March 5, 2010 – Miami, Florida, United States…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America will celebrate its division-wide Festival of the Laity in Panama City, Panama, Mar. 9-13, 2010. More than 1,300 of the most outstanding laypersons throughout the 17 church regions of the Inter-American Division (IAD) will gather to be honored, trained, and motivated during the five-day event.
It’s the first such division-wide event held in the territory for over 10 years, according to Pastor Carlyle Bayne, Sabbath school and personal ministries director for the IAD, and organizer of the event.
“This is an occasion when we will meet to celebrate what the Lord has done through our united efforts,” says Pastor Bayne. “We will celebrate the birth of thousands of souls which the efforts of the laity have brought to the foot of the cross and the individual achievements of scores of our lay evangelists both in public and personal evangelism, as well as the work of administrators, directors and pastors who have given outstanding service in directing the efforts of the lay forces.”
More than 45 seminars and lectures will be offered on motivating members to witness, evangelizing professionals, ethics and the laity, the use of technology, leadership, health and more.
Although regional festivals of the laity have been held throughout the territory during the past 10 years, Pastor Bayne says that such a territory-wide event such as this one provides a wonderful opportunity for the multi-cultural and multi-lingual lay force to unify and showcase their work.
“This has been a real banner quinquennium in our division,” says Bayne “The forces of the pastors and the laity working together brought the Lord over one million souls. This is an outstanding achievement, never reached before in a five-year period.”
That singular achievement will be celebrated as the Festival of the Laity concludes on Saturday, March 13, as top church leaders from every region will participate in a special baptismal ceremony called Pentecost and More. More than 3,000 souls are expected to be baptized at that event, and thousands more throughout the IAD. The ceremony will be broadcast live via satellite beginning at 10:30 AM EST. Esperanza TV, Hope Channel, 3ABN, and 3ABN Latino will carry the two-and-a-half hour program.
The Festival of the Laity opening ceremony will be streamed live over the internet beginning Tuesday, Mar. 9, at 7:00 PM EST. Go to https://recursing-golick.147-182-135-0.plesk.page/ or click here to watch the live webcast.
Live webcasts of the morning and evening programs will begin at 8:00 a.m. to 12noon and 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m . Mar. 10-12.
