Thirteenth Sabbath Program

Congregational Song
“O Come, All Ye Faithful”
The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, No. 132

Prayer

Program
"A Lasting Gift"

Offering

Closing Song
“Give of Your Best to the Master”
The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, No. 572

Closing Prayer

Participants: Five speakers—a narrator and four speakers—one woman, three men. [Note: participants do not need to memorize their parts, but they should be familiar enough with the material that they do not have to read everything from the script.]

Props: A map of the Inter-American Division with Belize and Jamaica highlighted. (Scan the map on the back page of the quarterly and project it onto a screen, or download the map at www.AdventistMission.org. Photos also are available on the website. 

Narrator: During this past quarter, we’ve heard stories from our brothers and sisters in Belize and Jamaica. From the “Throwaway Baby” to the “Trench Town Teacher” we have seen how God is working through people in the Inter-American Division.

Today we are going to “meet” some of the leaders in Belize and Jamaica who will share more specifically about this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering projects. We will first meet Larrybelle and Jefferson Spencer, both youth leaders in Belize.

Speaker 1 [A woman—“Larrybelle”]: Here in Belize we have a very active and young church—approximately two-thirds of our members are youth. Most families in Belize have many children. It’s not unusual to have 9 to 12 children in one family. We want to keep the youth active so they realize how much of an important part of the church they really are.

Speaker 2 [A man—“Jefferson”]: Our goal is to have activities that are Bible-based and also community-based, so that as they grow, young people can see that the church makes a community, and the community makes a church.

Speaker 1: In Belize we have five different church “zones,” and many local youth activities take place in these zones. But once a year we have a special meeting where youth from across the country attend and enjoy classes and activities.

Speaker 2: The challenge we face is that there is nowhere in the country that can accommodate all of the youth who would like to attend. But with a camp of our own, we would have the space, it would be less costly, and more young people would be impacted for the Lord.

Speaker 1: We like to offer classes based on improving life skills, as well as spiritual life. Some examples include canoeing, construction, massage, cake decorating, mechanics, electrical, and classes for improving abilities for those with disabilities—using what you have for God.

Speaker 2: One of our presenters was Jerome Flores, a member who is paralyzed from his waist down but has bicycled across the country, using his arms to propel his special bike.

Speaker 1: Many of the setbacks our youth in Belize face involve finances. If assistance is given focusing on the young people, such as the camp, it will definitely make a difference. It will be something they can call their own.

Narrator: Thank you, Larrybelle and Jefferson, for sharing with us about the impact a youth camp in Belize will have on the many young people there. Now we would like to hear from Pastor Dennis Slusher, the president of the Belize Union of Churches Mission.

Speaker 3 [A man—“Pastor Slusher]: Here in Belize, we definitely believe in evangelism, and we give many opportunities for the youth to participate. We need a permanent place for our young people—a place to bring them, train them, and give them hands on experience. Many times we have to go form church to church, teaching them how to work for others. If we can have a permanent place of our own, we can do even more for our young people. Training them how to do missionary work—that is one of our main objectives.

Narrator: And what about the other mission project—the evangelistic auditorium in the capitol city of Belmopan?

Speaker 3: Having a large auditorium will be of great benefit to our members and community. We want to offer more training for our adult members, and also have a place for large evangelistic meetings.

We already have a choice piece of land to build this auditorium, but if we don’t use it, the government will take it away, so we’re looking forward to building this auditorium soon!

Narrator: Thank you, Pastor Slusher. Now we will travel over to the island
of Jamaica, where we will hear from Pastor Carl Cunningham. Pastor Cunningham works at the East Jamaica Conference as the director of Sabbath School, Personal Ministries, and Adventist Community Services. He is also the chairman of the Good Samaritan Inn Management Committee.

Speaker 4 (Man—“Pastor Cunningham”): I was pastoring in the community when the property was purchased for the Good Samaritan Inn. The conference and union recognized the need for church and social plants that would facilitate the needs of the community. This was under the guidance of Pastor Patrick Allen, who was at the Jamaica Union Conference at the time. He has since become the Governor-General of Jamaica, but is still very interested in what is happening at the Inn.

Someone who has played an integral part of the success of the Good Samaritan Inn is Sister Moore, who works with the data-tracking system. It began with her doing physical, laborious gathering of information. As the clientele grew larger it became important for a better system. She makes sure that their name, address, phone, and anything about their background is recorded accurately. Many have no address, so she just indicates that they are homeless. Sister Moore checks them in, so that we can see how often they come. This is important because we want to understand whom we are serving. The bottom line is about doing the ministry of Christ—it’s not just about feeding people. Hopefully sooner or later we’ll reach their hearts, minds, and souls.

We offer a wholistic ministry to people who are living in hopelessness, people who think that they are on the edge and that there is no further place to go. The maternal wellness clinic will help clients appreciate their worth as human beings. And dental care is very costly here—the average person can’t afford to go to a dentist, but we’re happy that soon we’ll be able to offer dental services to our clients.

Narrator: Thank you, Now is our opportunity to help our brothers and sisters in Belize and Jamaica. Please give generously for our special mission offering.