Inter-America prepares to unveil its comprehensive initiatives and activities for 2013
October 22, 2012 – Miami, Florida, United States… Libna Stevens/IAD
October 27, 2012, is a date which has been buzzing throughout churches in Inter-America for months now because on this special day thousands of local church board members will take part in the second annual executive committee meetings broadcast live on the internet from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Dozens of activities will take place throughout the Inter-American Division during The Year of the Laity in 2013. For more information, visit 2013.interamerica.org
The meetings, which are scheduled to begin during the special webcast, will set the tone for what promises to be a historic endeavor as church leaders and members work closer in planning next year’s Year of the Laity.
Thousands of church boards from Inter-America’s 22 church regions will be able to connect to view the online presentation of scheduled events and activities such as celebrations, gatherings, special baptisms, evangelistic efforts and community impact events planned for next year.
“We want to directly involve our church boards in seeing, joining, partnering and adopting the initiatives that will continue to propel our church toward sharing Christ more during 2013,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America.
Board members will be able to view the two-hour presentation of initiatives and activities to be voted by the executive committee and have an opportunity to discuss and adopt the activities right after the broadcast.
The scheduled Oct. 27 online meeting follows the momentum already in full force since last year in what the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America has coined as Vision One Million or one million trained disciples during the current quinquennium, said Pastor Leito.
“This unprecedented effort [Vision One Million], of one million disciples, enriched with prayer, Bible study and fellowship has brought us to celebrate the victories of these passionate disciples during 2013 as the Year of the Laity,” Pastor Leito added.
It’s simply about partnering with the one million specially trained laypeople in any of the five areas to fulfill the mission of the church through any of the five areas: preaching, Bible instruction, witnessing, small group leadership and global mission pioneering, said Pastor Melchor Ferreyra, personal ministries director for the church in Inter-America, who is overseeing the activities of Year of the Laity.
Already, the buzz about October 27 has been coordinated by regional leaders pastors and church elders throughout the territory.
In North Mexico, churches have coordinated with their church boards through a promotional video of the date. In Southeast Mexico some 330 church boards will be connected, and hundreds more in Mexico’s Inter-Oceanic and South regions.
Dominican Republic has been announcing the special online event on the church’s radio stations throughout the island, while church boards in the Caribbean, the Atlantic Caribbean and the Central American regions will be connected as well.
Inter-America’s October 27, 2012, online program will begin at 3:00 p.m. Honduras Time (or 5:00 p.m. Miami Time), and viewed in Spanish, English and French at www.interamerica.org
A time guide for a few major cities and countries throughout the territory include:
- Havana, Martinique, Miami, Nassau, Port- Au-Prince, Port-of-Spain, San Juan, Santo Domingo, 5:00pm (UTC-4)
- Caracas, 4:30pm (UTC-4:30)
- Bogota, Kingston, Mexico City, Panama, 4:00pm (UTC-5)
- Belmopan, El Salvador, Chihuahua, Guatemala, San Jose, 3:00pm (UTC-6)
- Tijuana, Hermosillo, 2:00pm (UTC-7)
For more on the Year of the Laity, visit http://2013.interamerica.org