Inter-America’s Church business meetings begin focused on spiritual revival; new strategies and leaders voted in

November 4, 2010 – Fort de France, Martinique….Libna Stevens/IAD

Spiritual revival and reformation echoed from the lips of Seventh-day Adventist leaders from throughout Inter-America as they gathered for day one of the first executive committee of the new quinquenium, or five-year period, after the church’s 59th General Conference business session took place in Atlanta earlier in July, marking the new period officially.

Dozens of church leaders and administrators representing the 21 church regions in the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory participated in a special opening ceremony earlier today in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

Dr. Ella Simmons, vice president for the Adventist World Church, spoke on the importance of church leader’s own need for spiritual revival and their need to be strong and obedient as they seek to do the work God has placed them to do.

“We are to be living sacrifices on this altar of service…what He’s calling us to do now is to live for Him,” challenged Dr. Simmons. “By renewing our minds we are able to know the will of God. Don’t become fixed on the things around you, instead fix your attention on God you’ll be changed from the inside out.”

That revival is the kind that top leaders hope resonates in the life of every church leader and member throughout Inter-America as each engages prayerfully in constant praise, gratitude and full trust in God.

“Praising God is recognizing that He is God,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America, as he spoke to church leaders. “Let Him take full control of our lives…praising God means I will dethrone myself, avoiding arrogance.”

Being thankful for God’s blessings was emphasized by a few words from Dr. Elie Henry, executive secretary of the church in Inter-America.

“We must continue to praise and thank God for the many blessings God bestows upon us and the church,” asserted Dr. Henry. “We have seen the growth, we have seen new fields added, we have seen our members testifying of the gospel in our churches, and we must continually thank Him.”

Filiberto Verduzco, treasurer of the church in Inter-America, emphasized to leaders the challenges ahead for the new five-year period.

“A new quinquennium begins and we don’t know the challenges ahead but I can tell you there will be new opportunities,” said Verduzco. “Living the mission of the church in Inter-America offers us new opportunities to deepen our relationship with Jesus, new opportunities to create a revival that begins in the heart and thus become a living testimony that a new reform has begun in our lives.”

“The evidence of God’s blessings during the last 10 years [in Inter-America] is a testimony that we should not fear the future,” Verduzco affirmed.

Evidence of God’s blessings was not only evident in the finances of the church in Inter-America but the membership growth during the past five years, church leaders said.

With over one million newly baptized members from 2005-2009, a 16.3 percent increase compared to what was reached during the previous five-year period, leaders voted on a proposed increase projection of 80,000 more new believers for the period 2010-2014, with some 1,084,963 baptisms projected.

Retaining new and old members was another priority on today’s agenda. Executive Committee members voted on immediate programs to be in place as new members join the church in 2011, from actively involving new members in special congresses, spiritual emphasis retreats, small group ministries, promote spiritual growth with special pamphlets geared to new members, and more.

As the new quinquennium will also focus on improving Seventh-day Adventist education, leaders voted to study effective ways to improve the quality of schools, recruit new students and reach out to Adventist students studying in non-Adventist schools and institutions.

The auditor’s report for the year 2009 was presented and the 2011 Budget was approved by church leaders.

In additional, the top leadership of several union missions throughout the territory were voted in. These were:

Atlantic Caribbean Union (no change)
Leonard Johnson, president; Peter Kerr, secretary; Rodrick Sands, treasurer

Belize Union of Churches
Dennis Slusher, president; Luis Jesse, secretary; Saul Ortiz, treasurer

Central Mexican Union Mission (no change)
Tomas Torres de Dios, president; Jose Dzul, secretary; Florencio Suarez, treasurer

East Venezuela Union Mission (no change)
Josney Rodriguez, president, Benirde Almerida, secretary; Pablo Careno, treasurer

El Salvador Union Mission
Abel Pacheco, president; Victor Burgos, secretary; Carlos Martinez, treasurer

Guatemala Union Mission
Guenther Garcia, president; Ramiro Hernandez, secretary; Abilio Cima, treasurer

Haitian Union (no change)
Theart St. Pierre, president; Pierre Caporal, secretary; Claudel Dolce, treasurer

Honduras Union Mission
Adan Ramos, president; Roberto Brown, secretary, Juan Jose Moran, treasurer

South Colombian Union Mission (no change)
Eliseo Bustamante, president; Hector Arias, secretary; German Perez, treasurer

Venezuela Antilles Union Mission (no change)
Julio Palacio, president; Orlando Ramirez, secretary; David Poloche, treasurer

The Executive Committee also voted to add two additional IAD field secretaries: Tomas Torres, who currently serves as president of Central Mexican Union, and James Daniel, who currently serves as associate director for stewardship in the IAD.

Samuel Telemaque, associate director for Personal Ministries and Sabbath Schools for the IAD, was also named director of Adventist Missions for Inter-America.

Also, voted in to serve as editors at the Inter-American Division Publishing Association were Francesc Gelabert, as chief editor, and Fernando Zabala, as editor.

Alejandro Medina was also voted in as chief editor in the GEMA publishing house.

The Division also granted a number of ministerial and commissioned ministerial credentials, ministerial licenses, missionary credentials, credentialed commissioned teachers and honorary credentials for the 2010-2015 period.

Committee members also voted in members of the various Division boards for the next five-year period.

Day two of the executive committee meetings will deal with evangelism strategies, initiatives, and report on church growth throughout the territory.

For more information on decisions taken during IAD’s 2010 Year-End Executive Committee meetings, visit us at https://recursing-golick.147-182-135-0.plesk.page