Adventist Voices by Spectrum: The Journal of the Adventist Forum

On March 27, 2024, “Testament: Story of Moses” premiered on Netflix. Spectrum correspondent Kevin McCarty interviews series producer Kelly McPherson about the docudrama approach. By using a docudrama (documentary and drama) approach, the viewer is led through the Exodus account in a vivid fashion, while also receiving wisdoms and insights from passionate scholars, theologians, and historians. These speakers represent all three traditions that hold Moses as a prophet, being the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths.

By engaging with the story in this manner, McPherson hopes to cause emotional responses in the viewer. For those who may not already know the story to see the enduring quality of it, showing why it still speaks to something within us to this day. And to add new layers and surprises for those who think they might know this epic story.

Grounded in the humanness of Moses, this fresh look into one of the most epic stories of all time brings together many elements of storytelling in a new way. The result is an incredible journey for both newcomers and those returning to Moses’ story.

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Historian and retired university president Eric Anderson discusses next steps after the Ellen White working conference last fall at Pacific Union College. He discusses the meanings behind the joint statement and makes an argument that appreciating her writing as devotional offers Adventists a way forward.

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This is the third in a three-part series on Sex, Love, and Purity Culture. This episode focuses on next steps in growth and development past Purity Culture. Sofia, Ari, and Kendra are joined by Ezrica Bennett, who graduated with a BS in Biology from Oakwood University. She recently received a Princeton University grant for her ministry work with young adults at Loma Linda University Church.

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This is the second in a three-part series on Sex, Love, and Purity Culture. This episode focuses on the creation of purity culture as well as the history and political ideology behind it. Sofia, Ari, and Melodie are joined by Christina Cannon, who studied at Wycliffe Hall/ University of Oxford and graduated in 2023 in the Scholars Program at Southern Adventist University with a BA in History.

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This begins a three-episode conversation about the history, theology, and personal impact of purity culture. Although rooted in socioreligious mores that pre-date the term, purity culture emerged in the 1990s as an evangelical Christian cultural movement. It continues to influence Seventh-day Adventist understandings of dating and marriage, sexual expression and gender identity as well as female modesty and male headship.

This limited series, “Sex, Love, and Purity Culture,” introduces our next-gen video podcast called Youth Group which seeks “to look without prejudice at all sides of a subject, to evaluate the merits of diverse views, and to foster intellectual and cultural growth.” That is also a quote from the founding mission statement written on the opening page of the inaugural issue of a journal named Spectrum over fifty years ago. That commitment to creating community through conversation continues today with:

Kendra Arsenault, who studied International Development & African American Studies at UCLA and earned an MDiv in Professional Chaplaincy from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. She has created several popular podcasts and works at Stanford University Medical Center.

Ari Bates studied film at Southern Adventist University and is the Creative Director of Aberration Film Studios in Portland, Oregon.

Sofia Lindgren graduated in 2023 with a BA in Business Administration from Pacific Union College. She is Spectrum’s Office Manager.

Melodie Roschman earned her PhD in English from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her dissertation is on “Identity, Counternarrative, and Community in Progressive Christian Women’s Memoir.” She was editor of The Student Movement at Andrews University and graduated with a BA in English and Journalism in the J. N. Andrews Honors program.

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Seventh-day Adventist judge Daniel Nsereko has lived a remarkable life: from humble beginnings in a small rural village in Uganda, to the highest levels of international law in The Hague where he served as a judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC). In this interview he shares his educational and professional journey as well as the moment his ethical consciousness was awakened.

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Pastor Claval Hunter leads the Berean Transformation Center, a Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Bend, Indiana. He shares how engaging his community on social and political issues transformed his congregation and added missional energy and baptisms.

Born in the Bahamas, Pastor Hunter served as the Director of Urban Ministries for the Lake Region Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He is currently serving as Associate Director of the Andrews University Center for Community Change. He holds a BA in Ministerial Theology from Oakwood University and a MDiv degree from the Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

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I interview Hanz Gutierrez about his retracted theological teaching endorsement by the General Conference’s International Board of Ministerial and Theological Education. Gutierrez is a longtime Spectrum columnist and chair of the Systematic Theology Department at the Italian Adventist Theological Faculty of Villa Aurora. He recently wrote about the lack of communication and process in this surprising move by the IBMTE and we discuss his experience and his ideas in this special episode.

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In the gritty neighbourhoods of Sydney, Australia, Nimrod faced the stark challenges of racial discrimination. Battling racial profiling and mistreatment by white law enforcement, his refuge came when he was invited to his white girlfriend's church. It was within this community that Nimrod discovered God hadn't abandoned him; instead, the church embraced him completely. Fuelled by these transformative experiences, Nimrod dived into theology, ultimately becoming a pastor and currently leading at Church in the Valley.

“They bought into my leadership because I learned in university that you can’t truly be who you are when you get out into ministry. Because it’s governed by white men, it’s led by white men, and as a Samoan, there’s no conference where I look at and there’s been a Samoan president, we’re rare, so you can’t dream for that because you don’t see it [in Australia].”

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Elizabth Pule started her career journey aimed at becoming a lawyer, when an unexpected mission call changed her mind. With support from the Ontario Conference she attended Andrews University to then return to her home church as a pastor. Having had various opportunities as a chaplain, and ministry director, Elizabeth now pastors at the College Heights Church located on the Burman University campus.

“I do believe the inclusion of all individuals who are neurodiverse is so important to the body of Christ. We can’t ignore what the Bible says about every single one of us has been gifted a specific role and gift, and we all matter in that body of Christ. I do believe there are forgotten parts in the body of Christ. We need to amend that.” 

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