News and items of interest
ADRA prepares to aid countries affected by Cyclone Kenneth
Weeks after the nations of Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe are recovering from Cyclone Idai, the countries of Mozambique and Tanzania are being hit by another powerful cyclone. Cyclone Kenneth, which intensified from a category 1 to a category 3 storm, with 140 mph wind gusts, is currently bearing down on the coast of northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. The storm according to reports may cause life-threatening storm surges and possible widespread flooding. Local authorities have...U.S. Supreme Court asks government to express view on church member's case
Seventh-day Adventist church member Darrell Patterson’s religious discrimination case against Walgreens continues to gain interest and support. Patterson asked the United States Supreme Court to hear his religious discrimination case (see the September 2018 edition of Adventist Journey for more detail). He was fired by Walgreens in 2011 because he refused to work at a call center on the Sabbath. Since Patterson’s petition was filed last fall, several encouraging developments have occurred....Adventist leader in Sri Lanka misses bomb blast by minutes
As Delbert Pearman, the president of the Adventist presence in Sri Lanka, jogged along his usual route early on Sunday, April 21, he approached the field where he usually played soccer when he is in the capital city of Colombo. He was supposed to be in committee meetings at the Sri Lanka Mission (SLM) office that morning, but the meetings had been unexpectedly postponed. He decided to use the time for exercise. For reasons he couldn’t explain, Pearman felt tired and decided not to play soccer...Paraguay’s vice-president takes Bible verse to heart
Paraguay’s vice president pledged to make justice, mercy, and humility a part of his work and personal life after reading about Christ-like leadership in an Andrews Study Bible presented by Seventh-day Adventist Church president Ted N.C. Wilson. Vice President Hugo Velázquez Moreno followed along in the Spanish-language Bible as Wilson, accompanied by a delegation of a dozen church leaders, gave an impromptu Bible study on Micah 6:8 in a government office in the South American country’s...