Varied Initiatives Showcase Lay-Led Ministries Reach Across Inter-America

Outpost Centers International convention displays the impact of supporting ministries.

May 19, 2025 | Romania | Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

A Seventh-day Adventist family who created a ministry to encourage, cheer up, and entertain children under cancer treatment. A network of soup kitchens who caters to some of the poorest communities in Venezuela. An outpost center in Honduras that includes a bilingual school and a biblical institute, among other service-oriented initiatives. A ministry in Costa Rica that serves people through aviation, health advice, and discipleship programs. And a church-planting ministry that reaches cities and towns with no Adventist presence in Cuba. These are five of the 64 ministries that attended the 2025 international convention of Outpost Centers International (OCI) in Herghelia, Transylvania, Romania, May 7-10. But what do these five supporting ministries have in common? All of them are based or serve within the territory of the Inter-American Division.

According to OCI listings, of the approximately 405 supporting ministries members of the umbrella organization, 62 are based in Inter-America. The Adventist Church defines supporting ministries as lay-led ministries committed to the message and doctrine of the church. In the case of OCI, ministries that wish to be granted and keep membership must reject tithe monies and have a governance structure separate from the corporate Adventist Church.

The leaders of the five ministries featured during the OCI convention had the opportunity of showcasing what they do and sharing their plans and dreams with other members. Below there is a summary of their activities, goals, and dreams.

Cheering Up Children With Cancer

In Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia, the family of Eliecer Hernandez and Ruth Alfonso is the driving force behind Fundación Voces Por Un Mundo Mejor. This lay-led ministry was established in 2010 to support families of children suffering with cancer. They are joined by other volunteers who share their desire to positively impact the lives of children with cancer during the team’s visits to hospitals and clinics.

The activities of the ministry include fun activities, Bible stories, games, and songs, supported by the use of puppets. All that “makes it easier for children and parents to confront feelings of fear, anger, sadness, and depression and experience a positive change in their physical, mental, and emotional health,” the ministry stated.

In addition to visiting hospitals and clinics, the volunteers of Voces Por Un Mundo Mejor have spent several years supporting families of children with cancer by organizing special celebrations on Children’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas, in which they share health principles, healthy food, and Bible stories. “The families and children are introduced to God’s plan during their time of pain and sickness,” Eliecer and Ruth explained. “Each visit with a patient and the family may be the last opportunity to share a message of salvation.”

For Hernandez and Alfonso, being missionaries for God is their greatest privilege, they acknowledged “We are willing to go wherever the Lord reveals we can be a blessing to children and bring glory to God,” they said.

Soup Kitchens for the Least of These

Isaias 58 Venezuela is a growing network of soup kitchens that cater to some of the poorest people across 12 Venezuelan states. “Its services are offered to children, adolescents, the elderly, the disabled, homeless adults, and any individual who lacks the resources to obtain a decent and healthy meal,” ministry leaders said.

Besides providing food, however, the ministry has as its main purpose to serve the community through social, educational, and spiritual activities. One of the ministry initiatives seeks to recruit young people and adults, train them, and send them to churches to educate the congregations about healthy eating, disease prevention, and natural treatments.

Isaías 58 Venezuela also provides students with vocational training in areas such as bakery and vegetarian dishes. This program is also offered to single mothers without resources, providing them with vocational training while the foundation meets their basic needs. The ministry also offers natural health services to patients with various illnesses, and a shelter home for mothers and children trying to rebuild their lives. “We strive to create a community where each member feels valued and capable of moving toward a more hopeful future,” ministry leaders said.

In addition to these activities, Isaías 58 Venezuela seeks to establish a self-sustaining system through agricultural practices, beekeeping, food industry, and the creation of a sewing department to generate additional income and provide employment and training opportunities, ministry leaders reported. “We embrace the method of Christ that combines compassionate care with practical teaching,” they said.

A Full-fledged Outpost Center

In 2005 José Suazo had a dream. After completing his missionary training course at European Bible School in Norway, he felt inspired to create a similar mission in his native country, Honduras. In the village of El Suyatal, located almost two hours outside of the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, he launched Vida Internacional, an outpost center that includes a mission school, a health kitchen, and an educational school.

VIDA Internacional “offers practical training on various forms of outreach, construction, and organic agriculture,” Suazo said. “We strive to inspire young people to be missionaries in their communities and abroad.”

In 2015 VIDA’s leaders also saw the need to establish a lifestyle center that would not only serve physical, mental, and spiritual needs, but would also serve as a school for learning about healthy living. “The lifestyle center now serves its local community as well as those who sign up for its sessions held on VIDA’s campus,” Suazo shared. Its lifestyle center “aims to treat its patients with a wholistic approach to healing.”

The ministry also includes an avocado plantation and a bakery that manufactures bread and granola. Through its Central American Biblical Institute, it provides training in the practical knowledge of the Bible, health, leadership, and vocational skills.

By Air, Water, or Land

“We aim to follow Jesus’ example in ministering to people through preaching, teaching, healing, and acts of compassion,” said the leaders behind Alas de Vida (Wings of Life), a ministry based in Siquirres, Limón, Costa Rica. Through three main areas of focus—gospel, health, and aviation—the ministry seeks to impact people in Central America.

“Our goal is to operate a not-for-profit air-ambulance type of aviation program that will cover the entire country,” Keith LaRoy, executive director of Alas de Vida, explained regarding the aviation component still in development.

At the same time, Alas de Vida is focused on spreading the gospel through church planting efforts, training, and supporting local Bible workers, healthy lifestyle campaigns, literature distribution, construction projects, and more.

Discipleship initiatives, for instance, seek to help Alas de Vida reach people across communities in need by water or land. “We love connecting people with God’s plan for them. That’s discipleship. Moving people from the darkness of distress, anger, guilt, and unbelief to the light and beauty of peace, faith, love, and happiness,” LaRoy said.

In the area of health, Alas de Vida offers lifestyle education workshops and health coaching and clinics, with the goal of helping people improve their quality of life. Through aviation the ministry hopes to help people access both routine and emergency medical care.

Ministry leaders also reported about their plans and dreams. “Our future plans also include starting a medical clinic and lifestyle education program,” LaRoy said. “And soon to finally purchase our first own aircraft.”

Into the Regions Beyond

World Youth Group (WYG) is a nonprofit organization that works in Cuban cities and towns with no Adventist presence. In 1994 Arleen and Henry Stubbs formed the first youth group in a small rural church in South Carolina, United States. Three years later the group received an unexpected call to build a church and share the gospel in the mountainous regions of central Cuba. Moved by the call and the “tremendous needs” of the people, they eventually launched a ministry with definite goals to respond to the need.

According to WYG leaders, the ministry trains Cuban youth in a one-month LIGHT school to relieve suffering, serve the disenfranchised, and minister Christ’s healing love. It also sends and supports graduates to go live among and serve the needs of people in need in places with no Adventist presence. The WYG ministry also seeks to coordinate mission opportunities for individuals and organizations with the goal of “cultivating and harvesting decisions for Christ,” ministry leaders explained. Finally, WYG seeks to “house, nurture, and establish” new groups of believers in places where there had been none.

“Through the amazing support of a handful of individuals sharing this vision to reach all of Cuba for Christ, 100 gospel workers now carry forward the practical medical missionary gospel of Jesus full-time in 44 Cuban cities and hundreds across America, joining WYG on short term mission projects,” ministry leaders reported. “We give thanks and praise to God for the great things He is doing.”