Religion
As the managing editor of Spectrum, a non-profit religious news journal founded in 1968, I reported live on location for news stories in various parts of the world, including Jordan, Iceland, Brazil, and extensively within North America. Below is a curated selection from the hundreds of articles I wrote during my tenure.
Featured Articles
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News Report
Shortly after the New Jersey Conference shared its women’s convention announcement to Facebook, the backlash began. “It’s Better If they Say it” declared the convention poster, the bright pink and blue floral background in stark contrast to the neutral tones of the suits worn by the all-male lineup of speakers pictured.
News Report
The Annual Council of the General Conference Executive Committee began on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. As always, #GCAC20 opened with the Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Conference.
News Report
On Sunday, June 21, 2020, The Tennessean, a Nashville-based newspaper that’s part of the USA Today Network (owned by Gannett Corporation), ran a full-page ad claiming that “Islam is going to detonate a nuclear device in Nashville, Tennessee.”
News Report
The North American Division Year-end Meetings wrapped up on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, with two dozen or so reports shared with the delegates.
News Report
The Monday morning business session of the North American Division Year-end Meetings began with an explanation from General Counsel Karnik Doukmetzian on how a new NAD president will be chosen.
News Report
The start of Daylight Savings Time here in the United States meant the delegates to the 2019 North American Division Year-end Meetings got an extra hour of sleep before a full day of business on Sunday, November 3.
News Report
The North American Division Year-end Meetings (NADYEM19) kicked off on Thursday afternoon, October 31, and run through Tuesday, November 5.
News Report
On Sabbath, November 2, 2019, North American Division President Daniel R. Jackson preached his last year-end meeting sermon as president. He announced on Friday that he will be retiring in June or July 2020.
Investigative Report
When April Williams accepted the position of Assistant Dean of Halcyon Hall in January 2018, little did she know she was stepping into a nightmare. The challenges that exist for many aging buildings on college campuses were evident in Halcyon, the women’s residence hall of Washington Adventist University, but they were about to get much, much worse.
Investigative Report
In February 2018, Southern Adventist University announced the immediate creation of a Vice President of Diversity position. However, due to budget constraints, President David Smith says the fulfillment of that position is now on hold.
News Report
Each year, the children of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Benton Harbor, Michigan raise money for well-known charities like Habitat for Humanity, United Way, and St. Jude’s Hospital. This year, the kids had something closer to home in mind.
News Report
The Rwandan-American Community of the Midwest and the Peace Center for Forgiveness and Reconciliation hosted a Symposium on Genocide at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana on April 26 and 27, 2019.
News Report
This year’s commemoration marks the 25th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda when an estimated 1 million people were killed over a 100-day period from April to July 1994.
News Report
Session II of the Symposium on Genocide at the University of Notre Dame examined "Rape as a Tool of Genocide" and featured three speakers: Christine Venter, Consolee Nishimwe, and Catherine Borshuk.
News Report
The first session of the Symposium on Genocide at the University of Notre Dame was "Genocide Awareness and Prevention." Jean-Marie Kamatali, professor at Ohio Northern University Law School, addressed the ways colonialism incited conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi over the decades leading up to the genocide.
News Report
On Wednesday, May 8, 2019, the Washington Adventist University Board of Trustees issued two statements: one regarding their intent to purchase property owned by Washington Adventist Hospital, and the second regarding their investigation into the plagiarism accusation against President Weymouth Spence.
News Report
On Wednesday, May 8, 2019, the Washington Adventist University Board of Trustees issued two statements: one regarding their intent to purchase property owned by Washington Adventist Hospital, and the second regarding their investigation into the plagiarism accusation against President Weymouth Spence.
News Report
At the Global Adventist Internet Network (GAiN) Conference on February 28, 2019, the importance of Adventist education and crisis management topped the list of discussion items as over 500 attendees gathered for the last day of meetings in Sweimeh, Jordan.
News Report
At the Global Adventist Internet Network (GAiN) Conference on February 28, 2019, the importance of Adventist education and crisis management topped the list of discussion items as over 500 attendees gathered for the last day of meetings in Sweimeh, Jordan.
News Report
On Day 2 of the Global Adventist Internet Network (GAiN) Conference, approximately 500 attendees learned about several Adventist organizations around the world that are fulfilling mission in a variety of ways.
News Report
The Global Adventist Internet Network (GAiN) officially kicked off on Monday, February 25, 2019, in Jordan with approximately 500 Adventist communicators here to learn best practices for using technology, media, and the internet to spread the mission of the Church.
News Report
While many global GAiN attendees were still making their way to Jordan for an official start on Monday, the European Divisions were off and running on Friday, February 22, 2019, unveiling an inspirational cross-media project celebrating fatherhood to approximately 150 attendees.
News Report
On October 13, 2018, General Conference President Ted Wilson spoke out against several issues. While he spoke, the individual(s) running his official Twitter account tweeted out various sermon quotes. Screenshots of his tweets quickly began circulating on other social media platforms, and conversation ensued, especially concerning his comments about social issues and worship styles.
News Report
On November 20, 2018, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists released a video titled “Unity #GCAC18.” The five-and-a-half minute video, created in the aftermath of Annual Council 2018 (#GCAC18), features several lay members appealing to others to “trust the decisions of the General Conference in session” and “support the decisions that we as a church family made.”
News Report
The penultimate day of the 2018 North American Division Year-end Meetings slowly built to a crescendo that ended in a motion to reduce the amount of tithe the NAD gives to the General Conference to parity with other divisions.
News Report
The fourth day of the 2018 North American Division Year-end Meetings began with the much-anticipated discussion on the General Conference Annual Council, and specifically, the voted compliance document on “Regard for and Practice of General Conference Executive Committee Actions.”
News Report
During the 2015 GC Session, Alvin Kibble, vice president of public affairs and religious liberty, learned that a symbol of hate — the confederate flag — would be removed from the South Carolina Capitol, following the massacre of nine African American worshippers by a white supremacist at a Charleston church. Kibble stood at a delegate mic in the Alamodome and waited for a chance to speak.
News Report
The topic of the day was strategy and cohesive vision as the second business session of the North American Division Year-end Meetings got underway, and the speakers came prepared with a rallying cry: “North America IS a Mission Field!”
News Report
The North American Division Year-end Meetings began with the usual humor and camaraderie that the NAD Officers display, but Dan Jackson’s President’s Report contained uncharacteristic bluntness and contagious energy.
News Report
It’s not often I attend an Adventist conference and find myself surrounded by people my own age (and younger!), but as I looked around at the nearly 300 people in attendance at the 2018 Society of Adventist Communicators Conference, GenZ and Millennials clearly made up the vast majority.
News Report
Several churches, conferences, and unions have issued statements and open letters to the General Conference in response to the proposed documents to be voted at Annual Council 2018 and the creation of a compliance committee system already approved and activated by the GC Administrative Committee.
News Report
The University of South Africa (Unisa) has released a statement in response to questions regarding the investigation into whether Paul Ratsara, former president of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division of Seventh-day Adventists, used a ghostwriter while completing his 2014 Doctor of Theology thesis.
News Report
Attendees were abuzz at breakfast on the final day of “The Future of Adventist Higher Education: Chicago Summit 2018” about the vote that would happen in just a few hours.
News Report
Attendees at “The Future of Adventist Higher Education: Chicago Summit 2018” rejoiced in both the Sabbath’s arrival and the 8:30 a.m. start time, which was a full hour and a half later than Friday.
News Report
The first full day of “The Future of Adventist Higher Education: Chicago Summit 2018” began on Friday at 7:00 a.m. with a robust vegetarian breakfast for participants before everyone got down to business at 8:00 a.m.
News Report
Wending one’s way through the Palmer House, the historic hotel in Chicago where “The Future of Adventist Higher Education: Chicago Summit 2018” is being held, is like traversing a glitzy labyrinth.
News Report
When attendees convene in Chicago for the Adventist Higher Education Summit on August 9-12, 2018, they will be looking critically at several challenges facing Adventist colleges and universities in North America.
News Report
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The Andrews University Board of Trustees voted during its June 4, 2018 meeting to shutter the Andrews Dairy, effective summer of 2019. Andrews has faced a tough financial battle over the past several years due in large part to continued enrollment decline.
News Report
Over 100 Adventist researchers and academics from around the world gathered at Andrews University on May 16-19, 2018 for the sixth annual Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association Conference (AHSRA).
News Report
Last week, a letter appeared online that has reignited the controversy surrounding allegations that Paul Ratsara did not author the majority of his 2014 Doctor of Theology thesis from the University of South Africa.
News Report
The seventh annual Social Consciousness Summit occurred April 4-7, 2018 on the campus of Andrews University. This year’s summit commemorated Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and was entitled “The Legacy of Dr. King: Are We Living the Dream?”
News Report
After receiving requests from the Norwegian Union, the Trans-European and Inter-European Divisions, and the Adventist Peace Fellowship, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has voted to exclude weapons manufacturers from its investment portfolio going forward.
News Report
In the days leading up to Atlantic Union College’s announcement that it would close, students on campus formed a petition, calling AUC a scam, demanding an open apology and their money back, and alleging that the College had misled them in regard to its articulation agreement with Andrews University.
News Report
Atlantic Union College announced today, February 21, it will close at the end of the current semester. The Adventist college in Lancaster, Massachusetts has been in operation for almost 140 years. It closed in 2011 after losing its accreditation, and re-opened in 2015 with the hope of regaining accreditation, but that did not happen.
News Report
On Sabbath evening, February 3, Southern Adventist University’s Black Christian Union (BCU) held its annual BCU Night. Titled “Past. Present. Future.” the event was an opportunity to “celebrate black culture together as one people,” according to the Facebook event description. Unfortunately, during the celebration, Snapchat user “Southern Stories” (sau_stories) "snapped" a video, using racist language to describe the event.