While cleaning out her house at the end of last year, saleswoman Bruna Ferreira noticed that among many books was The Third Millennium and the Prophecies of Revelation: How to Live Without Fear of the Future by pastor and writer Alejandro Bullón. The title and cover of the book caught her attention, so she started reading.
The book arrived at her home via her son, Fernando Torres, age 16, who borrowed it from the school library in 2020 and forgot to return it.
What Ferreira didn't imagine was that about a year after she started reading the book for the first time, she would receive an invitation to attend an event at which Pastor Bullón would be the speaker.
Ferreira received an invitation from a rideshare driver. During the short journey to work, she learned the driver was an Adventist, and he commented that he was reading The Third Millennium. Then he told her about an event in Curitiba with Pastor Bullón.
Although the driver didn't have an invitation in his car, he later got one and took it to the shopping center where Ferreira works. When she arrived at the event, she got another ticket for a cousin, and together, they watched the whole program.
"I was moved from the entrance to the end. I went in crying, I took part crying. It wasn't just emotion; it was a spiritual situation—the very presence of God. I haven't been in a church for many years," says Ferreira.
The event Ferreira attended was Impacto Curitiba, which brought together 26,000 people at Club Athletico Paranaense’s stadium on December 2, 2023.
The event celebrated the 160th anniversary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, officially established in 1863. The church has 22 million members worldwide. Brazil has the largest Adventist community in the world, with 1.7 million believers, more than 100,000 of whom live in southern Brazil.
There were two other editions of the meeting: Impacto Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis, on December 3, at the Luiz Henrique da Silveira Events Center, with an audience of 8,000 people; and Impacto Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre, on December 9, at the Sport Club Internacional stadium, which brought together around 28,000 people.
In Santa Catarina, besides the audience in the auditorium, many watched the event via Rádio Novo Tempo. "We believe that at least 10,000 people passed through the 96.9 FM frequency during that period. The hearts touched by the radio are countless, and in heaven, we will know the exact result. It was a huge effort to broadcast live for five hours, but it was worth it," says Daniel Gonçalves, the station's supervisor.
The Impacto events also celebrated the 150th anniversary of Adventist Education in the world and the 30th anniversary of Mutirão de Natal, a campaign that collects and donates food to needy families, providing a happy, dignified Christmas.
Pastor Bullón was the speaker at the three celebrations. He is recognized worldwide by the Christian public. Bullón has more than 50 years of ministry experience. He has written more than 30 books and made numerous recordings for TV and radio. He retired about 15 years ago but is still active in preaching the Gospel, mainly on the internet.
In his sermons, Bullón emphasized the unconditional love of Christ. He appealed to the hearts of those who had left the church or still resisted accepting Christ. He also shared stories of people whose lives had been transformed by Christ.
At the end of his sermon, almost 1,000 guests filled in a form to receive Bible studies. Over the course of the three celebrations, 185 baptisms took place.
The events were attended by musicians Jeferson Pillar, Daniel Ludtke, and Matheus Rizzo. At the events in Curitiba and Florianópolis, the public was treated to the participation of former members of the King’s Herald. In Porto Alegre, there was the current quartet lineup, together with the composer and musical director, Pastor Jader Santos.
In Curitiba and Porto Alegre Rizzo united several choirs from Adventist churches and schools to form a grand choir. Weeks before, veteran and student participants were given the lyrics and instructions to sing together on the days of the events, forming a choir with thousands of voices in the stands. In Florianópolis, the audience sang along with a choir made up of dozens of pastors.
Celebrations of Solidarity
The celebrations were marked by solidarity. Guests were encouraged to bring a kilogram of non-perishable food to the events. In all, 46,400 kilograms (approx. 102,000 pounds) of food were collected at the three programs. "A vibrant, worshipful, missionary, and supportive church is what we saw in the three [Impacto events]," says Pastor Fábio Correa, director of Adventist Solidarity Action (ASA) for the southern region of Brazil, in a congratulatory tone.
The food was designated for public entities, social projects, ASA, and ADRA. These institutions will distribute the food to needy families during the end-of-year festivities.
Among the organizations that received the food was Seleção do Bem 8, led by Dunga, captain of the four-time world champion Brazil national soccer team. He was involved from the start in publicizing the event in Rio Grande do Sul, inviting the public to contribute. He was present at Beira-Rio on Sabbath, December 9.
The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.