Adventist Voices by Spectrum: The Journal of the Adventist Forum

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/

Daniel Weber was the Communication Director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America and is now chair of the Dept. of Visual Art, Communication and Design at Andrews University.

We debate about the value and propriety of Adventists making public declarations about their political views, particularly candidate support. In addition, we discuss the history and meaning of Adventist social values, particularly separation of church and state.

Hot off the co-publication of our article with the Miami-Herald on 3ABN, its author, Alva James-Johnson, an award-winning journalist, talks behind the scenes on the story as well as how she become a reporter. We learn about her first publication for Insight magazine, her early work as a beat reporter, why she teaches at Southern Adventist University now, and why she thinks that seeking truth as an Adventist includes asking journalistic questions.

Retired teacher Janice Jensen, a longtime supporter of Spectrum (Advisory Council), recently published a memoir about losing her nine-year old son to drowning and how that changed her in many way, including her beliefs. Now a grief-recovery volunteer faciliator, Janice talks about heartbreak and how she supported her daughter and devastated husband as they struggled to rebuild their lives together. She has taught in Syria, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Oregon and Washington. Her 2024 book, One Ripple at a Time (She Writes Press) also explores how Janice’s solo visits to over 70 countries caused her to abandon dogma and find new meaning in water, movement, and spirituality.

I talk with Greg Kewdar about his film Sing Sing which will probably be nominated for the Academy Awards. It stars Coleman Domingo plays Divine G, an innocent man incarcerated at the New York prison. He is part of the longstanding Rehabilitation Through the Arts program and it's the men who create in this space that bring the story of conflict and redemption to life.