Friday evening worships were a major event in my parents’ home. After a sumptuous meal, Mom, Dad, and the ten children would transition to the front room and get settled in our favorite spots as we tried our best to get comfortable for the two-hour ritual.

The rampant enthusiasm that shines through John’s letters reveals the heart of his message—there’s a whole new meaning and purpose to life because God has come to us, and will come again!

From National Public Radio:

The physician who was with pop superstar Michael Jackson at the time of his death is being identified as Dr. Conrad Robert Murray.

The physician who was with pop superstar Michael Jackson at the time of his death is being identified as Dr. Conrad Robert Murray.

I ran into a pastor friend a few weeks ago who I’d not seen for awhile. After greetings, “So, Loren, do you think we really can do it?” he asked. It sounds like a question out of the blue, but I knew exactly what he was asking.

The fifth annual International Conference on Innovation happens this October in Dublin, Ohio. Spectrum asked its organizational dynamo, Raj Attiken, how the conference began and what keeps it going.

Question: How did the Conference on Innovation begin? What role does the Ohio Conference have in its organization each year and which other groups are involved?

In Acts of the Apostles, Ellen White writes,

The church is God's appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. From the beginning it has been God's plan that through His church shall be reflected to the world His fullness and His sufficiency.

Awhile back I took my MacBook up to the church audiovisual station and asked the technicians to show my sermon slides from it. Afterward my friend Johnny, one of our AV volunteers, said, "I really hate Macs."

The Trinidad Express reports:

Friday, June 19th 2009

AFRAID to contract influenza A/H1N1, students at the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) in Maracas, St Joseph, are troubled over the fact that they are being asked to remove their face masks and their latex gloves even though the school has confirmed that a foreign student tested positive for the virus known as swine flu.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is a nonprofit organization that invests in building the vitality of communities in the United States. It recently completed a three-year study conducted by Gallup.

The statistics about retention of recently baptized members are not encouraging. A year or two after a large baptism in Latin America, very few are still members of the Church. In the United States, where large baptisms are unknown, the young are the ones who leave.