In West Venezuela, Thousands join the church during 10-day, five-city evangelistic impact

Thousands gather in the Portuguesa Estadio in the city of Guanare in West Venezuela, to listen to International Evangelist Alejandro Bullon’s message of hope last month. The church added some 2,009 new members during a 10-day five-city evangelistic endeavor Mar. 9-20, 2015, that left some 7,000 individuals receiving Bible studies in the region. Images by West Venezuela Union

April 2, 2015 | Barquisimeto, Venezuela | David Buenaño/IAD Staff

New believers are prayed for before baptism in West Venezuela.

Over the course of only 10 days in March, 2,009 new members joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Venezuela thanks to the committed efforts of hundreds of pastors, lay preachers and thousands of church members during a five-city impact carried out in the region.

“We thank God for the massive support of our members across our different cities leaving a spiritual experience as never been seen in the history of our country,” said Pastor Julio Palacio, president of the church in West Venezuela.

Themed “Happy, Living a Life with Hope,” the evangelistic initiative saw more than 15,600 church members involved and featured international Evangelist Alejandro Bullón speaking messages of hope to thousands in the cities of San Cristobal, Barinas, Guanare, Valencia and Barquisimeto.

Evangelist Alejandro Bullon speaks to thousands of people during the evangelistic efforts.

Personal Ministries Director and organizer Pastor Fernando Toala said it was the first time in the history of the church in Venezuela that such a massive evangelist endeavor took place in different cities in such a short period.

“Every year, we usually hold a large gathering in one city, but this year we wanted to expand touring various cities one after another,” said Toala.

Young people took to neighborhoods throughout each city with messages of hope. They marched with banners and held musical performances, organized large gatherings in parks and plazas and invited everyone to attend the upcoming meetings.

“So many people were intrigued by the impact in their communities,” said Toala. “Many would come up to us and ask us what all the big colorful excitement on the streets was about.”

“This is a new way of doing evangelism for us, different from our traditional ways, and the new way we will follow for our city-wide evangelistic outreach from now on,” said Toala.

Thousands gather at a stadium in the San Cristobal city on Mar. 9, 2015 for the start of the five-city evangelistic effort.

For a people needing to cling to a greater hope during the end times, the messages of hope in Jesus Christ by Pastor Bullón reminded viewers and listeners that a full life will only be achieved by accepting salvation from Jesus.

“Crisis is covering the world all around us, but we like to look at crisis as opportunities that God brings us,” said Toala. “What’s important is that we continue working during the day, because the night is coming when we cannot work anymore.”

Leaders are rejoicing that nearly 7,000 individuals currently receiving Bible studies are expected to join the church by end of this month.

The evangelistic messages every evening were streamed live on the internet and carried on the 25 radio stations operated by the church throughout the region.

The West Venezuela Union is headquartered in Barquisimeto and has 142,400 church members worshiping in 560 congregations.

To learn more about the church in West Venezuela, visit unionvenezolana.org

To view pictures of the evangelistic efforts there, click HERE