After four days centered on “Living in Purpose,” nearly 300 Seventh-day Adventist professionals, entrepreneurs, and ministry leaders attending the Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) Inter-America Convention in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, were sent home with a direct challenge: to take Christ beyond the walls of their church and into the places where they work, lead, and serve.

Glen Samuels, president of the Jamaica Union Conference, delivered the closing charge on August 15, 2026, reminding delegates that their professions, businesses, influence, and opportunities are avenues through which God can reach people.

“Real church takes place after we’ve left the building called church,” Samuels said. “Real impact takes place when salt escapes the saltshaker.”

Drawing from Christ’s description of His followers as the salt of the earth, Samuels challenged ASI members to see themselves as stewards of purpose and opportunity, using whatever God has placed in their hands to serve others.

“You have been prepared to serve,” he said. “You have been prepared to preserve the world from moral decay and corruption.”

For Rohan Riley, president of ASI Inter-America, the challenge captured the intent behind this year’s convention theme.

“Our theme, ‘Living in Purpose,’ reminds us that God created each of us for a unique and eternal purpose,” Riley said. “We are not here merely to build successful businesses, pursue rewarding careers, or achieve personal ambitions. We are here because God has a divine assignment for every life.”

Sabbath worship reinforced that message as Roger Hernández, ministerial and evangelism director for the Southern Union Conference, drew from Jacob’s experience in Genesis 31 to address the challenges that can accompany growth and success.

Hernández urged delegates to remain grounded in God as they move into greater levels of responsibility, reminding business owners and professionals that their workplaces can become spaces of sacred influence.

Riley said members’ professions, businesses, talents, and influence are instruments God can use to advance His kingdom. “Whether in the marketplace, the classroom, the boardroom, the clinic, or our communities, we are called to be faithful stewards whose lives point others to Jesus Christ,” he said.

During a panel, ASI leaders reinforced that responsibility, calling for closer collaboration between lay professionals and church leadership, emphasizing that mission cannot be delegated solely to pastors.

“You can’t delegate the gospel. You can’t delegate the commission,” panelists said, noting that Adventist professionals often have access to people who may never enter a church or interact with a pastor.

For Riley, the convention’s impact will ultimately be measured by what happens after delegates return home.

“We came from different countries, different cultures and professions, but we live united in one conviction,” Riley said. “The true measure of this convention will not be what happens inside this hotel,” he added. “It will be what happens when we go home.”

ASI Inter-America currently comprises 53 chapters in 28 countries, including 13 active union chapters, and has supported 10 major mission projects. Recent initiatives have included evangelism, humanitarian assistance, leadership development, digital outreach, business networking, and community projects across the Inter-American Division.

The organization is structuring its work around four geographic regions—the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and Northern South America/North Hispanic Caribbean—to strengthen chapters and make resources more accessible. Riley announced that the 2027 ASI Inter-America Convention will be held in the English Caribbean Union territory.

During the convention, delegates voted in executive officers to serve ASI Inter-America for the next two years. Additional coordinators and executive committee members were also elected.

Teófilo Silvestre, president of the Dominican Union Conference, welcomed the involvement of lay professionals as another avenue for advancing mission. The union serves approximately 313,000 members in 1,712 churches and congregations and operates educational, healthcare, and media institutions across the country.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, Alma Cruz is already putting that approach into practice.

Cruz, a psychologist and ASI leader in the Oaxaca chapter, established Casa Bonita (Beautiful Home) two years ago after seeking ways to use her professional training beyond private practice.

The mental health and wellness center provides affordable—and, in some cases, free—services to approximately 20 to 30 patients each week, including couples, children, young people struggling with addiction, and other individuals and families. Cruz said she wanted the setting to feel less like a clinic and more like a home—a place where people could experience peace from the moment they entered.

The project grew from years of asking God how she could use her training in psychology and family therapy for a larger purpose.

“I said, ‘This is what I have, and with what I have I have to do the best I can,’” Cruz recalled. Over time, she said, Casa Bonita began taking shape beyond what she had initially imagined.

She is also involved with Familias en Crecimiento (Growing Families), a center-of-influence congregation in Oaxaca that connects with professionals and entrepreneurs through seminars, family programs, monthly gatherings, and spiritual ministry. Relationships developed through the initiative have already led some participants to baptism.

“I think now I clearly know what my purpose is,” Cruz said. She hopes the Casa Bonita model can eventually reach communities beyond Oaxaca.

Cruz’s work is part of a wider ASI presence across IOMU. Gustavo Román, ASI director for the union chapter, said each of its 11 conferences has an active ASI chapter, with about 225 members supporting mission and community projects throughout the territory.

That growth stands alongside established chapters such as Tobago, which has operated for more than 26 years and supported dozens of mission projects. Since 2014, the chapter has also supported its media ministry, ASIMEDIA, according to Damian Edwards, one of five team members attending the convention.

“What keeps me involved in ASI is the opportunity to network with others who share the same commitment to mission, to find strategic ways of winning souls, and to see the impact of the projects we support,” Edwards said.

For sisters Verna Clark and Doreph Clark of Limón, Costa Rica, that mission is woven into everyday life. They have not missed an ASI Inter-America convention since joining their local chapter eight years ago and regularly participate in visits to Indigenous communities to distribute food and other needed supplies.

D. Clark, who has operated a beauty salon for 40 years, uses her business as a personal mission field, praying with customers, sharing devotional thoughts, and inviting them to church activities.

“My salon gives me an opportunity to connect with people every day,” she said. “It is a way for me to share my faith through the work I do.”

For V. Clark, the annual gathering provides spiritual renewal and practical preparation.
“We come here to be revived spiritually and to gain better tools to reach the people around us with the message of salvation,” she said. “We’re already planning and saving for next year.”

This year’s special convention offering will benefit two mission projects. One is Adventist World Aviation, which has continued disaster-relief support in Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa in 2025 and established a permanent aviation presence on the island.

The offering will also support Construyendo Esperanza (Building Hope), a community outreach project led by the Alpha Adventist Church in Bonao, Dominican Republic. The project will address serious roof deterioration while creating a multipurpose community center, kitchen, and humanitarian-relief storage area.

Plans include healthy cooking and nutrition classes, health education, family and youth programs, and space to collect and store food, water, clothing, hygiene products, and other supplies for families affected by emergencies.

ASI Inter-America also honored three longtime supporters for their years of committed service to the organization: Carlos Brown of Panama, Margaret Daniel of the Inter-American Division, and Jean Holder of Guadeloupe.

Delegates were also briefed on OneVoice27, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s global evangelistic initiative, and encouraged to explore how ASI chapters can intensify efforts to share Christ through members’ businesses, professions, and spheres of influence.

Throughout the convention, keynote presentations, seminars, chapter reports, networking sessions, panel discussions, and worship services explored leadership, business, health, digital evangelism, personal development, and practical ways for professionals to apply their skills to mission.

As delegates prepared to return home, Samuels brought the convention back to the image with which he had challenged them: salt must leave the shaker to make a difference.

For ASI members, Riley said, that is what “Living in Purpose” ultimately means—recognizing that success, talent, and influence are opportunities to point others to Christ.

The original article was published on the Inter-American Division news site.