Men’s Ministries Certification

Fourth Annual Collaborative Event Trains 90 Men
October 19, 2018

HOUSTON, TEX. – On July 27 and 28 the Southwestern Union sponsored the Fourth Annual Men’s Ministries Leadership Certification. This certification course was designed by the North American Division to equip local church leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead out in men's ministries in their communities. Over 90 men gathered at the Houston Central Seventh-day Adventist Church to initiate the first part of the certification process. On Friday night, Elton DeMoraes, D.Min., the Southwestern Union’s newly-elected vice president for ministerial, church ministries and men’s ministries, presented the biblical foundations of men’s ministry. He told the participants that a successful men’s ministry will have three components: spiritual, relational and missional. As this was a bilingual event, Jose Rojas, pastor of the Baytown LaPorte Seventh-day Adventist Church and Baytown Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church, provided live translation from English to Spanish. On Sabbath, the groups met in different rooms to facilitate the learning process. Several presenters from the Texas Conference and Southwest Region Conference assisted teaching a subject. Sergio Rodriguez, Hispanic men’s ministries director for the Texas Conference and Sean Harris, men’s ministries director for the Texas Conference, both pointed out that after the weekend in Houston, the participants will have to complete different assignments throughout the year to be certified. Willie Lee, Jr., men’s ministries director for the Southwest Region Conference, observed that this was the first time the leadership certification was taken out of the Southwestern Union headquarters and agreed that the event was a total success. Plans are now underway to take this certification to the Arkansas-Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texico Conferences. By bringing this certification to other conferences, we hope to achieve our goal to have a men’s ministry in every church throughout our Southwestern Union territory.