“We're asking for God's Spirit to do something above and beyond what we can do,” said G. Alexander Bryant, North American Division president, this past May as plans to share Pentecost 2025 with the NAD executive committee took shape. “We call it Pentecost 2025 because we don't really want it to be about just numbers. We want it to be about the outpouring of God's Spirit today. The church [in Acts] was after God's Spirit, . . . that's really where the focus should be.”

Much has happened since then.

Pentecost 2025 launched on July 1, 2024. And while that’s still the focus as evidenced by the division's prayer plan and video training webinars currently in production, the North American Division is enthused that, to date, more than 3,100 churches and schools have applied. 

“We are so excited by the interest in our members to host proclamation initiatives in their locales,” said Rick Remmers, NAD assistant to the president. “The Holy Spirit is moving! And with God leading, we will share the gospel with so many of our brothers and sisters.”

The NAD has prayerfully and carefully coordinated each part of the process. From the online application to the welcome kit packed with materials, from the website with free resources to the offer of financial assistance from the NAD, and from the synchronized, division-wide prayer plan to the aggregation of supplemental resources from NAD ministries and services, meticulous attention has been given to help ensure that Pentecost 2025 can be a success. 

“We will do our best and God will do the rest,” paraphrased Calvin Watkins, NAD vice president who oversees evangelism as well as serving as regional liaison. He added, “This is a Holy Spirit-powered initiative for every member — every pastor, teacher, young adult, student, and child — to participate.” 

“I don’t want people thinking that we’re just gearing up for an event. What we’re doing is gearing up for a transformation and Pentecost is the pinnacle in the transformation,” Bryant said. “We’re hoping that the best evidence of Pentecost 2025 is what we see in 2026 and 2027 and beyond — with a transformation of our churches and our mindsets in terms of what God has called us to do in the mission of the church. Pentecost is not just an event but it is our asking, pleading, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a greater measure, the latter rain upon God’s people here in North America.” 

Prayer Focus

With partners across the division, the NAD has developed a monthly prayer focus starting in 2024 and continuing through 2025. Prayer is called for each Wednesday and Sabbath throughout the month, with unions assigned certain months to emphasize specific prayer requests. 

For example, the Mid-America Union Conference (MAUC) kicked things off in July 2024 with the prayer emphasis “The Holy Spirit Will Create Unity Within the Body of Christ.” In the prayer cycle, MAUC will again have the focus in April 2025, under the theme of “The Power of the Holy Spirit.”

The entire prayer focus list includes:

• July 2024 – “The Holy Spirit Will Create Unity Within the Body of Christ” – Mid-America Union

• August 2024 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our NAD Church Members” – Columbia Union

• September 2024 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our Youth and Young Adults” – Southern Union

• October 2024 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our Teachers and Students” – North Pacific Union

• November 2024 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our Small Churches” – Pacific Union

• December 2024 – “The Holy Spirit to Fall Upon Us – Individually” – Lake Union

• January 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our Communities” – Atlantic Union

• February 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Fall upon the Proclaimers” – Southwestern Union

• March 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Island of Guam and Micronesia, Bermuda, and Canada” – Guam-Micronesia Mission

• April 2025 – “The Power of the Holy Spirit” – Mid-America Union

• May 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit Upon Our Clergy” – Columbia Union

• June 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Our Families and the Reclaiming of Lost Members” – Southern Union

• July 2025 – “The Holy Spirit Will Make Us a Loving and Caring Church” – North Pacific Union

• August 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Our Inner Cities and Rural Areas” – Pacific Union

• September 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Be a Loving Church” – Lake Union

• October 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Make the Proclaimers Message Clear to All That Hear” – Atlantic Union

• November 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit to Germinate the Seeds That Are Sowed” – Southwestern Union

• December 2025 – “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the Message Proclaiming, Appeals, and New Believers” – Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada

  

Adventists “Plug in” to Pentecost 2025

In laying the groundwork, many NAD, union, and conference leaders who spoke at camp meetings during the summer handed out cards about Pentecost 2025, and shared the introductory video with Bryant explaining the initiative and encouraging members to join the movement. 

The NAD also held several Zoom gatherings to explain the initiative to union and conference Ministerial Association directors and leaders, also conducting a live Zoom webinar at 8 p.m. ET on July 1. The webinar, open to pastors, church and school leaders, and lay leaders across the division included a full description of the initiative, tutorial on registration, and segment for questions and answers.  

On July 1, the first day the application process opened up for Adventist churches, schools, and church members, 586 applications were submitted.

In one week, 967 signed up.

“We have tried to make the registration process as simple and easy as possible, it only takes a few minutes to complete the online application.” said Kent Sharpe, project director of the Antioch Initiative. “If your church has not signed up, please do at pentecost2025.com and be part of the Pentecost 2025 transformation.” Sharpe shared that the deadline to request funding is December 31.

As of October 9, 3,130 applications had been received. Of those applications more than 2,000 have already been processed. Welcome kits created by the division and filled with free resources being sent from AdventSource in English, Spanish, and French are ready to be shipped.

Webinar and In-Person Training

To continue to prepare those who are doing proclamation events in their church or school and need a hand, the first video training webinars are in production, and will be released starting on October 18, 2024. Hosts Calvin Watkins, Jose Cortes Jr., associate director for NAD Ministerial Association, and Gladys Guerrero, tutoring and mentorship coordinator for the NAD Office of Volunteer Mission, will talk to leaders who have had success in the discussion topic for that particular webinar. 

The 14 webinars will stream monthly on Friday evenings via Zoom with hosts and guests available a live chat during the inaugural run for each webinar. Later, the webinars will be available to watch on the Pentecost 2025 website.

All those interested in watching the Zoom webinar will need to register on the Pentecost 2025 website and use the log in information to tune in during the scheduled time. The first webinar will be streamed on October 18, and two will stream in November before the monthly schedule settles into place in December. In addition, church members and leaders are encouraged to watch the special emphasis on prayer and Pentecost that will livestream on November 1, during the NAD Year-End Meeting. 

The first four webinars will encompass the following topics: “What Is Pentecost 2025;” “Transforming Your Church Through Prayer;” “How to Plan – the Cycle of Evangelism;” and “Organizing the Church for Prayer.”

The NAD is also either hosting or partnering with another entity to conduct in-person training for church leaders and lay leaders. Unions and conferences, schools, and media ministries across the division will be involved in the training, which is divided regionally and scheduled to start on September 29, with a virtual training for the Atlantic Union Conference; Youth Empower training in Florida on October 18-19; and Southern Union Conference training on November 1-3. 

But it’s important to note that not all training opportunities involve the NAD. 

“We know that some of our seasoned pastors and evangelists won’t need this training,” said Cortes. “We also know that conferences and unions, as well as some of our Adventist media ministries, may have already planned their own training. This is great — we encourage their efforts! In the places we are collaborating on training, we look forward to the Holy Spirit leading us. We are all in this together!”

E-Newsletter

Each month, those who registered through the NAD Pentecost 2025 website will be sent a newsletter to their email. These newsletters will be filled with practical advice, inspirational tips, training schedule, webinar information, and more.

“We want to stay in touch through a variety of ways and our newsletter is one way we can connect,” said Sharpe. “Each proclamation initiative is a local event. However, there is a synergy that happens when we all work together. We want to support that effort in any way we can.

Additional Ways to Be Involved

“Prayer is the most important way anyone can help,” said Bryant. “There will only be success where the Holy Spirit is present and working in our lives, and we need to prayer for the outpouring of that Spirit on us.”

Those who choose to contribute beyond prayer are encouraged to ask their local church leaders how they can help. Many members can assist in, for example, greeting visitors to meetings. Helping in community outreach and community service, such as in their local Adventist Community Services is another way.

The original article was published on the North American Division website.