Haitian Earthquake: What's Happening So Far

The Haitian National Palace --destroyed by the earthquake. Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images. Source: CNN
In case you haven't already heard, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday, January 12. It is the strongest earthquake to hit Haiti in over 200 years.

Officials fear that tens of thousands of people may be dead, however no one knows for sure. According to the Associated Press, there are dead bodies all over the streets: from the very young next to their schools, to the older with stunned expressions frozen on their faces. Damaged roads and fallen buildings are making it difficult to send relief where most needed.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is responding to the earthquake. Right now the most urgent needs are "water purification supplies, food, temporary shelter materials, hygiene kits, and medical assistance." ADRA says it plans on providing access to clean water to an estimated 90,000 people a day.

You can give the people the help they desperately need by donating to ADRA's Haiti Earthquake Response Fund. ADRA is needing to raise $500,000 in the next 7 days.

The Adventist Church has several institutions in Haiti. Most of the church's large institutions, such as its hospital and university, are based in Carrefour, a city on the southern outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Although Carrefour is not close to Delmas, church leaders are waiting to hear more about potential damage to those institutions as well.

Inter-American church leaders say they are hoping to have more information tomorrow. So far, the church's headquarters in Haiti have suffered no structural damages, according to local church officials.

The earthquake also delayed a volunteer project from a church in the United States that partners with a Haitian orphanage. A group of 31 church members from the New Hope Adventist Church in Fulton, Maryland last night canceled their week-long trip to the Eden Garden Orphanage, 60 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince.

Needless to say, please keep everyone in Haiti in your prayers. U.S. citizens seeking information about family members in Haiti can call the State Department Operations Center at 1-888-407-4747.

Video (below) shows the dust from destruction that hangs over Port-Au-Prince:


Sources: Adventist News Network, CNN, ADRA | Legal Info

GYC 2009 Unashamed Conference

Can't make it to this year's GYC conference or missed a nightly meeting? Watch it live here! Event schedule.

Below the video feed, we've also included a real-time Twitter stream from the event.

This live stream of the GYC 2009 "Unashamed" event is being streamed from the GYC's Ustream webpage available here.

Video: "Unashamed" GYC 2009 Promo

Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) is an Adventist grassroots movement led by young adults and youth across the United States. Besides regional and local chapters, GYC also holds an annual nationwide conference where attendees get equipped to better share Jesus in their home towns or wherever they may be.

This year’s conference will be held in Louisville, KY and the theme is “Unashamed” based on Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…”

List of speakers, seminars, and event schedule. (PDF)

Jesus' Surprise Birthday Party

The Florida Hospital Church asks, "If you threw a surprise party for Jesus, what would it be like?"

By the way, we wanna wish you a very Merry Christmas! Hope it's a happy one filled with lots of warm memories!

-- The youth at A Sabbath Blog

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?

The Live Nativity

From the people behind "God's Chisel," this hilarious video follows a nativity scene actor who takes his role way too seriously!

Video and copyright by The Skit Guys (www.skitguys.com).

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 »

"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.

This article continues. Keep reading »

2014 Forever Faithful Camporee Ticket Sales Open Today

Today (November 26), ticket sales open for the 2014 Forever Faithful International Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The previous international Pathfinder camporee (Courage to Stand) had over 36,000 people in attendance. Forever Faithful is expected to have over 40,000 people from over 60 countries.

Forever Faithful Website

Watch "Courage to Stand" Camporee This Week on TV

You can watch the Courage to Stand International Pathfinder Camporee night time programs on the Hope Channel this week.

Air times:

Hope Channel
• November 22-26 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. EST.
• November 26 from 3:00-8:00 p.m. EST
• If you are a DirecTV customer, you can view on channel 368.

Hope Channel International
• November 22-26 from 10:00-11:00 and again from 18:00-19:00

Hope Channel Europe
• November 22-26 from 23:00-00:00 (November 27)

You can also watch it online: www.hopetv.org

More posts about the 2009 Camporee.