Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse fell asleep in Jesus (the beautiful phrase Paul used when writing to the Thessalonians) early on the morning of August 30, 2011. She was just shy of her 89^th birthday. Dr. Rittenhouse was an Adventist musician, performer and conductor who led an orchestra of young people on tours around the world with the mission of bringing people together through great music. She was still working up until her death. Last summer she conducted her New England Youth Ensemble at the General Conference session in Atlanta, Georgia.

Emily Wilkens is an animated, impetuous, jump-right-in-with-both-feet 25-year-old with a health science degree from Walla Walla University and her name on the cover of a new book published by Pacific Press.

African Rice Heart is a candid portrait of Wilkens’ six-month stint working at a small Adventist hospital in Béré, Chad in 2009.

Kalthoum Qewar, a Jordanian speaker, is the main speaker in a new Adventist television series produced in Lebanon for the Arabic Hope Channel.

Allan Buller joined Worthington Foods as a young ex-soldier right after World War II and served as an executive at the legendary Adventist food company for more than 50 years, until he retired as president and CEO in 1986.

Delbert Baker, president of Oakwood University, is also a marathoner. He recently ran the Antarctic Ice Marathon just a few hundred miles from the South Pole, finishing the grueling race in six hours and 53 minutes. The race raised thousands for Oakwood University scholarships. Spectrum asked him about his running and other goals.

Question: In December you ran the Antarctic Marathon at the South Pole. What was it like running on snow and ice in below-freezing temperatures?

Prince Bahati is the founder and program director of an Adventist radio station in Rwanda, which works to bring a message of hope and reconciliation to Rwandans - countering the messages of hate that were broadcast in the past.

Spectrum asked Prince Bahati about the radio station - its reach, its content and its goals.

Mark Brooks was one of the people behind the Hurricane Katrina clean-up – but his work went beyond clearing rubble and handing out food and water.

As an attorney for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brooks works on the legal side of disaster relief – an important aspect of making things happen.

Brooks works on the ground, and in the field, but it can be his sign-off on a document that will ultimately bring life-saving water, food, clothing and shelter to hundreds or thousands of people.

Avis E. Buchanan is the director of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she works on behalf of people who need a lawyer and cannot afford to pay for one.

Washington DC’s Public Defender Service is regarded as one of the best public defender offices in the country — local or federal. Other public defender systems often measure themselves against the benchmark of the DC office.

PDS has a staff of 220, roughly half of whom are lawyers, and about half of those work in the trial division.

Director Avis Buchanan is also a Seventh-day Adventist.

Spectrum asks Roger Dudley about a new survey he recently completed that sheds light on political and religious views of Adventist college students.

Question: Tell us about your recent survey of Adventist college students and their political views.

Answer: We surveyed students at North American Adventist students about their political and religious views a couple of weeks before the presidential election in November 2008. The results are published in the latest issue of Spectrum.

David Park is a university student, and the president of ANEW - a network of Adventist university students that attend non-Adventist institutions. He talks to Spectrum about his organization, his goals and his convictions.

Question: ANEW is described as a retreat for Adventist college students attending non-Adventist schools - a weekend to get together, network, worship together and get inspired. How did you get the idea to start ANEW? Is this the first year the retreat has been held?