March 22, 2011 – Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela…Libna Stevens/IAD
For the fifth consecutive year, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America engaged in unified evangelistic efforts to baptize thousands of people through its Pentecost and More initiative, which began in the first quarter of each year. The efforts were celebrated through baptismal ceremonies held throughout the region and through a special satellite program broadcast from Maracaibo, Venezuela, on Mar. 19, 2011.
So far this year, more than 62,546 new believers have joined the church as a result of the aggressive work of church leaders, pastors and laypeople who have been sharing the good news of the salvation in their surrounding communities.
“This is a glorious day in the Inter-American Division,” said Pastor Balvin Braham, ministerial associate director for the church Inter-America and organizer of the event.
“We are rejoicing that God continues to lead men and women to the foot of the cross, that the gospel is being preached and those who accept the gospel are being engrafted into the body of Jesus Christ,” he added as he reported that over 15,300 baptisms took place in 16 of the 21 church regions in the territory during the live program. Final figures are still pending.
The program was seen live on the Hope Channel, Esperanza TV, and 3ABN Latino.
It’s a unified workforce throughout thousands of small groups, congregations and churches which have made the initiative successful said Braham.
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church is advancing with the message we have to tell the world so we are excited to see that our pastors and members are working together today in this union,” Braham said.
More than 1,200 people were baptized on-site as church leaders from throughout the territory pronounced baptismal prayers during the live program held at the 5,000-packed Palacio de Eventos, in Maracaibo.
Thousands more baptisms took place throughout the region as live feeds showed new members being submerged in water in other parts of Inter-America during the broadcast which featured musical presentations and spiritual messages welcoming new believers into the church.
Pastor Steve Riley from Trinidad, a minister of the Stanmore Adventist Church in Trinidad, delivered the keynote message. Riley challenged church leaders, baptismal candidates and members to continue surrendering to God every day and to continue fulfilling the mission of the church by reaching out to people.
“Give Jesus what you have and He will give you everything He has,” emphasized Riley. “Our job is to make the world thirsty, thirsty for Jesus,” he continued. “When people are thirsty for Jesus just like you and I, they will taste and see that Jesus is good and He satisfies.”
It was that thirst that prompted Kate Asmond in Jamaica to make her decision to accept Jesus into her heart. As Pastor Glen Samuels, personal ministries director for the church in Jamaica pronounced the baptismal prayer from Venezuela, Asmond stood in the water waiting to be submerged at the Northern Caribbean University Gymnatorium.
“I am happy because this is something I wanted to do for a while and so I am overjoyed that it is now a reality,” said Asmond, a registered nurse and mid-wife. Asmond was the first person to be baptized in Jamaica during the Pentecost and More satellite event. “I look forward to serving God through His church,” she added.
Asmond represented more than 700 new members who joined the church in Jamaica on Mar. 19. She is among thousands who displayed her commitment to God throughout the church in Inter-America.
In Venezuela alone some 3,465 baptisms took place during the Pentecost and More satellite program, an event which had a special meaning, local church leaders said.
“It was here in this country that on March 25, the first baptism took place 100 years ago and the first church with 17 members was organized a week later,” said Pastor Orlando Ramirez, executive secretary of the church Venezuela Antilles region. To date the church in the west region has accounted for over 5,000 baptisms this year.
Elsewhere in Inter-America, new members were added to the church on the day of the broadcast. In the Dominican Republic some 1,727 baptisms took place, while 1,000 were added in Honduras, and thousands more in Mexico.
It’s a growth that has focused on proclaiming the message through the active small groups in Inter-America, and the main vehicle for evangelism this year, said Pastor Melchor Ferreyra, personal ministries director for the church in Inter-America.
With more than 90,000 small groups that meet in homes every week to study the Bible, to pray, to fellowship and to bring about revival, the task of sharing the gospel to thousands more is still challenging but not as difficult, said Ferreyra.
For Jesus Guzman, age 25, Adventist Youth director at the Central Adventist Church in Maracaibo, meeting in a small group every week has been a real blessing. His youth group of about seven members split from another growing group six months ago. His small group bears the name of Elijah and has concentrated on studying the Bible and Adventist doctrines every Thursday at 7 p.m. The Elijah group also contacts the many friends and neighbors of group members with invitations to group meetings, Guzman said.
“We make our group a haven as we meet, share our challenges and enrich our spiritual life by searching for God,” said Guzman, an electrical engineer, who hopes the group will become large enough to multiply into more groups soon.
It’s that multiplication factor that can be challenging but propels small group ministries, said Ferreyra.
“We have the challenge, but we can look towards the future with hope, a hope of bringing the message of salvation to thousands more people,” added Ferreyra, who explained that the goal to end the five-year period is to have 200,000 active small groups throughout the entire IAD territory in 2015.
The satellite program was also a launching pad for next year’s Pentecost and More initiative which will bear the name Pentecost One Million. The new initiative will challenge one million trained church members to bring one friend or acquaintance to a special program Mar. 24, 2012.
“We want to train one million members and let them loose to go out there in small groups as small group leaders, as members of small groups to inspire spiritually and aid dysfunctional relationships and address community needs,” Braham added.
As the satellite event drew to a close, Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-American Division, was joined by Pastor Glen Samuels for a special appeal to the thousands gathered at the Palacio de Eventos. More than 200 reached the stage to give their life to Jesus and be prayed for.
“What a glorious moment we have right now to respond to the call of Jesus,” said Pastor Samuels. “It may well be that those who walked with the Lord, He is thirsting after you and He asked today come to the living waters, we want to pray with you before you leave.” Samuels also made a special appeal for former members of the church to be prayed for.
Pentecost and More was inspired by the Biblical Pentecost of Acts 2 and seeks to mobilize pastors and laypeople alike to strengthen their unified efforts for effectiveness in evangelistic mission outreach initiatives. Since the Pentecost initiative began in 2007, there have been more than 304,000 baptisms attributed to the first quarter evangelistic efforts in the Inter-American Division territory.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America covers Mexico, Central America, The Caribbean and the northern tip of South America, has more than 3.4 million members worshipping in 10,708 churches and congregations.
Nigel Coke contributed to this report
To view a photo gallery of Inter-America’s Pentecost and More 2011 from Venezuela, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/interamerica
To view the video of the entire program go to: https://recursing-golick.147-182-135-0.plesk.page/users/index.php?type=resource&id=587&language=en
For more on IAD’s Pentecost and More initiative visit http://pentecost.interamerica.org/
