WORLD NEWS & PERSPECTIVES

BY MICHELE STOTZ, director of public relations, It Is Written

enver, Colorado, is a city full of surprises. Water boils at 200 degrees rather than the normal 212. Baseballs travel 10 percent farther. It might snow in the morning, then hit 75 degrees in the afternoon. Yet Adventist church members in Denver may have experienced the biggest surprise of all. From April 16 to May 22 they saw visitors pack the Teikyo Loretto Heights University auditorium night after night to hear Mark Finley, speaker/director for It Is Written Television, and It Is Written's associate speaker, Shawn Boonstra, proclaim God's Word through the "Revelation of Hope" series.

These meetings impacted thousands of lives. More than 2,400 people registered for the series-1,400 of whom were not members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Many others in the audience never officially registered.

Attendance was "exceedingly abundantly" more than anyone had anticipated, and It Is Written decided to hold two programs each day-one at 4:30 in the afternoon and another at 7:30 in the evening. Finley and Boonstra presented their messages on alternating days as they explored Revelation's prophecies.

Decisions for Baptism
To date, more than 600 people have made decisions to be baptized or rebaptized, causing a unique predicament for local pastors-they lacked enough robes to keep up with the demand! Fortunately, the number of robes in stock proved sufficient after several male candidates agreed to be baptized in their own clothes. On the afternoon of May 22, the final day of the series, hundreds of people packed into the university's indoor swimming pool area for a major baptismal ceremony. Sixteen pastors entered the pool and baptized more than 150 people in one hour.

Shawn Boonstra

By the end of the series local pastors had baptized a total of 433 people. "This proves once again that evangelism still works in North America," said Boonstra. "It happened as the result of prayer, planning, and the synergy of ministries, pastors, and laypeople."

Ann, an attendee at the meetings, learned about the series because she took a wrong turn while driving downtown. Nearly 10 years ago NET '95 touched Ann's life, and Finley's presentations had made a lasting impression. When she passed an Adventist church after turning the wrong way, she felt impressed to stop and go in. The church pastor and a few of the church members who were there welcomed Ann and gave her a flyer for the "Revelation of Hope" series, which started the following night. Ann and her husband, Ray, attended the meetings regularly, and both were baptized on May 22. Ann said, "I know the Holy Spirit led me-and changed a wrong turn into a right decision!"

Six Years in the Making
It Is Written and the Rocky Mountain Conference began planning for these meetings six years ago when Pastor Ed Barnett of the Denver South church suggested that the conference invite It Is Written to come to the area for a full evangelistic series. Once everything was approved, the preparation began. "Before you even begin to plan your sermons, you need to ensure that a plan for follow-up is already in place," said Finley of the preparation process. "To be truly effective, an evangelistic series must include comprehensive prework and a plan to nurture new believers and Bible study interests once the meetings have concluded."

Intensive Bible work began more than a year before the meetings started. It Is Written held three local events to support the main series. Eight hundred people attended Finley's archaeology school, 180 attended Mark and Ernestine Finley's Natural Lifestyle Cooking school, and 800 Spanish-speaking people attended a two-week series by Está Escrito associate speaker Milton Peverini titled "Aun Hay Esperanza" ("There Is Still Hope").

A large team of volunteers and pastors joined with It Is Written and the Rocky Mountain Conference to blanket Denver with Bible studies. This team included pastors who attended Finley's Pace-Setters evangelism training school, students and instructors from the Amazing Facts College of Evangelism, Bible instructors, event coordinators, pastors, laypeople, prayer warriors around the country, and many others.

Once the meetings began, at least 100 church members and more than 10 pastors participated in the six-week series, in addition to Spanish and Vietnamese translators, children's program coordinators, musicians, and a signer for those with a hearing impairment. "People's lives have been touched and changed forever," said Norma Napul of the Denver First church. "It has been a life-changing experience for all in some fashion!"

Local pastors anticipate many more baptisms in the following months as they continue to study the Bible with meeting attendees. Rocky Mountain Conference president Jim Brauer said, "We hope these new church members will give us a new shot of energy and vision as they walk into our churches. People with first love are wonderful to have around!"

More to Come
In the coming years It Is Written will continue its evangelistic outreach in North America and around the world. From now through the end of 2006 Boonstra and Finley will hold major meetings in Caracas, Venezuela; Kigali, Rwanda; Seattle, Washington; Kiev, Ukraine; Ottawa, Canada; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

To learn more about these ongoing events, view the Denver "Revelation of Hope" photo album, or watch the telecast online by going to www.itiswritten.com.

fter devastating floods swept through the town of Jimani in the Dominican Republic on May 23, the Adventist Disaster and Relief Agency (ADRA) teamed up with Loma Linda University (LLU) to provide assistance to more than 10,000 people left homeless. The floods claimed the lives of at least 1,000 people. Many more are missing.

The government declared the farming town of Jimani a disaster, according to Silvestre Gonzalez, director of ADRA-Dominican. "Initially, only helicopters were able to fly over and locate the devastated area," said Gonzalez. Aid was not able to reach the victims until after the flooding subsided a few days later.

"It's a terrible sight," Gonzalez said after his first visit. "There are so many people in need." A number of aid agencies have been assisting the victims along with ADRA, which has been coordinating efforts in Jimani to provide food, clothes, and medicine.

According to Gonzalez, one of the greatest needs is helping victims and aid workers deal with the trauma of the experience, so the Loma Linda University (LLU) trauma team was called in. The group includes clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors.

The LLU trauma team will leave Jimani after they train local professionals and pastors to continue the counseling. ADRA volunteers will remain in the area indefinitely.                               --Inter-American Division

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