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The North American Division mourns the passing of Elder Robert Stanley Folkenberg, former president of the General Conference. He served in several capacities as pastor, conference secretary, conference president, before becoming president of the Carolina Conference in the NAD in 1985, where he was serving when elected president of the General Conference at the 1990 GC Session. His great passion was sharing the gospel through evangelism and mission. Upon retirement in 1999 he founded and developed the ShareHim ministry for which the goal is to empower and mobilize lay persons to be active in a lifestyle of evangelism. He died at 1:35 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24, surrounded by his family at his home in Winter Haven, Fla. A memorial service will be held Jan. 10 in Avon Park, Fla. In lieu of flowers, the Folkenberg family welcomes donations to ShareHim. MORE    Oakwood University was recently named a "Best Value University" in the state of Alabama by Best Value Schools and was rated in the top 30 of the Historically Black Colleges in the U.S. for 2016.     Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas, was ranked No. 3 in a list of 63 safest colleges in Texas, according to a report by Cleburne Times Review.     Adventist Community Services Disaster Relief (ACS DR) is responding following strong storms in northern Texas on Sabbath, Dec. 26, in which three Adventist families, among others, lost their homes (learn more). The ACS DR response is being led by the Dallas Area ACS DR Coordinator Monique Monroe. MORE South Central Conference ACS DR team, led by Central Ala. ACS DR Coordinator Veronica Edwards-Johnson, is on the ground working the aftermath of the tornado that hit the southwest area of Birmingham, Ala. on Dec. 25. MORE Cleanup kits are needed. ACS is asking that monetary donations be made in order to save money since they can get better prices on items in bulk than individual groups can, especially when the heavy kits have to be shipped to the location. Financial donations to help in the response can be sent directly to Texas ACS at P.O. Box 25, Keene, Texas 76959, for the Texas relief effort, or you can donate online for both Texas and Ala. MORE If churches or organizations would like to create Cleanup Kits to have on hand locally for emergency use in case of a disaster in your area, use the Cleanup Kit list of supplies.     A new Compassion Movement website has been created by the NAD Ministerial Department to help facilitate the new NAD initiative for 2016, "Compassion and Hope." Throughout 2016, the second weekend of every month will be designated as a Compassion Weekend, and members will be encouraged to reach out with acts of compassion, especially on these weekends, but also throughout the entire month. Check out the new website at http://compassionmovement.org/. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those killed in the automobile accident in Escondido, Calif. Dec. 20. The dead include four Seventh-day Adventists, three of them from one family, who were members of the Loma Linda Indonesian Seventh-day Adventist Church. Three other family members were hospitalized due to injuries. They were originally from North Sumatra. MORE   Premature babies, mothers at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville inspire girl to give Homeless community pays respects Community warming center to open Jan. 4 in Lakeport  Gifts help soften hospital stays for patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center Gordon Hospital Employees Donate their Christmas Gifts LOMA LINDA: Four Inland residents killed in Escondido crash Acts of kindness are common, welcome at this time of year    The first Compassion Weekend of 2016 is here. Join hundreds of thousands of Adventists of all ages, in 6,000 churches across division in showing the love of God and the compassion of Jesus in practical ways, during our first "official" Compassion Weekend in North America. Even if your church has not planned a "Day of Compassion" for this weekend, make sure to reach out to someone personally or with your family. Every second weekend of every month is Compassion Weekend. Begin to plan for February and the rest of the year. Find a list of compassionate ideas on the new Compassion Movement website.    Online registration for the Emotional Wellness Summit in Orlando, Fla. ends tonight at 11:59 pm, EST. The summit, Jan. 13-17, is designed for health professionals and leaders, pastors, and anyone who wants to know more about prevention, treatment and recovery strategies for better mental health. Information will be evidence-based and wholistic, highlighting the role of faith communities in the community. If you want your congregation or clinical practice to be relevant and able to address current mental and behavioral health issues, you will want to attend. MORE     January 17-23 will be Religious Liberty Week and the NAD Religious Liberty offering will be collected on Jan. 24. Resource materials are being mailed to each church in NAD this month. The offering will sponsor Liberty magazine subscriptions to high-level government officials, federal, state, and provincial judges, and prominent social and religious leaders throughout the division. It will also be used to support the NAD litigation fund used for defending and preserving your religious liberty rights in court when necessary. A portion is returned to local unions to aid in religious liberty promotion and education.    The 2016 SONscreen Film Festival will be held in Chantilly, Va., Mar. 31 - Apr. 2. Registration is now open!  If you are a student filmmaker, SONscreen 2016 is also now accepting submissions. A limited number of professional entries will also be accepted for exhibition. Register here. Submit your film here. Like SONscreen on Facebook.  MORE   Loma Linda University Health’s national TV show, “Life on the Line,” will air nationwide every Tuesday in Jan. on WORLD Channel at 7:00 p.m. EST. The shows provide an inspiring look into Loma Linda's mission to further the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ. Find out if you have WORLD Channel by entering your ZIP code here. MORE   LIVE IT: The new online health show from Loma Linda University Health (LLUH) was just launched on January 1. The first episode was on “Nuts” (which is also available on YouTube where you can subscribe to the LLUH YouTube Channel). The next episode will be posted on Friday, Jan. 8 and it will be about Reusable Grocery Bags. Watch the show to learn how they can affect your health. Schedule of episodes. Follow LLUH on Facebook and share their updates and videos. You can tell your friends it's from the place where people live the longest in the nation. Read the study about Walnuts and Healthy Aging.    Learn about the Five Resolutions You Forgot to Make  - provided by Adventist Risk Management. MORE   Keeping our children in the church is one of the best secrets of building a strong and continually growing church. An Adventist education is integral to this endeavor. Many small churches are unable to have a church school for lack of enough children and members. Have you considered a Summer Day Camp? Families with younger children are always looking for good ways to take care of their kids when school lets out. If you would like to consider this idea, the Youth Ministries Department has a Day Camp Handbook to help you get started. Available at AdventSource.      There has to be a different approach...   "You've been there; we don't get much sleep. And we certainly don't have time to study the lesson every day... And it's not being a parent; we just don't find the discussion relevant to our lives. There has to be a different approach." - Julio Munoz in his article, "Finding Community, Diversity, and Acceptance - Reimagining Sabbath school for the twenty-first century," in the May 2016 issue of NAD Adventist World. What do you think? How can we help young parents who are struggling to get something out of Sabbath school and church after sleepless nights and squirmy Sabbaths with young children? Does your church or Sabbath school use an idea that works? Email your Views to NewsPoints@nad.adventist.org. (Please tell us your age group and number of children when you write.)  [Photo: iStock/Todor Tsvetkov]   For Sharing!  Did you know God designed families? Marriage was divinely established in Eden and affirmed by Jesus to be a lifelong union between a man and a woman in loving companionship. For the Christian a marriage commitment is to God as well as to the spouse, and should be entered into only between partners who share a common faith. Mutual love, honor, respect, and responsibility are the fabric of this relationship, which is to reflect the love, sanctity, closeness, and permanence of the relationship between Christ and His church....  MORE Watch the 90: second video on Vimeo.  People want to know what Seventh-day Adventists believe. Each topic on the My Way to Jesus website links to a video, an invitation to study the Bible, the Find-a-Church Directory, a link for kids to My Place with Jesus, a place to send prayer requests, and more. You can easily post the videos and information on your church website and/or share the updates from the My Way to Jesus Facebook page. Learn how. January 7, 2016 NAD Initiative for 2016: Compassion and Hope   Part of the Transformational Evangelism Building Block   Apr. 16, 17, Day of Hope and Compassion The 2nd weekend of every month will automatically be a Compassion Weekend. Plan for it every month throughout the year to do acts of compassion, especially on these weekends, but better yet, every day.  Days of Compassion: January 9/10 February 13/14 March 12/13 April 9/10 May 14/15 June 11/12 July 9/10 August 13/14 September 10/11 October 8/9 November 12/13 December 10/11 Learn about funding for a Compassion Model Church in each conference.       Special Days   January Focus: Friendship Evangelism Jan. 17-23, Religious Liberty Week February Focus: Family Life Feb. 6-27, Black History Month Feb. 13, Christian Marriage Sabbath Feb. 13, Health Ministries Sabbath Feb. 13-20, Christian Home and Marriage Week Feb. 20, Christian Parenting Sabbath Offerings   January Offerings Jan. 23, Religious Liberty February Offerings Feb. 13, Adventist Television Ministries   Helpful Special Day Websites and Resources Sample Offertory Readings (in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French)   Jan. 13-17, Emotional Wellness Summit Feb. 12, Marriage Vows: Living the Commitment  Feb. 17-20, Just Claim It Youth Prayer Conference Feb. 19-20, Making Love Last - Married Couples' Retreat Feb. 24-28, GAiN - Global Adventist Internet Network Conference Mar. 26, Safety Sabbath Apr. 2-4, SONscreen Film Festival Apr. 2-9, La Voz de la Esperanza NET via Esperanza TV (in Spanish) Apr. 3-8, Tour de Youth, "The Big Easy" Apr. 16, 17, Day of Hope and Compassion Apr. 18-21, Nonprofit Leadership Convention, Session 1 Apr. 24-27, HR Conference & Secretariat Council, Minneapolis, Minn. Apr. 27-30, Your Best Pathway to Health/Los Angeles   Apr. 29 - May 1, Oregon Men's Summit May13-16, World Congress for Deaf & Deaf-Blind July 21-23, Adventist Conference on Family Research and Practice Aug. 3-6, ASI 2016 Convention Sept. 7-10, Adventist Community Services Convention, Gladstone, Ore. Sept. 28-Oct., Health Summit Canada Oct. 10-13, Nonprofit Leadership Convention, Session 2 Oct. 13-15, Society of Adventist Communicators Convention Nov. 18-19, HE SAID GO Missions Conference 2017: Jan. 8-11, 2017 - Adventist Ministries Convention, Tucson, AZ   Adventist World/ NAD Edition January, 2016   NAD Feature: From Karachi to California, by Jane Allen Quevedo, p. 36 NAD News: Adventist Conducts Community Benefit Concert, Community Joins to Support Syrian Refugees, Craving God on Campus, p. 10 NAD Update: Called to Collaborate - Catching the vision of cooperative action, p. 14 NAD Perspective: The Path Ahead, by Daniel R. Jackson p.17   Daily Prayer Guide Month of January, 2016:   Pray for the Atlantic Union, in which there are 579 churches and 116,252 members.                 Jan. 10-16 – This coming week, please pray for the Northeastern Conference with 179 churches and 55,554  members. Download the 2016 NAD Prayer Calendar Guide   Share This Newsletter

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