Thandazani Mhlanga is a pastor in the British Columbia Conference, and also serves as a hospital chaplain. Through his passion for humanity he notices how Canadian society has mastered the art of virtue & moral signaling. This mismatch of saying the right thing but not doing the right action shows that the church may not be ready to embrace all people. Thandazani reflects on Jesus’ sermon on the mount, noting that Christ’s words were, “blessed are the peacemakers,” not “blessed are the peace talkers.” In his media channels, Never Black and White and Inspired Passions, Thandazani aims to show the beauty of truly seeing people. 

Dr. Melodie Roschman is a writer, academic, and the daughter of an Adventist pastor. Her ongoing research focuses on the intersection of popular culture and gender with right wing American Christianity. In our conversation, she reflects on her experiences as a young queer woman growing up in the Adventist church in Canada, as well as the links she sees between her personal experience and research. We talk about the relationship between personal and group identity, and ask questions of how we collectively navigate differences while struggling to agree on fundamental definitions.

Paul Llewellyn is the president of the Adventist Church in Canada. Coming from a teaching & youth ministry background, he shares about how the most important jobs of the church are the local pastors and teachers. Paul highlights the need for cultural understanding in ministry, along with the challenges of the Church in Canada being a small but significant part of the North American Division. Describing how the importance of focusing on Jesus and not getting distracted by other issues must be maintained for effective ministry.

David Hayward pastored in Eastern Canada for 30 years. During which he noticed a growing desire to be more open about spirituality and to empower people away from spiritual dependency. This evolved into his creator's title of NakedPastor. Called such because David seeks to tell the naked truth, no matter how vulnerable it feels. During our conversation he shares more about the role of open dialogue through art aimed at activating Jesus’ message of “my burden is light.”

To check out more, find NakedPastor at

(web) nakedpastor.com

(Instagram) @nakedpastor

Books: The Liberation of Sophia

Without a Vision My People Prosper  

(Spectrum book review)

Dr. Loren Agrey is the current president of Burman University, located in central Alberta, Canada. He shares about his journey from being a teacher, to a principal, then into higher educational teaching and academic administration and ultimately to now leading the only Adventist university in Canada. Dr. Agrey highlights the immeasurable resolve of early Adventists in starting the school, along with current challenges it faces. He also details the unique ways Burman U offers advantages to students, Adventist and non-Adventists alike.

Dr. Loren's webpage:

https://www.burmanu.ca/directory/loren-agrey

Spectrum is excited to launch a new podcast series called Adventist, eh? With host Kevin McCarty. This Canadian based series seeks to engage in conversations about the spiritual and cultural landscape of the Great White North. Guests include Adventists and non-Adventists who bring various unique views on what it means to be religiously minded in Canada. 

Kevin is a staff member at Spectrum who is a regular host on Adventist Voices, along with his first series called Integrating Self. He completed his undergraduate degree in educational and social studies at Trinity Western University, having also attended both Walla Walla University and Burman University. Since then, he has held various jobs, including youth work and teaching. Along with experiences in preaching and being a church board member. Next he then graduated with his masters in Indigenous and Interreligious Studies from the Vancouver School of Theology, a Christian ecumenical seminary in British Columbia. Kevin is currently working towards his second master's degree pastoral leadership along with his certification as a spiritual care practitioner. His Spectrum page can be found here. 

JustLove Collective's co-leaders, Chris Blake, retired pastor and educator, and Dr. Dilys Brooks, campus chaplain at Loma Linda University, share the beginnings of this movement to bring about social change through the context of Adventism. They note how Jesus' life was filled with both love and justice, a model that is rooted deeply in neighborly love. JustLove Collective is a non-profit, international gathering of Adventist activists dedicated to bringing people from all walks of life together for a deep encounter that leads to action.

Check out JustLove's Website and the latest issue of Pulse Magazine.

Amy Leach discusses her new book, The Salt of the Universe: Praise, Songs, and Improvisations (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2024). We discuss freedom, fundamentalism, and the Ellen White/Ted Wilson prohibition of pickles. 

Leach grew up in Texas and earned her MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in The Best American Essays, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and numerous other publications. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, and a Pushcart Prize. She is also the author of Things That Are (Milkweed 2012) and The Everybody Ensemble (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2021). She lives in Montana. 

From Australia, Signs Publishing Book Editor Nathan Brown talks about his latest book, Do Not Be Afraid, the Adventist adult daily devotional for 2025. Inspired by Jesus’s repeated comforting words and his own graduate research, Brown “reminds us that even in a world drowning in fears, we can rise above them and live lives characterized by courage and confidence.” We also explore his two decade career as a prolific man of letters and his new activist work with the JustLove Collective. 

A BFA graduate of Southern Adventist University, Darcie Denton is a 25-year-old artist from the Chattanooga area who has had three solo shows and exhibited various works throughout the U.S. Her artwork revolves around themes of sacredness, memory, gratitude, and beauty, and she explores these through paint, print and other traditional media, as well as video documentation of her life experience. A part of the Passionfroot.co, Darcie shares her work and life to an online audience of over 80,000 followers. Her work is on the cover of the next issue of the Spectrum journal.

https://www.darciedenton.com/about

https://www.instagram.com/passionfroot.co/