Serna, Marcial (1860–1935)

Marcial Serna, the first Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist pastor in North America, catalyzed the Spanish Adventist work in the United States by church planting, evangelizing, and mentoring.

Early Life (1860-1898)

Serna was born on June 30, 1860, in El Paso, Texas.¹ His parents, Juan Serna and Jarinta Alvillar were both born in the state of New Mexico.² The Serna family was ethnically mestizo, a mixture of Spanish and Indigenous American heritage.³ Spanish was the family’s first language, but Serna eventually became bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English.⁴ Neither Serna nor his parents received a formal education, but Serna did learn to both read and write.⁵

In 1881, Serna began working as a pastor for the Methodist Episcopal Church.⁶ He served Spanish-speaking communities throughout the American Southwest as well as Sonora, Mexico. By the end of the decade, he was pastoring the Spanish Methodist Episcopal Church in Tucson, Arizona, and was also overseer of the Methodist Spanish work throughout the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and California.⁷

On April 23, 1881 Serna married Victoriana Granado of New Mexico.⁸ Over the next 15 years, the couple had three children: Marcial Jr. (born 1882), Rosa Clara (born 1884), and Ernesto (born 1889).⁹ Several years after Ernesto’s birth, Serna’s first marriage ended, but he continued working as a minister. On March 5, 1898, Serna married Mariana Burrola, in Tucson, Arizona.¹⁰

From Methodist to Seventh-day Adventist (1898)

During the summer of 1898 two Anglo Seventh-day Adventist men, Walter Lawrence Black and Charles D. M. Williams, visited Serna’s home in Tucson.¹¹ Black had been selling Christian literature by Ellen G. White, and Williams was doing Bible studies with those interested. Black introduced himself to Serna and was pleasantly surprised that he spoke English. Black then made his book pitch, but Serna graciously declined, noting that he already had a sufficient number of Christian books.

Black and Williams enjoyed their conversation with Serna and desired to reconnect. They deliberated and decided to ask Serna for Spanish lessons, which would help them both better engage with the community and build a friendship with the Methodist pastor. Serna happily accepted the request, and Spanish lessons began the following morning. Williams suggested they use the Bible as their textbook. Starting in Genesis, the men used both Spanish and English Bibles to compare words and strengthen their vocabulary. When they reached Genesis 2, where it is stated that “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (verse 3), the topic of the Sabbath arose. Black and Williams believed that Saturday was the Sabbath, while Serna believed Sunday to be the Sabbath. As the men went back and forth, each committed to their perspective, Serna challenged the men to a public debate on the topic.¹²

Black spoke first at the debate, presenting an argument founded on twelve Bible verses. Serna listened closely, to prepare for his counterargument. But part way through Black’s speech, Serna was convinced by his opponent's argument. Rather than voicing a scathing rebuttal, he responded, “I now see that my supposed opponents have brought out the truth from God's book. I was to show them where they were wrong, but I see the truth of the Bible. It is clear from God's word that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and I promise you and God that next Saturday I will rest on that day. With God's help, I will keep His Sabbath.”¹³ And on December 9, 1898, Serna was baptized in the Gila River by Elder R. M. Kilgore.¹⁴

Several months later, in the year 1899, the General Conference issued Serna a Seventh-day Adventist ministerial license.¹⁵ Thus, Marcial Serna became the first Hispanic Seventh-day Adventist pastor in North America. That same year, his wife Mariana was given a missionary credential, to aid in the church’s work.¹⁶ In 1901, Serna was placed on the Arizona Mission Executive Committee, bringing a Hispanic voice into the mission’s leadership.¹⁷ And in 1903, Serna was ordained while working in Denver, Colorado.¹⁸ His linguistic skills, quick entry into Adventist ministry, and multi-cultural competency made a unique impact.

The Hispanic Adventist Pioneer (1899-1916)

Serna’s work for the Adventist church actually began several months prior to his baptism and entry into Seventh-day Adventist ministry. Around the same time he met Black and Williams, he received a letter from Adiel and Abel Sánchez, members of the Methodist church in Sánchez, Arizona.¹⁹ The brothers wrote to Serna about having recently read Exodus 20:8-11 during their Bible study time. They were shocked to read that the Bible prescribed Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as the Lord’s day of rest. They asked Serna, “Why do we keep Sunday,” if “the Bible tells us to keep the seventh-day Sabbath?”²⁰ Serna responded to their letter assuring the brothers that Sunday was the correct day of worship, because it was changed in the New Testament. He also mentioned his upcoming debate with Black and Williams.

After the debate and Serna’s change of opinion about the Sabbath, he wrote another letter to the Sánchez brothers letting them know he would visit them later that week and bring the two men he had debated. Upon his arrival, Serna called a meeting in the local Methodist church he had served for years. There he asked the two Adventist men to present on the seventh day Sabbath, as he and Adiel translated. Subsequently, a number of the locals were convinced of the seventh day Sabbath.²¹

After further study, 14 people, including the Sánchez brothers, joined Serna in choosing to be baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist church when Elder Kilgore arrived to officiate on December 9, 1898. Two weeks later, on December 23, this group organized the Sánchez Church, the first Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America.²²

Several members of Serna’s Methodist church in Tucson also studied with him after the debate and decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A group of 23 believers formed under his leadership, and Elder Kilgore traveled to Tucson to organize them officially on December 31,1898, as the second Spanish Adventist church in North America. By the year 1900, there were 111 members in the Arizona Mission Field, and 41 of them were Hispanic.²³

In 1903 the Texico Conference sent Pastor Serna and J. A. Leland to lead an evangelistic meeting in Martínez Town, New Mexico, just outside of Albuquerque. This effort led 20 people to choose baptism into the Seventh-day Adventist church. This group then chartered the first Spanish-speaking Adventist church in New Mexico.²⁴

In May 1903, the Pacific Union Recorder recognized Serna for doing a special work amongst Spanish-speaking people.²⁵ At this time, he was serving congregations in both New Mexico and Arizona. The results of Serna’s work were so plenteous that he requested an assistant. It was also suggested to build a training school for Spanish-speaking youth, so they could enter the rapidly growing work.

In 1904, Serna reached out to another of his former Methodist members in San Marcial, New Mexico. Serna was then invited to teach his former congregation about the Sabbath truth. This effort led to the organization of the second Spanish Adventist Church in New Mexico, which had 28 charter members.²⁶ By May of that year, Serna reported that there over 100 Mexican Sabbath keepers in Arizona and New Mexico.²⁷ He even requested a bigger meeting tent to contain those who attended his religious meetings.²⁸

In addition to church planting and evangelistic meetings, Serna also pastored, sold books door to door, gave Bible studies, and visited with community members. His work made a visible impact and consistently led to baptisms.²⁹ This hands-on approach led Serna to bring people into the church who themselves did impactful work. Such was the case with Anastacio Salazar and his wife.³⁰ In 1910, Serna sold the book El Conflicto de Los Siglos (The Great Controversy) to Anastacio’s father, which led the entire family to join the Adventist church four years later. After baptism, Anastacio became a colporteur and later a pastor in Texas and Mexico.

In 1902, while in Solomonville, Arizona, Serna encountered an Ellen G. White quote in a newspaper he used to package a recent purchase. Surprised, Serna contacted the author of the article, Candelario Castillo, a Baptist minister and editor of the Spanish newspaper in El Paso, Texas. The men corresponded for a short time before losing contact.³¹ But In 1910, while pastoring in southern California, Castillo had a second encounter with Adventists. This encounter led to Bible studies, baptism, and a change in career from being a Baptist minister to a Seventh-day Adventist minister. The following year, Castillo and Serna met for the first time and planned a joint evangelistic series at the first Spanish Adventist church in Los Angeles.³²

Serna also reached out to his former Methodist minister colleagues. As a result, Rafael Acosta and two other ministers joined the Seventh-day Adventist church as ministers.³³

Later Life (1916-1935)

By 1916, Serna’s wife had fallen ill, and he became her caretaker.³⁴ Meanwhile, he continued to serve in a more limited capacity. The couple lived in southern California at the time, and records show Serna made himself available to give Bible studies and do visitations. By 1923, they had moved to Safford, Arizona, where they attended the Los Pasos and Sánchez Spanish churches.³⁵ Despite poor health, Serna continued to give Bible studies.³⁶ Later that year, Serna was asked to spend time in El Paso, Texas, to advance the Spanish work there.³⁷ He did visitations, preached, and gave Bible studies, and in 1925 the Review and Herald noted that many had been baptized since his arrival.³⁸

In addition to his post in El Paso, Serna also led a Sabbath school group in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. This work led to a baptismal class.³⁹ Serna only intended to stay in El Paso for a few months but remained there until 1930.⁴⁰ At this time, E. T. Wilson, president of the Texico Conference, wrote that Serna was “a loyal faithful man, never taking part in controversies, and liberal in his gifts” and that “his work has been fruitful from the standpoint of souls won to the truth.”⁴¹

Serna himself wrote, “I never ceased to work to preach the gospel among [my] people . . . all the time in any time.”⁴² A year or so later, Serna returned to Arizona. But even in 1935, at the age of 75, he was not done serving.⁴³ True to his word, Serna accepted a call to return to the work in El Paso. This work was only cut short by his wife’s death in June, and his own death on August 7, 1935, in Sanchez, Arizona.⁴⁴

Contribution

Before Serna became a Seventh-day Adventist, a handful of Spanish-speaking Adventists were scattered and isolated throughout the Southwest. After his baptism and ordination as an Adventist pastor, Serna led intentional efforts to connect Hispanics of the Southwest with Christ and the Adventist message. This led to the organization of the first four Spanish-speaking Seventh-day Adventist churches in North America and the spread of the Adventist message to Spanish-speakers across the United States. Even in his lifetime, he was labeled a pioneer in the church.⁴⁵

Sources

Casebeer, Homer D. “Spanish Division of the Bureau of Home Missions.” ARH, February 5, 1925.

Casebeer, Homer D. “The Outlook in Arizona.” Pacific Union Recorder, December 26, 1929.

General Conference Committee Minutes. General Conference Online Archives. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/Forms/AllFolders.aspx.

“Elder Marcial Serna again sends . . . .” Pacific Union Recorder, April 27, 1905.

“Elder Marcial Serna writes . . . .” Pacific Union Recorder, March 2, 1905.

“Field Notes.” ARH, February 1, 1906.

Howard, A. J. “Arizona: Our Annual Conference.” Pacific Union Recorder June 2, 1904.

Knight, C. E. “Arizona: Our Annual Conference.” Pacific Union Recorder, April 27, 1905.

“Marcial Serna.” Find A Grave. Memorial ID 135408026, September 4, 2014. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135408026/marcial-serna.

“Mission Fields.” Pacific Union Recorder, August 15, 1901.

“News and notes.” Central Advance, January 28, 1903.

“Our Work and Workers.” Signs of the Times, November 9, 1904, and November 14, 1906.

Serna, Marcial. Sustentation File. Box 9787, RG 33, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Archives, Silver Spring, MD (GCA).

Serna, Marcial. “El Paso and Juárez.” Southwestern Union Recorder, March 30, 1926.

Serna, Marcial. “Work Among the Spanish.” Pacific Union Recorder, May 5, 1904.

Serna, Marcial and H.L. Hoover. “Albuquerque, N.M.” Echoes from the Field, June 10, 1903.

Vasquez, Manuel. The Untold Story: 100 years of Hispanic Adventism 1899-1999. Nampa, ID.: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2000.

Webster, E. W. “The Arizona Conference.” Pacific Union Recorder, May 7, 1903.

Notes

1. “Marcial Serna,” Find A Grave, Memorial ID 135408026, September 4, 2014, accessed April 2, 2024, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135408026/marcial-serna..↩

2. "Arizona U.S. Death Records" s.v. “Marcial Serna” (1887-1968), Ancestry.com; 1910 United States Census, Graham County, Arizona, enumeration district 48, digital image, s.v. “Marcial Serna,” Ancestry.com.↩

3. 1910 United States Census, Ancestry.com; Manual Vasquez, The Untold Story: 100 Years of Hispanic Adventism (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2000), 27.↩

4. 1910 United States Census, Graham County, Arizona, enumeration district 48, digital image, Ancestry.com; Vasquez, The Untold Story, 32.↩

5. 1930 United States Census, El Paso, Texas, enumeration district71-33, digital image s.v. "Marcial Serna," Ancestry.com; Vasquez, The Untold Story, 32.↩

6. Marcial Serna Sustentation Fund Application, February 15, 1916 and Sustentation Fund Application, November 17, 1922, Sustentation File, Box 9787, RG 33, GCA.↩

7. Ibid; Vasquez, The Untold Story. 27.↩

8. Chihuahua, Mexico, Civil Registration of Marriages 1861-1967, 22.↩

9. 1885 U.S., Territorial Census, New Mexico, digital image s.v. “Marcial Serna,” Ancestry.com.; “Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982,” s.v. “Ernesto Serna” (1889-1949), Ancestry.com.↩

10. Sustentation Fund Application, August 21, 1930, Sustentation File, GCA; “The Arizona U.S County Marriage Records 1865-1972,” s.v. “Marcial Serna,” Ancestry.com.↩

11. Vasquez, The Untold Story, 15; Sustentation Fund Applications, February 15, 1916 and August 21, 1930; General Conference Committee Minutes, October 18, 1899, 66, accessed April 10, 2024, https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1899.pdf.↩

12. Ibid., 32.↩

13. Ibid., 33.↩

14. Sustentation Fund Applications, February 15, 1916 and August 21, 1930; General Conference Committee Minutes, October 18, 1899, 66; Vasquez, The Untold Story, 35.↩

15. Sustentation Fund Application, February 15, 1916.↩

16. Sustentation Fund Application, August 21, 1930.↩

17. “Mission Fields,” Pacific Union Recorder, August 15, 1901, 15; C.E. Knight, “Arizona: Our Annual Conference,” Pacific Union Recorder, April 27, 1905, 4; Vasquez, The Untold Story, 33.↩

18. “News and notes” Central Advance, January 28, 1903, 12.↩

19. Vasquez, The Untold Story, 27.↩

20. Ibid., 28.↩

21. Ibid., 34.↩

22. Ibid., 35; Sustentation Fund Application, February 15, 1916 and August 21, 1930; General Conference Committee Minutes, October 18, 1899, 66.↩

23. Vasquez, The Untold Story, 37.↩

24. Marcial Serna and H.L. Hoover, “Albuquerque, N.M,” Echoes from the Field, June 10, 1903, 2-3; Vasquez, The Untold Story, 42, 44.↩

25. E.W. Webster, ”The Arizona Conference,” Pacific Union Recorder, May 7, 1903, 2-3.↩

26. Vasquez, The Untold Story, 45.↩

27. Marcial Serna, ”Work Among the Spanish,” Pacific Union Recorder, May 5, 1904, 6.↩

28. A.J. Howard, “Arizona: Our Annual Conference,” Pacific Union Recorder June 2, 1904, 3.↩

29. “Field Notes,” ARH, February 1, 1906, 20; “Our Work and Workers,” Signs of the Times, November 9, 1904, 13, and November 14, 1906, 13; “Field Notes,” ARH, February 1, 1906, 20; “Elder Marcial Serna writes . . . ,” Pacific Union Recorder, March 2, 1905, 8; “Elder Marcial Serna again sends . . . ,” Pacific Union Recorder, April 27, 1905, 8.↩

30. Vasquez, The Untold Story, 54.↩

31. Ibid., 46.↩

32. Ibid., 50.↩

33. Ibid., 42.↩

34. Sustentation Fund Application, February 15, 1916.↩

35. Sustentation Fund Application, November 17, 1922.↩

36. Ibid.↩

37. Sustentation Fund Application, November 20, 1923.↩

38. Sustentation Fund Application, August 21, 1930; Homer D. Casebeer, “Spanish Division of the Bureau of Home Missions,” ARH, February 5, 1925, 18.↩

39. Marcial Serna, “El Paso and Juárez,” Southwestern Union Recorder, March 30, 1926, 5.↩

40. Sustentation Fund Application, April 8, 1924, Page 27; Sustentation Fund Application, June 2, 1924, Page 30; Sustentation Fund Application, January 1, 1929, Page 35. Sustentation Fund Application, February 11, 1929, Page 44.↩

41. Sustentation Fund Application, August 21, 1930.↩

42. Ibid.↩

43. Sustentation Fund Application, April 4, 1935.↩

44. E.F. Hackman to H.H. Cobban, March 24, 1936, Serna Sustentation File, GCA; “Marcial Serna,” Find A Grave.↩

45. H.D. Casebeer, “The Outlook in Arizona,” Pacific Union Recorder, December 26, 1929, 3.↩