Inter-America: Church focuses on the Bible and prophetic writings during territory-wide conference

July 30, 2011 – San Salvador, El Salvador…Libna Stevens

The Seventh-day AdventistChurch in Inter-America held its second territory-wide Bible Conference duringa special event in San Salvador, El Salvador, July 22-23, 2011. The conferencewas part of the church’s efforts to implement the second phase of a revival andreformation initiative called “Heeding the Word” with emphasis on the study ofthe Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy books by Adventist co-founder EllenG. White.

More than 700 top churchleaders from throughout the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) 21 regions andministers from across El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala participated in thetwo-day Bible conference.

“Our mainobjective for this conference was to establish among our pastors and localleaders a solid theological foundation regarding the Adventist position on theWord of God and the Spirit of Prophecy to achieve a greater impact on the implementationof this next phase of our spiritual revival initiative,” said Pastor RobertoHerrera, coordinator for revival and reformation for the church inInter-America.

Theactivity also provides a model for the program to be repeated in each localchurch and congregation, added Herrera.

“We want you as ministers to fall in love more with the Wordof God, your church expects that,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of thechurch in Inter-America during the meetings. “We want our members to be fed by theWord of God, and you bear that responsibility as ministers, we must intentlystudy and trust in the Bible and share its truth from the pulpit every week.”

Theologians from theBiblical Research Institute (BRI), Dr. Artur Stele, Adventist World Church vicepresident and BRI director, as well Dr. Angel Manuel Rodriguez, former BRIdirector, emphasized the importance of the Bible as the foundation for theAdventist Church and the prophetic ministry of Ellen G. White as it leads tothe Scriptures.

“If there is a church thathas all the rights to speak biblically with all freedom regarding the Spirit ofProphecy it’s the Seventh-day Adventist,” said Dr. Rodriguez.

“You must not forget thatGod has granted the church a unique gift through the prophetic ministry ofEllen G. White,” added Dr. Rodriguez. “A gift that we as a church have not beenable to fully understand its significance.”

Dr. Rodriguez reviewed therole of Ellen G. White as a chosen prophet of God, her writings about historyand the Christian church, the function of the Spirit of Prophecy and itspermanence as a global ministry, what the Bible says about prophets, amongothers.

Dr. Stele shared fiveprinciples for ministers to remember from the conference. “As a church webelieve ‘Sola Scriptura’ which means the Bible and Bible alone is ourfoundation,” he said. Dr. Stele went on to state that the Spirit of Prophecy writingsare very important because they lead to the Scriptures.

“The Bible is its owninterpreter. If you need to discover something in the Bible, you must try todiscover all the passages which talk about your subject of interest,” explainedStele. He also reminded ministers that spiritual things must be interpreted spiritually.“Logic is not enough to present the Scriptures. Allow God to remain God.”

Dr. Stele reminded ministersthat the true author of the Bible is still alive. “Ask him what you don’tunderstand. Seek God’s wisdom for guidance. Keep faithfully preaching the Wordof God,” added Stele.

A series of questions wereanswered during a special round table session at the end of the Bibleconference. IAD and BRI leadersanswered questions from the Trinity, the importance of a new memberunderstanding Bible principles and the Spirit of Prophecy ministry, the needfor pastors to include prophetic ministry in their sermons, how to motivatemembers into reading the prophetic books, to the need for more publicationsavailable, among others.

For Dr. Leonard Johnson,president of the church in the Atlantic Caribbean Union, the conference“underscored the need for pastors and church leaders to know and believe in theWord and by extension the Spirit of Prophecy writings,” he said. “This will nodoubt augur well for a leadership and membership seeing to be guided by theBible and resulting in a healthier church evangelistically and grounded in theWord and Spirit of Prophecy.”

Pastor Josney Rodriguez,president of the church in East Venezuela, agrees on the importance andbenefits of the Bible conference. He made sure to bring his four conferencepresidents to the conference and is already making arrangements to duplicate itin his territory before the end of the year.

“The church is facing manychallenges in doctrines and emphasis in the Bible,” said Pastor Rodriguez whooversees a membership of more than 110,600. “We know that there are members that do not believe in theTrinity, and so this conference is very important to strengthen the church tobe more grounded on the Scriptures and for each member to know whey theybelieve in the Bible.”

One way to promote more thestudy of the Bible among members is to increase the number of Sabbath schoolquarterlies in his territory, said Rodriguez.

Vladimir Kabbas, whooverseas a membership of 19,000 in the Central Conference with PastorRodriguez, said he was inspired by what he heard in the conference.

“I was so impressed withwhat has been presented and particularly how clearly it was shown that in thesame way that God called His prophets in Bible times, He also called Ellen G. White.”

Kabbas is already organizinga Bible conference in this church territory that will gather dozens of pastors,chaplains and head elders in early September.

It’s about creating thatkind of environment for members to appreciate the Word of God and prepare forthe Second Coming of Jesus that has top leaders aggressively pushing for itsmore than 3,000 ministers to be promoters of the biblical truths.

Plans are underway to holdthe church’s first virtual ministerial council from the IAD headquarters forall pastors throughout the region later this month.

For more on the “Heeding the Word” revivalinitiative taken place in Inter-America, visit us at www.interamerica.org

To view a photogallery of the Heeding the Word revival initiative launch, click here

Resources:

Revival andReformation webpage: http://praying4revival.org
In Spanish: http://estamosorando.org
French: http://praying4revival.org

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