After the heat of daily events and constant news and commentary, let me devote one more blog to reflections on the General Conference Session. Will it, in the long sweep of history, be seen as a significant turning point or just an average business meeting?

As the Sabbath slowly arrives late Friday night on a long Georgia evening in Atlanta, the men and women who staff the committees and business meetings at the General Conference Session are praising God that it is over. I've worked on staff with a number of GC Sessions and I can tell you they are bone-weary after long days, constant demands and unrelenting background noise.

Among the official statements issued by the Seventh-day Adventist Church during the General Conference Session this week is one on "Global Poverty." Since 1975 the denomination has issued statements on contemporary social issues at each GC session, the first one about world peace. It was voted by the delegates, but came perilously close to being defeated.

Everything has been running very smoothly with the agenda that the General Conference officers brought to Atlanta. Although there is still some ambivalence about whether Jan Paulsen intended to retire or not, everything else has rolled out without a snag.

The same day that the 59th General Conference Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church opened, the Pew Research Center--one of the most respected polling organizations in America--released a poll in which they asked the general public whether they think Jesus Christ will return to earth by 2050.

The General Conference (GC) Session began late Thursday afternoon and among the very first tasks were the caucuses in each of the 13 world divisions where the members of the nominating committee were selected. As the evening session began, with Dr.

I have a lot of respect for my fellow AT blogger, Dr. Herb Douglass. Recently he published on the AT blogs a critique of the emerging or Emergent church. His theology is probably excellent, but I am not sure his sociology would pass, at least in my class.

A new book by a young historian tells the hidden stor

Historically the Adventist denomination has discouraged extensive staffing at the local church level while investing significantly more personnel in institutions than do other Protestant denominations. Russell Burrill, a retired Andrews University seminar professor, linked this idea to a focus on church-planting and entering new territory in his doctoral dissertation and several books.

Have you noticed that in each of the last three months, a young Seventh-day Adventist has put his or her life on the line for the cause of Christ? In September, Rwimo Boss Kayamba (age 34) who was supervising construction of emergency housing for ADRA in the Congo was beaten to death by extortionists.