ore than 1,200 delegates recently attended the first Hispanic Festival of the Laity to be held in North America. The congress, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, recognized lay members for their soul-winning activities and offered training seminars for more effective personal evangelism. To qualify as delegates to this historic session, lay members had to prepare at least two people for baptism between January, 2001, and May, 2002. Many of the delegates present had prepared many times that number.

Time to Celebrate
In his opening night welcome, Manuel Vasquez, a vice president of the North American Division (NAD), told enthusiastic delegates, "We are making history this evening." He reminded them that Ellen White, commenting on the beginning of the work to Spanish-speaking people in Sanchez, Arizona, a little more than a century ago, predicted that Hispanics would some day be leaders of evangelism in North America. "This is being fulfilled every day," he told them.

Armando Miranda, a General Conference vice president, was keynote speaker at the opening night's session. In a message entitled "The Greatest Privilege," Miranda observed that the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19, 20) may seem like an impossible task, yet he encouraged the audience with the words, "Con Dios, nada es impossible" (With God, nothing is impossible). He concluded his remarks by singing the song, "Never Give Up, Jesus is Coming."

Although Miranda's remarks were inspirational, they were hardly necessary to inspire these delegates, all of whom had traveled from throughout North America--at their own expense--to attend this historic conference. Hispanic Adventists from each of the nine unions in the United States and Canada came together to share stories about how God had used them to prepare people for baptism, and attend seminars presented by some of the America's premier Spanish-speaking evangelists, pastors, and theologians. Seminar offerings included "Small Group Ministries," "Dealing With Difficult Texts," and "Understanding and Using Jesus' Soul-winning Methods."

Hispanics are one of the fastest growing demographic groups in North America. Surprisingly, language is often the only common characteristic of the more than 110,000 Hispanic members in the NAD. Like the rest of the population in North America, Hispanics reflect the entire spectrum of age, education, and socio-economic categories reflected in the rest of society. Not surprisingly, growth among the Spanish-speaking population is strongest among the most recent immigrants. Said Jorge Mayer, Hispanic coordinator for the Southern Union, "Immigrants are most open to change, they're trying to establish roots in their new communities."

According to Pastor Vasquez, the Hispanic culture tends to be more open to personal, door-to-door contact. "You go to a Hispanic home and people will invite you in and listen to what you have to say," he said. To capitalize on the natural bonds created by a common language, the NAD's Hispanic Coordinators, in partnership with the magazine El Centinela, announced the beginning of a new initiative, "Un Millón de Amigos" (One Million Friends). The plan is to deliver a million copies of the Spanish language outreach magazine to a million homes in North America each month for the next year. "We want members to do more than just leave the magazine on peoples' front porch," said Vasquez. "We want our members to meet the people in their neighborhoods, learn how they can meet their needs, pray for them, and introduce them to Jesus."

Time to Reflect
Outstanding lay evangelists from each union in North America were introduced during the "Missionary Service" that preceded the Sabbath morning worship service. Pastor Vasquez introduced individuals who had been responsible for bringing to the church anywhere from a dozen new members to four times that number.

In his morning message, Evangelist Alejandro Bullón told his experience of meeting a former Adventist in one of the shops in Los Angeles International Airport. After a few moments of conversation, Bullón invited him to attend services at the local Adventist church. When the stranger mentioned that he had gone "too far" from God to return, the evangelist assured him that God is always ready to welcome anyone who returns to Him. Bullón then introduced the young man to the congregation in the Convention Center auditorium to enthusiastic applause.

After the Lay Festival ended at the conclusion of the Sabbath morning worship service, most of the 10,000 people who attended the Sabbath services stayed by for an afternoon commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the radio and television ministry of La Voz de la Esperanza (The Voice of Hope). The four-hour celebration included musical performances from several Hispanic performers and inspirational messages from Milton Peverini, past director/speaker of La Voz, and Frank Gonzalez, the ministry's current director/speaker.

Lay Festivals have been a staple of Adventist life in many Latin American countries for several decades. Pastor Vasquez expressed satisfaction with the attendance and the result of this inaugural festival in North America. "Our field is massive," he said. "But if we can celebrate the soul-winning partnership between lay members and pastors, motivate them for greater service for Christ, and equip them to be better soul-winners, we will have accomplished our purpose."

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Steven Chavez is the managing editor of the Adventist Review

President's Wife to Serve as Honorary Patron for Adventist Camporee
The wife of the president of the country of Poland, Jolanta Kwasniewska, has accepted "with great pleasure" an invitation to be an honorary patron of this summer's Pathfinder Camporee, organized by the youth ministries department of the Trans-European Division (TED).

In an official letter to Pastor Wladyslaw Polok, president of the Polish Union, she thanked him for the invitation and stated, "I am happy that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poland will, for first time, be the host for so many Pathfinders from Europe and the Middle East.@ She further writes, "I am sure that this Camporee for young Christians from different countries will bring a lot of joy and be a good opportunity to meet new friends and to learn more about the culture of others."

The Camporee will take place at a church-owned campground in Poland from July 29 through August 6. An International Camporee takes place every four years, with the last event being held in Norway during the summer of 1998.

Over 1,700 Pathfinders and staff are expected from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Britain and the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden and Germany. "This will truly be an International event and is the first time that the Camporee has been held in Central Europe," comments Paul Tompkins, TED youth ministries director and Camporee organizer.

"I am excited about the Camporee," reports Tompkins. "It is really nice to hold the camp on our church-owned campsite--which is something that we have not been able to do for many years. We are planning to create a huge international community of Adventist Pathfinders and I am sure that this will be an event that the children will long remember."

Tompkins and Pastor Ryszard Jankowski, youth ministries director for the Polish Union, met with the mayors of the local towns; the police commissioner, and the administrators of both the local hospital and forestry commission. Tompkins further stated, "Everyone has been most helpful and welcoming towards us and there is no doubt that the community are excited about having children from so many different countries in their midst."

Adventist Meetings Attract Many In Jesus' Hometown
Outreach meetings are attracting many interested people in Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, according to Pastor Peter Roennfeldt, Trans-European Division Ministerial Association secretary and Global Mission coordinator. Only a short distance from the traditional boyhood home of Jesus, meetings are being conducted by Olga and Michael Murga each Sabbath morning and evening, reports Roennfeldt. "The meetings in the morning are designed to relate to Jewish people from the upper city," explains Olga. "Each Sabbath evening more than 40 Arab Palestinians are coming to study the Word of God."

A few months ago Pastor and Mrs Murga were returning to Tel Aviv from a baptism in the Jordan River. As they passed through Nazareth they saw a sign on a property that has been owned by the Adventist Church for many years. At one time it was used as a health centre; however, in recent years there has been no outreach activity and little interest shown by the community.

"Olga and Michael made a commitment to restore the facility and conduct outreach meetings," explains Pastor Richard Elofer, president of the Adventist Church in Israel. Elofer, himself a Jew who grew up among the Arab Muslims of Morocco, has a burden to share the good news of the gospel among the Jews and Palestinians in Israel, Gaza and on the West Bank.

"It was exciting to see the interest," says Roennfeldt who recently visited and spoke with the people in Nazareth. "The people are very open to learning from the Bible and plans are in place to plant a new congregation in Nazareth," he concludes.

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