From Oct 25 to Nov 1, the North American Division (NAD) of the Seventh-day Adventist church held their end of year meeting in Washington, D.C. Senior marketing major and ASB president, Anthony Gann, was in attendance as the student representative of Union College and Union College president, Dr. Vinita Sauder, attended as the faculty representative. Other student association presidents and faculty representatives of the other Adventist colleges were also in attendance.
The purpose of the meeting was for representatives from all the colleges to speak with the leadership of the churches, conferences and the NAD as a voice for the different generations and schools. Meetings were held throughout the week that focused on various topics ranging from women’s ordination to background checks for church volunteers.
Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) is a business ministry that works with companies to show Christ to the marketplace through marketing, advertising and communication to the younger generation. Discussions with the Vice President of Education, Larry Blackmer, were also held on how to improve Adventist college education, incorporate public schools and integrate scholastic sports into the schools as well.
Meetings with the NAD president, Dan Jackson, focused on the large issue of why young people leave the church as well as how the church can work to prevent it from happening.
Talks on how the Adventist institutions can work together in terms of unity came up quite a few times. Oakwood University, Andrews University and Southern University have experienced racial tensions in the past, so improving communication among all the colleges is the first step in the right direction.
Although Union won’t be seeing anything immediately, changes for the future are happening that will affect us in the long run. “With an organization this big, changes are going to be slow,” comments Gann. “Even if there isn’t anything immediate, whatever is happening in the future is going to be beneficial for not only our campus, but as a whole denomination.”
The entire trip was a great time to be able to get together will the other student presidents from Adventist Colleges and communicate with one another. Being able to collaborate on different ideas that will help out the various campuses and the students was most beneficial. “At the end of the day we’re all one big family in the Adventist faith,” comments Gann. “We would all like to see more unity and support from one another and it starts with us since we are the future of the church.” Overall, the entire trip was based on the long-running idea of unity not only for now but for the future of the church.
To continue supporting the other schools, Anthony will be making a trip in December down to Oakwood University. They will be having an event titled, “Let’s Talk”, similar to the event “Is This Thing On?” our campus held last year, that will focus on the racial issues that the college was facing. Dan Jackson and student association presidents will also be in attendance.

From Oct 25 to Nov 1, the North American Division (NAD) of the Seventh-day Adventist church held their end of year meeting in Washington, D.C. Senior marketing major and ASB president, Anthony Gann, was in attendance as the student representative of Union College and Union College president, Dr. Vinita Sauder, attended as the faculty representative, along with the student association presidents and faculty representatives of the other Adventist colleges.

The purpose of the trip was for representatives from all the colleges to speak with the leadership of the churches, conferences and the NAD as a voice for our generation and school. Meetings were held throughout the week that focused on various topics ranging from women’s ordination to background checks for church volunteers.

Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) is a business ministry that works with companies to show Christ to the marketplace through marketing, advertising and communication to the younger generation. Discussions with the Vice President of Education, Larry Blackmer, were also held on how to improve Adventist college education, incorporate public schools and integrate scholastic sports into the schools as well. Meetings with the NAD president, Dan Jackson, focused on the large issue of why young people leave the church. As well as how the church can work to prevent it from happening.

Talks on how the Adventist institutions can work together in terms of unity came up quite a few times. Oakwood University, Andrews University and Southern University have experienced racial tensions in the past, so bridging the gap between the problems and improving communication among all the colleges is the first step in the right direction. Although Union won’t be seeing anything immediately, changes for the future are happening that will affect us in the long run. “With an organization this big, changes are going to be slow,” comments Gann. “Even if there isn’t anything immediate, whatever is happening in the future is going to be beneficial for not only our campus, but as a whole denomination.”

The entire trip was a great time to be able to get together will the other student presidents from Adventist Colleges and communicate with one another. Being able to collaborate on different ideas that will help out the various campuses and the students was most beneficial. “At the end of the day we’re all one big family in the Adventist faith,” comments Gann. “We would all like to see more unity and support from one another and it starts with us since we are the future of the church.” Overall, the entire trip was based on the long-running idea of unity not only for now but for the future of the church.

To continue supporting the other schools, Anthony will be making a trip in December down to Oakwood University. They will be having an event titled, “Let’s Talk”, similar to the event “Is This Thing On?” our campus held sometime last year, that will focus on the racial issues that the college was facing. Dan Jackson and student association presidents will also be in attendance.

Caroline Guchu is a junior studying communications.

End of Year NAD Meeting

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