| WORLD REPORT

Global Preaching Seminar Available via Satellite, Online 

 

Pastors of all denominations are being invited by the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Ministerial Association to attend—in person or remotely—a free seminar on preaching. The 2009 program, titled “Beyond Pulpits and Pews . . .,” will be broadcast live to a global audience from North America on Tuesday April 21, 2009, 1:00-4:30 p.m. EDT or 17:00-20:30 GMT.

 

PRESENTERS: Renowned expositors (from left) Michael Quicke, 
Chris Oberg, Fred B. Craddock, and Israel Bamidele Olaore will participate in the 2009 PREACH seminar, which will be broadcast live on April 21. 
The program is available free, worldwide, as a gift from the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church’s Ministerial Association.Presenters this year include a number of well-known and dynamic preachers from Adventist and other traditions: Fred B. Craddock, Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching Emeritus, in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, United States; Israel Bamidele Olaore, senior university pastor and head of the Division of Spiritual Life at Babcock University in Nigeria; Chris Oberg, senior pastor of the 1,200-member Seventh-day Adventist church in Calimesa, California, United States; and Michael Quicke, professor of preaching at Northern Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, United States.

 

“These are some of the top expositors of the Word who are working today,” said Anthony Kent, associate secretary of the Ministerial Association. “We are delighted to share their knowledge with pastors around the world as a free gift and a public service.”

 

The PREACH seminars, as the program is now known, is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s outreach to pastors of all Christian faiths; the church also sends thousands of copies of Ministry magazine, free, to non-Adventist pastors six times a year. The seminar is another way to share useful resources with other pastors, as well as to familiarize them with Seventh-day Adventists.

 

Each of the speakers brings a distinguished background to their task. Craddock was selected by Newsweek magazine as one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Olaore has pastored in the U.S. and Nigeria, and ministered in South America, Asia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and Bermuda. Oberg has grown one of the largest Seventh-day Adventist congregations in North America. Quicke, who had a congregation in Cambridge, England, of more than 500, which also serves 4,000 people weekly through its mission center, was recently named as “one of the premier thinkers and writers on preaching today” by Preaching magazine.

 

During the live broadcast, global participants will be able to e-mail questions to each of the presenters. Along with the Internet, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Hope Channel Europe, Hope Channel International, and Hope Church Channel satellite networks will air the broadcast, and other satellite arrangements are possible.

 

Full details on the PREACH seminar and how to participate can be found online at www.ministerialassociation.com, Kent said. 

 

 

 

Members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other Sabbatarians in Santa Catarina, Brazil—which has a population of nearly 6 million people—will be able to keep the Sabbath while pursuing educational goals, it was announced in January.

 

Governor Luiz Henrique da Silveira signed a bill guaranteeing that entrance exams for public and private universities in the state would be held between 8 a.m. on Sunday and 6 p.m. on Friday, times that would not interfere with Sabbath worship. If exams must be given on the Sabbath, or Saturday, those unable to participate would be given a separate chance to take the test, the law states.

 

“We could perceive that, since the preliminary phase of the creation of the law, the hand of God directed the human minds involved, since the work resulted in a greater benefit for His people in the state of Santa Catarina,” said Wilson Knoener Fields, an attorney and legal secretary for the Judicial Court of Santa Catarina who also is a Seventh-day Adventist church member. Several other Adventist legislators participated in the effort, reports indicate. 

—Reported by Felipe Lemos/ASN; with AW Staff. 

 

 

 

Friedensau Adventist University in Möckern-Friedensau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, has begun a master’s program in theological studies, offering concentrations in Adventist Studies and Mission Studies. The course is accredited by the German agency AQAS (Agency for Quality Assurance Through Accreditation of Courses) in Bonn.

 

IN CONVERSATION: Bernhard Oestreich, dean of Theology (left), in conversation with program coordinators Stefan Hoeschele and Rolf Poehler about the new master’s program in 
Adventist Studies at Friedensau 
Adventist University in Germany.According to the school, the program “offers students advanced education in the field of theology which will broaden their horizon and deepen their knowledge in a selected area of emphasis.”

 

The Adventist Studies program “encompasses advanced studies of the history and theology of the Adventist Church. It leads students to a better comprehension of the development, self-understanding, and societal role of the denomination and enables them to serve in leading functions in the church or work in the field of inter-church relations,” the school’s brochure states.

 

Students in the Mission Studies program will “develop a thorough theological understanding of Christian mission. Students will gain advanced competencies and skills that are relevant for serving in countries where Christianity is not the traditional religion or cultural background.”

 

Both programs will be taught in English, under the direction of Rolf J. Pöhler and Stefan Höschele. Friedensau is located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Berlin, Germany, and boasts an international student body. Information on the program can be found online at www.thh-friedensau.de/en.