Years ago an elementary school teacher had her students bring something in for show-and-tell that represented their religion. The day arrived. A Jewish boy in the class showed up wearing his yarmulke (cap) to represent his faith. A Catholic girl wore her rosary. The third student, an Adventist girl, also brought something.
She brought in a casserole.
—W. L. Parker, The Dalles, Oregon
Forty-five years ago I was a 10-year-old attending the Soquel, California, camp meeting with my parents. It had been a long Sabbath day for me, and I was drowsy as my mother and I sat in the back of the auditorium during the evening meeting. The speaker pronounced that “we have this message.”
I felt confused for a moment in my sleepy state. Then I turned to my mother and whispered, “I think I may be watching too much TV. When he said something about a ‘message,’ I was waiting for a commercial.”
—Cecille Hansen, Seattle, Washington
—Evangelist Costa Vaggas, during his sermon “The Gift of Oddness,” June 14, 2014, at the Cherry Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church in New Jersey
The Trans-European Division (TED) encompasses more than 20 countries. It was first organized in 1928, and last reorganized in 2012.
Europe is the world’s second-smallest continent by landmass, covering only about 2 percent of the earth’s surface. In terms of population, however, it’s the third-largest continent (after Asia and Africa), with a population of about 733 million (about 11 percent of the world’s population). Amid a population of about 203 million in TED, there are about 84,000 Seventh-day Adventist members worshipping in 1,165 churches. Most of this division’s inhabitants live in a highly secular region of the world; ministries focus on evangelism and outreach for postmodern thinking.
—information gathered from www.adventist.org/world-church/
