GC SESSION 2000 NEWS BRIEFS

NEWS ABOUT THE NORTH AMERICAN DIVISION
SUNDAY, JULY 2



NEWS

Young Seventh-day Adventists Celebrate Canada Day By Helping Local Food Bank

Impact Toronto 2000In a gesture intended to give something back to the city that has welcomed thousands of Seventh-day Adventists visiting Toronto, 250 young adults from the Church's community service training event, Impact Toronto 2000 (IT2000), helped Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank pack boxes of food on Canada Day, July 1.
    The Adventist youth from 37 countries celebrated the national holiday by helping out at the Daily Bread Food Bank, located at 350 Lakeshore Boulevard West and run by local Seventh-day Adventist churches. The food bank feeds 50,000 children a month, according to Groups Coordinator Sandra Chignell. "Service is key in our event," says IT2000 service event organizer Scott Shalk of Berrien Springs, Michigan, "and this is an excellent way for us to start giving to the community."
    The Impact Toronto 2000 youth will be working and performing in local communities from July 1-8.

—Photo by Dick Duerksen

—Lynn McDowell
Director of Communications, IT2000
(416) 460-7626, (403) 391-8730

[TOP]



HAPPENINGS

Good Knight! Seminary Professor Challenges World Church

George KnightIn a penetrating speech Sunday afternoon, George Knight, professor of Church history at Andrews University Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan, encouraged delegates to make plans for the Church's future. "Success will not come about by accident, but will be the product of deliberate thought, planning, and action," he said.
    Knight's speech, titled "If I Were the Devil!" was the first of five "Windows on Mission" that General Conference President Jan Paulsen initiated for this Session. Delegates broke into small groups after the speech to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the Church.
    Some of Knight's more memorable lines:
  • The first thing on my agenda would be the upcoming generation of Adventists. If I were the Devil, I would put my best energies into getting the Church to reject the ideas and plans of the coming generation. That shouldn't be too difficult since, in most areas, they don't dress like their elders, sing like them, or even think like them. When I get older people to frown on guitars, I will, at the same time, help them forget that early Adventists didn't allow organs in their churches. While I take a shot at their so-called drama, I will help their elders forget that Jesus used fictional stories such as the rich man and Lazarus, and that Ellen White used the term "drama" to refer to what we think of as soap operas.
  • If I were the Devil, I would get people to believe that there is only one way to do something and that everybody has to do it that one way.
  • If I were the Devil, I would make pastors and administrators the center of the work of the Church.
  • If I were the Devil, I would undermine the importance of the local congregation.
  • If I were the Devil, I would create more administrative levels and generate more administrators.
  • If I were the Devil, I would get Adventists fighting with each other. Any old topic would do—worship styles, theology, dress standards.... Anything would do for my purposes, if I were the Devil. After all, if the Adventists were busy shooting all their bullets at each other, they wouldn't have many left over for me."
Read Knight's complete sermon text.

—Adventist News Network
http://www.adventist.org/news/

Upcoming Happenings Feature: Lunchtime Concerts in the Park Series.

[TOP]



EXHIBITS

Resource Centers: Tools You Can Use

There is a large variety of resources the Church offers to constituents. Many resource centers are represented at the Session exhibition hall to educate attendees about their services. The booths of just some of the many organizations in the exhibition hall are pictured below.

Review & Herald
Review & Herald Publishing Association
http://www.rhpa.org/
Pacific Press
Pacific Press Publishing Association
http://www.pacificpress.com/
Trust Services
Trust Services
http://www.willplan.org/
Adventist Risk Management
Adventist Risk Management
http://www.adventistrisk.org/
Adventist News Network
Adventist News Network
http://www.adventist.org/news/
Ellen G. White Estate
Ellen G. White Estate
http://www.whiteestate.org/
Religious Liberty
Religious Liberty
http://www.irla.org/
Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries
Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries
http://www.tagnet.org/nso/

Upcoming Exhibit Feature: More resources within the North American Division.

[TOP]



© 2000 North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists
Questions/problems with this site? E-mail the Webmaster.

SESSION SNAPSHOTS

Click a photo to enlarge and display caption.

Sections:

  • People
  • Places
  • Behind The Scenes

  • PEOPLE:

    Our Point Of View

    Our Point Of View

    "What, from your GC Session experience, will you take home to share with your church?"

    Lorenzo Fiorito

    Lorenzo Fiorito

    Alice Burke

    Alice Burke

    Lorie Dooks

    Lorie Dooks

    Cecia Garcia

    Cecia Garcia

    Anne Stumpf

    Anne Stumpf


    PLACES:

    Point Of Entry

    Point Of Entry


    BEHIND THE SCENES:

    Chef's Corner

    Chef's Corner