Inter-America

Division-wide baptism event culminates small-group ministry

In Inter-America, 'Pentecost and More' initiative marks five years

Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela | Libna Stevens/IAD/ANN

More than 15,000 baptisms took place throughout Inter-America during the live Pentecost and More event held March 19. Above, in west Venezuela, some of the 1,200 baptisms during the event. [photo: Aniceto Cueto]

More than 15,000 baptisms took place throughout Inter-America during the live Pentecost and More event held March 19. Above, in west Venezuela, some of the 1,200 baptisms during the event. [photo: Aniceto Cueto]

For the fifth consecutive year, leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Inter-American Division baptized thousands of people as the result of unified evangelistic efforts through its Pentecost and More initiative, which runs during the first quarter of each year.

The efforts were celebrated through baptismal ceremonies held throughout the region and through an accompanying satellite program broadcast from Maracaibo, Venezuela, on March 19.

So far this year, more than 62,000 people have joined the Adventist Church as a result of the aggressive work of church leaders, pastors and laypeople to promote small-group ministry, church officials said.

"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," said Balvin Braham, event organizer and ministerial associate director for the church Inter-America.

Balvin said more than 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.

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.

More than 1,200 people were baptized on-site at the packed 5,000-seat Palacio de Eventos in Maracaibo.

In a keynote address, Trinidadian Pastor Steve 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," Riley said. "Our job is to make the world thirsty, thirsty for Jesus. 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. She 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 one of some 700 new members who joined the church in Jamaica on March 19.

In Venezuela, some 3,460 baptisms took place during the satellite program, an event that marked 100 years since the first Adventist baptism in the country.

In the Dominican Republic, some 1,700 baptisms took place, while about 1,000 were added in Honduras, and thousands more in Mexico.

Growth in the church's Inter-American Division is a result of small group ministries, denominational leaders said. More than 90,000 small groups meet in homes each week to study the Bible, pray and fellowship, said Melchor Ferreyra, Personal Ministries director for the church in Inter-America.

For Jesus Guzman, 25, Adventist Youth director at the Central Adventist Church in Maracaibo, meeting in a small group every week has been a blessing, he said. His youth group of seven members split from another growing group six months ago.

"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. He said he hopes the group will soon grow large enough to again multiply into more groups.

It's that multiplication factor that can be challenging but propels small group ministries, said Ferreyra. He said the division's leadership hopes to have 200,000 active small groups throughout the territory by 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 1 million trained church members to bring one friend or acquaintance to a specially planned program on March 24, 2012.

Pentecost and More was inspired by the Biblical Pentecost of Acts 2 and seeks to mobilize pastors and laypeople alike to strengthen their unified outreach initiatives. Since the Pentecost initiative began in 2007, slightly more than 300,000 baptisms are attributed to the first quarter evangelistic efforts in the Inter-American Division territory.

The Inter-American Division includes Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern tip of South America, and has more than 3.4 million members worshiping in some 10,700 churches and congregations.

--additional reporting by Nigel Coke.

click here to see additional photos of the event on the IAD Flickr stream.

click here to see a video of the event.

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