June 14, 2011 – Miami, Florida, United States…Libna Stevens/IAD
Amid the Seventh-day Adventist spiritual revival and reformation sweeping throughout Inter-America during the past five months, church leaders and staff of the Inter-American Division (IAD) pause for prayer and spiritual emphasis this week at its headquarter office in Miami, Florida.
“Renewed by the Spirit” has been the focus of the special week of prayer which is being led by guest speaker, Steve W.A. Riley, pastor of the Stanmore Seventh-day Adventist Church in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. He reminded the leadership that God has called each one to serve Him.
“God called you because of Him, because of what God can do through you,” said Pastor Riley, as he addressed the more than 75 church employees. “It’s not because of who you are that He called you, it’s because of who He is and what He can do for you just as you are, wounded, discouraged, discomforted. It’s not because of you but because of Jesus,” he added.
Pastor Riley also focused on the important call God has made to each to serve Him completely and bear fruit regardless of human praise.
“It’s not what we do because other people are looking that matters to God. It’s what we do when no one will find out,” stated Riley. “So when the master is out, our integrity must not take a vacation, our honesty must not go on retirement, and our morality must not go in retrenchment. We are working with God in mind, regardless of the office we hold,” he continued as he emphasized the responsibility of each leader to give an account of the work entrusted by God.
It’s a renewal of the Spirit that church leaders seek at the IAD headquarter office which oversees a territory of more than 3.4 million members.
“For years, the IAD office has dedicated one week out of the year for a special week of prayer,” said Pastor Balvin Braham, associate director of the ministerial association for the church in Inter-America. “It’s an important pause during the year to gather as a team to pray and worship God,” said Pastor Braham.
“We here at the headquarter office are human beings like everyone else and need to be vertically connected with the Lord in order to be effective on horizontally as we seek to lead others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” explained Braham.
“It’s important to pray and worship collectively during the designated week of spiritual emphasis,” said Braham. “We recognize that no man stands alone. Like the Apostle Paul we should build each other up and so corporate worship and prayer is the act of taking responsibility for building each other within the team. Paul says in Hebrews 10:25 that we should not forsake the assembly of ourselves together; and Jesus mentioned in Matthew 18:20 that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there to bless and save.”
The IAD staff will continue to pause for Bible readings and prayer throughout each day this week. Pastor Riley will speak each day and will end the week of prayer during a special communion service on Sabbath morning, June 18.
Pastor Riley, a graduate from the Southern Caribbean University in Trinidad is married and has two daughters.
