to thank her for the gift in person. 

She tells me she is a minister’s daughter. She knows how hard it can be not to have the luxury to speak 

openly of your faith. “When I read the bonsai steps for care, I thought: This is what I try to do in my Christian 

life,” says Tracy. “The precious item we share with others is our example, our faith. I wanted you to know 

that I see you. I see your example.” Her words give me courage and also place a weight on my shoulders that 

only prayer will take care of. 

At the end of the day the bonsai has acquired a proper name: Faith. Because a visual reminder of why I pray 

every day is not only good to have, it is easy to share with others: water, soil, housing, pruning, and light. n 

Dixil 

Rodríquez 

Dixil Rodríguez, a university professor and volunteer hospital chaplain, lives in north Texas. Join the conversation at 

searchingtheobvious@dixilrodriguez.com. 


Cover Story 

It 

Starts 

ere 

By Wilona Karimabadi 

here is a room somewhere 

in the back of a 

church or maybe in 

the basement. Its purpose 

is similar to 

other rooms—a 

place to study, to 

learn, and to visit. 

But this room is 

a little different. 

Its walls may be painted a 

soft muted color with snowflake cutouts 

taped to them. Perhaps there are 

colorful pictures of penguins tacked to 

bulletin boards and tinsel icicles dangling 

from white ceiling panels. There is 

usually an upright piano in the corner 

played by someone who knows all the 

tunes that will be sung that day. And at 

the front of the room, next to a blue felt 

board, stands a woman or man or a duo 

of both who will have loaded up on an 

energy-fueling breakfast in order to 

carry out the task at hand. 

There will also be boxes of props— 

rubber ducks, small hammers, stuffed 

animals, and felt flowers neatly placed 

in front of rows of tiny, colorful chairs. 

But it is the inhabitants of these 

chairs—of this room —that make this 

class so special. 

They file in—some shy and others 

bold—accompanied by moms and dads 

or sometimes, just dads and other times 

just moms, and even grandparents. 

They are dressed in their Sabbath best— 

tiny suits with coordinating shirts and 

ties; khakis and button-downs and little 

sweater-vests; and dresses and tights 

with pretty clips in their hair. The babies 

are present as well—nestled in wellcushioned 

car-seat carriers, they too are 

dressed in their best. 

“Teacher Ruth” or “Teacher David,” or 

whoever the case may be that Sabbath, 

welcomes each child with cheerful 

grins, cuddly stuffed animals, and welcome 

songs that many of us may still 

remember from our own days in classes 

such as these. 

These are the children of beginner 

Sabbath school. Tiny tots from newborns 

to preschool-ready toddlers who 

Photos by merle poirier 


Why beginner Sabbath 

school is so important. 

attend a class created especially for 

them. But at their ages and developmental 

levels, why does it matter that 

they come? Are beginner Sabbath school 

classes Sabbath morning day care or 

something much, much greater? 

Where Did It Come From? 

Beginner Sabbath school (ages 0-2) 

was better known as cradle roll for 

many years. It is the first class a child is 

introduced to under the umbrella of the 

children’s division in most Adventist 

churches. Other classes for the youngest 

members of our churches include kindergarten, 

primary, and junior. The age 

groups in these classes vary from 

church to church, but generally the 

beginner class welcomes its tiniest 

members from babyhood until they are 

ready for either a beginner II or kindergarten 

class environment (ages 3-5). 

According to Gary Swanson, associate 

director for the General Conference’s 

Sabbath School and Personal Ministries 

Department, children’s Sabbath school 

in the Seventh-day Adventist movement 

had interesting and humble beginnings. 

In the late nineteenth century, Protestant 

churches began Sunday school programs 

under the name “Sabbath school,” 

as Sundays were considered the Sabbath. 

They were initially outreach programs to 

children who had to work 

instead of attending school. 

The idea behind them was to 

provide academic education while 

slipping a little religion into the mix. 

Among early Adventists, Sabbath 

school work didn’t come about until 

1852, when James White authored 19 lessons 

for children and youth that were 

published in the Youth’s Instructor. The 

first Sabbath school classes for adults 

were organized in 1853 while James and 

Ellen White were in Rochester, New York, 

and in the early days there were only two 

divisions—children and adults. But the 

Sabbath school concept was of great 

importance to Ellen White’s ministry. 

“The Sabbath school is an important 

branch of the missionary work,” she 

wrote. “Not only because it gives young 

and old a knowledge of God’s Word, but 

because it awakens in them a love for its 

sacred truths, and a desire to study them 

for themselves; above all, it teaches them 

to regulate their lives by its holy teachings.” 

1 More formal organization followed 

in 1869 when Goodloe Bell 

became editor of the Youth’s Instructor. He 

created two series of lessons—for children 

and youth—and published plans 

for organizing leaders. This more formal 

approach was implemented in Battle 

Creek, Michigan. Once it gained initial 

success, the concept of organized Sabbath 

school took flight. 

The very first children’s division was 

formed in 1878 and was actually called 

the “Bird’s Nest.” This soon morphed 

into the kindergarten division in 1886, 

and by 1890 children were able to 

receive Our Little Friend—the weekly 

paper for the beginner and kindergarten 

Sabbath school, still in publication 

today. Over the years the church’s Sabbath 

school programs have been redefined 

and reorganized. Though cradle 

roll was the beloved name of the beginner 

class, the latter moniker became 

widely known with the development 

and implementation of the GraceLink 

curriculum in 2000. And as the result of 

a recent reassessment initiative, new 

material in the form of artwork, 

resources, program ideas for leaders 

and parents of special-needs children, 

etc., have debuted for the junior level 

this year, with more to follow soon for 

other age levels. 

Do the Wee Ones 

Really Understand? 

The littlest ones in beginner class— 

some too small to sit upright in their 

chairs by themselves—absorb everything 

going on around them like 

sponges. Developmentally, there are 

vast differences between a newborn and 

a 6-month-old, so just imagine what is 

happening with them cognitively during 

those crucial first years—a time in 

which they will learn much more than 

in other periods of their lives. 

Donna Habenicht, Ed.D., professor 

emeritus of educational and counseling 


psychology at Andrews University, 

coauthored Teaching the Faith: An Essential 

Guide for Building Faith-shaped Kids, 

with Larry Burton, professor of curriculum 

and instruction at Andrews University. 

“Babies, toddlers and 2-year-olds 

can learn many things in Sabbath 

school, including religious, social, and 

character-developing experiences,” 

which include prayer, singing and moving 

to music, sharing, listening, giving 

an offering, saying Jesus’ name and recognizing 

the Bible as God’s book. 2 

Though children this young have 

short attention spans, they are very 

capable of gleaning much, relying on 

their senses to learn the most. Thus they 

benefit immensely from a program filled 

with prop boxes of goodies such as felts 

and small toys, felt boards to “wham” 

pictures of Jesus and shepherds and animals 

onto, and of course, short and 

sweet songs. Children of this age group 

also respond well to repetition—a technique 

employed by the most experienced 

beginner Sabbath school leaders. 

“I like beginners because you stick to the 

same program as they need that repetition,” 

says Jane Morrison, a veteran 

beginner class teacher currently serving 

at Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist 

Church in Maryland. “By the time we 

change programs, they’re kind of just 

catching on. Parents will say, ‘Oh, it’s 

nice to have a new program,’ but for a 

child that age, they need to keep doing it 

and doing it and doing it.” 

And it sticks—in more ways than you 

may realize. 

“My mother told me that when I was 

14 or 15 months old, she took me to 

what we then called cradle roll,” says 

Aileen Andres Sox, editor of Our Little 

Friend. “It seemed to her as if I were paying 

attention to everything but the 

teacher. She remembers thinking that if 

I weren’t going to learn anything, she 

might as well go to her own class, taking 

me along with her. The very next day she 

noticed I was walking rather oddly and 

repeating ‘tee toe, tee toe’ over and over. 

She finally realized that I was trying to 

sing ‘Tiptoe, tiptoe, little feet.’ When she 

began to sing the song, I was absolutely 

gleeful and tiptoed to the music. Never 

again did Mother think going to my Sabbath 

school was a waste of time.” 

And It Matters Because . . . 

In the life of a church there is a past, 

present, and future. As adults we straddle 

the line between the past and the 

present. But the future of the church 

lies squarely in the hands of our progeny—our 

littlest ones. 

“There is a saying from Malawi that 

goes “Nkhuzi nkhu ma thole,” says 

Saustin Mfune, associate 

director of the Children’s 

Ministries Department 

at the General Conference. 

“It literally 

translates to ‘the 

bulls are in the 

calves.’ The essence of the saying is that 

if you want strong reliable bulls, you 

must take care of the calves.” 

It’s hard to ready babies and toddlers 

in their Sabbath finery for Sabbath 

school and church and make it there on 

time. It’s harder still when they can’t sit 

quietly and you know there is no way 

the family will make it through an entire 

service with a restless baby/toddler. But 

going week after week is crucial. 

“As much as I want parents involved, 

I also want them to be assured that 

there is value in bringing their little 

children to Sabbath school,” says Tina 

Pillai, who leads beginners at New Hope 

Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fulton, 

Maryland. “When parents are 

excited and motivated about what is 

going on in Sabbath school, they will 

bring their kids regularly to church, and 

when parents participate in Sabbath 

school, they become agents for change.” 

“Going to Sabbath school with a baby, 

toddler, or 2-year-old is a supportive 

experience for baby’s parents,” adds 

Habenicht. “They meet other people in 

the church who have babies, and they 

support each other in baby rearing. They 

observe how the teacher teaches their 

child and are encouraged to teach their 

little ones at home.” 

On mother-of-four Chrystal Kueter’s 

first visit to an Adventist church, she was 

hesitant to involve herself and her little 

ones in Sabbath school. 


“I thought you had to drop them off at 

a glorified day care as in other churches,” 

she says. “So when I was encouraged to 

stay, I have to be honest, I was really disappointed. 

But as I watched my son 

eagerly learning about nature and God, I 

was stunned! I was moved to tears and 

blessed more than if I’d gone to a month 

of Sabbath school classes on my own. I 

was so moved by the tender way they 

taught the very young. I was also blessed 

to be an example for my son, and sit with 

him to model that example.” 

That early exposure to the simplest 

concepts of our faith in developmentally 

appropriate ways does make a big difference. 

“Helping young children grow 

spiritually nurtures the bud of spirituality 

that God has placed in the human 

heart. Eventually the bud becomes the 

full-bloom rose of spiritual devotion.” 3 

In a room at the back of the church, a 

beginner class is ending. A little boy no 

older than 18 months toddles to a prop 

box and reaches inside—mimicking his 

teacher. He finds a little orange felt flag 

with the word “Jesus” on it. Excited, he 

waves it around and with a big smile on 

his sweet face, says: “Ree-zuz!” 

In the end, isn’t that what it’s all 

about? n 

1 

Ellen G. White, Testimonies on Sabbath School Work 

(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 

1900), pp. 109, 110. 

2 

Donna Habenicht and Larry Burton, Teaching the 

Faith: An Essential Guide for Building Faith-shaped Kids 

(Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 

2004), p. 213. 

3 

Ibid., pp. 211, 212. 

Wilona Karimabadi taught 

beginner Sabbath school for 

many years when her now-teen 

and -tween kids were little, 

and appreciates what it did for 

her faith and theirs. 

Best Practices for Beginner 

Sabbath School Leaders 

By “Teacher” Jane Morrison 

• Love the children and tell them so! And 

“throw kisses” as they leave. 

• Know your families. Call each child by 

name. As they come in, greet them by name 

even if the program has begun. Touch and 

hug them as appropriate. 

• Be prepared—don’t read. You’re going to 

use the program for several months, so learn 

it. You may need some help to remember the 

order. Place cards or the program sheet where 

you will pick up your “tools”—the props. 

• Be super-organized, but at the same time adaptable. Some Sabbaths you may 

have such full attendance that you’ll need to skip the more involved activities. Or 

maybe you just sense things are too busy and choose to use certain activities to calm 

the children. 

• Watch the pitch of your voice. Try to keep an even, normal tone. Sometimes whisper 

and you’ll be amazed at the calming effect it has on the little ones. 

• If necessary, ask parents to be quiet. They don’t mean to distract—they’re usually 

so happy to see another adult or friend beside them that they begin to visit. Ask them 

to participate with their child in the program. 

• Be accepting. If a child comes up front, pick them up or use them to help. Then 

help them back to their seat when appropriate. Assure the parents it’s OK. 

• I like to have coleaders up front. It helps to alternate speaking—giving each other 

a break, collecting the next item, and providing another voice. If it works, include a 

man and a woman. I’ve had some great coleaders in my time. 

• Use as many 3-D items as possible—stuffed animals, mitts, little wooden hammers 

and wood, etc. You may also want to use at least one of those “good old felt” 

activities in each program and let them “pat-pound” away. They love it! 

• Be creative. Always keep your eyes and ears open for new activities and items. 

Recently I heard some laughing as we were leaving a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I 

looked and found the laughing coming from a “peekaboo” bear. I just had to have two 

for Sabbath school as beginner-age children love playing peekaboo. It’s an excellent 

prop to use at the beginning of our program to get their attention and welcome them. 

• And one more! When you have a nature or other type of program instead of a 

Bible story program such as Noah’s ark, heaven, Little Boy Jesus, etc., make sure you 

are always conscious to say, “Jesus made the animals. Jesus takes care of the animals. 

Jesus lets us help take care of the animals. Jesus sees us. Jesus loves us.” 

Jane Morrison teaches beginners Sabbath school at Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist 

Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. 


Devotional 

she tucked him in at night, he’d tell her 

all the fun stories from his school days 

playing with his comrade. In the mornings 

when he got up, he was excited to go 

back to school because he knew his 

friend was going to be there. One day she 

arrived at the school earlier than usual to 

pick up her son. He saw her at the door 

and came running, as children often do 

when they catch a glimpse of Mom. He 

gave her a hug and then immediately 

pointed across the room so that he could 

show her who his new friend was. 

“He’s right there!” he said, beaming 

and pointing. 

“Which one?” she asked, perplexed 

as she followed his tiny finger into a 

sea of children. 

“The kid in the red shirt!” 

When her eyes landed on her child’s 

friend, she couldn’t help smiling. In a 

Seeing 

with 

Jesus’ 

eyes 

Red 

By HEATHER 

THOMPSON DAY 

I 

had a student in the English class I 

was teaching at a community college 

a couple years ago tell me the 

most beautiful story. I was talking 

to them about my life growing up 

as a biracial child. For me, the combining 

of two different cultures has been 

precious. I have never had any real confusion 

about who I was or where I 

belonged. I grew up with both my Black 

father and White mother, who loved 

each other dearly. There really was not 

much room for confusion, because I 

knew them both, loved them both, and 

knew that they loved me. 

My student’s story was about her son. 

He had been attending his first year of 

school and often came home raving to 

his mother about his new friend. When 

class with 25 or so children, every child 

in her son’s room was White except her 

son’s best friend, who was wearing a 

red shirt. In a room in which all but one 

shared the same skin tone, her son 

could not think of a single characteristic 

that would identify his friend to his 

mother from the other children in the 

room, except for his red shirt. 

Identifying Me 

When my student told me that story, I 

was moved. There is a reason that Christ 

said that in order to enter the kingdom 

of heaven, we would first need to 

become like children. Children are precious. 

Children don’t hate until they are 

first taught hate. 

There are a lot of things Jesus could 


use to point us out to His Father. I can As I read this part, I did what I often 

just see Him discussing bringing me do while reading or listening to stories: 

into the kingdom. 

I put myself in the leading character’s 

“That’s her!” He’d say, beaming as shoes. I thought, If that were my husband, 

He’d point me out to God the Father. I would leave him. I am not saying that is 

“Which one?” He’d respond. Now, at the right thing to 

this point there are a million things do, and I am not 

Jesus could use to identify me. He could saying that is 

point me out as the girl that’s been a what everyone 

hypocrite or the same girl who stole else should do. I 

that ankle bracelet from the convenience 

store in ninth grade and to this what I think I 

am simply saying 

day has never been caught for it. The would do in this 

girl who threw up all over her twin bed situation. 

the first time she got drunk in high 

In Lucado’s 

school, or that girl who lost her cool book the couple 

and spewed a few choice words when is on vacation 

she got cut off on the highway (and that together, reflecting and crying, and trying 

to figure out how to move forward. 

one was more recent than I’d like to 

admit). 

The woman is trying to figure out if she 

We try not to tell each other about can move on from this infidelity. Lucado 

Shirt 

our shortcomings because we fear we 

will lose respect. We keep things from 

one another, sometimes even from our 

closest friends, for fear that if they 

found out they wouldn’t see us anymore, 

and they’d just see the sin. 

I Forgive You. Let’s Move on 

I read a devotional entry once by Max 

Lucado in his book Just Like Jesus, in 

which he talked about a personal friend 

who had had an affair. The affair had 

happened more than a decade earlier, 

and the husband never confessed it. 

When his wife finally did find out, 10 

years later, they dropped everything and 

took a trip together to put out the noise 

of the world and focus on each other 

and their relationship. 

On that card is 

a note penned 

from the hand 

of Christ that 

reads: “I forgive 

you. I love you. 

Let’s move on.” 

says this: “In this case the wife was 

clearly in the right. She could have left. 

Women have done so for lesser reasons. 

Or she could have stayed and made his 

life a living hell. Other women have 

done that. But she chose a different 

response.” 

“On the tenth night of their trip my 

friend found a card on his pillow. On 

the card was a printed verse: ‘I’d rather 

do nothing with you than something 

without you.’ Beneath the verse she had 

written these words: I forgive you. I love 

you. Let’s move on.” 

I was struck by this story, because in 

the character of this woman I recognized 

the character of Christ. Romans 

3:23 reminds us: “For all have sinned 

and fall short of the glory of God.” 

Red Shirts All 

We do not deserve Christ. We have hurt 

Him, we have disgraced Him, we have 

betrayed Him, and if He came back right 

now, I believe many of us would crucify 

Him all over again. If 

you are sunk in the 

guilt of your past, so 

much so that you 

cannot breathe or 

move, lie still, because 

Jesus wants you. On 

your pillow is a card, 

and on that card is a 

note penned from the 

hand of Christ that 

reads: “I forgive you. I 

love you. Let’s move on.” 

Jesus, the one whom they called 

Christ, is so good, because everything 

we have done, every secret sin He’s seen 

us do in the dark, means nothing to 

Him the second we have sincerely 

repented and sought His forgiveness. 

I’m not perfect, but at least I know what 

a loser I am; and because of that, I am 

forced to seek His shelter and guidance 

every morning the second my eyelids 

open. Yes, there are a million different 

things Jesus could use to point me out 

to the Father. Lucky for me, He’ll just 

stand there beaming, proud to point me 

out in the crowd. And the single characteristic 

that He notices that would distinguish 

loser me from a roomful of 

saints is my red shirt. 

In heaven we’ll all be wearing red. It 

will be the color for every season. Trust 

me, no matter what you’ve done or 

where you’ve been, you can still seek the 

refuge of Christ, and when you do, stand 

tall and be proud to slip on that beautiful, 

distinguishable, bright-red shirt. 

“That’s My friend!” Jesus will say, 

smiling. “The one washed in the blood 

of the Lamb.” n 

Heather Thompson Day is 

working on her Ph.D. at 

Andrews University. Her most 

recent book is Cracked Glasses, 

the Review and Herald’s 2013 

young adult devotional. 


Story 

BY CLAUDE RICHLI 

A 

loud banging sound woke 

us shortly before 4:00 one 

morning. Apprehension 

filled my heart as I raced 

downstairs. What I saw 

confirmed my worst fears. Someone 

was hard at work, trying to smash, 

break, or saw through the metal bars 

that protected our windows. 

Peeking outside, I saw in the glare of 

the lights, two or three dark figures 

Do I 

a 

Need 

? 

Protecting 

ourselves from 

the bad things 

out there 

GUN 

busying themselves. I turned all the 

lights on, ran upstairs to our bedroom, 

and flipped the switch of the siren on 

the roof. It began to wail in the darkness, 

building to a crescendo, alerting 

the whole neighborhood that we were 

victims of a break-in. 

Frantically I grabbed my cell phone 

and called 9-1-1 and our security 

agency, which, according to their ads 

and our contract, was supposed to be 

only minutes away in the case of an 

incident. Their car was usually parked a 

couple miles away from the gates of our 

residential neighborhood, a discreet 

presence to reassure us that all was well 

in our suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. 

But where were they? Worse yet, why 

did their emergency center not take my 

call? I dialed and dialed, but my call 

went unanswered. 

The banging on our security bars continued, 

and the thugs began working on 

our doors. Thankfully, our solid metal 

doors resisted their assault for a while. 

So Much to Protect 

Our two girls hid under the blankets 

in our bed. Young and small, their tiny 

bodies hardly made a bump where they 

lay huddled. 

I headed back downstairs with my 

wife, Beate, behind me, shouting and yelling 

in the hope of perhaps scaring them 

away. I had no weapon in the house— 

nothing. I reached for my toolbox and 

grabbed a rubber mallet. Now I stood, 

fearing the worst, feeling naked and completely 

vulnerable in my pajamas. 

If only I had a weapon, I thought, things 

might be different. 

Nobody came to our rescue; least of 

all the police, notorious for showing up 

well after the fact, if at all. 

Finally the door gave, and in rushed 

the first individual. Whack! I hit the 

man’s head with the mallet, and he 

reeled and crashed to the floor. Six other 

men erupted into our living room, 

shouting and yelling for money and 

valuables. One of the intruders went 

straight to our pantry and stuffed his 

mouth with raw pasta shells. They 

seemed to be high on drugs; perhaps 

they had sniffed too much glue. 

Why don’t I have a gun? 

The next thing I knew, one of the men 

lifted a crowbar over my head and 

brought it down savagely. Instinctively, I 

raised my arm to deflect the blow, but it 

still glanced my head. My arm felt funny; 

something warm trickled down my head 

and formed a large, crimson stain on my 

blue pajamas. My wife was also 

assaulted. A blow landed on her shoulder, 

grazing her ear, but leaving her 

standing and comparatively unscathed. 

Stunned, I threw one or two hundred 

dollars in cash, and my wristwatch (a 

wedding present from my wife) at the 


men. I shouted, “You’re being watched 

by holy angels, who are recording your 

every move.” 

Hearing these words, my attacker 

stopped, looked around slowly, and 

then made his way to the door. The others 

followed. They quickly disappeared 

into the night, leaving behind the one I 

had knocked out with my rubber mallet. 

What If? 

The man roused, stood slowly, and 

looked at me, pained. Then came my 

second shock of the night: it was James, 

our gardener, who lived in a small 

house behind ours. He explained that 

when the intruders had broken into the 

property, which was protected by a high 

fence, he had tried to intervene, but they 

had quickly immobilized him. When the 

door had finally given way, they had 

thrust him forward as a human shield, 

in case I was armed. Subsequently he 

had received the blow on the head. 

Instantly I knew why I didn’t have a 

gun. I would have killed him, even while 

he was trying to protect me and my 

family! In fact, as I reached for my toolbox 

15 minutes earlier for something to 

protect us, I had hesitated for a 

moment: should I take my heavy, carpenter’s 

hammer or the silly rubber 

mallet? I chose the latter. 

I couldn’t have been happier: the carpenter’s 

hammer would have broken 

his skull. 

It was a traumatic night for our family. 

Thankfully, the girls were unhurt and 

hadn’t seen any of the violence. Beate was 

left with a bruise on her shoulder and 

deafness in one ear for a week or two. 

Within 48 hours we were able to 

move into a vacant house on the campus 

of Maxwell Adventist Academy, just 

a few miles away, leaving the worst of 

the bad memories behind. This gave us 

the safety we needed to serve another 

three years in Kenya. 

My recovery was the most difficult. It 

wasn’t just that I had to sport a strange 

haircut because of the two-inch-long gash 

on the side of my head, and it wasn’t 

because of the cast on my arm. It was the 

terrible sense of having let my family down. 

The dreadful scene played again and 

again in my mind, feeding my sense of 

guilt: if only I had been better prepared, 

at least with a can of pepper spray. I 

could have easily sprayed the choking 

substance into the assailants’ faces 

while they were working on the window 

bars, taking care of the situation before 

it became worse. I wondered if I should 

have prayed instead of running around 

shouting like a madman. 

One thing I never regretted, however, 

was not having a gun that night. Had I 

had one, I may now have someone’s life 

on my conscience, the life of someone 

dear to us, someone who showed the 

utmost loyalty and courage. 

The Violence 

Around Us 

A few years later we 

woke up again in the 

middle of the night, 

this time because of 

gunshots that seemed so close as to be 

on the compound of the East-Central 

Africa Division, where we served. We 

were terrified at the thought that our 

colleagues may have lost their lives to 

violence. 

The next morning all seemed to be normal, 

and none of our friends or coworkers 

were missing. Reports came back that a 

couple bodies lay on a side street, not far 

from our gates. The police left them there 

as a deterrent to criminals. Following this 

incident we decided that after four years 

in Africa, it was time to move on. 

As if to seal the decision in my mind, 

the national newspaper screamed in its 

next Sunday edition, in bold letters covering 

almost the entire page: “100,000 

reasons to be afraid in Kenya!” The 

story described the escalation of violence 

because of the estimated 100,000 

guns circulating in the country. 

A few months later the country 

descended into violence following presidential 

elections. 

My family and I now live in the 

United States, a country with more than 

300 million guns in circulation. Considering 

the mass shootings that have 

taken place at public events, in schools, 

at shopping malls, etc., we may well 

have 3,000 times more reasons to be 

Then came my 

second shock 

of the night. 

afraid than in Kenya, and 3,000 times 

more reasons to have a gun at home (or 

in our purse or under the arm) and to 

leave the country. 

Although we don’t always feel safe in 

the United States, and even though I 

may decide one day to replace the pepper 

sprays I eventually acquired but 

gave away when we left Kenya, I am convinced 

there are no good reasons I 

should have a gun. The unintended consequences 

of that sort of ownership 

frighten me even more than the possible 

consequences of not owning a gun. 

The words of Jesus to Peter resonate 

in my mind: “Put your sword back in its 

place,” “for all who draw the sword will 

die by the sword” 

(Matt. 26:52). The 300 

million guns, and the 

more than 30,000 

lives lost to gunshot 

deaths every year in 

this country, * still fail to convince me to 

join the ranks of citizens who are armed 

and ready. Maybe one day, but that day 

hasn’t come yet. n 

* 

See Georgina Olson, “More Than 30,000 People Die 

From Gunshot Wounds Each Year in the United States” 

(Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 

2010), www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/ 

Olson_21.pdf. 

? 

Claude Richli is associate 

publisher of Adventist Review 

and Adventist World magazines. 

What Do You Think? 

1. Is there a difference between 

“defending yourself” and owning a 

gun? What is it? 

2. You decide you should own a gun for 

self-protection. Your neighbor thinks 

about buying a gun but decides not 

to. Who is right? 

3. What should be one’s primary consideration 

when deciding whether or not 

to own a gun for protection? 

4. How do texts such as Matthew 7:1 

influence what you think about this 

important topic? 


Vital Signs 

HEALTH 

Exploring 

the connection 

AND GUN VIOLENCE 

by KATIA REINERT 

It 

was with much shock and sadness that 

North American Division president Daniel 

Jackson interrupted the proceedings during 

an administrative meeting on December 14, 

2012, to announce the tragic news of the 

fatal shooting of 20 children and six adult staff members 

at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, 

Connecticut. Those of us at the meeting stopped what we 

were doing and together earnestly prayed for the families 

in pain. We couldn’t believe that such young, precious 

children, together with teachers, would die in this senseless 

way. Evil seemed to prevail. 

During such times of inexplicable 

tragedy many find comfort in the assurance 

that this world is not our home 

and that soon the great controversy 

between good and evil will end. We look 

forward to the day that families will be 

reunited with loved ones whom they 

lost to death. We yearn to complete the 

task given to us by God to share the gospel 

message with the world so that He 

can return soon and take us home. In 

the meantime, however, we cannot 

neglect to do everything we can to help 

reduce the risk of mass killings in our 

communities today. 

Violence and Health 

Violence in all its forms—domestic, 

gun, youth, gender-based, intimate partner, 

childhood, elderly, and so forth—has 

been linked to physical, mental, 

and social health as well as 

mortality. The Institute of 

Medicine (IOM) and the Centers 

for Disease Control have 

documented violence as a 

major health problem in this 

country. The IOM states that 

“in 2001, violence accounted 

for 45 million disabilityadjusted 

life years (DALYs) lost, 

with low- and middle-income 

countries bearing the largest 

burden.” 1 But violence can be 

prevented, and the IOM’s 

Forum on Global Violence Prevention 

(FGVP) is working to 

reduce violence worldwide by 

promoting research on both 

protective and risk factors and 

encouraging evidence-based 

prevention efforts. The FGVP aims to facilitate 

dialogue and exchange by bringing 

together experts from all areas of violence 

prevention, including faith-based organizations, 

to address this concern. 

The World Health Organization also 

confirms a significant health impact 

from this “contagion of violence.” Public 

health officials list violence as one of 

eight major factors negatively affecting 


the health of citizens in the United 

States. 2 This is a major health issue that 

health ministries leaders in faith-based 

institutions must address. Johns Hopkins 

University recently held a summit 

on gun violence at which presenters and 

attendees discussed available research 

and evidence that support the need to 

reduce violence and thus its related 

health risks in the community. 3 

Gun Violence and Politics 

There are those who view matters 

such as gun violence as political issues. 

Others, including the Seventh-day 

Adventist Church, view them differently. 

In line with current research, the official 

Adventist Church statement regarding 

gun violence reads as follows: 

“While it is true that violence and 

criminal inclinations lead to guns, it is 

also true that availability of guns leads 

to violence. The opportunity for civilians 

to acquire by purchase or otherwise 

automatic or semiautomatic 

assault weapons only increases the 

number of deaths resulting from 

human crimes. . . . Seventh-day Adventists 

. . . wish to cooperate in using every 

legitimate means of reducing, and eliminating 

where possible, the root causes 

of crime. In addition, with public safety 

and the value of human life in mind, the 

sale of automatic or semiautomatic 

assault weapons should be strictly controlled. 

This would reduce the use of 

weapons by mentally disturbed people 

and criminals, especially those involved 

in drug and gang activities.” 4 

We must do what we can to help depoliticize 

the issue of gun violence. We can 

point to the research linking violence 

with adverse health factors, while sharing 

biblical principles that, if followed, 

can strengthen entire communities, families, 

and individuals. We also must ask 

the question Are we as individuals and 

as a faith community doing enough to 

educate ourselves on the health consequences 

of violence, in order to raise 

awareness of the importance of violence 

prevention in all its forms—including 

gun violence? Are we learning appropriate 

and helpful therapeutic ways to talk 

about violence with kids, answering 

questions they may have and addressing 

their possible fears of encountering violent 

situations? 

Many helpful resources are available 

that can help answer these questions 

from a public-health perspective (see 

sidebar). It’s well worth the time to read 

and utilize these materials. 

Ultimately, we must grasp opportunities 

to point people to Christ, the Creator, 

healer, and restorer of our lives. 

Jesus said: “I have come that they may 

have life, and that they may have it more 

abundantly” (John 10:10, NKJV). 5 We 

look forward to the time our Savior will 

bring an end to the death and evil in 

this world; but until then, He calls us to 

be His lips, hands, and feet to make our 

communities places of health, healing, 

and wholeness today. 

Let us not neglect to do our part. n 

1 

Institute of Medicine, “Forum on Global Violence 

Prevention,” http://iom.edu/Activities/Global/ 

ViolenceForum.aspx. Accessed Feb. 5, 2013. 

2 

Surgeon general, “National Prevention Strategy,” 

www.surgeongeneral.gov/initiatives/prevention/ 

strategy/index.html. Accessed Feb. 7, 2013. 

3 

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 

“Gun Policy Summit,” www.jhsph.edu/events/gunpolicy-summit/agenda.html. 

Accessed Feb. 5, 2013. 

4 

Seventh-day Adventist Church, “Ban on Sales of 

Assault Weapons to Civilians,” http://adventist.org/ 

beliefs/statements/main-stat4.html. Accessed Feb. 5. 2013. 

5 

Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King 

James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas 

Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Katia Reinert, Ph.D.c., C.R.N.P., 

F.N.P.-B.C., P.H.C.N.S.-B.C., is 

director of the North American 

Division Health Ministries 

Department. 

Online Resources 

on Preventing 

Gun Violence 

COMPILED BY KATIA REINERT 

cga.ct.gov 

“Gun Violence 

Must Stop. Here’s 

What We Can Do 

to Prevent More 

Deaths”; 

Prevention Institute— 

sesameworkshop.org 

“Statement in 

Response to the 

Elementary 

School Shooting 

in Connecticut”; 

American Academy 

of Pediatrics 

savethechildren.org 

“Helping Children 

and Adults Cope 

With Events Like 

the Newtown 

School Shootings”; 

Connecticut Commission 

on Children 

preventioninstitute.org 

“Talking to 

Children About 

Recent Events”; 

Sesame Street 

Workshop 

aap.org 

“Ten Tips to Help 

Children Cope”; 

Save the Children 

| March 14, 2013 | (219) 27

Introducing the Why 

Jimmy 

Phillips 

Faith Over Feeling 

He simply hung in place, matted in blood and gasping for breath. 

Though it’s often used in hyperbole, in this case the weight—and, for that matter, the hope—of the world 

was literally on His shoulders. 

For the past 24 hours a universal audience of angels, demons, and unfallen beings had been fixated on 

Planet Earth. They watched as beads of blood poured down His cheeks and as He was condemned by a 

kangaroo court. With their own eyes they saw His back bend under the ultimate symbol of humiliation 

before being nailed to it like a common criminal. 

After nearly 4,000 years of seeing “through a glass darkly,” they were coming face to face with the 

truth, which was suddenly so clear: Jesus was love, justice, mercy, and truth. 

Satan was not. 

On that dark afternoon the universe was enlightened with clarity. But inside the heart, mind, 

and soul of the Savior, evil forces sought to enshroud Him with doubt. 

As we know, when life is at its worst, Satan works his hardest, pouncing like a predator on 

a wounded animal that falls behind the safety of the herd. 

Ellen White sheds light on Satan’s unrelenting attacks on the wounded Son of God: “The 

Savior could not see through the portals of the tomb. . . . He feared that sin was so offensive to 

God that Their separation was to be eternal” (The Desire of Ages, p. 753). 

Undoubtedly, heavenly angels, who finally grasped the full scope of the great controversy, 

wanted to jump out of heaven and bring Jesus back to His rightful throne. 

But this had to be done, and He had to face it alone. 

For six hours a war waged within Jesus. Even as it did, He remained meek and peaceful, never once 

lashing out against those who were truly guilty. 

When the weight of sin became too great, Jesus bowed His head and left the world the same way 

He came in: humble and innocent. His last victory provides the ultimate example of trust, conviction, 

and courage. 

Ellen White wrote: “In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance. 

. . . He was acquainted with the character of His Father. . . . He committed Himself to God, the 

sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was the victor” (ibid., p. 756). 

Faith Like Jesus 

If you’re anything like me, you run back to your favorite Bible promises when times get tough. In the face 

of adversity, uncertainty, and doubt the assurances of Scripture are a constant reminder that God is faithful 

and has our best interest in mind. One of my favorites, and perhaps one of yours too, is Proverbs 3:5, 6. 

Let’s take a brief look at verse 5 (next month we’ll examine verse 6): “Trust in the Lord with all your heart 

and lean not on your own understanding.” 

In my experience it seems we tend to hone in on the first half of the verse, the part about trusting God. If 

you’ve ever confided in a Christian friend during a difficult time, you’ve undoubtedly heard such sentiments 

directed back to you: “You just have to trust God.” 

True, trust and faith are where each of us must begin when we face trials. However, without further detail, 

a plea to trust in God can sound ambiguous, clichéd, and empty. That’s where the part about not leaning on 

our own understanding comes in. 

In His experience on the cross Jesus provided the perfect blueprint. Despite His dire circumstances and 

complete separation from God, Jesus didn’t rely on a gut feeling. Instead He focused on the just, merciful, 

and loving character of His Father. 

As end-time believers we’re called to have similar perseverance in times of trouble (see Rev. 14:12). Follow 

the example of Jesus: Don’t be captive to feelings; have faith in whom you know. 

He sees the beginning from the end. Most of the time, we can barely see at all. n 

Jimmy Phillips (jimmyphillips15@gmail.com) writes from Bakersfield, California, where he is electronic media coordinator 

for San Joaquin Community Hospital. Visit his Web site at introducingthewhy.com. 


Bookmark 

Celebrations: 

Living Life to the 

Fullest 

Allan Handysides, Peter Landless, Kathleen 

Kuntaraf, and Fred Hardinge. Softcover, 240 

pages, General Conference of Seventh-day 

Adventists Health Ministries Department, 

2012, US$14.99. Reviewed by David R. Williams, 

Norman Professor of Public Health 

and African and African-American Studies, 

Harvard University. 

This book is worth purchasing simply 

for the breathtaking pictures. 

Each page provides stunning photographs 

that reflect the diversity of our 

planet in terms of both people and 

places. This coffee-table book, however, 

provides much, much more. Written by 

four health professionals who serve in 

the General Conference Health Ministries 

Department, CELEBRATIONS is 

packed with timely and practical scientifically 

valid strategies to improve 

health. 

CELEBRATIONS is an acronym for key 

principles that provide a broad vision of 

health. Readers familiar with the eight 

laws of health will recognize several of 

them (exercise, liquid, rest, air, temperance, 

and nutrition). But scientific information 

is also presented on factors that 

we often don’t think of as key drivers of 

health, such as choices, the environment, 

belief, integrity, optimism, and 

social support. The chapter on the role 

of the environment, for example, argues 

that environmental awareness is relevant 

to the maintenance of good health. 

Issues discussed include overpopulation, 

deforestation, sustainable agriculture/food 

distribution, energy 

conservation, air and water pollution, 

and domestic and agricultural waste. 

Surprisingly, this chapter does not 

include a discussion of the multiple 

ways in which plant-based diets offer 

benefits to the environment. 

The chapter on choices is excellent in 

providing the long-lasting consequences 

of our decisions. It recognizes 

that choices can be affected by contextual 

factors and indicates that stress and 

emotion can affect individual decisionmaking. 

Research indicates that most 

individuals will do things that they 

would not normally do if placed in a 

compelling situation. Accordingly, it’s 

important for Christians to learn to pay 

attention to situational cues and contexts 

of vulnerability and to avoid them, 

to the extent possible. In addition, many 

people live in conditions that impose 

severe limits on good choices; therefore, 

promoting health also requires us to 

pay greater attention to policies that 

create opportunities to facilitate healthful 

choices and initiatives that remove 

barriers to healthful living. Much can be 

done to create a culture supportive of 

good health in our homes, churches, 

schools, hospitals, and other institutions. 

Every effort should be made to 

make the healthful choice, the easy 

choice. 

CELEBRATIONS is filled with detailed 

practical advice. For example, the chapter 

on exercise provides tips on selecting 

proper training shoes. Also 

important to note is that the many 

health recommendations in CELEBRA- 

TIONS are credible. The authors routinely 

present official evidence-based 

guidelines from reputable professional 

organizations. Moreover, to maximize 

the practical value of the book, each 

chapter ends with a life-application 

section, which provides questions for 

individual reflection and practical 

application, as well as for group discussion. 

A spiritual focus is a golden 

thread that runs through each chapter. 

CELEBRATIONS is a book that people 

will have a hard time putting down, and 

is an invaluable resource that can move 

each reader along the path to more 

healthful living. n 


Essential Tools for 

Witnessing 

Two major reference tools have recently 

been published that every Adventist 

should have at hand to answer Bible 

questions. What the Bible Says About . . . was 

written by veteran 

evangelist Mark 

Finley. It contains 

32 studies that 

cover all the doctrines 

of Adventist 

faith. It uses the 

classic questionand-answer 

approach with 

Bible texts to address each question. 

The second book, Always Prepared: 

Answers to Questions About Our Faith, provides 

responses to often-debated questions 

in the contemporary context: How 

reliable is the Bible? How can miracles 

be possible? Are there moral absolutes? 

A total of 20 such topics are carefully 

examined, each by a different Bible 

scholar. Humberto Rasi and Nancy Vyhmeister, 

both of whom have distinguished 

careers in Adventist higher 

education, edited the collection. 

Pacific Press published both volumes, 

which are available through your local 

Adventist Book Center or at www. 

adventistbookcenter.com. 

Men’s Bible Study 

Former Adventist military chaplain 

Dick Stenbakken has produced two 

resources that could help your church 

reach out to men, which is a particular 

need in most congregations. 

The Centurion develops the story of the 

Roman officer who was in charge of the 

crucifixion and a witness to the resurrection 

of Christ. It asks men to imagine 

what difference this experience might 

have made in the centurion’s life. Each 

chapter has discussion questions. 

The Armor of God is an eight-part DVD 

series exploring what Paul means when 

he urges in Ephesians 6 to “put on the 

Tools 

of the 

Trade 

full armor of God.” Discussion panelists 

include well-known speakers Shawn 

Boonstra, Roscoe Howard, Dick Duerksen, 

and Rich Carlson. 

There are also 

downloadable discussion 

sheets. 

Published by 

Pacific Press, you 

can purchase these 

materials through 

your Adventist 

Book Center or 

directly from the author at www.dick 

stenbakken.com. 

Responding With 

Practical Compassion 

A growing number of Adventists are 

training and organizing to respond with 

practical help, in Christ’s name, to 

major disasters. First Response: Change 

Your World Through 

Acts of Love, by 

David Canther, is 

the story of ACTS 

World Relief, a 

disaster response 

team that goes to 

such places as 

Haiti after the 

earthquake and 

New Jersey after 

Hurricane Sandy. 

This book includes much practical 

information on helping devastated communities 

as well as some of the most 

helpful material I have ever seen on 

dealing with the spiritual questions and 

needs that arise in the wake of disaster. 

You can get a copy from major online 

booksellers. 

Three New Books on 

Church Growth 

How can we grow? That is one of the 

most pressing questions for almost all 

pastors and congregations in North 

America. Three new books address this 

question with specific, doable answers: 

The Big Four: Secrets of a Thriving Church 

Family, by Joseph Kidder (Review and 

Herald Publishing Association), 

describes empowering leadership, passionate 

spirituality, active members, and 

the worship experience as key factors. It 

includes discussion tools to help you 

assess your local situation. 

How to Grow an Adventist Church, by 

Russell Burrill (HART Resource Center), 

is the culmination of the author’s long 

career as an effective public evangelist 

and trainer of pastor-evangelists. He 

discusses natural church development, 

classic church growth theory as it 

applies to Adventist churches, friendship 

evangelism, and includes a chapter 

specifically on how to relate to newcomers 

who show up at your church. 

As Jesus Did It, by José Cortés (Xulon 

Press), describes 

the approach to 

small-group evangelism 

being used 

successfully in the 

New Jersey Conference, 

where the 

author is president. 

It provides a 

useful description 

of the methods 

used in immigrant churches, which are 

growing much faster than the average 

church in North America. 

The first two books are available 

through your Adventist Book Center; 

the third, by Cortés, can be purchased at 

www.xulonpress.com. n 

Monte Sahlin is director of 

research and special projects 

for the Ohio Conference and a 

senior consultant at the 

Center for Creative Ministry. 

questions and suggestions can be sent to him 

at msahlin@creativeministry.org. 


Reflections 

Nicknames 

“Juli-Buli, it is so good for you to join us,” the woman in the church 

foyer gushed as she wrapped her arms around me. I stiffened as she released me from her bear hug. Only 

my dad calls me that, I grumbled to myself. 

To have a stranger use my dad’s nickname for me made me uncomfortable, but it reminded me of an 

important fact: nicknames are almost sacred. When friends call us by our nicknames, it is as if they are also 

saying, “We are close. We have a history. We are friends.” 

One of the most powerful truths in the Bible is that Jesus used nicknames for His disciples. “These are 

the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother 

John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘sons of thunder’)” (Mark 3:16, 17). 

Jesus’ use of nicknames reveals something powerful about how He relates to us. Each nickname revealed 

how He loved each disciple uniquely, as there were individual traits about each one that Jesus acknowledged 

and loved. He knew Simon well enough to call him Peter—the stone; and James and John enough to 

call them the sons of thunder. Jesus’ love for His disciples and for us is not just a feeling of goodwill directed 

toward a group of people, but rather a love that takes in the distinctive qualities of each person. In a sense, 

each relationship Jesus has with His followers has its own DNA. He appreciates a sense of humor, a love for 

nature, a passion for cooking, or any other idiosyncratic quality that His followers might have. He loves, 

enjoys, and laughs with delight over His children. 

I wonder what it must have been like for Simon to hear Jesus call him Peter. Or what it must have been 

like for John to hear Jesus call him a son of thunder. It makes me think about the times I have heard my own 

nickname called. I love hearing my nickname—especially after a long trip among strangers. When I arrive 

home and someone calls me “Jules” instead of Julie, I know I am where I belong. I am home. Peter, James, 

and John had the privilege of knowing what it was like to be at home with Christ. 

Jesus is calling each of us to be at home with Him. Can you imagine Him calling you by your nickname? 

What would it sound like? How would you feel when He said it? Not only can He call you by your earthly 

nickname, but He has a special nickname waiting for you in heaven. Jesus said, “To the one who is victorious, 

I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on 

it, known only to the one who receives it” (Rev. 2:17). God has an eternal nickname that 

He wants to share with you. And the name He has prepared for you will 

be between you and Him—an intimate seal of your friendship 

forever. n 

Julie Cook is an assistant professor of 

English at Adventist University of 

Health Sciences in Orlando, Florida. 

Illustration © darrel tank

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