Let's Talk website retires

After 9 years, the Let’s Talk website, where youth and young adults could ask the Seventh-day Adventist Church president questions about the church, closes down.

Let’s Talk was a televised series of dialogues between young people and former Adventist world church president Jan Paulsen.

Update: We emailed the Adventist Church, asking why Let's Talk was cancelled. We haven't received a reply.



More articles: Final "Let's Talk" Episode | Let's Talk

Short Update on an "Adventist Youtube"

Over a year ago, we wrote about a new website called SpiritFlash. Sponsored by the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, SpiritFlash was similar to the popular video sharing site, YouTube.

Ironically, SpiritFlash.org now redirects its visitors to its channel on YouTube.com (as of writing).

It's True: Army of Youth 3.0 is Now Live

Army of Youth, a Christian social networking site geared toward Seventh-day Adventists is now up and running.

Last week, we wrote about how the website was taken down for upgrades. We speculated that major upgrades were taking place when we were able to login in to the site through one of its other webpages. As it turns out, we were right!

When you log in to the site, expect to see the changes we had written about such as new profile layouts, and a new "Command Center." Also expect to see Churches, Entities, and Youth Events with their own profiles. As we mentioned before, you'll notice the website's rebranding from "Army of Youth (AOY)" to "Army of Youth Ministires (AYM)."

Although the website is still a little buggy and some features aren't yet working, go explore the updated website for yourself at armyofyouth.org. Be sure to come back and vote in our poll (below).

Read: Is Army of Youth 3.0 on its way?

Is Army of Youth 3.0 on its way?

UPDATE: (12/22/09) The new Army of Youth website is up and running. Read about it ➞

Looks like the Adventist social networking website, Army of Youth might be getting a major upgrade. The website went down Monday (12/13/09) afternoon and currently displays a message saying, “Website Upgrade in Progress.” However, users were still able to login to the site through one of its other webpages. If the website really is being updated, you could expect to see a lot of changes.

Click to enlarge
➜ Please note that all the information in this article is based off what the website looked like when this article was written. We’re not saying this is what the website will finally look like and we can’t guarantee changes will actually happen. Now that we got that out of the way, here are some of the changes:

This article continues. Keep reading »

Finding Adventists on Twitter

By now, there are quite a few Seventh-day Adventists on Twitter. So we've created a list of some notable Adventist Twitter accounts. Click on the one of the categories to jump to that list.

Click to view the list
A Sabbath Blog on Twitter
View all Twitter lists by A Sabbath Blog

Adventist Youth Space

Adventist Youth Space is social networking website for Adventist youth, young adults, and their friends. With over 2,600 members (as of June 2009), this website let's you chat with other Christians our age. You can watch and upload videos, photos, and more. The website is run by the NAD Adventist Youth Ministries Department.

Since the site is made through the same service as Insight Magazine's network, theFlow, you should be able to log in to Adventist Youth Space if you have an account on theFlow. While you're there, be sure to add as a friend!

Other Adventist social networking websites include Army of Youth (kind of like a Facebook), and theFlow (kind of like a MySpace).

Click here for more articles on Adventist social networks.

Earth-Touch Nature Videos

We've all been there: Sitting (slouchy, actually)... bored on Sabbath... watching a nature video... from like 20 years ago. Nothing wrong with nature videos, but some can really put you to sleep!

Instead, let's say that you have a friend who is on an African safari and is armed with a video camera. Just imagine that this friend of yours emails you videos of the animals he's watching as it happens! To me, it's so much more interesting to see what an animal did just a couple days ago, instead of couple years ago. I don't know about you, but it makes it a lot more real to me.

Earth-Touch is a documentary company that has come up with a quick way to film wild animals in a remote area and show it to the world within 48 hours (whenever possible). It's actually kinda cool 'cause they film all these animals, from lions to seals to caterpillars in high definition so that quality-wise, it looks really good! Earth-Touch edits their videos lightly so that you're basically seeing what the cameraman saw through his camera lens just a few days ago!

The film crews that are with these animals don't script their videos (which aren't long), and post field reports just about everyday on the Earth-Touch website. The website gets updated very often, so there's a pretty good chance they'll have something new for you to watch each Saturday! No more slouching for you! ;)

3 ways to see God's creatures as filmed by Earth-Touch:

This article continues. Keep reading »

"Army of Youth" Leadership Opportunities

Army of Youth, an Adventist social networking site, is looking for young people to help out by filling available leadership positions.

(Click to enlarge description from Army of Youth)

Listed below are some of the leadership opportunities at Army of Youth, according to its website, as of January 2009. You can learn more about requirements, who to contact, and more details by click on the links below. Note: You must have an account with www.armyofyouth.org to be able to see the linked information. Army of Youth accounts are free; click here to join.

This article continues. Keep reading »

New Youth Department Website

As of last weekend, the General Conference Youth Department has a new website with a new design. See for yourself at http://gcyouthministries.org

ANN Photo Contest

Source: Adventist News Network

Attention all photographers, photojournalists, and random people reading this website:

Adventist News Network is holding a contest for youth ages 14-17. You can submit photos for the "ANN 2009 Best Youth Photos Contest" by April 1, 2009. The "winning submissions will be published the week before the Adventist Church's International Youth Sabbath on April 11." ¹

Additionally, ANN will be holding a photo contest for adults in which the deadline is the end of 2009.

You can also expect to see changes at Adventist News Network's website starting after the year-end holiday break. ANN is redesigning their website, encouraging "readers to share their comments and become participants in news, photos, comments and opinions," and include a new news layout. ²

For contest rules and more details, click here.

¹ http://news.adventist.org/aboutann/ann_2009_photo_contest.pdf
² http://news.adventist.org/aboutann/redesign.html

Brand New Desmond Doss Movie, and other updates

New Desmond Doss Theatrical Movie
A new Desmond Doss Feature Film is in the works! And no, we're not talking about the 2004 documentary, "The Contentious Objector." Adventist filmmaker Terry Benedict (writer and director for "The Contentious Objector") will be working with Bristol Bay Productions and Walden Media to create the new movie. Walden Media co-produced "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

Desmond Doss was an Adventist medic in the US Army during World War II. He saved the lives of more than 75 soldiers by lowering them over a 400 foot cliff in the midst of extremely heavy fire. Despite being ridiculed by his fellow soldiers, Doss refused to carry a gun. He received the United States' highest military award, Congressional Medal of Honor.

This article continues. Keep reading »

My Place with Jesus (.com)

UPDATE (7/17/08): Myplacewithjesus.com is now up and running, ready for kids to learn more about God.

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It Is Written is launching an interactive online Bible studies website for kids ages 7-12, called My Place With Jesus. The Bible studies are hosted by Jean Boonstra, author of the Adventist Girl series (sets 1 and 3).

My Place With Jesus will be up this month (July 2008), ready for kids to learn more about Jesus in a safe, Christian (and digital) environment. You can visit the site at myplacewithjesus.com

Adventist YouTube

Being the 3rd most visited site in the world,¹ YouTube.com is the most popular of the video sharing sites out there. But there are also a lot Christian video sharing sites such as GodTube.com that have large audiences and help let thousands of people learn about God's love. Which brings us to SpiritFlash.org.

Sponsored by the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, SpirtFlash "serves a networking tool to assist Seventh-day Adventist members involved in ministry."

It's nice to know there's another Christian video website out there without the nasty ads or perverse videos that appear on most websites!

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¹ As of June 2008, according to Alexa.com

As the SpiritFlash disclaimer states, the videos on its website don't necessarily reflect the opinions or official stand of the Adventist church and is not guaranteed to be correct, accurate, complete, or up to date.

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/

Adventist MySpace?

We all know what MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga are. We don't even say: "Myspace.com" 'cause we all know where to find it. The General Conference Youth department is working on a social networking website for Adventist youth. They want to make a place without bad ads or bad content. A place where you can click to find out what the church is doing for us, what volunteer project are going on, etc.., all in the same site.

The idea is still an idea, and hasn't been made into a website. The department would like to know if anyone would be interested and if they'd switch from their MySpace or Facebook to this new one... You can find out more information on the project by going to the World Youth Ministries Director's blog. Oh and you could also win a free iPod Shuffle...

Perhaps in a couple of years we'll also call this new website by its first name! ;)

Awesome sites

Here are some of the websites that we think are especially awesome. Check 'em out! Note: A Sabbath Blog is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Adventist Church Official Website
Official website for the Adventist World Church

Adventist News Network
Official news agency of the Adventist church

NAD Youth Ministries
North American Division Youth Ministries Department

Adventist Development and Relief Agency
Helping people in need, all around the world, no matter who they are.

A Sabbath Blog Videos
Christian videos hosted on YouTube

Bible Info
Bible Info's got answers to your Bible questions

Center for Youth Evangelism
Its name pretty much sums it up...

Envision Magazine
A Christian magazine run by students at Andrews University.

2014 "Forever Faithful" Intl. Pathfinder Camporee
The largest Pathfinder camporee camps again in 2014

General Conference Youth Ministries
General Conference Youth Ministries Department

Generation of Youth for Christ
Equipping young people to be ambassadors for Christ

Ground 7 News
Official news podcast for the Adventist Church

Guide Magazine Online
Guide Magazine is for kids ages 10-14

Insight Magazine
No really.... they've actually got insight

Presentruth
Sharing the Present Truth of Salvation

Screen Smart
Guide Magazine's movie reviews so you too can be screen smart!

theFlow
Insight Magazine's social networking site

What We Believe
Seventh-Day Adventist beliefs

Your Story Hour
"Hey Mom, Dad, Sis! Your Story Hour's on!"

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