One year ago today, Jamaicans rejoiced when a religious leader was elevated to the highest office in the land.
Simultaneously, an almost equal number of detractors voiced concerns about how a high-ranking Seventh-day Adventist official would adapt to serving a nation largely comprising Sunday worshippers. Was the prime minister making a colossal mistake in such an appointment?

Jamaica’s Nigel Coke (left), communication director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Indies Union (WIU), receiving a special award as top performer among counterparts in the 19 unions making up the Inter-American Division (IAD) of the SDA Church.

He retired last November after 44 years of preaching the Christian gospel, but Seventh-day Adventist pastor Donald Ezekiel Kent has no intention of slowing down.

Central Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists launched their series of conventions at Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church on Sunday, January 16, 2010. Despite the lack of electricity, due to a power outage, the congregation was electrified by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of Dr. Enel Hall, Vice President of West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

The Cross Keys Seventh-day Adventist Company became the 175th organized church in the Central Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on Saturday January 16, 2010. This was a tremendous achievement, as the church was only started less than two years ago, under the leadership and preaching of Pastor Wayne Palmer, Pastor of the Newport District of Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Manchester.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Indies Union with headquarters in Mandeville, Jamaica has donated US$10,000.00 and is calling upon its members in the more than 735 congregations in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands, to support a collection drive to assist the thousands affected by the devastating earthquake, which rocked Haiti on Tuesday January 12.

Dr Andel Bailey, chair, Math and Engineering Department, Northern Caribbean University (NCU), explained that the software opens a world of endless possibilities. Engineering students at NCU will not only benefit from the development of a world-class department, but will also be given the tools to change not only Jamaica, but the world.

This in-kind software grant strengthens the University’s efforts towards nation building. Jamaica needs its people to be seriously engaged in manufacturing, designing, and inventing.

The diagnosis has been painfully prophetic. But for six months of therapy at the Mona Rehabilitation Centre, Simone has been home where she is cared for by family and brethren from the Gordon Town Seventh-day Adventist Church, where she is a member.

“They come here every Sabbath for me, pray for me, encourage me,” she said.

“The Constitution states that we are not to discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, etc., but there is nothing to say one cannot discriminate because of a disability, and even in the newly proposed Charter of Rights, this hasn’t been stated,” added Johns, a Seventh-day Adventist, who has tutored disabled students. She also participates in Hands in Ministry, a church sign-language group, which caters to deaf congregants.

WITHOUT parental supervision and with countless opportunities to party, university campuses provide a hotbed of distractions for the Christian student. Still, the Seventh-day Adventist fraternity, Advent Fellowship, thrives.

Apart from providing a spiritually stimulating environment for Seventh-day Adventists, the group undertakes a number of outreach projects on and off the campuses of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Technology in Kingston, where it has operated for more than 40 years.

Remember the ‘Generosity Week’ that was launched by the Seventh-day Adventists on November 1, 2009? Yes, man! I did mention it in this column about three weeks ago! The initiative bore much fruit which I will share with you later. Pastor Adrian Cotterell and his teams of generosity advocates visited many communities across the island and expressed generosity in some real, tangible ways. They visited infirmaries, golden age homes, children’s homes, The Women’s Crisis Centre, etc., where they distributed toiletries and lots of other goodies that continue to brighten the lives of these residents.

This young Seventh-day Adventist, along with his friend, Jermaine, didn’t care much what would happen to them. Instead, their immediate objective was to help. According to the Bible, the Sabbath was made by God to remind man of his creation and God’s grace for his people. So on that fateful Saturday morning Kareem and Jermaine responded to the need for help from the river’s chilling waters.