Perceived pro-WO wording recommended for church manual, debate ensues

“The next item” Wollan said, “to bring the harmony of the church manual in the way we use the term ‘pastor.’ Some places we use the term ‘minister,’ sometimes ‘pastor,’ and we are actually suggesting throughout the manual, to use the word ‘pastor’ instead of ‘minister’ . . . I so move.”

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Can America's Religious Freedom be Restored?

This is a very revealing moment in our national life. The intolerance of the “gay rights movement” has been laid bare, and it is ugly. If gay activists were interested in mutual toleration, in “live and let live,” there are plenty of bakers, florists and photographers who would be thrilled to take their money. Instead gay activists are seeking out people with moral objections to same-sex marriage, to punish them, to publicly ruin them, and thus to make them an example for anyone else who might step out of line.

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NAD defends racially separated conferences

In a March 25 statement the North American Division (NAD) defended the need for regional conferences, despite concerns this structure promotes racial separation. The statement responded to requests made March 7 by the Andrews University chapter of the Adventist Peace Fellowship, in collaboration with the Andrews University Student Association and Black Student Christian Forum and 10 other student campus groups, asking the NAD to explain the separation of church conferences along racial lines.

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Incomplete church film leaked

An unauthorized version of Adventist Church-produced film “What Might Have Been” was leaked online last week before its orgionally planned release date of May 16. The film portrays the moments at the 1901 General Conference Session and Ellen White’s 1903 vision regarding that session. It was produced by the General Conference Ministerial Association as a call for the church to finally be part of hastening the second coming through revival and reformation.

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Survey: Muut or Disqus?

ADvindicate has switched to Disqus for its comment platform. We had been using Muut for a long time, but about a week ago there was a glitch that reset the path for each dynamically created thread. That means the little bit of code that is placed at the end of each article that automatically generates the path where the comments are stored on the server was reset, causing all the comments to disappear from each article; however, all these comments are still viewable in the forum. 

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Financial troubles spur Texas conference to close Valley Grande Academy

Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventist’s executive committee voted Feb. 26 to close Valley Grande Adventist Academy, a 100-year-old boarding school in Weslaco, Texas. This seems to be the final chapter for an institution founded in 1911 that has long been a feeder school for Southwestern Adventist University. This decision was taken despite a 39 percent increase in enrollment at the K-12 educational facility, from 121 students last year to 168 students in the current school year.

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An Adventist church begins Sunday services as evangelism tool

A Sunday church service called “Surge Church” was launched by the First Seventh-day Adventist Church in Huntsville, Ala., Feb. 8 to an audience of about 250 people in hopes it would reach those who felt more comfortable worshipping on Sunday. "Why not create a forum where the truth can be taught on a Sunday morning in a context where people are used to coming to church,” said First SDA Church Senior Pastor Debleaire Snell in an interview with PELC Power Tools Podcast.

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Writers wanted, will pay

ADvindicate is in the process of expanding its news coverage, so we're looking for journalists. Experience or training in news coverage is preferred. Our pay rate ranges from $50-$150 and is based on an article's popularity. The article's popularity is measured over a two-week span by Google Analytics, and payment is issued after the 14th day of publication. If your article is published, you are guaranteed a base payment of $50 for your article no matter its popularity.

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ADvindicate surpasses its goal of $30,000

We're excited to announce ADvindicate raised over $33,000 for its 2015 budget. ADvindicate's goal has been to publish a biblical perspective on trending Adventist issues. With the ability to pay for content, we now have more control over the quality and quantity of our articles, but beyond that, it allows us to begin expanding our news coverage. So thank you for your dedication to ADvindicate's goal and mission. 

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Avondale College arguing in favor of Darwinian evolution?

In the most recent 2015 issue of Christian Spirituality and Science published by Avondale College (a Seventh-day Adventist institution under the South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists) there are three articles, all of which appear to challenge the firm position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on the literal nature of the creation week described in Genesis. The authors of these papers suggest that the church should put aside such antiquated 19th century notions and accept or at least tolerate the idea that life has existed and evolved on this planet over the course of at least a  couple billion years or so.

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Christianity Today assesses Adventists' struggle to be distinct

Christianity Today published an article called "The Season of Adventists: Can Ben Carson's Church Stay Separatist Amid Booming Growth?" by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra in its January/February edition about the denomination's worries the church is becoming too mainstream. A picture of Ellen White and Billy Graham's faces posed opposite of each other in a venn diagram illustrates the article.

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Time's up! Give now

After almost two and a half years, we decided it was time to fundraise and take ADvindicate to the next level. With no money and a reliance on voluntary submissions for the first couple years, there was only so much we could offer. One of our readers approached ADvindicate president Gerry Wagoner at a convention and asked why ADvindicate wasn't covering more news. All of us at ADvindicate have full-time jobs and write and run the website in our spare time. In spite of this, God has blessed the site and we're doing well. There are many things we would have liked to cover, but due to lack of money and available writers, we were unable to deliver.

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