Family Celebration Sabbath Convenes on Andrews University Campus

By Alexis A. Goring, Editorial Assistant, NAD Family Ministries

Family Celebration Sabbath (FCS) took place at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on the campus of Andrews University on July 20 and 21.

The weekend schedule included presentations by Dr. David Taylor, from the School of Religion at Loma Linda University, and Drs. Dick and Jo Ann Davidson who are professors at the Seminary. Dr. Allan Martin, the new professor of discipleship and family ministry at the Seminary, gave outstanding leadership to this new event.

During closing ceremonies two prestigious awards were given to Dr. Jane Thayer, retiring director of Religious Education at the Seminary. In honor of her many years of dedicated service to Family Ministries, Dr. Thayer received the Distinguished Service Award from North American Division (NAD) Family Ministries and the Spaulding Award from General Conference (GC) Family Ministries.

FCS is the successor of Adventist Family Conference. It was developed to strengthen the networking opportunities between Family Ministries and the Doctor of Ministry in Family Ministry cohort as well as individuals pursuing the graduate certificate in Family Life Education. We congratulate the following eight persons who completed their graduate certificate in July 2007 and received certificates during the closing ceremonies. The names of the graduates are: Sun Jung Cho, Sherry Galvez, Hyun Young Jeong, Su Jin Kang, Zelda Felix-Mottley, R. Elaine Myers, Deborah Rivera, and Leslie White.

Co-sponsors of FCS include the Religious Education Program at the Seminary, the Adventist Association of Family Life Professionals, AdventSource, and the Departments of Family Ministries for the GC and NAD.

FCS will continue as an annual event on the campus of Andrews University, open to the Berrien Springs and Campus communities, as well as to our Family Ministries Network across North America.

Photos from the weekend's events are available here.