Adventists Celebrate The Opening of Fifth Renovated IADPA Bookstore in Jamaica

IAD President Pastor Elie Henry gets ready to cut the ribbon of the newly renovated IADPA Bookstore in Kingston, Jamaica, on Nov. 7, 2019. The new bookstore becomes the fifth IADPA Bookstore in the country. Photo: East Jamaica Conference

November 24, 2019 | Kingston, Jamaica | Phillip E. L. Castell/JAMU/IAD

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica celebrated the reopening of its new Inter-American Division Publishing Association (IADPA) Bookstore in Kingston during a special ceremony on Nov. 7, 2019. The renovated IADPA Bookstore now includes a vegetarian deli and a children’s reading corner to better serve the immediate surrounding community and the wider society as part of its new marketing strategy.

Inter-American Division President Pastor Elie Henry, who officially opened the store, was pleased with the progress being made in the publishing ministry of the church through the IADPA bookstore.

“As I travel from place to place, it is good to see the support and progress that the Publishing ministry has received and is making throughout the IAD,” said Pastor Henry. “Sometimes we love to remember that our church started really strong with publishing and the books that are being made available to the public through our bookstores are helping to spread the gospel to the world.”

The new bookstore opened at the church headquarters in the East Jamaica Conference in Kingston, Jamaica. Photo: East Jamaica Conference

Pastor Henry pointed out that sometimes as church members face challenges, they may think that it is losing ground in publishing. “That is why I am so happy to come to these inaugurations and coming here in Kingston is for me reaffirmation that we as Seventh-day Adventists believe in the publishing work.”

Pastor Everett Brown, president of the church in Jamaica said that this store fits into the overall mission and focus of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the country. “Our focus is to impact the lives of the people we serve so we hope that by retrofitting this store we will be able to better serve the members of the church and the wider community which the church serves,” said Brown.

“The IADPA Bookstore provides all the reading materials that the members of the church and the community at large would want to access in order to become healthier and more aware.” Brown added.

The new store serves an Adventist community of more than 65,000 church members and a population of more than 500,000 across several parishes in Kingston.

Church members tour the newly renovated IADPA Bookstore. Photo: East Jamaica Conference

Clara Spengler, regional director, IADPA Bookstore said an Adventist bookstore is a light wherever it is. “It is a place where people have the printed pages that they read to know Jesus. It’s the place where you can take care of yourself and change your life forever.”

Spengler noted that November was being recognized in Jamaica as diabetes prevention, cancer prevention as well as drug awareness month. It was an opportunity used to point out that “we have so many books that will help you to deal with those things that Jamaica is trying to prevent.”

The newly renovated bookstore Deli will provide sandwiches, shakes, burgers, wraps and vegetarian pizzas. The children reading area also has a section for indoor playing. Customers will have the choice of dinning indoors or outdoors.

“What we are doing is to bring the health books to life by creating healthy foods from their pages,” said Bebbie McLean, National Manager of the IADPA Bookstore. “It is not just about selling a book, but when someone comes to our store, it must be a healthy experience, which is the ambience, the product and the people. Our aim is to impact the landscape of Jamaica one person at a time.”

Church leaders from the IAD, IADPA and the Jamaica Union hold healthy snack samples that will be available from the deli at the new IADPA Bookstore in Kingston. Photo: East Jamaica Conference

Pastor Saul Ortiz, President, Inter-American Division Publishing Association was pleased with the work being done in Jamaica.

The IADPA Bookstore in Kingston is the fifth of its kind in Jamaica to have undergone retrofitting. It is located on Constant Spring Road, which is also home of the East Jamaica Conference office. The other four stores are centrally located in some of the major cities of Jamaica such as Mandeviile, Ocho Rios, Spanish Town and Montego Bay.