• Two Adventists in Western Australia awarded Order of Australia medals for community service,
• Former American rock'n'roll star trains pastors and laypeople how to win converts in Adelaide,
• It Is Written TV show launches broadcast on Foxtel to 30% of Australian homes as well as Channel 7,
• Largest Adventist camp, evangelism offering in the world given in Christchurch,
• Wallsend Church NSW youth help disadvantaged kids,
• Sale Church, Vic, celebrate 50 years in the same building,
• Pacific island medical clinics in worse shape than their patients.

In addition, the big news coming up is that Jan Paulsen will be on Bloomberg TV on Feb 11. He will on Night Talk with Mike Schneider, a one-hour program, discussing Adventist church history and growth.

Then the next day NARLA's James Standish will be testifying before Congress on religious liberty and workplace discrimination. According to their press release, this is the first time in a generation.

Think that this is not a conscience issue? Check out this Sabbath-keeping Kent-based soccer player.

The London Adventist Chorale visits Kenya and All Africa.com praises the music and the message.

Ground 7 News reports:

• Study Center Feature,
• Gliff Goldstein Commentary

(Running Time 10:22)

I also recommend this article on church appropriations since it raises some issues that will affect the church in the future:

Beginning in April, the committee will visit each division to scour financial records, spot economic strength indicators and weigh employee benefits. After reviewing between 500 and 700 church entities for 1995 and 2005, the committee will compare results for the two study years and make recommendations independent of appropriations history.

On the table is US$68 million in annual appropriations for Adventist Church institutions and divisions worldwide and any redistribution would better accommodate each region's challenges, opportunities and economy, Lemon says.

Currency exchange is particularly dicey, says Jóhann E. Jóhannsson, treasurer for the church's Trans-European region, first on the committee's list for review. Because appropriations are distributed in U.S. dollars, it can be "a struggle" to balance the budget in regions with incongruent currencies -- take the British pound against the weak U.S. dollar, he says.