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September 16, 2007 saw
the official launch of the Pentecost and More 2008 programme in
Central Jamaica Conference. The day was set as Pastor Joseph Smith,
vice President and Personal Ministry Director at West Indies Union
of Adventists gave a power packed inspirational sermon on Acts 1:8
to the hundreds of Elders, Sabbath School Superintendents,
Adventists Youth Leaders, and Personal Ministry leaders at Leaders’
Council held at Camp Verley.
Giving a brief
presentation at the launch were a number of directors from West
Indies Union of Adventists, including Pastor Derek Bignal, Executive
Secretary; Dr. Enell Hall and Pastor Milton Gregory, Vice
Presidents; Elder Nigel Coke, Communication Director; Sis. Princess
Lawes, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty; Sis. Vivienne Quarrie
Associate Sabbath School Director; and Dr. Joseph Barrett,
Publishing Director.
What is Pentecost and More 2008?
The Inter-American
Division in its mid-year meeting voted to accept the Pentecost and
More program as a yearly event for the remainder of this
quinquennium as a new paradigm to reach all peoples in the
Inter-American Division. This decision was based on the overwhelming
success of the Pentecost and More 2007 programme.
Pentecost and More was
held on Sabbath, March 25, 2007, and the focus was on baptizing the
symbolic 3 millionth Adventist in the Inter-American Division. A
mighty harvest was reaped on that day as over 48,000 persons were
baptized.
It is because of this
tremendous success that the Inter-American Division will make it a
yearly programme until 2010. A part of the programme is to decide on
a strategy to reach all levels of society with the message through a
yearly drive of intense and focused evangelization efforts,
including all aspects of evangelism such as sowing, reaping and
nurturing. Every field determines the methods of evangelism most
appropriate to maximize effectiveness in each area whether small
group, personal or public evangelism.
The theme for Pentecost
and More 2008 is Many Cultures, One Faith. West Indies Union has
been chosen as the main site for the Inter-American Division, and
Jamaica is the main site for West Indies Union. One of the
requirements of hosting Pentecost and More is that the main site
venue must be able to hold over 20,000 individuals and with that in
mind the West Indies Union is looking at sports complexes in
Kingston in an attempt to locate a suitable venue.
March 15, 2008 is the
date set for the culmination of Pentecost and More 2008 in which a
grand Division-wide baptismal service will be uplinked form Kingston
and sent around the Inter-American Division.
The expectations for the
nucleus site, West Indies Union, are that they should baptise 1000
persons at the main site in Kingston and over 3,000 across the union
territory. Two key aspects to help reach this goal are simultaneous
evangelistic campaigns and national community empowerment projects.
It is expected that
simultaneous evangelistic campaigns conducted by Pastoral and Lay
Evangelist will have a grand baptism on Sabbath, March 15. The
evangelistic activities to be conducted should include but are not
limited to women evangelist, child preachers, youth evangelist,
literature evangelist and special revivals in our educational
institutions.
The national community
involvement projects are designed to reach and impact the community
positively. Suggestions for the projects to be held on the local and
national level include but are not limited to the following:
As we look forward to
this day of Pentecostal reaping in 2008 lets us remember the
purposes of this programme which are:
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To bear focus and social and spiritual dimensions of the gospel
as the general theme of the Inter-American Division territory
during the first quarter of 2008.
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To seek a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the lives
of each member of the Church within the Division, towards the
ideals of evangeliving.
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To baptize 3000 persons in one day in the nucleus site West
Indies Union and an appreciable number of persons from the
combined areas outside the nucleus site territory.
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To motivate the spirit of evangelism and church growth within
the Inter-American Division territory.
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To extol the virtue of unity as one of the outstanding values of
the Inter-American Division.
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To demonstrate the importance of effective nurturing programs to
the stability of each of the members within the body of Christ.
- Kemar Douglas /CJC |
