Inter-America: Over 44,700 Believers Join the Church In a Single Day as World Watches

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic…[Libna Stevens/IAD]

History was made in the Inter-American Division (IAD) on Saturday, Mar. 24, as 44,775 were baptized into the Adventist faith. It is the largest number of baptisms in a single day in the IAD since it was established in 1921.

Inspired by the Biblical pentecost in Acts 2, the territory-wide event, called Pentecost and More, featured satellite feeds from all 15 unions which were broadcast throughout the world and the IAD, including the hub of the program in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

“This is a very extraordinary day,” said Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist World Church, to thousands of Seventh-day Adventists as he spoke at the El Palacio de los Deportes in Santo Domingo. “I have never done anything like this. I’ve preached most Sabbaths and traveled all around the world, but I have never done anything like this,” he exclaimed.

Over 10,000 people crowded the stadium to witness the event, which was the culmination of months and months of evangelistic campaigns in the IAD and took the coordinated efforts of hundreds of pastors, church staff and lay people throughout the 15 main regions.

Outside the stadium, 5,000 more watched as waves of baptismal candidates, dressed in blue robes, stepped forward. Some baptisms were done inside the stadium, while most were done by 60 pastors in an olympic-size pool outside.

Spearheaded by IAD’s Ministerial Association, the evangelistic initiative sought to involve pastors and church members in every local church in the territory to share the gospel to non-believers in the hopes of reaching the three million member mark. Two years ago, this milestone was not expected to be reached until 2010.

At the climax of the event was the baptism of Clarissa Pozo de los Santos, a young lady chosen to represent the three millionth member in Inter-America. She shared how God transformed her life.

“I was walking in the world and I saw how there is so much evil, pain, and sadness and God has something else for me,” she said. “It’s like I have a new life now, I know that I will be different with God’s help.”

As Pozo de los Santos was submerged into the baptismal pool set up by the stage, crowds of people gathered around to witness the significant milestone.

Each of Inter-America’s 15 major church regions was featured in succession via live satellite transmission at specific time intervals throughout the program. The start of each region’s presentation in the program was heralded with a musical video highlight and special baptismal prayer.

At the start Pastor Paulsen, who carried the central message during the Sabbath worship service, spoke to the 1,400 individuals seated on the ground floor of the stadium. Pastor Paulsen’s image and words were carried via satellite to the thousands more across the IAD gathered in local churches and convention centers who were preparing for baptism.

“Jesus Christ is the only way,” said Pastor Paulsen. “He is the only door into God’s future.”

Pastor Paulsen emphasized what he called the four pillars of the gospel that each candidate would embrace as they publicly committed to following Jesus through baptism: first, having the certainty that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind; second, that Jesus did not stay in the grave; third, that Jesus is alive, ascended to heaven and is ministering for everyone; and finally, that He will come again.

Pastor Paulsen challenged the entire gathering to recommit their lives to Christ and tell others the good news of the gospel.

Shortly after the event, church leaders and organizers marveled at the impact which rippled across the territory in the wake of this historical event.

“It [the program] has brought the churches together,” said Pastor Balvin Braham, who organized Pentecost and More. “It is a sense of spiritual revival that has taken place, not just an event, and it has also mobilized individuals to continue evangelizing,” he said.

“In our case it is not an issue of numbers,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America. “We are happy that we have reached symbolically the three millionth member, but we will be far more happy when, with all the saints of the Lord, we can be at the feet of Jesus. This will be our greatest joy,” he exclaimed.

“This is part of history, a good history,” said Pastor Leon Wellington, vice president and communication director for the church in Inter-America of the event. “We are happy to be part of this program using the technology available today to contribute in fulfilling the mission of the church.”

Although there were some technical difficulties at the start of the broadcast, the event unified evangelism efforts in sharing the gospel to non-believers throughout the territory, a major objective, according to Pastor Braham.

The program not only sought to achieve its objective of unifying forces in the church to sharing the gospel, said Pastor Wellington, but was also part of the launching of the Adventist World Church’s Spanish television channel Esperanza TV.

Kandus Thorpe, an executive of Hope Channel TV shared with the audience that Esperanza TV is the offical television voice of the Seventh-day Adventist church for the Spanish world. “It is to be a window for the world to view the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Esperanza TV is to show the rest of the world the life of the church here in Inter-America.

The event was also carried live through Adventist Television networks, Hope TV, 3ABN, Nuevo Tiempo and Red A.D.venir.

For the church leadership, Pentecost and More is only a glimpse into IAD’s future.

“Pentecost and More has been the awakening of a new direction for the church in Inter-America,” said Pastor Leito. Pastor Leito expressed interest in broadening the program and making it an annual event.

“It really speaks to what can happen when we get our membership to work,” said Pastor Braham. “If we can get all of our members…actively involved in evangelism, then there is no telling as to the significant impact we can have.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America covers Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern tip of South America, and has some 3 million members worshiping in 9,218 churches.

To view photo gallery of the Pentecost and More event, click https://recursing-golick.147-182-135-0.plesk.page/PMGallery