Inter-America’s Annual Finale Bible Competition Will Bring Finalists Together Online

November 5, 2020 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

Finalists representing the major regional areas throughout the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America will have one last chance to compete for the final spot in this year’s Bible Connection competition on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. The 24 young finalists will be tested on their knowledge of the 42 chapters of the Book of Job as well as several corresponding chapters from Ellen G. White’s book The Great Controversy.

The event becomes the 17^th annual territory-wide competition initiative where thousands of children and young people throughout the Inter-American Division [IAD] study assigned bible books in an effort to enrich their spiritual life and promote a lifelong habit of studying the Scriptures, organizers say.

This year will prove to be the first time the competition will be entirely online, says Pastor Al Powell, youth ministries director for the church in Inter-America. Since the bible competition began, finalists would travel to a determined location throughout the territory to compete and fellowship together during the final annual event.  “This year union finalists will mostly connect from the comfort of their home through the online software platform which was created and introduced two years ago,” he says.

Interestingly, the plan was to launch the competition online this year after some adjustments were made to the software before the pandemic happened, according to Powell.  “We have seen how everything has unfolded and how it all fits to be able to use this software at this time successfully leading up to the final competition at the division level,” he explains.

“We are excited that so many children and young people have participated in studying the book of Job and are able to understand that, just as God was with Job, He is with us and will get us through these challenging times,” says Powell.

In addition to the youth, more than 100,000 children and young people throughout the church’s young people, Adventurer and Pathfinder Clubs engaged in studying the specified Bible books this year at their levels.

Finalists will answer 80 questions during a special event scheduled on Nov. 14, 2020, at 4:00 p.m. Miami Time. The program will be streamed live in English, Spanish and French, at webcast.interamerica.org.

This year’s finalists per union include:

Atlantic Caribbean Union: Pharez Darceulis

Belize Union: Carlo Joash Correa

Caribbean Union: Xabisa Hamilton

Central Mexican Union: Elizabeth Grajales Espino

Chiapas Mexican Union: Juan Alfredo Mejia

Cuba Union: Beatriz Reyes Leyva

Dominican Union: Williams Alfonseca

Dutch Caribbean Union: Genesis Cabral Gusmao

East Venezuela Union: Jesus Javier Zamora Márquez

El Salvador Union: Ruben Gustavo Maltez

French Antilles Guiana Union: Dorice Bribrac

Guatemala Union: Hilda López

Haitian Union: Emerson Agustin

Honduras Union: Carlos Abel Melara Mendez

Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union: Abdiel Fuentes

Jamaica Union: (pending)

North Colombia Union: Henry Alejandro Anaya

North Mexican Union: Angel Daniel Flores Sandoval

Panama Union: Sulay Ibeth Echevarria

Puerto Rico: Misael Rivera Garcia

South Central American Union: Thelma Maykeni Rodriguez

South Colombia Union: Luisa Maria Briceño Fonseca

Southeast Mexican Union: Stephanie Citlalli Dionicio

West Venezuela Union: Viviana Martinez

The live streaming can also be viewed on Inter-America’s Facebook accounts on Nov. 14:

HERE for English

HERE for Spanish

HERE for French