Southern Adventist University goes under lockdown, police have a suspect in custody

[Image via: @MCHadley/Twitter]

Southern Adventist University went under a campus wide lockdown Thursday afternoon in response to a "percieved threat" by a former student.

The lockdown lasted approximately 2 hours as police flooded the administration building and men's dormitory. The Greater Collegedale School System also went under lockdown, according to the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

After the lockdown was lifted, the university released a statement saying that a former Southern student made a threat over delayed paperwork. The university was alerted to this threat by Chattanooga State Community College officials, the statement said.

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Missing Adventist missionary found dead in Guatemala

The body of Brian Townsend, a missing Seventh-day Adventist missionary, has been found in Guatemala, according to The Toronto Star.

Townsend, 64, had been missing in Belize since Christmas Eve, according to the newspaper.

Townsend's neighbor and cook said she saw Townsend's truck heading out of town with a "mattress and a rolled-up rug," according to an article by Adventist Review. The cook said she discovered Townsend's truck was missing and his apartment looted the following morning.

Two machetes and blood were found about fifty feet from Townsend's home, reported Adventist Review.

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Adventist boy still missing in Bangladesh after deadly building collapse

In Bangladesh, an Adventist boy is still missing after a building collapsed and killed more than 1,000 people.

Adventist News Network reports Bitu Baroi had been working at one of the garment factories inside the building when it collapsed on April 24.

The eight-story building housed five garment factories that employed thousands of workers, according to the Associated Press.

Ten Adventist young people were among the first responders. They helped rescue 30 victims, four of whom, were still alive, ANN reported. A few days later, 125 more Adventist youth helped the rescue teams.

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Buzzfeed features Adventist culture: "31 Signs You Grew Up Seventh-Day Adventist"

Buzzfeed is a popular website famously known for posting funny lists on just about everything.

On Friday, it featured Adventist culture in the United States with a post titled, "31 Signs You Grew Up Seventh-Day Adventist"

7-year-old kid preaches at more than 50 churches

(Photo by Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger)

Who says kids can't preach or be in charge of church service? Age is no limit for this 3rd-grader in Jackson, Miss.

For the past two years, Samuel Green has preached his own memorized sermons at more than 50 churches and events —and he's only 7 years old!

USA Today featured the Seventh-day Adventist kid preacher in an article reprinted from a local newspaper.

Here's how he does it:

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One year later, Adventist pastor still in Togo prison

Adventist Pastor Antonio Monteiro, center, prays during a recent visit with church leaders in the Civil Prison of Lomé, where he has been held without bail for a year. [photo credit: Adventist News Network]

A year after Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Antonio Monteiro was imprisoned in Togo on unsupported charges, church lawyers and human rights activists are redoubling efforts to secure his release.

Togolese government officials this week rejected the Adventist Church’s fifth request for Monteiro’s immediate release, according to a lawyer from the church’s Sahel Union Mission working closely on the case.

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Anti-Christian mobs burn Adventist homes and churches in Pakistan

Residents of a Christian community in eastern Pakistan, among them Seventh-day Adventists, are reeling after a mob torched their homes and businesses in response to alleged insults against Muhammad.

The unrest began last week after a report circulated that a young Christian man had committed blasphemy against Islam’s prophet. By March 9, the situation had escalated and thousands of protesters began setting fire to property owned by Christians in a Lahore neighborhood.

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Adventist Church's official statement regarding Angus T. Jones from "Two and a Half Men"

UPDATE: Angus T. Jones responds about his comments. Read it here.
Read the Adventist Church's official statement on Angus T. Jones here.

What happens when a famous TV star decides to follow Jesus and become a Seventh-day Adventist? We're all finding out right now.

Angus T. Jones, 19, is one of the stars from the popular CBS comedy "Two and Half Men." He recently got baptized and became a member of a Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Los Angeles area.

Angus T. Jones' interview at the Adventist Media Center

On Oct. 8, Jones taped an interview at the Adventist Media Center for a new program called Turning Point.

In the interview, Jones talks about how he accepted Jesus in his life and how he ended up getting baptized at small Adventist church in southern California.

You can watch the full interview here:

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Oakwood University student drowns in rock quarry [UPDATED]

An Oakwood University freshman drowned at a rock quarry near the university on March 23.

Justin Hanna, 18, of Florence, S.C., was found unresponsive when rescue workers arrived.

According to local Huntsville news stations, Hanna was rushed to the Hunstville Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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Several Adventist students, Walla Walla missionaries injured in bridge collapse

A March 20, 2001 satellite image of the site where the bridge collapsed. Image: Google Earth.

In India, about 20 Adventist students and two Walla Walla university missionaries were injured when a suspension bridge collapsed March 18.

About 70 people were on the bridge even though it can only support 30 people, reported several Indian news agencies.

Among those injured were a nursing graduate and a current nursing student from Walla Walla University. They have been in India as part of Walla Walla University's India Immunizations spring break mission trip.

The two missionaries were hospitalized along with about 20 students from Riverside Adventist Academy in Meghalaya, India.

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Adventist family survives sinking Italian cruise ship

Three Seventh-day Adventists from Peru survived the sinking Italian cruise ship, the Costa Concordia.

Milton Paredes, Edelmira Paredes and their daughter Diana Miled were in their second floor room, welcoming the Sabbath when the cruise ship crashed off the western Italian coast on Friday, January 13.

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ABC News features group of Adventists wanting to ban McDonald's in Loma Linda

A group of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, Calif. are fighting to prevent McDonald's from setting up shop in their city.

ABC News aired a report about it during Nightline on Friday, Jan. 13. We've included the video below.

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Introducing new weekly video reports from Adventist News Network

The Seventh-day Adventist Church recently launched a new, weekly video news service called ANN Weekly.

ANN Weekly is run by Adventist News Network, the Church's official news outlet.

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Wildfire threatens Big Lake Youth Camp

Photo from Big Lake Youth Camp's Facebook
page. Arrow added to show BLYC's location.A nearby wildfire forced Big Lake Youth Camp to finish its final week of summer camp early and evacuate all staff, campers and livestock.

The lighting-sparked Shadow Lake Fire has burned to within a half mile of the Seventh-day Adventist summer camp, the camp website stated.

The camp was in the middle of Family Camp II, the last week of camp in its summer camp season when it was evacuated on Sept. 3.

Big Lake Youth Camp is located at the base of Mt. Washington, inside the Willamette National Forest, near Sisters, Ore.

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Memphis Junior Academy principal killed in classroom

Suzette York, principal (left). Eduardo Marmolejo, student (right).

A school principal was stabbed to death Aug. 10 at a Seventh-day Adventist school in Memphis, Tenn.

Memphis police say Suzette York, 49, was found dead inside a classroom that morning at Memphis Junior Academy just three days into the new school year.

Eduardo Marmolejo, 16, has been arrested and is being charged with first-degree murder. He was the school’s first and only 11th grade student.

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Senior class president won't be able to attend graduation due to Sabbath

The senior class president of a Connecticut high school will not be able to attend his own graduation ceremony because it is on a Saturday.

According to NBC Connecticut, the school board voted 7-1 to not change the Enfield High School graduation date, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 25.

On April 12, Patrick Knighton, senior class president, had asked the school board to change the graduation date because it conflicted with his religious beliefs.

Knighton told the school board that as a Seventh-day Adventist, he does not participate in "business or business-related activities" from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

According to NBC Connecticut, "parents of other students complained to the board that family members had already made flight arrangements" and couldn't change them.

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Shenandoah Valley Academy senior killed in motorcycle accident

Photo: SVA website

A Shenandoah Valley Academy senior was killed in a motorcycle accident Thursday afternoon in Timberville, Va.

19-year-old Kent Grimm, from Broadway, Va., was driving west on New Market Rd. when he crashed into an eastbound car that had turned in front of him, police said.

SVA has brought in grief counselors to help students cope through the tragedy, stated the academy website.

Below is a video report from a local station.

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Newsweek magazine says be an Adventist if you want to live long

Newsweek magazine posted a short, illustrated guide to living a long life. One of their suggestions? Be a Seventh-day Adventist.

We've included the image below:

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All student missionaries in Egypt leave the country

Photo by monasosh (Creative Commons)

UPDATE: Nile Union Academy plans to reopen Feb. 21

Feb. 8 — Adventists living in Egypt's big cities found themselves in an uncertain situation due to massive and often violent protests in Egypt.

All Adventist student missionaries working in Egypt have left the country. They were told to leave by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. All foreign staff members at Nile Union Academy have also left Egypt, said one student missionary, whose name is omitted for her safety.

Llewellyn Edwards, president of the Egypt Field of Seventh-day Adventists told A Sabbath Blog of the courage of a number of Sudanese students and Egyptian staff, who are guarding Nile Union Academy, with teams patrolling the compound 24/7.

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Adventists Safe in Egypt, according to tedNEWS

Editor's note: On Jan. 31, 2011 the following news bulletin was posted by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. Since then, the protests have become even more violent.

Source: tedNEWS ― Jan. 31, 2011

The Egypt standoff intensifies as the unrest goes into the seventh day of anti-government protests. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a number of denominational schools and congregations there.

Pastor Llewellyn R. Edwards, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Egypt, shared with us what the situation is regarding members, church properties and the work of the church:

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