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 Adventist Church in Inter-America held its second territory-wide Bible Conference during a special event in San Salvador, El Salvador, July 22-23, 2011. The conference was part of the church’s efforts to implement the second phase of a revival and reformation initiative called “Heeding the Word” with emphasis on the study of the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy books by Adventist co-founder Ellen G. White.

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

“Our main objective for this conference was to establish among our pastors and local leaders a solid theological foundation regarding the Adventist position on the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy to achieve a greater impact on the implementation of this next phase of our spiritual revival initiative,” said Pastor Roberto Herrera, coordinator for revival and reformation for the church in Inter-America.

The activity also provides a model for the program to be repeated in each local church and congregation, added Herrera.

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

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

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

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

Dr. Rodriguez reviewed the role of Ellen G. White as a chosen prophet of God, her writings about history and the Christian church, the function of the Spirit of Prophecy and its permanence as a global ministry, what the Bible says about prophets, among others.

Dr. Stele shared five principles for ministers to remember from the conference. “As a church we believe ‘Sola Scriptura’ which means the Bible and Bible alone is our foundation,” he said. Dr. Stele went on to state that the Spirit of Prophecy writings are very important because they lead to the Scriptures.

“The Bible is its own interpreter. If you need to discover something in the Bible, you must try to discover all the passages which talk about your subject of interest,” explained Stele. 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 ministers that the true author of the Bible is still alive. “Ask him what you don’t understand. Seek God’s wisdom for guidance. Keep faithfully preaching the Word of God,” added Stele.

A series of questions were answered during a special round table session at the end of the Bible conference. IAD and BRI leaders answered questions from the Trinity, the importance of a new member understanding Bible principles and the Spirit of Prophecy ministry, the need for pastors to include prophetic ministry in their sermons, how to motivate members into reading the prophetic books, to the need for more publications available, 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 the Word and by extension the Spirit of Prophecy writings,” he said. “This will no doubt augur well for a leadership and membership seeing to be guided by the Bible and resulting in a healthier church evangelistically and grounded in the Word and Spirit of Prophecy.”

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

“The church is facing many challenges in doctrines and emphasis in the Bible,” said Pastor Rodriguez who oversees a membership of more than 110,600. “We know that there are members that do not believe in the Trinity, and so this conference is very important to strengthen the church to be more grounded on the Scriptures and for each member to know whey they believe in the Bible.”

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

Vladimir Kabbas, who overseas a membership of 19,000 in the Central Conference with Pastor Rodriguez, said he was inspired by what he heard in the conference.

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

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

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

Plans are underway to hold the church’s first virtual ministerial council from the IAD headquarters for all pastors throughout the region later this year.

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

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

Resources:
Revival and Reformation webpage: http://praying4revival.org
In Spanish: http://estamosorando.org
French: http://praying4revival.org

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