I was born in Birmingham, Alabama, 100 years from the beginning of the American Civil War and five generations removed from slavery. Our Heritage: Slavery and More For the United States, slavery remains an albatross: from 1619, when 20 African slaves arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, through the profound words of the Declaration of Independence in...
On June 5, 2020, health professionals from all over the country, including AdventHealth, took a knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in remembrance of George Floyd, who died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for the same amount of time. At homes and hospitals, medical professionals from AdventHealth participated...
After the Regional Conference Convocation-What’s Next? The Seventh-day Adventist Regional Conferences Convocation just completed 4 days of virtual worship, fellowship and dialog. It is my personal belief that community and coming together is important; it is something that I have missed these past 4 months of the coronavirus pandemic-and I am not really seeing an...
At a called meeting of the Regional Conference Retirement Plan (RCRP) Board on Thursday, July 2, 2020, Dr. William T.Cox was elected the Executive Director for the RCRP. He succeeds Elder Joseph McCoy, who is retiring as of the end of 2020. Elder McCoy has served as Executive Director since 2005. Elder Cox current serves...
Churches within the South Atlantic Conference have not re-opened since closing in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us be absolutely clear. We still believe that this virus has a high probability of being spread, especially in large gatherings such as worship services and funerals. Bearing this in mind, attendance at the service for...
On May 31, 2020, Oakwood University president Leslie Pollard wrote the following letter to the school’s community following the death of George Floyd. Oakwood University is an historically Black Seventh-day Adventist school in Huntsville, Alabama, United States.—Editors Since I first shared my feelings about recent events in our nation on last Thursday morning [May 28, 2020] during...
I was a delegate at the 2015 General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas. The overarching issue at that session was the issue of women’s ordination. I remember a conversation that I had just prior to the final vote with Dr. Sandy Roberts, the President of the Southeastern California Conference, which is the largest conference...
I have been extraordinarily blessed in my life and ministry to have known-with a fair degree of closeness-many of the major figures in our church. The late Elder C.D. Brooks was my pastor as a little boy in Cleveland, Ohio. The late Elder E.E. Cleveland’s wife was a good friend of my late mother; Elder...
Monday, May 25, America’s seething cauldron of social turmoil erupted into a rage that has become difficult to suppress. It is a rage for justice, and the unmasking of a lie. As a black man I know this: everything you’ve seen on television is only the iceberg’s tip of how that lie has misshapen the...
Office Re-openings: The first Regional Conference Office openings have taken place. South Atlantic Conference, headquartered in Decatur was the first to re-open, on May 26. The workers worked in split shifts in order to reduce the number of people in the office at any one time. Additionally, the staff donned masks and gloves when they...
