Adventist Review Podcasts

“What’s the deal with the sanctuary? Does it really matter?” Over breakfast, a young, on-fire Adventist pastor fired off question after question, wondering whether the doctrine was just an artifact better left in the dustbin of history. Then one answer stopped him cold: “Say that again!” In this Theology feature, David Asscherick pulls up a chair and invites you into that two-hour conversation, tracing God’s longing to dwell with His people from Eden to Exodus to Revelation, and uncovering what a tent in the wilderness has to do with Jesus today. What did the young pastor hear that he’d never heard before? Listen to the full article.

What would you do if your neighbors piled their garbage at your door every single night? In this Lifestyle feature, Hatsarmaveth Venkaya tells of a missionary in the Middle East who faced exactly that, and chose a response few of us would expect. From the garden of Eden to a poor widow’s two copper coins and Mary’s broken alabaster flask, Venkaya traces what Scripture reveals about the true meaning of an offering, and why it may have far less to do with money than we think. What does it really mean to give the way God gives? Listen to the full article.

Annual Council 2026 is wrapped, and Shawn and Justin break it down from the General Conference atrium. They cover the leadership transition and a Korean financial situation that led a division president to step aside, the One Voice 27 and All Things New mission push, and plans to revise the church manual for the 2030 session. They also share membership numbers (24.7 million as of mid-2026), a 2028 plan to reach missing members, and the surprisingly entertaining auditors' video. Plus: the TED-style LEAD conference, morning worship in Daniel, and what the hosts saw behind the rumors. From unScripted, the Adventist Review video podcast.

The church's Working Policy turns 100 this year, and Shawn asks the questions you've wondered about. Joined by Hensley and Tami from the General Conference Secretariat, he explores why the church has policy, how a 63-page pocketbook became a worldwide book, and whether policy slows mission or helps it go faster. They explain policy variances, how a proposal travels from a local church to Annual Council, and why none of it is secret. Plus: Shawn tests it with hypotheticals like using work email for side sales, and the centennial celebration. From unScripted, the Adventist Review video podcast.

Why would anyone long for the judgment? As a young pastor, Richard Davidson was startled to find psalms in which David welcomed, even celebrated, the coming judgment, while he himself shuddered at the thought of his name coming up before God. In this deeply personal Theology feature, first published in 1988, Davidson traces his journey from years of preaching sermons “full of Christ, yet devoid of assurance” to a new understanding of grace, works, and heaven’s courtroom, and points to a surprising key hidden at the very center of the books of Moses. Can assurance and judgment truly belong together? Listen to the full article.

Was the Advent movement just another religious experiment born in the ferment of nineteenth-century America, or something more? In this Experiences article, Alberto R. Timm traces the prophetic roots of Adventism back past William Miller to the evangelical scholars whose work Miller built on. Along the way he looks at a principle that once seemed settled: that in symbolic prophecy, a day stands for a year. Why did Miller push it too far in places, and why do so many Christians, including some Adventists, now set it aside? Timm argues that what is at stake is more than a method. Listen to the full article to hear why.

In December 1844, five grieving women knelt in prayer in Portland, Maine. Among them was a 17-year-old girl weighing barely 80 pounds, too ill to finish school, her voice little more than a whisper. Why would God choose her, of all people, when capable, educated men stood ready? In this Sabbath School Reflection, Cindy Tutsch traces a surprising pattern through Scripture, from a flawed Abraham to a rugged Elijah, a ruined Isaiah, and a desert-dwelling John the Baptist, and asks what that pattern means for anyone who has ever felt too young, too old, or too ordinary to matter. Listen to the full article.

Robbie Bergen grew up a staunch atheist in Brisbane, Australia, convinced that people of faith were foolish. Today he's vice president of Hope Channel. In this conversation with Shawn Boonstra, Robbie shares the three defining moments of 2001 that unraveled his certainty: a figure in a nightclub mirror, a roadside lightning storm and the thought "If there is a God, you're lost," and the morning of September 11. That led him to read the world's religious books, test the Bible's claims, and land in the book of Daniel. From unScripted, the Adventist Review video podcast.

Is Christianity a "white man's religion"? Is Adventism an American church? Dr. Jongimpi Papu, editor of Ministry magazine and Associate Ministerial Secretary at the General Conference, grew up in South Africa and says there's truth in the charge, and a lot of misrepresentation too. Shawn Boonstra and Dr. Papu discuss what missionaries carried along with the gospel: wool suits in tropical heat, hymns that don't translate, and a worldview that left no room for the spirit world. Plus: why every people pictures Jesus as one of their own. From unScripted, the Adventist Review video podcast.

Shawn Boonstra grew up in a strict Dutch Calvinist church in Canada. Sikhu grew up in a young, busy Adventist church in Zimbabwe. Both moved to America, and both noticed how different church looks here. In this unScripted conversation, they compare notes on megachurches, church shopping, segregated congregations, the prosperity gospel, and whether church is starting to feel more like a show than worship. They also ask if business and politics have quietly merged with the church, and what Adventists make of that. From unScripted, the Adventist Review video podcast.