Inter-America to ordain dozens of Adventist ministers across the territory

Image by Abel Marquez/IAD

January 11, 2015 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens/IAD

Dozens of Adventist ministers across the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America will be ordained on Jan. 17, 2015, during territory-wide coordinated ceremonies, which will launch the start of Inter-America’s Year of the Pastor during the next 11 months.

More than two dozen ministers will be ordained in El Palacio de los Deportes Arena in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where more than 15,000 church leaders and members are expected to witness the event on Sabbath, Jan. 17.

Special guest speakers will include Adventist World Church President Ted N.C. Wilson and Evangelist Mark Finley.

The event will be carried online in Spanish, English and French, beginning at 3:30pm Santo Domingo Time (or 2:30pm Miami Time).

Pastor Hector Sanchez, ministerial secretary for the church in Inter-America, says some 1,500 of the 3,400 ministers in the Inter-American Division territory are not ordained. IAD File photo.

“We consider that these sacred ordinations will be historic throughout Inter-America and will strengthen the church even further,” said Pastor Hector Sanchez, ministerial secretary for the church in Inter-America and organizer of the event.

Of the 3,400 ministers who oversee more than 20,000 churches and congregations, 1,500 of them are non-ordained licensed ministers, according to Pastor Sanchez.

“Our church is growing fast and it is necessary for all our pastors to fully perform their responsibilities in ministering to the membership,” added Sanchez.

The territory-wide event will highlight the need for ministers to be ordained and remind church regions to follow-up on ministers who have labored more than five years and have yet to be ordained, explained Sanchez.

“There are some ministers who have worked more than 10 years and have not been ordained for x or y reason,” he said. This event will be a reminder for church leaders in conferences and unions to review the work of non-ordained ministers and work towards ordination.”

Ordained ministers can perform all the official functions in their ministry like weddings, baptisms, and organize and dissolve churches, among other duties, added Sanchez.

Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the French Antilles, Venezuela and Colombia will join in with their ordination ceremonies in less than a week.

To watch Inter-America’s Ordination Ceremony from the Dominican Republic on Jan. 17, 2015, at 2:30pm Miami Time, visit our web channel HERE