Inter-America: Church elders authorized to baptize during historic event

Church Elders Levon Walcott (left) of the Rest Store Adventist Church in Manchester, Jamaica, and Cortis Nolan (third from left) of the Wynters Acres Adventist Church in St. Catherine, await to baptize two new members at Camp Verley, St. Catherine, on Sep. 28, 2013. Walcott and Cortis were among hundreds of ordained church elders across the Inter-American Division authorized to baptize new believers into the church on the special event, as part of Inter-America’s Year of the Laity this year. Image by Nigel Coke/IAD

October 1, 2013 – Miami, Florida, United States…Libna Stevens/IAD

Pastor Hector Sanchez, ministerial secretary of the church in Inter-America said the baptisms by hundreds of ordained church elders across the territory was a historic one for the Seventh-day Adventist Church around the world. Libna Stevens/IAD file photo.

During an unprecedented event across the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America on Sabbath, September 28, thousands of church elders were given the opportunity to baptize new believers. The special baptismal events climaxed nine months of evangelistic work performed by laypeople in the vast Division territory. The body of this work has been coined Inter-America’s Year of the Laity.

“This has been such a significant date in our Division and around the world,” said Pastor Hector Sanchez, ministerial secretary for the church in Inter-America. “I believe this is the first time that a world church division has asked presidents of local conferences and missions to authorize ordained church elders to baptize in their congregations.”

“We rejoice with our laypeople across the Inter-American Division for their committed efforts during this historic event,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America. “It just reaffirms the value the church places on our laypeople, especially our church elders who are crucial in assisting pastors every week in thousands of our congregations.”

Church elders stand next to their candidate before a massive baptism took place in the pool at the Adventist Traininga School in west El Salvador. Some 30 elders baptized 139 on Sep. 28. Image courtesy of El Salvador Union/IAD.

The IAD boasts over 15,000 congregations but has only 3,200 pastors to serve them, so the role of the church elder is vital for the healthy growth and running of the local churches, explained Pastor Sanchez, who oversees the pastors and elders in the IAD. The figures point out that a pastor in the IAD has an average of five churches to oversee every week. That’s why the 50,000 church elders in Inter-America are essential in the functioning of the churches, he affirmed.

“We are thankful for the men and women church elders who faithfully work alongside our pastors every week,” said Pastor Sanchez.

Clara Davidson, 62, of Central Jamaica moments before she baptized one of several candidates at Camp Verley, in Manchester, Jamaica. Image by Nigel Coke/IAD

Pastor Sanchez said there were four requirements followed on Sep. 28 for church elders to be able to baptize, in keeping with the guidelines set out by the church manual: The elder must be appointed by the church, ordained, authorized to baptize by the conference or mission president, and have a baptismal candidate or candidates that he or she brought in through Bible studies.

Clara Davidson, 62, an ordained elder from Harry Watch Seventh-day Adventist Church in Central Jamaica, could not contain her excitement as she waited her turn to baptize at Camp Verley, where over 4,000 gathered to witness dozens of baptisms.

“It is a joy of a different kind to be in the place of a pastor baptizing someone,” said Davidson. Davidson was especially happy to baptize a 35-year-old man who left the church after first being baptized at the age of 16.

Dumas Clavio of the Central Adventist Church in Barranquilla in North Colombia poses next to four new believers before baptizing them on Sep. 28, 2013. Image courtesy of North Colombia Union/IAD

“I went after him about three years ago and now my dream to baptize him has come true,” Davidson said. “It brought a very special joy to my heart which will last me for a lifetime.”

Church elder Dumas Clavijo of the Adventist Central Church in Barranquilla, Colombia said he had been dreaming of the moment to baptize since he was ordained some 20 years ago.

Dany Santos, head elder at the 15 Avenida Adventist Church in Guatemala City, Guatemala, prays before baptizing one of 31 new believers on Sep. 28, 2013.  Image courtesy of Guatemala Union/IAD

“When I found out that during this Year of the Laity church elders would have the opportunity to baptize, I worked harder to prepare four people for baptism. What a wonderful experience the Lord has given us,” said Clavijo.

Dany Santos, head elder at 15 Avenida Adventist Church in Guatemala City, was among the 248 authorized church elders in Guatemala to baptize 1,662 new members on Sep. 28. Santos leads the Orion Rehabilitation Home operated by the church to help people with drug and alcohol addictions. The opportunity to baptize 31 persons moved him.

“This is the most wonderful and important experience that has happened in my life,” said Santos. “To be able to baptize those brothers and sisters who have struggled with addictions brings great joy in my heart today.”

“This experience is something that motivates us as elders and drives us to continue investing time and resources in the work of the Lord and continue joint efforts with pastors preparing a people for the soon coming of the Lord,” he continued.

That dual partnership among laypeople and pastors is what the church in Inter-America has been nurturing for decades and part of the reason leaders are not surprised by the thousands of baptisms that took place on Sep. 28.

Dozens of church elders prepare to baptize 70 individuals into the church at the Tilapa Beach in San Marcos, in South Guatemala, on Sep. 28. Image courtesy Guatemala Union/IAD

According to reports from the IAD territory nearly 2,000 people were baptized by church elders in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, over 600 in Cuba, over 900 in Haiti and hundreds in the Dominican Republic as well as The Bahamas, St. Vincent, West Venezuela, Jamaica and more.

“This event marked a difference in many church elders and in many more lives as far as the vision of the church,” said Pastor Sanchez. “If many were committed to the advancement of the work before, after this Sabbath they are committed even more.”

Eusebio Trinidad Peña, heald elder of one of the Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, prays over one person he led to the gospel on Sep. 28, during one of Inter-America’s Year of the Laity events this year. Image courtesy of Dominican Union/IAD

Pastor Sanchez believes that a new beginning in soul-winning can take place in Inter-America. “If our minds can open more so that men and women elders can have the privilege of not only being spectators of great baptisms but star in them as it just took place.”

For now, the event was a one-time occurrence throughout the IAD territory, church leaders said.

“We are thankful for the hard work these church elders continue to do in spreading the Gospel and we hope they are assured that the church is not the church of the pastor, the church is the church of the church–its members,” said Pastor Leito. “We are one church united in preparing and expecting the coming of the Lord.”

Nigel Coke, Gustavo Menendez, and Shirley Rueda contributed to this article.

For more on Inter-America’s Year of the Laity, go to 2013.interamerica.org