A group of pastors dressed in their cap and gown at the Northeast Colombia Conference in Cucuta, North Colombia, pose for a photo during the completion of Inter-America’s Pastoral Certification Celebration program this year, Oct. 20, 2021. More than 4,000 pastors and their spouses across the territory  tuned into the virtual celebration and received their continuing education certificate. [Photo: Courtesy of Northeast Colombia Conference]
October 22, 2021 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

“As leaders, as pastors, as church members we must keep focused on the Bible and stop listening to voices that could lead us to confusion,” said Pastor Elie Henry, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America, as he addressed church administrators and ministers throughout the territory during a special online event on Oct. 20, 2021.

“There are multiple voices day and night in this time of the internet and you as pastors leading the church and your family must remain in the study of the Word of God for it is the key to keeping firm in the present truth and understanding the will of God,” he said.  Pastor Henry appealed to pastors to not move quickly to sharing what they hear without first verifying it with the Scriptures. “We must become the champions of biblical interpretation.”

Pastor Elie Henry, president of the church in Inter-America, speaks to thousands of pastors and their spouses on Oct. 20, 2021, to cling and live according to the Scriptures every day as they minister in their congregations.  [Photo: IAD Screenshot]
Pastor Henry said he was referring to a recent message by Adventist World Church President Pastor Ted N.C. Wilson to global church leaders to live according to the Word of God.

“Jesus is the fundamental element of what we do as Christians and it is important to always go to the Word to find Him as our example, as the subject of our meditation and to learn all that He has done for us,” said Pastor Henry. “We must live according to His Word and continue preaching the gospel with the truth, evangelizing everywhere, making disciples and becoming that light to prepare a people for His Second Coming.”

The appeal came as Inter-America’s ministerial association celebrated the completion of the certification, or continuing education, program for thousands of district pastors and their spouses across the Inter-American Division (IAD) this year.

Pastor Josney Rodríguez, ministerial association secretary for the church in Inter-America, leads the annual pastoral certification program across the territory. [Photo: IAD Screenshot]
“We are making history today with more than 4,000 church pastors and their spouses being certified,” said Pastor Josney Rodríguez, ministerial association secretary for the church in Inter-America.  “This is the result of all the hard work that has been done across the territory for the past four years of training pastors and their spouses throughout Inter-America.”  The certification aims to strengthen local churches and keep a strong, on-going discipleship program focused on members in each local congregation, he said.

Set in motion in 2018, the training program has focused on discipling church members, , motivating them and ensuring that they are actively involved in the life of the church, and much more, explained Rodríguez.

Measuring the impact of the work of the pastor and church elders has also been part of the evaluating process of closely tallying the active involvement of the members and their discipling efforts as part of the comprehensive certification program in each church, added Rodríguez. “We have seen that usually 20 percent of the membership is actively involved in the church and its ministries and we need to increase it more, so we have been evaluating and working at getting every member involved,” said Rodríguez.

A group of pastors from the WEst Panama Conference in David, Panama, display their continuing education certificates on Oct. 20, 2021. [Photo: Walter Flamenco]
Pastor Rodríguez said that so far more than 5,000 local congregations are consistently reporting the impact of their discipleship program. Leaders expect to see up to 19,000 congregations consistently reporting by early next year, he added.

Through the course of the pastoral certification program, all 24 unions have ensured that most if not all of their pastors have completed the training courses, said Rodríguez. Ten unions reported that 100 percent of their ministers in their territory completed the certification program which is validated by the Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary.

IAD Unions with 100 percent certification were congratulated during the program: Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union with 295 pastors certified, Chiapas Mexican Union with 295 pastors, North Mexican Union with 252, North Colombian Union with 237 pastors, West Venezuela Union with 189, South Colombia Union with 181 pastors, East Venezuela Union with 134 pastors, South Central American Union with 108 pastors, Panama Union with 92 pastors and Belize Union with 27 pastors.

Pastor Ulises Castillo and his wife Edna Garcia of the Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union, show off their certificates on Oct. 20, 2021. Pastor Castillo is one of 295 pastors in the Inter-Oceanic Union to complete the annual certification. Nine other unions throughout Inter-America had all of their pastors certified this year. [Photo: Courtesy of Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union]
Church leaders paused to honor the more than two dozen pastors, spouses, and a few retired pastors who died from COVID this year and prayed for the surviving family members.

The event also included prayer sessions for pastoral families and church elders across the territory, featured outstanding church pastors across the territory and union reports.

Photographs of giving out of certification diplomas taking place across churches and meeting rooms poured in during the virtual program.

A group of pastor’s wives from the West Panama Conference in David, Chiriqui, display their continuing education certificates to better minister alongside their husbands. Photo: Walter Flamenco]

Inter-America’s Ministerial Association announced its next certification celebration program will take place on Feb. 19, 2022.

To watch Inter-America’s Pastoral Certification Celebration Program of Oct. 20, 2021, go to the following:

English, click HERE

Spanish, click HERE

French, click HERE