Adventist Voices by Spectrum: The Journal of the Adventist Forum

The Iron Claw (2023) director and writer Sean Durkin talks with Alexander Carpenter about the meaning in his film. In theaters now, the saga of the Von Erich professional wrestling family stars Zac Efron as he seeks to break the tragic curse of his name. The film includes a heaven-like scene of fraternal reunion, and Durkin discusses the mythological references as well as why he thinks wrestling helps us understand the human condition.

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Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Alex now serves as Sligo Church’’s senior pastor. He came to understand God from among diversities of cultures around him while seeing church as a community of God in location. In his academic work and leadership role, Alex seeks to celebrate his past and honour his mother as sources of identity. 

“Part of being human gives us the complexity to say maybe religion isn’t just reading something or understanding it, but it’s smelling it, it’s tasting it, it is moving or non-movement and that the world is truly such an enormous neighbourhood.”

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Growing up in Kenya, Jeanne was confused by God’s calling into pastoral ministry, as she never knew women could be any kind of church leader. With time spent in the USA during her university years, Jeanne came to see the unique ways God equips people for the work He has planned. Returning to Kenya with her Ph.D in urban planning and development, yet choosing instead to be known as pastor Jeanne.

“I’m so grateful to God that He took me out of the environment in which I was raised. I loved the environment I was raised in, because it created a wonderful, strong foundation for me in my Adventist faith. However, I was a good Adventist, but I was not a good Christain, and there’s a great distinction between the two.”

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Growing up in Washington State, Anthony saw two very different cultural sides to Adventism. With a move to Seattle so his father could pastor a mainly black church, Anthony realized how much of his image of church was based off of “white suburbia.” This awakening forced him to search out his own blackness and what it might mean to be Caribbean.

“I think this is a borderline universal fear, it’s that fear, like what if I’m myself in front of this new group of people and they don’t accept me? What if I bring my true self, as I actually am, not a projection, but the real me, will I be accepted? Will I be loved? Will I be enough?” 

Check out Anthony’s podcast as they ask “What is an Adventist?”

Seeking What They Sought

Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/seekingpodcast

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Dr. Courtney Ray started her academic career with a double major in theology and psychology, becoming an ordained minister of the Adventist church. She now works as a neuropsychologist with her private clinic in the Eastern United States, along with leadership roles within her local church and the Society for Black Neuropsychology. 

“I think that you honestly have to disconnect yourself from logic to both be an Adventist and say that women cannot be in ministry. There’s no coherent argument that allows you to hold both those things at the same time.”

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Greg Hoenes is a career pastor with more than 25 years of ministry experience in the Central and Southern California Conferences. He became the West Region Director of the Southern California Conference in 2015, where he still serves. Since 2013, Greg has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Studies at La Sierra University. He earned a PhD in Practical Theology at Claremont School of Theology in 2021, focusing in the area of food, ecology, and religion/spirituality. He also studies the ways that racial categorization, racism, and the construct of “whiteness” connect to ecologies of land and environment, humans, and animals.

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I grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom TV shows featuring Stan Brock. In this Adventist Voices conversation I talk with Paul Michael Angell, the director of Medicine Man, a new documentary on Brock’s adventurous life and later altruistic work leading Remote Area Medica providing free medical care for underserved communities. I also interviewed the RAM CEO Jeffery Eastman about the incredible work the organization and how they translate Brock’s radical values into a sustainable model for connecting volunteers with people in need.

The 1 hour and 36 minute award winning film premieres on November 14 in theaters across North America

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The importance of supportive relationships is examined as Andrea shares her struggles growing up Queer. The roles of teachers, parents and pastors all come to play in the development of her self-worth and church involvement. 

“When I was a kid I had to go out and look for [support], it wasn’t available to me, there were no resources for me. But if I were a kid in the Adventist system now I would have teachers who were open and willing to share that they were supportive of me, but it was unheard of when I was trying to figure out who I was.”

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Hailing from Eastern Canada, with time spent as a chaplain in Western Canada. Ben now works as the youth pastor at La Sierra University Church. By being connected to and inspired by, his Ghanaian roots, he creates safe spaces for cultural minorities. 

“The reality of humanity, that we can be part of an organization, Christianity or Adventism, that is Christ centered and yet does not prioritize people … We can have a cognitive dissonance between being Christian and following the sacraments, or the flow of tradition and also never really care about all people at all times.”

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Morghin currently teaches high school sciences at an Adventist Academy, where his Queer identity has caused some tension. He brings talents of music and singing to church, school and camp meeting events, along with a love of volleyball.

“A person who is unaccepting of Queer culture and Queerness, if you look at things from their perspective, especially if you look at me from their perspective … It’s like they’ve hired someone to teach at the school with a criminal record … that’s how they look at me.”

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