Miami, Florida, United States….[Libna Stevens/IAD]
In an effort to move church leaders to a closer, constant spiritual and prayerful connection with God, more 400 than church administrators, pastors and lay representatives from the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory met for a first division-wide Prayer Conference. The conference took place on Mar. 10-11, in Miami, Florida.
The 12-hour event brought every leader to their knees as they prayed together several times in groups to ask for God’s guidance, direction and commitment to a spirit-filled life of prayer.
In the opening ceremony of the conference, Pastor Israel Leito, president for the church in Inter-America, emphasized prayer as the greatest need we have as Seventh-day Adventists and leaders.
“We are so busy with the work of the Lord that we forget about the work God has to do in our hearts. We are so busy with board meetings, we are so occupied with interviews… we are so burdened with leading the Church, that sometimes we are very careless and forget that God has to lead our lives.”
As leaders and laity, Pastor Leito re-emphasized how the church in Inter-America sees the working together of pastors and laypeople. “This is not a church of pastors, it is the church of the sons of God. Laymen rule the church along with the pastors. They also have the same needs. To be constantly in prayer with the Lord.”
The special event was packed with guest speakers from the General Conference and the IAD territory. Seminars were presented on prayer and evangelism, the theology of prayer, reviving prayer meetings, anointing prayer, conducting prayer festivals, and others.
During Sabbath’s divine service, Pastor Orville Parchment, assistant to Jan Paulsen, world church president, spoke about the power of prayer and the need to be passionately connected to God through prayer. He asked church leaders on the platform to encircle Pastor Leito and His wife and offered prayer for his leadership. Pastor Leito then prayed for the leadership of the church in Inter-America.
The prayer conference left Livingston Burgess, a leading lay preacher from the Golden Grove Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, shouting “Amens” throughout the event as he basked in the messages presented.
“This conference has been a motivator for me, I go back with the fire able to revive other laymen and other churches not just my church,” he said.
Pastor Abraham de la Cruz, a district pastor overseeing 17 churches in the North Chiapas region in Mexico, says he’s glad that the IAD is concerned for its pastors so they can pray earnestly and it can be multiplied in the church.
“I believe that this conference was led by God and even though more than 2,000 years have passed since Jesus was on earth, the same need His disciples had continues to be heard: ‘Teach us to pray’,” said Pastor de la Cruz. The church itself hasn’t had that experience, so I am delighted [with this conference] and hope that with God’s help and my influence through prayer can affect the church for good.”
De la Cruz plans to train church elders and laypeople to work hand in hand in his districts so the messages can reach every church member.
Fellow delegates joined in expressing their gratitude for the messages presented and committed to finish the work God and the church called on them to do.
“We always need to be on our knees.” Pastor Leito said. “Our desire for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America is to increase their prayerfulness. Prayer has to be part of our lives.” he continued. “Remember prayer is the key. Let us continue to pray for God to fill us with His spirit and depend on His guidance.”
Pastor Leito, who organized the event, said plans are underway to gather the church leadership of the IAD territory again for another prayer conference before the end of the quinquennium, which will conclude in the year 2010.
