Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Function Of Military Language In The Feeding Of The Five Thousand Narrative (Mark 6:30-44): A Narrative-Cognitive Study, Oleg Kostyuk

Dissertations

Abstract Pending

Witchcraft Accusations: A Challenge For Families, Communities, And Churches In Africa, Boubakar Sanou

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

American Christian Nationalism & Racial Justice, Trevor O'Reggio

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Desarrollo E Implementación De Un Seminario Respecto Al Ayuno Bíblico En La Iglesia Adventista Hispana De Fort Worth Norte, En Texas, Aníbal Antonio Herrera Pellicer

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Fort Worth North Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church has no record of a seminar on biblical fasting, a practice that is perceived as spiritually and physically beneficial in several cultures and religions worldwide. Within Adventism, fasting is seen as an outward expression of the person’s inner commitment and reliance on God (Rodriguez, 2001). Furthermore, pastoral observation revealed that in this local church there are conflicting views and a lack of knowledge about biblical fasting. The observation also disclosed the need for developing a training program in the area.

Method

The task of this project was to develop, implement, and …

A Strategy For Increasing The Levels Of Financial Literacy Among African-Americans In The Greenville Neighborhood Of Jersey City, Nj, Troy S. Levy

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Financial illiteracy afflicts many African-American and Black immigrant communities. The realities of residing in urban locales have contributed to the illiteracy and many times have led to a negative legacy of financial stewardship in these same communities. There are external challenges as well as internal challenges that have stifled African-American financial literacy. Not only is a negative corporate legacy of financial stewardship a result, but poverty, higher vulnerability towards financial bullying (housing discrimination, payday loan shops, etc.) among other challenges are directly correlated to the problem. Although poverty is an effect of lower levels of financial literacy in these …

A Strategy To Train Members To Encourage Non-Members To Make Decisions For Baptism And Church Membership At The Middletown Valley Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Joshua William Voigt

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

In every church I have pastored, there have been individuals who attend the church but are not members. Some come to community-focused events the church holds throughout the year, while others come to the weekly worship service. There are also some who come whenever the doors of the church are opened. This group of people includes both Christians from other denominations, as well as non-Christians. The Middletown Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church had an unusually large ratio of non-member to member attendance.

Method

A six-month evangelistic strategy was developed for the Middletown Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church. The strategy began with …

Strategy To Implement And Evaluate A Health And Wellness Program In The Inner-City Of Benton Harbor, Michigan Through The Harbor Of Hope Church, Imasiku Mubita

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The data from the Berrien County Health Department (2011b) shows that the city of Benton Harbor has unusually high prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. In addition, the city is a food desert and residents lack good healthcare coverage which helps to exacerbate these lifestyle diseases among its inner-city residents. Also, the dearth of healthy food intake plus the lack of exercise further hampers the community's health.

Method

A nine-week health-wellness program was opened to the community through the Harbor of Hope church in Benton Harbor. During this program community members had their biometrics screened at the beginning and …

Discovering Successful Pastoral Mentors Based On Their Spiritual Gifts Cluster And Engaging Them In Mentorship In The Wisconsin Conference Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Adam Case

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Many pastors are placed into pastoral ministry with passion and education but lack sufficient mentoring to help them succeed in ministry. These pastors would benefit from a mentor who could support them and/or grow them through intentional mentorship in specific agreed upon areas. The concept of mentoring is biblical, Jesus being a prime example, and one that is in line with the principles of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There is no conflict with the concept of mentoring, but nothing practical has been put into place in the Wisconsin Conference to discover good pastoral mentors and then engage them in …

Developing Spiritual Disciplines In Youth And Young Adult Leaders Through Mentoring At The Peachtree City Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Nathaniel E. Elias

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Peachtree City Seventh-day Adventist Church (PTC) leadership and parents of teenagers expressed concerns regarding the lack of spirituality and church involvement of their youth and young adults. Church appointed youth and young adult leaders had not received consistent spiritual equipping to share with the youth and young adults of the church. Youth ministry primarily focused on recreational fellowship and lacked spiritual focus. The church approached the associate pastor to provide spiritual equipping for youth and young adult leaders.

Method

Six church nominated youth and young adult leaders participated in a 10-month mentorship program that equipped them with spiritual …

A Strategy To Coach Pastors To Revitalize Declining Churches In The Carolina Conference And Other Seventh-Day Adventist Conferences In The United States, Brad Cauley

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Many English-speaking Seventh-day Adventist churches are in an attendance decline or plateau in the United States. Specifically, the investigator found that 56% of English-speaking churches within the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists were in decline when comparing the five-year attendance mean for 2008-2012 and 2013-2017 using annual average attendance data. This discovery was alarming. Simultaneously, however, the population was growing in many of these communities. More intentionality was needed to stem the tide of attendance decline. These churches were in need of revitalization, but many of their pastors lacked the natural temperament and/or support needed for revitalization to occur. …

Seventh-Day Adventist Mission

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

The Casemate Wall System Of Khirbat Safra, Elizabeth Anne Emswiler

Master's Theses

Problem

A casemate wall system was found at Khirbat Safra in 2018 and 2019, which has been dated to early Iron Age I. However, no comprehensive study of Iron Age I casemate wall systems in Transjordan has been conducted. Therefore, this thesis will present and compare the findings from Kh. Safra and four other sites in Transjordan which have casemate wall systems dating to Iron Age I.

Method

A short study on the history of fortifications, casemate wall systems, and siege warfare was conducted for this thesis. The ruins from Fields A, B, C, and D at Kh. Safra were …

The Concept Of Truth In The Gospel Of John, Bastian Ogon

Master's Theses

Problem

The term ἀλήθεια, 'truth' is a frequently used term in the Gospel of John. The fundamental question of this paper is to discuss how truth is understood by John and if the Gospel of John conveys a specific concept of truth?

Method

The first part will briefly consider common philosophical concepts of truth, as well as epistemological issues connected to them. These approaches will be compared with John's truth concept. In the second part the most important passages where ἀλήθεια is used will be carefully analyzed exegetically, in order to understand the concept of ἀλήθεια in Johannine thought. The …

God, Time And The Sabbath: A Brief Historical-Theological Survey, Francis Gayoba

Master's Theses

Problem

This study takes Fernando Canale's work as a starting point, which has demonstrated that unbiblical philosophical presuppositions have undergirded many forms of Christian theology. Of specific interest to this thesis is the presupposition of divine timelessness or temporality, which may have consequences on various doctrines. This study examines the possible influence of these presuppositions on the meaning of the Sabbath, as seen in the writings of Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Andreas Carlstadt, Oswald Glaidt, Andreas Fischer, Nicholas Bownd, and Theophilus Brabourne. The problem this thesis addresses is whether an observable connection can be made …

The Afterlife: An Exegetical And Theological Analysis Of Christ's Discourse In Luke 16: 19-31, Pop-Coman Ioan

Master's Theses

Problem

The parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, in terms of its complexity and construction, is one of the most difficult decipherable parables that Jesus uttered during His time among men. With much tact, we will try to answer a question that has profound implications: Does the narrative in Luke 16: 19-31 support the existence of life after death?

Purpose

We carefully examine the Christ’s discourse in Luke 16: 19-31 in order to identify those suggestive parallels between this account of Jesus and the culture of the time, which would help us to decode more clearly both the …

Zechariah 9-14 In Light Of Allusions To The Sanctuary Motif In The Old Testament, Artur Boldt

Master's Theses

Topic

Zechariah 9-14 sheds additional light to the eschatological relevance of the sanctuary by emphasizing God’s presence among humankind. The sanctuary motif receives a vertical dimension by focusing on God’s original Sanctuary.

Purpose

Firstly, questions of introduction will be answered to give an overview of the material. In this context, the question of genre will be handled with special care. Then it will be defined how the concept of allusions is understood. This concept then will be applied to three different OT sanctuary references. Followed by an evaluation of these references. Afterwards different passages in Zech 9-14 will be examined …

The Influence Of Jesus' Approach To People Through "Teaching And Healing" On The Faith Of People In Jesus Christ And On Their Relationship To The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Armin Danz

Master's Theses

The problem underlying this study is the slow but steady decline in membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Numerous missionary efforts in the past have not been able to change this trend. However, an approach that summarizes the work of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew has not been followed: Namely that Jesus taught people about the Kingdom of God and healed them through prayer. Both church historical sources and modern research suggest that wherever the biblical example of Jesus was followed closely it had a positive influence on the growth of churches. …

Exploring The Influence Of Racial Diversity On Church Growth: A Case Study Of Buffalo Suburban Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Lancaster, New York, Luis A. Mancebo

Dissertations

There is a growing phenomenon in the United States of America: multiracial churches. While earlier research indicates that church growth typically happens in more homogenous congregations, more and more churches are growing that are multiracial. This case study focused on the growth of Buffalo Suburban Seventh-day Adventist Church (BSSDAC), a multiracial church in Lancaster, New York. Data collection was done through focus groups of church leaders and members, and a review of any available church and membership records.

BSSDAC started as a White congregation in Buffalo in 1885 and moved to the suburbs in the 1980s where the initial transition …

Sharing The Gospel In A Postmodern World: Challenges And Opportunities, Felix H. Cortez

Faculty Publications

Humility is the prerequisite to a significant dialogue in a postmodern context. It has the ability to transform the dialogue from a debate between opposing parties into a party of fellow travelers in the search for meaning. The truths we find and share in that common endeavor will not be suspect as biased assertions to the benefit of power groups under the cloak of truth, but embraced as common solutions to the problems we face.

Holy Spirit, Trevor O'Reggio

Faculty Publications

The Radical Reformers were not a unified entity, but consisted of many disparate voices, so their theology reflected these differences. The purpose of this paper is to explore their views concerning the Holy Spirit. But even among the differences on this subject, they did shared more things in common than differences. They all agreed on the basic teaching of the nature, personality and role of the Holy Spirit, and the indispensable role of the Spirit in all areas of the Christian life. Their differences perhaps lie in the degree to which believers must be reliant on the Spirit.

Church Volunteers: Finding Them, Training Then, And Keeping Them: Part 2, S. Joseph Kidder

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Hermeneutic For The Aqedah Test: A Way Beyond Jon Levenson's And Terence Fretheim's Models, Arlyn Sunshine Drew

Dissertations

Problem

The works of Jon Levenson and Terence Fretheim highlight the problem of determining which interpretations of the biblical worlds of meaning around the text are congruent with the text of the Aqedah (also known as the Sacrifice of Isaac, Genesis 22: 1-19) and which should be disclaimed. A hermeneutical model is needed for Abraham's test that provides a text-based paradigm for sound interpretation of the narrative world (in the text), the historical world (behind the text), the theistic world (above the text), the cosmological world (below the text), and the present world (in front of the text).

Method

Four …

A Study Of Nones In Brazil And The Usa In Light Of Secularization Theory With Missiological Implications, Jolive R. Chavez

Dissertations

The growth of those who declare themselves to be Nones, or religiously unaffiliated, in Brazil and the USA has been continuously higher than that of the general population. In Brazil, they are the third-largest group in the religious field, behind only Catholics, and Pentecostal evangelicals. In the USA, they are the second largest group, after Protestants as a whole. The Nones, in their diverse groups, are more represented among the youth in both cultures, and reflect the modern and postmodern influences of contemporary secularism, being a product of the process of changing human thought.

This work studies the Nones, in …

A Re-Examination Of Pentateuchal Hamartiology And Atonement As A Hermeneutical Framework For Interpreting The Laying On Of Hands, Slavisa Milodar Jankovic

Dissertations

The ritual gesture of laying on of hands in Scripture has generated significant interest among theologians from rabbinic times until now. Still today, scholars assign various meanings to the ritual. In the second half of the 20th century, the fresh interest that put forward new meanings for this gesture came primarily through the introduction of the new sub-discipline of Ritualistics within Old Testament studies. This relatively new discipline is not founded upon premises found in biblical texts, but rather, upon those found in various secular social, philosophical sciences, and other disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, anthropology, literary criticism, and the …

The Inseparable Duo: The Holy Spirit And Preaching, Rodney A. Palmer

Faculty Publications

The power of the Holy Spirit is indispensable when crafting and delivering effective sermons. To downplay His role in preaching creates a false dichotomy between the discipline of homiletics and the doctrine of pneumatology. The Holy Spirit plays seven important roles in the life of the preacher, the preparation of a sermon, the preaching moment, and the lives of listeners.

One In Christ: What Have We Missed?, Denis Fortin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sunday Series: Aires Tropicales, Department Of Music

Concerts and Event Programs 2019-2020

Andrews University Department of Music presents the first Sunday Music Series of the new year: Aires Tropicales. Betania Canas, flute; Pedro Falcon, oboe; Byron Graves, clarinet; Erin Penrod, horn; and Alexandra Castro, bassoon, perform quintet works by Coleman, Arnold, Arrieu, and D'Rivera.

Training, Equipping, And Deploying Teenagers For Preaching With A Prophetic Emphasis At The Plantation Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Iosif Salajan

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Teenagers were not integrated in the preaching ministry of the Plantation Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their involvement in the worship service revealed challenges in publicly expressing their faith and spiritual experience. The absence of training, equipping, and deploying teenagers for preaching ministry contributed to their low retention and their lack of representation in the leadership of the church.

Method

Between August 2018 and May 2019, under the coordination of the researcher, preaching mentors offered teenage mentees from the Plantation Seventh-day Adventist Church a complete learning cycle called sermonic process. It started with producing the sermon, continued with practicing the sermon …

Applying Biblical Principles Towards A Model Of Theological Dialogue At The Hillside O'Malley Church, David Shin

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Based on feedback from members of the Hillside O’Malley Church through personal conversations, theological polarization threatened to paralyze the local church and keep it from fulfilling its mission of ministering to its members and reaching out to the community with the gospel message. The theological polarization stemmed from divergences on the presuppositional, macro-hermeneutical level that are revealed visibly in how members interpret the biblical text.

Method

The methodology that was employed was to derive biblical principles from an exegesis of the book of Acts specifically related to theological reason, which included an understanding of how presuppositions worked in the …

Increasing Effectiveness And Efficiency Through A Collaborative Evangelism Strategy Within The Georgia-Cumberland Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Victor Maddox

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

There were a number of organizations, ministries, and individuals throughout the Georgia-Cumberland Conference (GCC) territory engaged in various forms of evangelism which include health education, literature distribution, media presentations, community service, Bible instruction, etc. All had some level of success. Personal observations of these efforts revealed a redundancy in programing, uncoordinated planning, insufficient record-keeping, inadequate follow-up on interests generated, and failure to build upon the results of previous evangelistic meetings within the GCC.

Method

The goal was to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the evangelism process in the GCC through the coordination of evangelistic meetings between organizations, …