Record Wrap

Hello, and welcome to Record Wrap, the Adventist Record news podcast. It's Tuesday, March 12. I'm Juliana Muniz
and I'm Danelle Stothers

On this week's episode: find out who the new Tasmanian conference CFO is.
A 100 day prayer journey launches in Papa. New Guinea ahead of major evangelistic initiative, PNG for Christ.
And we'll look into how the South Pacific Division has been increasing its online presence to boost the public's awareness of the church. But first Danelle, what's making headlines this week.

Adventist music fans can listen to a range of hymns and sacred music through an app called MusicVerse. Launched during COVID-19 by a Bible worker and her team. MusicVerse was designed to make it easy to discover new music. With more than 35,000 downloads from 216 countries. MusicVerse is available for iOS and Android. The app features a free version and a premium option. With all profits used to fund Bible work programs in Southeast Asia.

Adventist in Brazil are responding to the dengue epidemic, which is challenging health systems across the country. 512,000 cases and hundreds of deaths have been reported so far as a result of the mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.
In the state of Paraná, a group of Adventists recently brought some relief to people in waiting lines at a public local health unit.
The volunteers distributed free, healthy snacks, juice, and cookies, along with copies of the great controversy book. The superintendent of the emergency care unit, Ana Vieira, thanked the volunteers saying the group helped improve the mood among patients After they had something to eat.
And in health news, researchers have made a breakthrough in treating mesothelioma. A, cancer linked to asbestos exposure. A new drug has shown promising results extending survival rates significantly. This development represents a major advance in the fight against one of the most aggressive cancers with trials involving patients from multiple countries, including Australia.

In Tasmania, the local conference is welcoming. Kelvin Wood as the new CFO, . His appointment comes as previous CFO, pastor Cosmin Dan-Marica accepted a call to local church ministry in Queensland.
Tasmanian Conference president, pastor Rick Hergenhan welcomed Mr Wood and thanked Pastor Dan-Marica for his seven years of dedication to that role.
Mr Wood has a diverse professional background and 14 years of experience in finance for the education sector—four of those in Adventist education on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. He steps into the role with a commitment to stewardship and the spirit of service supported by his family. Mr Woods is married to Pam and they have five children and seven grandchildren.

Papua New Guinea is embarking on a 100-day prayer journey in the lead up to the upcoming PNG for Christ evangelism campaign. The call for prayer follows recent civil unrest and violence in the country.
According to PNGUM president Pastor Malachi Yani, protocols have been put in place to manage the safety of all international speakers. Leaders note that the tribal violence occurred in an area of PNG that no international speakers will be going to.
More than 200 preachers from around the South Pacific Division are participating in PNG for Christ, which runs from April 26 to may 11. In the lead up to the campaign, a health clinic will be held from April 16 to 19 supported by Adventist World Radio, 10,000 Toes and Ellia Wellness.

The Adventist Church in the South Pacific is launching new platforms to increase visibility and engage the public . From social media to a revamped website, the new platforms aimed to highlight the churches, community and humanitarian efforts, SPD communication director, Tracey Bridcutt, emphasised importance of the platforms to connect with a broader audience and showcase the positive impact of Adventists in the South Pacific.

We have Tracey with us today to tell us more about these new platforms and how church members can better use them.
Tracey, can you tell us more about the strategy behind these digital platforms?
Yes. Thank you, Juliana.
Two years ago, we did some research at the South Pacific Division to find out the awareness of the church in the local community. And the statistics came back quite confronting actually. We found that most people, the large majority of people have no awareness of the church. And they do not understand what we believe and thirdly, they don't have any understanding of what community impact we're having. was quite a challenge, but with challenges comes opportunities. So the vision behind, , the new website is to, , basically raise awareness of the church and particularly some of the amazing things we're doing in the community. We know that the schools are , busy doing lots of outreach. We've got our health. There's plenty of activities in that space. And our local churches are also busy doing many things, but we've never had a platform before, which is put all these community impact stories together. So one of the aims of this new website is to have a bank of stories where we can direct people to to find out exactly what's happening at the church. What we believe, there's opportunities to ask for prayer. Find a local church. But most importantly it is to show, this is what we are doing in the community. We are relevant. And we are helping a lot of people in many areas.
You're also doing some work on social media. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Yes. So we've launched several different platforms. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. And we are also sharing the community impact stories on those platforms. And from those platforms, we're pointing people to our website where they can get some more information and more great stories.
Can church members collaborate with content for any of those platforms?
Yes, absolutely. We are keen for. members to get involved.
We constantly need to update and refresh our platforms with new content. And we'd encourage churches members, anyone who's making an impact out there to get in touch with us through communications_SPD@adventist.org.au.

And that wraps up this week's episode of Record Wrap. Thank you for tuning in.
Don't forget to visit our website at record.Adventistchurch.com and follow us on social media for more updates and stories. You can also receive news straight to your inbox by subscribing to our weekly e-newsletter.
We'll be back next week with more news from around the south Pacific division. See you then.