March 28, 2011 – Guatemala City, Guatemala….Gustavo Menendez/IAD Staff
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Guatemala joined efforts with the rest of the Inter-American Division (IAD) region through its evangelism program Pentecost and More when 1,805 people were baptized during special ceremonies throughout the Central American country March 19-20, 2011.
Church leaders in Guatemala reported that more than 5,200 new believers joined the church in the first quarter of 2011 as a result of 7,643 Bible studies and hundreds of evangelistic campaigns and small group meetings conducted throughout the country.
“We are so happy for our brothers and sisters in Guatemala who have been able to reach thousands of people through Bible studies and witnessing through this Pentecost and More initiative,” said Pastor Guenther Garcia, president of the church in Guatemala, as he spoke to thousands of church members.
The Vuelta del Mango Adventist Church in southern Guatemala was the spot where more than 1,200 gathered for a special ceremony where dozens of baptisms took place on Mar. 19, as Pastor Gustavo Menendez, personal ministries director for the church in Guatemala pronounced the baptismal prayer via satellite from Venezuela, the IAD host site for the division-wide event.
More than 3,000 gathered by Lake Atitlan on Panajachel Beach on Sunday to witness 288 baptisms. The new members represented the central and northwest church regions in Guatemala.
Both ceremonies were streamed live over the internet and coverage of the programs were transmitted through the church’s radio stations.
Inter-America’s Pentecost and More was inspired by the Biblical Pentecost of Acts 2 and seeks to mobilize pastors and laypeople alike to strengthen their unified efforts for effectiveness in evangelistic mission outreach initiatives. Since the Pentecost initiative began in 2007, there have been more than 304,000 baptisms attributed to the first quarter evangelistic efforts in the Inter-American Division territory.
For more information on the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Guatemala, visit www.uniondeguatemala.org
