Fourth Online Evangelism Series To Impact Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Venezuela
April 15, 2022 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News
The Seventh-day Adventist Church across six major church regions in the Inter-American Division has been gearing up for an online evangelism series expected to seal thousands of decisions for baptism and reach millions of viewers next week. Pastors, church elders, lay preachers and active church members have committed to sharing the hope of salvation in cities and communities throughout Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Venezuela, leading up to the joint impact event.
The seven-day regional evangelistic series themed “Hope for a Sick World” (or Esperanza para un mundo enfermo) will feature Keynote Speaker Pastor Arnaldo Cruz of the Southeastern Conference, in Florida, United States. It will be transmitted online starting on Apr. 23, 2022, and viewed throughout Adventist churches and small groups, Hope Channel Inter-America’s YouTube channel and Facebook accounts.
“The series is aiming to reach persons who are dealing with depression, anxiety, despair, pain and illness who still don’t know about Jesus,” said Pastor Josney Rodríguez, ministerial association secretary for the church in Inter-America overseeing the regional campaign. The main emphasis is to impact social media in a significant way – reaching at least 3 million people. Rodriguez said he expects to see some 250,000 people connected to each evening message.
“This is not your typical evangelistic campaign for it was designed specifically for online impact,” said Rodríguez. Each evening message has a 35-minute format and will have a large team of digital evangelists coordinating in each country to reach each of the contacts that is interested in studying the bible more. The efforts will also see prayer groups specifically in place in several zoom rooms and other social media platforms to pray for requests.
Preparing for the online series has taken months to coordinate with the different time zones across the four countries but thankfully things have moved forward successfully, said Rodríguez. “There’s great excitement in Cuba right now,” he said. “The leadership is committed to ensure that every church and group is able to see the series even in the midst of great challenges there.”
Although the series will benefit young people and members in the church, it is mainly intended to reach friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors and any person not of the faith, explained Rodríguez.
In Puerto Rico, the church has enlisted hundreds of young people who have already been assisting in transmitting church online services since the pandemic hit, to be totally involved in preparing and ministering during the past two weeks as digital evangelists, said Pastor Luis Rivera, president of the church in Puerto Rico. “Our church-run radio stations and the television media will cover the online series, as well as our official social media accounts.”
“Pastor Arnaldo has been a real inspiration to our young people and we are excited to reach so many people beyond our island,” said Rivera. With all of the churches open there’s a great opportunity to impact so many more people in the community, he said. “But we really want to reach those who do not come to church, or have never been.”
It’s about reaching so many more outside the main four countries, he said. “There are so many Spanish-speaking persons all around the world and we believe this campaign with the message of salvation can reach them wherever they are,” Rivera said.
To view Inter-America’s Online Evangelistic Series organized by the church in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Venezuela, April 23-30, 2022, every evening at 8:00 p.m. Miami Time, go to:
Hope Channel Inter-America on YouTube, Click HERE
Hope Channel Inter-America on Facebook, Click HERE