In Inter-America, Leaders Use New Technology Tools to Strengthen the Mission of the Church

Union secretaries and treasurers from Inter-America’s 24 regional offices gathered to go over new technology tools to manage employee records, membership statistics and accounting tasks during an advisory training Mar. 8-10, in Miami, Florida. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

March 19, 2018 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens/IAD

The leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America recently gathered top administrators from its 24 major regions to review new technology to manage employee records, audit the membership and perform accounting tasks. The meeting gathered union secretaries and treasurers for a special advisory training in Miami, Florida, Mar. 8-10, 2018.

“You are here because it is important for you to understand that your division is not stagnant and we are creating and doing new things to improve the delivery of the mission,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America as he addressed the more than 75 church administrators and leaders during the beginning session.

IAD Executive Secretary Dr. Elie Henry speaks about the amended policies in place with regards to employee benefit plan. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

“We want to keep working together so the new technologies presented here and the goals being set can assist so that God’s work can continue to move forward,” Pastor Leito said.

The training meetings were the first to bring together both departments: secretariat, which deals with church employment or service and membership auditing across churches, and treasury, which deals with payroll of employees and their retirement, and financial operation of the church across the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory.

“Because everything is more and more digitized, we needed to review together as both departments on the current amended policies on retirement, progress of service records and other statistics programs,” said Dr. Elie Henry, executive secretary for the church in Inter-America.

Dr. Henry stated that the launching of the merging of the employee record system with the employee benefit plan was a major part of why both departments joined in the meeting.

“It’s important that both departments integrate better and understand the dynamics that bring them together so both software programs will bring secretaries and treasurers more accurate and quicker solutions in the regard of the employee’s service,” said Dr. Henry.

When you have more than 20,000 church employees, 22,000 churches, and 3.7 million members, transparency is important, said Dr. Henry.

Leaders also reviewed closely the progress of the Adventist Church Management System which is a system in place to manage all levels of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in areas such as membership care, pastoral care and statistical reports. Since the system was put in place in Inter-America more than five years ago, nearly all 24 regions have been auditing their books on a digital system.

IAD Treasurer Filiberto Verduzco speaks to the dozens of church administrators on the importance of following finance guidelines when using the new technology tools presented during the training meetings. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

“We need to be looking in the same direction together, said Pastor Filiberto Verduzco, treasurer for the church in Inter-America. “The policy and financial perspective of the benefit plan has a common point and this is brought about when we take decisions so that the long-term plan can be effective for the personnel who work for the church.”

That joint venture will allow for better projections in the long-term as church financiers look at the actuarial studies to better study the financial behavior of the membership, its church employee data and benefit plans as retirement follows.

Leaders also reviewed working policy and guidelines for Inter-America’s Financial Inspection Oversight System, which oversees the financial auditing of churches and organizations not audited specifically by the General Conference Auditing System.

New software was introduced for the financial reporting done every week across local churches in the IAD. The new system will be connected to the SunPlus accounting system the church uses and will allow for better management of funds coming into the offering plates or online donations donated every week, financial leaders said.

The advisory training was all about better management of what “God has put before us with the tools needed to accomplish that mission,” said Verduzco. “These new tools will help us optimize the financial resources so that we can make decisions with information in real time,” Verduzco said.

Union secretaries and treasurers are expected to pass on what they learned to the hundreds of organizations across the IAD territory within the coming months.

To learn more about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America, visit us at interamerica.org