April 19, 2001 – Mexico City…Raul Lozano/Libna Stevens/IAD
The opening ceremony of the highly anticipated 3rd Inter-American Pathfinders Camporee will take place in the Ciudad Deportiva campground in Mexico City tonight. Soon, almost 20,000 Seventh-day Adventist children and youth from 600 Pathfinder clubs across the Inter-American Division (IAD) will celebrate the start of what is already the largest-ever territory-wide camporee.
Setting everything up for the inaugural event has been a huge task in itself, organizers said. Five different companies were hired to secure all the necessary elements. One is in charge of lighting and audio, another one is installing a solid structure for the main stage, a third one is in charge of TV recording, a fourth company will upload all video to the internet, and another will oversee coordination of activities on the stage.
The ceremony stage faces a huge open area upon which Pathfinder clubs will be organized and seated according to the union they represent. Besides the hearty welcome to every union youth leader, delegations, and guests, the planned highlight of the event will be a drama depicting the story of David. The drama is the brain child of Benjamin Carballo, IAD youth ministries director and coordinator of the camporee. The drama is divided into five scenes, beginning from the early days of David as a shepherd, his dealings with his parents and brothers, the transformation of Saul into a selfish and wicked king, and culminating with the battle against the Philistines and Goliath.
A group of 60 Adventist young people including 50 actors from the Central Mexican Union have been rehearsing this drama since last June. Organizers say the main purpose of this drama is to help Pathfinders identify the traits that made David triumphant over Goliath, an important step in David’s life that parallels the theme of this camporee, which is Conquering Giants.
“We hope those who watch this drama will feel highly challenged to stand up and courageously overcome any giants they might be facing,” said Pastor Javier Muñoz, spiritual counselor of the performers.
Danae Barrera, one of the leaders of the performers, comments, “We hope this drama will accomplish an individual transformation that moves towards a collective transformation among Pathfinders,” said Danae Barrera, a leader of the performers. “We want the children to see themselves as reflected in the different roles are played, but especially in David.”
Last August the Seventh-day Adventist Church adopted a worldwide initiative to involve church members in prayer and Bible reading that gives way to a revival in our ranks. In this regard, being part of the drama group meant a deep spiritual exercise in itself, said Barrera.
“We set up a specific hour of the day to pray for this drama which is 7:00 o’clock at night, wherever we are. We are the first ones to be transformed, and that is what we want to happen with all Pathfinders,” reflects Barrera.
The opening ceremony will feature top church youth leaders from the Adventist World Church and the IAD and government representatives. There will also be presentations from the 21 church regions, musical numbers, drama performances, a camporee video report, fireworks, and more.
The opening ceremony, as well as the evening programs, will be streamed live over the internet through a 3G cellular network, according to Jose Romero, Information Technology director for the IAD.
“This technology will allow us to provide a video stream in a location where there was no way of obtaining the usual internet connectivity from local cable providers. Even though there are other technologies out there that would allow us to do this better, we were limited by other requirements,” Romero said.
The activity on the camporee’s Facebook page has already increased by 218 percent with an average of 300 visitors per day, adds Romero. Twitter followers have also been increasing since Saturday.
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