3ABN's Supporting Ministry Status Suspended? General Conference Statement Differs from South Pacific Division Report
By Ervin Taylor, AToday.com (05 June 2007).
A report dated June 1, 2007 from the South Pacific Division Administrators' Council and Institute of Public Evangelism Committee contained the following statement "The General Conference has suspended 3ABN's [Three Angels Broadcasting Network] Supportive Ministry status until some well known issues in more than one area are sorted out. Basically, a lot of smoke doesn't necessarily presume a fire, but it definitely needs investigation and caution." The report in which these statements were contained was signed by Dr. Denis Hankinson, President of the Victorian Conference in the Australian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

A request for additional information from the General Conference of SDA resulted in the following statement communicated to Adventist Today by John Torres, Media Relations Coordinator, Communications Department: "There has been no change or review of the status of 3ABN as a supporting ministry by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists." The statement also stated that Rajmund Dabrowski, General Conference Communications Director, should be contacted for further information.

Requests for additional information and details concerning this reported suspension were made by e-mail to Dr. Hankinson, Danny Shelton, current president of 3ABN and Dr. Walter Thompson, chairman of the 3ABN Board of Directors.

Dr. Thompson responded to the Adventist Today request for comment by stating that "If the statement [from the South Pacific Division] is true, we [at 3ABN] have had no such communication."

ADRA Expands Assistance to Tsunami-Hit Solomon Islands
By James Astleford, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) - Canada, Reuters AlertNet (22 May 2007).
"The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is continuing its assistance to the tsunami-affected Solomon Islands with a rehabilitation project to help 440 households on Choiseul Island rebuild their homes. The 14-week project began the first week of May and will benefit approximately 2,640 tsunami survivors. In early April, a massive underwater earthquake triggered a 33-foot tsunami that swept through the western region of the Solomon Islands, leaving devastation in its wake. The ADRA network responded immediately to the disaster, providing emergency supplies for survivors in the coastal areas, including construction tools, cooking supplies, and basic agricultural tools to help affected families begin to rebuild their lives.
ADRA teams discovered that many villages on Choiseul Island lacked suitable housing, with one village alone reporting an estimated 300 homes destroyed or uninhabitable. Although most villages are not this densely populated, ADRA will work with Choiseul Island residents in nearly 40 villages to rehabilitate, rebuild, and assist in redesigning their homes to be more resilient. ADRA will purchase and operate a portable sawmill and chainsaw to process local trees into lumber for the new homes and will provide tsunami-affected households with construction tools and supplies. 'The project will be easily sustainable, as village members in the Solomon Islands primarily build their own homes,' says Matthew Brown, ADRA Solomon Islands Executive Director." [More of the story].

Nigeria: Adventist Church Applauds City Government Efforts To Sue Tobacco Companies
By Taashi Rowe, Adventist News Network, Lagos, Nigeria (May 21, 2007).
"Following in the footsteps of other countries, the governments of two Nigerian cities, Lagos and Kano, have filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies operating in the country. The suit points out that even though tobacco companies have admitted to the fatal consequences of smoking, they still target young people in Nigeria. The cities are hoping to recover billions of dollars to offset treatment for tobacco-related illnesses, stop-smoking programs and tobacco education campaigns. This landmark case is welcome news to many Seventh-day Adventists--the people who brought the world the Five Day stop smoking plan." [More of the story]. Dr. Herb Giebel, acting health ministries director for the Adventist church in West-Central Africa.

Two-week courtship to 68-year romance
By Teresa McQuerrey, Payson Roundup, Payson, Arizona (May 17, 2007).
"Eleanor and Gar Baybrook have been together 68 years. Gar turned 90 this year and Eleanor will celebrate that milestone in June. They became engaged only two weeks after they met and were married within three months. Their wedding was on May 13, 68 years ago Sunday. Gar and Eleanor Baybrook built and run Leaves of Autumn Books on Main Street. They celebrated their 68th anniversary on Sunday. The couple has been a part of Payson since 1964 when they started the Seventh-day Adventist Church here. They held the church services in their home and then, in 1974, built the bookstore in front on Main Street. Services then moved to the second floor of the building." [More of the story]. Editorial comment: Gar Baybrook writes the column for the Leaves of Autumn newsletter, entitled, "Grumpy Gar sez."

United States: Adventist Woman Nominated as Brigadier General ...
Jerry D. Thomas/ Southwestern Union Conference/ANN Staff, May 22, 2007 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
"United States President George W. Bush has nominated Colonel Loree K. Sutton, a Seventh-day Adventist, for appointment to the grade of brigadier general. Colonel Sutton is commander of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood, Texas. She assumed command of the center in July 2005. 'Colonel Sutton would be the first female Adventist to ever obtain that rank,' said Gary Councell, associate director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries located at the Adventist world church headquarters in Silver Spring. He added, 'Only 8 percent of people ever make colonel and out of all the general officers less than 1 percent make it to brigadier general.' Colonel Sutton has received numerous awards including the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Order of Military Merit and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. She has served in a variety of operational positions both in the states-side and overseas, including deployment to Operation Desert Storm. Sutton holds a medical degree from Adventist-owned Loma Linda University and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Pacific Union College, also Adventist owned." [Story].

Ooltewah Soldier Killed in Iraq Explosion
By Mary Fortune, Staff Writer, The Chattanooga Times Free Press (May 23, 2007)
"Chattanooga, TN - The death of a 20-year-old soldier from Ooltewah who was killed in an explosion in Iraq has left friends and family of Pfc. Travis Haslip numb with shock and grief, a friend said. 'I'm telling you, we have lost something so precious," said Hamilton County resident Bobbi Blevins, who considered Pfc. Haslip part of her family. 'The hole that is left in our hearts will never be filled.' Pfc. Haslip was one of six soldiers who died Saturday in Baghdad when an improvised bomb detonated near their vehicle. The young man joined the Army in 2005 because he needed money for college, said his father, Fred Haslip, of Clarkston, Mich. 'He didn't have any college money, and I wasn't in a position to pay and neither was his mother," Mr. Haslip said. 'He was smart, and he wanted to go to college.' Pfc. Haslip grew up in Ooltewah with his mother, stepfather and older sister. He attended Ooltewah Adventist School through eighth grade but moved to Michigan for about a year in 2003 and 2004 to attend high school, his father said. He enrolled in school there, but he really never attended regularly, Mr. Haslip said..... 'He was the best kid,' Mr. Haslip said, fighting back tears. 'He did not need to go like that.' Pfc. Haslip was his father's fishing and camping partner, and Mr. Haslip recently bought a new aluminum boat that he hoped to use after his son returned from Iraq, he said. 'He was supposed to come back and go fishing this summer,' Mr. Haslip said. 'I'm really going to miss just being around him.'" [More of the Story]

Broadview Academy to close after 98 years
By Susan Sarkauskas, The Daily Herald (May 23, 2007).
"Broadview Academy, a La Fox high school run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is closing after graduation Sunday. The Illinois conference of the Christian denomination made the decision public Tuesday after deciding earlier this year it couldn't afford to keep the school open as enrollment declined. The conference intends to sell the campus. The school had 78 students this year, and only 58 last year. Twenty-one are expected to graduate Sunday. The academy opened in 1909 in what was then rural Broadview, near Chicago. For most of its life, the school primarily educated boarding students, some from as far away as Korea and South Africa. Faculty also lived on campus. Principal Randy Siebold, a 1978 graduate of the school, believes several factors led to the closing. As enrollment dropped, so did tuition income. But fixed expenses, such as staff and maintenance, didn't, Siebold said. In 2004, leaders of the Illinois conference recommended closing the school, but delegates from member churches felt otherwise and voted to keep it open by tapping into an endowment fund. That fund came from the sale of 190 acres of the school's land in 2001 to the Kane County Forest Preserve District, leaving 130 acres remaining. Siebold expects that money to run out by the end of the month. Another factor is a change in what he calls the “educational climate.” When Siebold was a teen, there was no question where he was going to go to high school. His parents were graduates of Broadview Academy, and even though he wanted to attend public high school with his friends, they sent him to Broadview. Now, parents are more reluctant to send a child away to a boarding school, he said, and teens have a say in the decision. “I had a couple here that said ‘We really like the school; we hope our son chooses to come here,'” Siebold said. [Story].