South America

Man is baptized after finding DVD “The Great Conflict” in the garbage

Antonio Soto’s testimony was made known during the 2019 “Holy Week” evangelism project at the Alvarez de Toledo Adventist Church in Santiago de Chile

Angela Arias | Santiago, Chile

This is the story of Antonio Soto, 58, a man who, for 19 years, studied the Bible with a DVD he found in the trash. "I worked in a cleaning company, in the San Joaquin district of Santiago, Chile, and it was very expensive. I picked up some DVDs and one caught my attention because it said “The Great Conflict,” Soto said.

"I started watching the DVD and I liked everything that Pastor Luís Gonçalves spoke about. Inside me I felt that God was speaking to me,” Soto continued. “I was very moved by his way of speaking. My mother was evangelical, she could not read or write, and I read her the Bible.” 

After several years of studying the Bible and going through many personal problems, he found Nuevo Tiempo, the Adventist Church’s Spanish speaking television channel in South America. There, Pastor Gonçalves invited him to attend an Adventist church. "Everything began to change,” said Soto. “My character, I no longer drank alcohol, I did not smoke, I did not go to parties.”

Soto began going to church, then to a small group and started getting Bible studies from Francisco Brillante, the biblical instructor who had discovered his story.

On Saturday, April 20, at the close of the Holy Week evangelism campaign at the Álvarez de Toledo Seventh-day Adventist Church, Antonio Soto gave his life to Christ through baptism

Holy Week Project 2019 in Chile

Like Antonio, many lives were reborn during the Holy Week evangelism. This project is aimed to remember the sacrifice, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of humanity through the proclamation of the Word of God in the different Seventh-day Adventist Churches across South America.

"Holy Week evangelism has been very special, very blessed, because in more than a thousand preaching points the Adventist Church in Chile has mobilized," said Pastor Aldo Muñoz, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chile.

From the north to the south of the country, Adventist Church members met in schools, small groups and churches to attract people with the message of Christ. 

From Arica to Vallenar, the Adventist Church in northern Chile worked with the local churches and the Arnaldo Salamanca Foundation. There, more than two thousand people participated in small groups.

At the same time, a Caravan of Hope was held in the cities of La Serena, Ovalle, San Felipe, Calera, Quilpué, San Antonio, Viña del Mar, ending on Saturday, April 20 in the city of Valparaíso with a spiritual message and special concert.

"The caravan is a strategy of proclaiming the gospel. This is the beginning and the sowing that helps us with the calls we have made so that many people also descend to the waters of baptism, "said Samuel Concha, an evangelist for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Valparaíso region.

"The 93 congregations of the Metropolitan South Mission of Chile mobilized for Holy Week evangelism,” said Josué Espinoza, president of the Adventist Church in southern Santiago. “Some began their preparation last year and that has brought beautiful results. We had beautiful baptisms and reached beyond the expectations that the church had for this evangelism, so we are very, very grateful and happy.” 

In the south central zone of Chile, the Adventist School of Hualpén, of the city of Concepción, gathered more than two hundred representatives during the week of prayer carried out by Ramón Pérez, associate education director for the Adventist Church in Southern Chile. There, Adventist students made decisions for Christ.

"I have seen a movement on the part of the staff, an interest in supporting this program, and at the same time on behalf of the attorneys who have had a nice response. It is noted that preaching the Word has made a very positive impression on their hearts and we hope to see beautiful results and beautiful decisions for eternal life,” said Pérez at the end of one of his sermons.

Finally, in the southernmost part of the country, the cold was not an impediment for the congregation to meet to study the Bible and for souls to decide for Christ. Several baptisms were performed on a river in the city of Lautaro.

The most emotional moment of each program throughout the country was the public demonstration of hundreds of people who gave their lives to Christ through baptism. This is the case of Alicia López, who attended the conferences after meeting the Adventist Church under the influence of Nuevo Tiempo TV.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church continues to use all possible means for preaching the gospel, the death, resurrection and soon return of Christ to this Earth

 

arrow-bracket-rightCommentscontact