August 15, 2008 Tampa, Florida, United States…ANN Staff
Adventist-laymen's Services and Industries (ASI) members donated $8 million during the organization's August 6 to 9 weekend convention, quadrupling last year's offering. The marked upswing in giving is spurred largely by interest surrounding the One-Day Church project, ASI officials said.
First announced in April at the Seventh-day Adventist Church's spring business meetings, the project is a church-supported joint venture of ASI and Maranatha Volunteers International meant to address the need for substantial yet easily assembled church structures in regions where membership is soaring.
Structures, which can be completed in as little as six hours, provide the framework and the roof, leaving local members to finish the walls with affordable and readily available materials, such as brick or bamboo. In July, Adventists in Ecuador began worshipping in the first One-Day Church.
ASI members' donations reflect their enthusiasm for projects such as the One-Day Church, said Steve Hamstra, ASI communication director. The organization, he said, relies on “motivated and inspired” members rather than heavy marketing to raise funds for projects. “People are excited about this,” he said.
Established in 1947, ASI provides networking for some 800 Adventist businesspeople who share Christ in the marketplace.
For more information on the One-Day Church project, visit onedaychurch.org.
