Since its organization in 1863, the Seventh-day Adventist denomination has grown from a small group to a significant religious movement in the world today. Originally all ministers in the church were evangelists. There were to be no settled pastors of local congregations. Local churches relied upon local talent selected from their own ranks for pastoral leadership. The change created by increased numbers and the demands of the laity has meant the role of the ordained minister in the local Seventh-day Adventist church has been considerably altered from its original concept. This has caused many to be confused as to just what is the role of the local pastor. The result: pastoral frustration, overload, internal and external conflict, and reduced growth in local churches.
Two factors that may hinder full clarification of the local Seventh-day Adventist pastor\u27s role are: (1) too general an approach, in which leaders and pastors fail to particularize the role to a specific place and group; and (2) a lack of self- examination and assessment on the part of both the pastor and his ^congregation.
This project developed out of the writer\u27s seventeen years of pastoral experience, his interest in the pastoral office, and as a fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Ministry degree. It is the thesis of this study that considerable conflict and frustration exists among the conference, the local congregation, and the various subgroups within the church concerning their mutual ministries in the church. This project was conceived as an analysis of a local Seventh-day Adventist church\u27s expectations of its pastor in terms of attitudes, work life, and leadership style. It was also designed to suggest a model by which possible role conflict experienced by the pastor may be resolved. This model suggests that the pastor negotiate his role conflicts with his congregation and conference openly rather than keep them to himself. It means that the pastor must initiate the process, make his own self-assessment, and obtain information from his congregation and conference concerning their expectations of him. When this is done the negotiation process may begin. Out of this process a newly created ministry emerges that is mutually agreed upon and is mutually implemented.
The procedure of this study requires five steps of the pastor: (1) he takes an assessment of himself, his goals, talents, skills, and personal strengths and weaknesses; (2) he develops an attitude and a preference data-gathering instrument; (3) he administers the survey to the significant others in his work life, such as the congregation, conference officials and committee members, and fellow ministers; (4) he analyzes the responses to the survey utilizing the latest available devices for determining the significance of disagreement between the respondent groups; and (5) he utilizes the information obtained as a basis for an ongoing negotiative type ministry.
This report describes one pastor\u27s attempt to follow, as far as possible, the above-mentioned steps. The writer, the focal pastor of this study, allows the reader to look over his shoulder as he attempts to obtain a clearer picture of the pastor\u27s role, to discern the sources of expectation in the church, to do a self- assessment, and analyze and interpret responses by his congregation to a questionnaire. The information and skills acquired will be useful to the writer in future pastoral relationships and perhaps to others who may be laboring presently in the pastorate
'International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement'
Publication date
28/09/2014
Field of study
This article examines studentsā perceptions of the relationship between the service-learning component of a four-week study-abroad program in Ecuador and the development of their linguistic and cultural competency. The data come from two sources: (1) studentsā responses to a survey composed of Likert-scale and rank-order items and (2) student journals written for an introductory translation course after the completion of several service projects relative to dental care and hygiene. The quantitative survey solicited studentsĀ“ perceptions of the effectiveness of the service-learning component and other characteristics typical of study-abroad programs. In general, students perceived a positive relationship between their participation in service-learning projects while abroad in Ecuador and the development of their linguistic and cultural proficiency. Analysis of studentsā reflective journals concerning the service-learning experience resulted in the identification of several themes within the areas of language-related and culture-related learning, contributing to the discussion around the complexities of acquiring linguistic and cultural knowledge through International Service-Learning (ISL)
Background: Tobacco smoking is the cause of many preventable diseases and premature deaths in the UK and around the world. It poses enormous health- and non-health-related costs to the affected individuals, employers, and the society at large. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, globally, smoking causes over US500billionineconomicdamageeachyear.Objectives:ThispaperexaminesglobalandUKevidenceontheeconomicimpactofsmokingprevalenceandevaluatestheeffectivenessandcosteffectivenessofsmokingcessationmeasures.StudyselectionSearchmethods:Weusedtwomajorhealthcare/economicresearchdatabases,namelyPubMedandtheNationalInstituteforHealthResearch(NIHR)databasethatcontainstheBritishNationalHealthService(NHS)EconomicEvaluationDatabase;CochraneLibraryofsystematicreviewsinhealthcareandhealthpolicy;andotherhealthācareārelatedbibliographicsources.Wealsoperformedhandsearchingofrelevantarticles,healthreports,andwhitepapersissuedbygovernmentbodies,internationalhealthorganizations,andhealthinterventioncampaignagencies.Selectioncriteria:Thepaperincludescostāeffectivenessstudiesfrommedicaljournals,healthreports,andwhitepaperspublishedbetween1992andJuly2014,butincludedonlyeightrelevantstudiesbefore1992.Mostofthepapersreviewedreportedoutcomesonsmokingprevalence,aswellasthedirectandindirectcostsofsmokingandthecostsandbenefitsofsmokingcessationinterventions.Weexcludedpapersthatmerelydescribedtheeffectivenessofaninterventionwithoutincludingeconomicorcostconsiderations.Wealsoexcludedpapersthatcombinesmokingcessationwiththereductionintheriskofotherdiseases.Datacollectionandanalysis:TheincludedstudieswereassessedagainstcriteriaindicatedintheCochraneReviewersHandbookversion5.0.0.Outcomesassessedinthereview:Primaryoutcomesoftheselectedstudiesaresmokingprevalence,directandindirectcostsofsmoking,andthecostsandbenefitsofsmokingcessationinterventions(eg,ācostperquitterā,ācostperlifeyearsavedā,ācostperqualityāadjustedlifeyeargained,āāpresentvalueāorānetbenefitsāfromsmokingcessation,andācostsavingsāfrompersonalhealthcareexpenditure).Mainresults:Themainfindingsofthisstudyareasfollows:1.Thecostsofsmokingcanbeclassifiedintodirect,indirect,andintangiblecosts.About15151 billion.
2.The costs of smoking notwithstanding, it produces some potential economic benefits. The economic activities generated from the production and consumption of tobacco provides economic stimulus. It also produces huge tax revenues for most governments, especially in high-income countries, as well as employment in the tobacco industry. Income from the tobacco industry accounts for up to 7.4% of centrally collected government revenue in China. Smoking also yields cost savings in pension payments from the premature death of smokers.
3. Smoking cessation measures could range from pharmacological treatment interventions to policy-based measures, community-based interventions, telecoms, media, and technology (TMT)-based interventions, school-based interventions, and workplace interventions.
4. The cost per life year saved from the use of pharmacological treatment interventions ranged between US128andUS1,450 and up to US4,400perqualityāadjustedlifeyears(QALYs)saved.Theuseofpharmacotherapiessuchasvarenicline,NRT,andBupropion,whencombinedwithGPcounselingorotherbehavioraltreatmentinterventions(suchasproactivetelephonecounselingandWebābaseddelivery),isbothclinicallyeffectiveandcosteffectivetoprimaryhealthcareproviders.5.Priceābasedpolicymeasuressuchasincreaseintobaccotaxesareunarguablythemosteffectivemeansofreducingtheconsumptionoftobacco.A102 to US112perlifeyeargained(LYG)whilereducingsmokingprevalencebyupto306.Smokingcessationclassesareknowntobemosteffectiveamongcommunityābasedmeasures,astheycouldleadtoaquitrateofupto35500 and US614perLYG.7.Advertisingmedia,telecommunications,andothertechnologyābasedinterventions(suchasTV,radio,print,telephone,theInternet,PC,andotherelectronicmedia)usuallyhavepositivesynergisticeffectsinreducingsmokingprevalenceespeciallywhencombinedtodeliversmokingcessationmessagesandcounselingsupport.However,theoutcomesonthecosteffectivenessofTMTābasedmeasureshavebeeninconsistent,andthismadeitdifficulttoattributeresultstospecificmedia.Thedifferencesinreportedcosteffectivenessmaybepartlyattributedtovaryingmethodologicalapproachesincludingvaryingparametricinputs,differencesinnationalcontexts,differencesinadvertisingcampaignstestedondifferentmedia,anddisparatelevelsofresourcingbetweencampaigns.Duetoitsuniversalreachandlowimplementationcosts,onlinecampaignappearstobesubstantiallymorecosteffectivethanothermedia,thoughitmaynotbeaseffectiveinreducingsmokingprevalence.8.Schoolābasedsmokingprevalenceprogramstendtoreduceshortātermsmokingprevalencebybetween3016,400 to US580,000dependingonthescaleandscopeofintervention.ThecosteffectivenessofschoolābasedprogramsshowthatonecouldexpectasavingofapproximatelybetweenUS2,000 and US20,000perQALYsavedduetoavertedsmokingafter2ā4yearsoffollowāup.9.Workplaceābasedinterventionscouldrepresentasoundeconomicinvestmenttobothemployersandthesocietyatlarge,achievingabenefitācostratioofupto8.75andgenerating12āmonthemployercostsavingsofbetween150 and $540 per nonsmoking employee. Implementing smoke-free workplaces would also produce myriads of new quitters and reduce the amount of cigarette consumption, leading to cost savings in direct medical costs to primary health care providers. Workplace interventions are, however, likely to yield far greater economic benefits over the long term, as reduced prevalence will lead to a healthier and more productive workforce.
Conclusions: We conclude that the direct costs and externalities to society of smoking far outweigh any benefits that might be accruable at least when considered from the perspective of socially desirable outcomes (ie, in terms of a healthy population and a productive workforce). There are enormous differences in the application and economic measurement of smoking cessation measures across various types of interventions, methodologies, countries, economic settings, and health care systems, and these may have affected the comparability of the results of the studies reviewed. However, on the balance of probabilities, most of the cessation measures reviewed have not only proved effective but also cost effective in delivering the much desired cost savings and net gains to individuals and primary health care providers
The New Business Tax System (Debt and Equity) Act established a set ofcriteria by which convertible securities could be classified as “debt-like” or “equity-like” for tax purposes. Using data on 256 convertible issues made in Australia between 2001 and 2012, we show that there is a strong relation between, on the one hand, a convertible’s ex ante classification determined at issuance using the tax criteria and, on the other hand, its ex post classification based on the conversion premium at maturity. We conclude that the criteria have been an efficient means of classifying convertibles. We also find an industry effect where debt-like convertibles are more likely to be associated with the resources, metals and mining firms, whilst equity-like are mainly issued by the finance sector. This finding is consistent with the solution to a finance-sequencing problem in the former case, and the impact of capital adequacy regulation in the latter
We report an unusual example of reproductive parasitism in amphibians. Dendrobates variabi- lis, an Amazonian poison frog, oviposits at the surface of the water in small pools in plants and deposits tadpoles within the pools. Tadpoles are highly cannibalistic and consume young tadpoles if they are accessible. Deposition of embryos and tadpoles in the same pool is common. Genetic analyses indicate that tadpoles are fre- quently unrelated to embryos in the same pool. A pool choice experiment in the field demon- strated that males carrying tadpoles prefer to place them in pools with embryos, facilitating reproductive parasitism via cannibalism. Originally published Biology Letters, Vol. 5, No. 2, Apr 200