First, I hate the word unchurched. Just as I hate hearing a book called a “good read.” Or “impact” used as a verb. Or the word literally tossed in to strengthen an assertion. Or starting sentences with “thus.” Or this, the winner of the most annoying word award: “anyways.” As in “So anyways, that was a marvelous read that will literally impact the world.”

I’m probably just too easily annoyed. But who thought up such a horrid thing to call people who don’t go to church?

(Translated by Carlos Enrique Espinosa)

The question may seem preposterous, perhaps it is…however, let me continue.

Pandora and Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman, created by order of Zeus as part of a punishment to Prometheus for having revealed the secret of fire to humans.

Florida Hospital College President David Greenlaw talks to Spectrum about creating a different kind of educational institution and how Adventism can reach outside itself to the broader community.

Question: You are the founder of Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences. Can you describe what inspired you to start the college, and what led up to its opening?

Answer: First, some background might help. Florida Hospital is the largest SDA institution in the world. It has had a constant need for new professionals in nursing and allied health.

I suggest that we think less often about God intervening in our lives and think less highly of it. It is better to think of God as participating. It doesn’t hurt to think about divine intervention now and then, perhaps when we are thinking about the Big Bang and other very unusual things. But we should probably limit it to that.

Peter’s painful struggle to accept “the strangeness of the other” is very much our struggle today.1 These last two weeks following the war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia and the reports of atrocities, I have been torn inside by conflicting loyalties and overwhelmed by sadness, indignation, powerlessness, and guilt.

Delwin Finch is the Web Church Pastor for the Forest Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church in Apopka, Florida. He talks to Spectrum about church ministry in the 21st century and how he and his team are working to bring the Forest Lake church to a bigger community than ever before.

Question: Your church has been known for using technology in your outreach 
efforts. What are some of the things you are doing?

Peter was a fisherman, and by all accounts, the senior member of the twelve disciples of Jesus. If anyone is familiar with the TV program, “The Most Dangerous Catch” on the Discovery Channel, one has a fair idea of commercial fishermen, their language, their lifestyle, their education, their risks, their feast and famine, and their superstitions.

Every day, I check Google news with the search phrase “Seventh-day Adventist.” Most hits are local newspaper announcements about a cooking school, a church school concert, or a Pathfinder club’s Halloween food drive.

Recently, a piece from Grand Forks, North Dakota, caught my eye.

The Grand Forks Seventh-day Adventist Church is where, thirty years ago, I served my internship year before going to seminary. It was a good year: there were quite a few young couples in the church, and I had a senior pastor I liked.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is an outspoken advocate of "keeping a distance." He will be the Sabbath keynote speaker at the Adventist Forum Conference September 26 to 28 in Florida.

Spectrum asked Lynn about the meeting of faith and politics and how his beliefs have changed over time.

Question: Why is the separation of church and state important? What is the foundation underlying Americans United for Separation of Church and State?

(Translated by Carlos Enrique Espinosa)

As I write these reflections, I experience great joy. It's like a journey: I know where I'm starting, but I also know that I can expect discoveries along the way.