Florida Conference News

Florida Conference is making use of Twitter to provide short tidbits of information about current events from the Conference office. You can find the update feed at the bottom of our home page.

The Community Bible Conference web page has been updated with the latest information for this year’s Camp Meeting. Look for the Downloadable Publications link to find Adobe Acrobat documents of the poster and bulletin insert that will soon arrive at Florida Conference churches.

The Spring 2008 issue of Florida Focus is now available for download in Adobe Acrobat format.

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Gulf States Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, in cooperation with the Alabama Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and State and local government leaders have urgently requested support from ACTS (Acts of Compassion Team Services) Disaster Response to help in debris removal in the area surrounding Prattville, Alabama where over 200 homes 50 to 100 businesses were damaged. or destroyed. The tornado that struck Prattville tore up a path about a quarter mile wide and had winds of 140 to 150 mph, according to meteorologist Jim Stefkovich at the National Weather Service’s Birmingham office. These are the worst tornadoes to strike this area in 25 years.

“ACTS is currently finalizing plans to deploy a taskforce, based out of the Montgomery First Church, to meet the needs of this community that has requested our assistance,” said David Canther, executive director of ACTS “We will be the hands and feet of Jesus to the community as an extension of the outreach of the Montgomery First Church and Gulf States Conference.”

ACTS just returned from a seven-day response to the tornados that struck Lawrence and Hardin Counties in Tennessee. In this response, ACTS deployed almost 250 volunteers who contributed about 4,100 hours of volunteer labor. Teams were dispatched from six senior academies and two groups from Southern Adventist University. In Hardin County area near Harbert Hills Academy, the mayor and emergency management leaders personally gave thanks for the work of ACTS saying that this faith-based effort was worth more than $70,000 to the affected communities.

ACTS will continue to move in faith, even though there is a tremendous need for financial assistance for these projects. “Deploying equipment from Florida to Tennessee and now Alabama is a very expensive proposition,” said Dan Niederman, emergency operations director for ACTS, “Diesel fuel costs alone have increased by one third since last year when we mobilized for the tornados in Lady Lake, Florida, and Enterprise, Alabama.”

You are invited to financially support these tornado disaster relief efforts through Adventist Community Services or ACTS. General contributions can be turned in through your local church and marked “Alabama Tornado Relief.” They will then be remitted to Florida Conference for distribution.

You may also mail contributions directly to Florida Conference, PO Box 2626, Winter Park, FL 32790-2626. These contributions should be made payable to the organization to which they are turned in.

Alternatively, you can ensure 100% of your contribution directly benefits ACTS’ tornado relief effort with a donation sent to: ACTS, 7501 Savannah Dr., Ooltewah, TN 37363. Mark these contributions, “ACTS Tornado Response.”

ACTS is a 501 © 3 non-profit, faith-based charity. ACTS works closely with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and is supportive of its mission. However, it is not an official entity of the Adventist Church.

To view miracle pictures of ongoing response or to donate online, visit www.actses.org.

Adventist Community Services is on the scene with disaster relief following the worst tornado outbreak in 25 years in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. More than 50 were killed and hundreds injured. So far we know of one Adventist family in Arkansas that lost their home. There are no reports of churches or members’ homes damaged in Gulf States Conference.

Funds are needed to assist in the relief. No clothing or water are needed.

Contact: www.communityservices.org or call 800-381-7171 to donate.