Exclusive: "The Record Keeper" director talks about why the series was cancelled

Last week, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists suspended the release of its highly anticipated dramatic series, "The Record Keeper."

The series was based on "The Great Controversy" by Ellen White, but the cancellation of the series has itself become a controversy and somewhat of a public relations situation for the General Conference.

A Sabbath Blog reached out to Jason Satterlund, director of the project, for his thoughts on the cancellation of "The Record Keeper" and its impact on the Adventist Church.

Below is our exclusive interview in full:

What's next for "The Record Keeper? Is there a future for the series?

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"The Adventists" Documentary to Air on PBS

Image Credit: Journey Films

“The Adventists,” is a new documentary film that will air on PBS. Filmmaker Martin Doblmeier explorers the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s health care system. The film comes at a time when the United States Congress debates over health care reform in the U.S.

The documentary re-enacts important events in how the Adventist Church was founded and includes scenes about the Adventist-created Battle Creek Sanitarium. The film highlights Loma Linda University Medical Center’s Dr. Leonard Bailey, who became famous for the transplant of a baboon’s heart to “Baby Fae.” It also follows one family’s fight to keep their 5-month old son alive.

Image Credit: The Progress-Index

Doblmeier compared The Adventists to one of his previous films (The Power of Forgiveness) in which it was able to start thousand of conversations around the country on the topic of forgiveness.

“I think the same thing can happen with ‘The Adventists’ film, because it speaks to the wider community issues, it speaks to basic human issues of health and holistic living,” said Doblmeier. “Our hope is that maybe over the course of the next couple of years, plenty of conversations will happen around the film and the issues that are raised in the film.”

“The Adventists” is expected to be released on DVD in January 2010 and is scheduled to air on PBS in April 2010.

Below, you can watch the trailer and several clips of the new documentary.



Watch more clips from the film by clicking the link below.

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Queen Esther, King Xerxes, Abigail, & Memucan Interviews

Those of you who were at the 5-day youth event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, will remember the amazing nightly drama of Esther. PathfinderTV has been adding some really great videos they took during their time at the largest youth event in the world, including these short interviews with some of the Esther story actors. Watch them below:

Queen Esther played by Jordan McKee


King Xerxes played by Daniel Cooper


Abigail played by Jadanna Huie


Prince Memucan played by William Reichart


Video interviews by PathfinderTV

Adventist neurosurgeon receives top award; Cuba Gooding Jr. to portray him in new movie

Source: Adventist News Network

A Seventh-day Adventist pioneer in pediatric neurosurgery who overcame childhood poverty and achieved worldwide renown received the highest civilian award bestowed by the United States government on June 19.

Dr. Benjamin S. Carson Sr. was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom for his outstanding contributions to medicine and his motivating influence on America's young people, U.S. President George W. Bush said during a morning ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

Perhaps best known for his successful efforts in separating conjoined twins and controlling brain seizures in children, Carson is chief of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

Carson, an inner city Detroit, Michigan native, overcame a "grim future" of poverty, crime and violence to become "a scholar, a healer and a leader," Bush told the audience of cabinet members, Congressional representatives and medal recipients and their families.

"For his skills as a surgeon, his high moral standards and his dedication to helping others, I am proud to bestow this honor," Bush said. [click here to read more]

Dr. Carson has also authored 4 books, his latest one on "learning to identify, choose and live with acceptable risk." You can listen Ground 7 News' interview with him by clicking here.

The Adventist neurosurgeon will be played by Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in an upcoming movie based on his autobiography, "Gifted Hands."

Army of Youth

Army of Youth is a new Adventist online community and resource website from Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC). According to their website, AOY provides "networking, resources, training, and ministry opportunities for young people who are serious about taking the three angels’ messages to the entire world."

Even though the website has been up for only a few months, it already has over 2,264 users from 70 countries around the world (as of May 2008).

We spoke with Joe Reeves, who is part of the team at Army of Youth on the success of the website and what it hopes to accomplish:

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A Sabbath Blog: Tell me a bit about Army of Youth. What are it's missions, it's goals. What do you hope to accomplish with AOY?

Joe Reeves: I, along with the others on this team, pray that this site will help bring Adventist youth together throughout the year from around the world, not based on entertainment, but based on a united interest of pleasing God in all things and working tirelessly to share the good news of Jesus Christ and His soon advent with this generation.

The Army of Youth website is designed to meet the needs of God fearing, mission driven Seventh-day Adventist young people. AOY seeks to enlist, connect, equip and deploy a movement of Adventist young people who will fully embrace the responsibility of carrying the three angels' messages to the world in this generation.

Thus the website is broken into four sections: enlist, connect, equip, and deploy. Young people must first enlist as a member of AOY before gaining access to all of the features of the website.

A Sabbath Blog: So why create a website specifically for youth?

Joe Reeves: That is an interesting question, and a good one. "Why have youth rallies? Why have youth Sabbath Schools? Why have youth summer camps?" Everyone doing youth programs has reasons why it's important.

Army of Youth has created this website because this is what our youth are looking for and need. And youth will be the quickest to use our services. We do not want to exclude any age group from this website. In fact, we welcome anybody regardless of age to join who thinks they can use the services of AOY or contribute to the purpose of AOY. Even the most popular social networking sites on the internet are open to all ages, but young people dominate these sites because they are more inclined to use this new technological method of socializing.

Typically, younger people are seeking a challenge, a mission; and they're also looking for identity and belonging. Army of Youth wants to give our youth the gospel commission and Godly living as a 21st century challenge, and give these youth identity and belonging as part of God's people within the Seventh-day Adventist church.


A Sabbath Blog: Who should join, or "enlist," in Army of Youth?

Joes Reeves: Anybody who accepts the Army of Youth challenge and agrees to the rules of engagement is welcome to enlist. The website was primarily designed to serve Seventh-day Adventist young people who take their beliefs and mission seriously. But we hope that all who could use the services of AOY or contribute to the purpose of AOY will join, including pastors, ministry representatives, speakers, and parents.

A Sabbath Blog: Why should someone switch from their MySpace or Facebook sites and join AOY?

Joes Reeves: MySpace and Facebook promote a worldly culture that revolves around self. You will never see nasty banner ads on AOY. These other sites are a good place to meet worldly friends, but AOY is a good place to meet the Christian friends you're looking for. AOY is a safe place where you are encouraged to express your faith, your struggles, your victories, and your dreams without feeling out of place or fighting peer pressure. The ungodly atmosphere of these other sites makes most users timid with their faith and bold in their display of doubtful content. AOY tends towards an opposite effect to that of Myspace or Facebook.

A Sabbath Blog: There has been talk about the need for an Adventist MySpace by the Youth Department at the General Conference. Is this that website?

Joe Reeves: I first heard about what the Youth Department of the General Conference is planning after we were nearing the public release of our site. Youth workers everywhere are recognizing the need for these types of services.

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You can learn more about Army of Youth and join at http://www.armyofyouth.org/. You can also add us to your platoon.

Beanie Tunes

Beanie Tunes is a Christian comic strip series that can be found online at the Beanie Tunes website. It follows the adventures of characters at Beanston Junior High and Pike Elementary. These comics have Christian morals, having Bible verses through out the episodes. Though the editors of Beanie Tunes aren't payed to make the comics and do it on their free time, you can help them in their cause by purchasing special editions that aren't available on their website.

We wanted to learn more about the comics, so we chatted with the Beanie Tunes editors. Here are a few excerpts from the interview:

A Sabbath Blog: So, first off, tell me a little bit about these comics that you guys create...

Beanie Tunes: We lived most of our life in California, and it was there that the comics began. We had and still have a large collection of Beanie Babies, and the origins of Beanie Tunes lie in comics written about a core group of Beanies (Ty Beanie Babies) that we did every Sabbath at church or slightly afterward. They became quite popular and eventually were published in a local newspaper. Eventually, the comic expanded with new characters such as Scaly, a few more sharks, and many others, in addition to the creation of Season 2.

ASB: You have quite a few characters in your comics. Is there one main character, or are there a group of characters that are, indeed, the main characters?

BT: To answer your question, probably Hornsly, Mooch Junior, Rainbow, Inky, and Crunch are the main characters. There are [also] three central groups of characters at Beanston Junior High. One group is ‘Rainbow and Friends’, comprising of Rainbow, She-Rainbow, Iggy, and She-Iggy (Rainbow and She-Rainbow are not related; Iggy is She-Iggy’s older brother). ‘Hornsly and the Gang’ is another group, consisting of Hornsly, Tornsly, and Warnsly. ‘The Mooch Group’ stands in the middle of the conflict between Hornsly and Rainbow. We won’t mention the Pike Elementary groups yet because they haven’t been featured in the episodes. -- [ASB Note: You can read more about the characters here]

ASB: What do you hope to accomplish by having Beanie Tunes on the web?

BT: We hope to make them available to people through the Internet. By exposing the world to Christian values, we hope these comics will lead people accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

ASB: So, what's in store for Beanie Tunes (in the future)?

BT: It has been said that Beanie Tunes has seven seasons planned, although we will not confirm this. Odd seasons take place during the school year (in the comic), whereas even seasons happen in the summertime. Season Three will feature more underwater action at Pike Elementary (Inky and Crunch’s school).

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Here's an exclusive look at one of the special edition episodes of Beanie Tunes from the upcoming Season 3 (not yet released). Click on the image to enlarge. Enjoy!

"Crunch and Da' Bunch"

"Teacher Scaly's Bible Remedies: 'Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.' Mark 5:19 (NKJV)"

Click here to visit the Beanie Tunes Website

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If you or someone you know make comics or kinds of artwork to let others know more about God, let us know about it at asabbathblog@gmail.com

theFlow

A few months ago, we were seeing talks about the need for Adventist social networking websites. Well, Insight Magazine has just recently released it's own social networking website for youth. They're calling it, "theFlow, where people talk about the Water of Life." You can create your own page like on Facebook or MySpace and add videos, pictures, and blogs. You can join groups and jump into discussions in theFlow's forums.

Nick Bejarano is the marketing manager for Insight Magazine. When we asked what theFlow's purpose and missions were, this was his take:

"We wanted to connect with youth more on their level and interact with them in a way they feel comfortable with (social networking). Secondly we want to create a place where youth of all faiths can come and learn about ours. Our website receives a lot of traffic from non-SDA's, so this site is open to anyone looking for answers not just SDA youth. And thirdly, we're hoping to create relationships and not just network. Relationships is the key to discipleship and ministering to the most basic need for companionship and friendship."

The new site is hosted by Ning.com, a website that allows anyone to create their own "myspace-like" websites. To join theFlow, you need to create an account with Ning.com, which is easy since you can register without leaving theFlow's website.

Check 'em out: http://www.insightmagazine.ning.com/