Pastors and lay members gather for a weekend of evangelism training at Camp Cedar Falls.
Pastors and lay members gather for a weekend of evangelism training at Camp Cedar Falls.

This June, 240 lay members and pastors met at Camp Cedar Falls for the second cycle of the Hispanic region’s 2024 evangelism campaign. Plans for the first cycle were presented in January. The second cycle will be a collaboration between Hispanic region churches and participating academies: San Fernando Valley Academy, Glendale Adventist Academy, San Gabriel Academy, and Los Angeles Adventist Academy.

The year of evangelism focuses on three principles—grow, retain, and rescue—and is divided into two cycles. The first cycle was carried out in March and April. The second is set for October and November.

“The main goal is to foster the missionary spirit in our region to disciple, equip, empower, mobilize, and multiply,” said Juan Osorio, Hispanic region director. “The second cycle will develop in different zones of Los Angeles, where various churches will unite for metropolitan campaigns titled ‘Angels for Christ.’”

Guest speakers were Robert Costa, associate ministerial secretary and General Conference evangelist, and Elvis Diaz, director of sales and marketing for El Centinela magazine. Both speakers challenged the lay members to plant seeds of Christ’s message in the heart of every Los Angeles resident within reach. On Saturday afternoon, five training seminars were presented in the areas of church growth, discipleship, retention, evangelistic campaign preparation, and rescue.

United under the motto “Together We Will Go” (“Juntos Iremos” in Spanish), Osorio hopes to “complete the mission of bringing others to the feet of Christ, following the biblical advice of Acts 1:8: ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’” (NIV).