Inter-American Division

The Inter-American Division (IAD) of Seventh-day Adventists is one of the thirteen world divisions of the Seventh-day Adventists. The IAD is comprised of Mexico, Central America, the five northernmost countries of South America, and the Islands of the Caribbean. Its headquarters is in Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Territory and Statistics

The Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) occupies a unique place in the overall growth and expansion of the global SDA denomination. It is the third largest and one of the fastest growing of the 13 divisions that comprise the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (GC). In 2018, there were 14,296 churches with 3,835,017 baptized members.¹ The IAD territory includes Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic); the French overseas collectivities of Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Martin; and the Netherlands’ special overseas municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba.² This division is home to one of the most multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial, and multilinguistic populations in the world church. The largest percentage speaks Spanish, but millions of others use English, French, Dutch, Creole, Papiamento, and many other indigenous languages.³

IAD Unions

The IAD comprises 24 unions: Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission, Belize Union Mission, Caribbean Union Conference, Central Mexican Union Mission, Chiapas Mexican Union Conference, Cuban Union Conference, Dominican Union Conference, Dutch Caribbean Union Mission, East Venezuela Union Mission, El Salvador Union Mission, French Antilles-Guiana Union Conference, Guatemala Union Mission, Haitian Union Mission, Honduras Union Mission, Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union Conference, Jamaica Union Conference, North Colombian Union Conference, North Mexican Union Conference, Panama Union Mission, Puerto Rican Union Conference, South Central American Union Mission, South Colombian Union Conference, Southeast Mexican Union Mission, and West Venezuela Union Mission.⁴

IAD Institutions

The IAD operates six institutions: Inter-American Food Company; Inter-American Division Publishing Association in Florida and GEMA Publishing house in Mexico; Montemorelos University in Mexico; Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary in Puerto Rico; and the online Herbert Fletcher University in Puerto Rico.

Unions’ Educational Institutions

There are 11 other universities operated by the various unions in the IAD: Adventist University of Haiti in Haiti, Adventist University Institute of Venezuela in Venezuela, Antillean Adventist University in Puerto Rico, Central American Adventist University in Costa Rica, Colombia Adventist University in Colombia, Cuba Adventist Theological Seminary in Cuba, Dominican Adventist University in the Dominican Republic, Linda Vista University and the Navojoa University in Mexico, Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica, and the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad. Various unions in the IAD also operate five junior colleges, 342 secondary schools, and 613 elementary schools.

Unions’ Hospitals

There are 13 major hospitals operated by the various unions in the IAD:

Adventist Medical Center Escandón in Mexico City, Andrews Memorial Hospital in Jamaica, Antillean Adventist Hospital in Curacao, Bella Vista Hospital in Puerto Rico, Community Hospital of Seventh-day Adventists in Trinidad, Davis Memorial Hospital and Clinic in Guyana, Haitian Adventist Hospital in Haiti, Montemorelos University La Carlota Hospital in Mexico, Southeast Hospital in Southeast Mexico, Valley of Angels Hospital in Honduras, Venezuela Adventist Hospital in Venezuela, Vista del Jardín Adventist Medical Center in the Dominican Republic, and Escandón Health Clinic in Mexico City.

Other Unions’ Institutions

Other institutions operated by the various unions promoting the mission of the church in the IAD include nine media centers, seven radio stations, and multiple internet-based social ministry outlets. All SDA institutions in the IAD point to the significant and historic role that SDA institutions play in these vibrant communities through education, healthcare, and outreach programs.

Communication Efforts

From its inception, it was necessary to keep proper communications with the vast territory, and the division has had various means to do such. The main official communication tool to reach all members and employees was begun in 1924: the “Inter-American Messenger.”⁵ This was a multi-page magazine with information, inspiration, etc. for members and employees. In 1970, this resource was replaced with a far more agile, smaller two-page tool called “Messenger Flashes.” The intention was to increase its frequency, reduce its size, and maintain the same purpose and mission.

“Flashes” remained the official means of communication until May 2014. Based on the advancement of technology and the vast use of the Internet and social media, an electronic news bulletin was initiated with the same purpose and mission but at a lower cost to reach all members and employees wanting to receive this electronic communication.

Early Developments

There were numerous factors that led to the establishment of the IAD in May 1922. Rapid membership growth was a major factor. In 1922, the Caribbean Basin and the northern half of Latin America had been home to thousands of SDA members from about four decades earlier. It is believed that Adventist literature first arrived from Britain to Haiti in 1879, sent by Elder J. N. Loughborough, and led to many accepting the Sabbath and following the Three Angels’ Message.⁶

In 1887, the first SDA church was formally organized with 40 baptized members in Georgetown, British Guiana (Guyana).⁷ Soon after the turn of the 20^th century, the GC approved three SDA conferences: Jamaica Conference in 1903 and South Caribbean Conference and Panama Conference in 1906. In other areas of the region, it had proven difficult to gain acceptance for the Adventist message among the mostly Roman Catholic adherents and mostly Spanish- and French-speaking populations.

During the 1880s, SDA members attempted to send literature into what is now the IAD territory. In 1882, a secretary of the International Tract Society sought to send Adventist literature to Cuba and communicated with the Cuban consul, asking for names and addresses of persons to send religious literature. The official’s response was: “No one could be found who dare to distribute Protestant literature on shore in Cuba, although it might be handed to the sailors in the harbor.”⁸ After the Spanish-American conflict at the turn of the 20^th century, Protestantism would reach Cuba’s shores. During the early 1890s, a few SDA pioneers took their literature into Mexico and spread the Three Angels’ Message in Mexico City among a small group of readers but were unable to effectively reach the millions living there.⁹

In the early 1870s, Sister Elizabeth Gauterau, who accepted the Seventh-day Adventist message while living in San Francisco, California, desired to share the good news with those who lived in Honduras, the Bay Islands, and Belize. She gathered many issues of “Signs of the Times” magazines and went on a personal missionary trip. She arrived to Honduras in February 1886 and began spreading the gospel among family and friends.¹⁰ In 1891, Pastor Frank J. Hutchins and his wife, Cora, were sent as the first official missionaries to the Central American countries. They arrived at the Bay Islands evangelizing the countries of Honduras, Colombia by way of San Andrés Island, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panamá.¹¹ They sailed on a schooner on the Caribbean Sea and mainly evangelized at places with ports such as Livingston in Guatemala, Limón in Costa Rica, and Bocas del Toro in Panamá, combining “ministerial, dental, and colporteur work.” Also, in 1891, Brother Salvador Marchisio went to Mexico on his own to share the good news. To better help the Mexican people, he went to Battle Creek to become a nurse, and, then, in 1893, he was sent as a missionary to Guadalajara, Mexico.¹²

Seventh-day Adventism made significant progress in membership over the years. In 1922, at the time of the creation of the Inter-American Division, over 7,000 baptized SDA members lived in the vast region and worshipped in over 200 SDA churches, and over 100 missionaries served in this region.¹³ Nine mission fields and other groups in various areas of the church’s work existed, but they were detached from formal administrative structures of the worldwide SDA Church.

In 1922, the membership of the SDA Church showed encouraging results in growth, primarily among the Protestant population of this region, where over 40 million people lived in over 30 countries.¹⁴ The majority of Adventist converts and believers resided in English-speaking areas of the Lesser Antilles and the Panama Canal Zone. While political circumstances of the early 1920s had allowed for modest growth in Mexico, there were hardly any Adventist believers in more heavily populated Spanish-speaking countries. In 1922, the Republic of Colombia with almost six million citizens had only one SDA church with 11 believers.¹⁵

While SDA church membership across the region was large enough to justify the creation of a division, the finances generated and expenses incurred could have postponed the division’s organization. Church leaders who visited the Caribbean and northern Latin American regions observed the absence of a well-conceived and planned organizational structure that could prevent the various incorporated parts from competing with each other for missionary personnel and scarce resources. The existing missions, conferences, and union offices mostly operated autonomously. It was almost customary for subordinates to bypass local supervisors and make direct contact with GC leaders on work-related matters. Consequently, it was believed that, to overcome this glaring organizational weakness and achieve meaningful, ongoing church growth in this region, an organized division was necessary.¹⁶

Organizational History

On May 11, 1922, in San Francisco, California, at the 40^th Session of the General Conference, the majority of the 581 delegates voted for the existence of the IAD.¹⁷ The 1922 General Conference Bulletin recounts the factors that led the delegates to this decision.

In view of the increasing number of English, Spanish and French believers in what are known as the North Latin and West Indian fields, numbering approximately 7,500; and in view also [of] the widely scattered territory reaching from the Guianas on the east coast of South America to Mexico on the north and the west, we recommend:

1. That this territory, including the following countries, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, British, French and Dutch Guiana, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, San Andres Island, Old Providence Island, Corn Island, Puerto Rico, Salvador, Trinidad, Barbados, Windward and Leeward Islands, Tobago and Venezuela, be organized into what is to be known as the Inter-American Division of the General Conference.

2. That the officers for this division for the present, consist of a vice-president and a secretary-treasurer and auditor,

3. The organization of Colombia into a local mission,

4. That the division be divided into two unions groups without union conference or union mission organization, to be known as the Eastern Union group and the Western Union group,

5. That the Eastern Union group include the islands of Cuba and Haiti, the Puerto Rican Mission and the adjoining islands, the Jamaica Conference, the Venezuela Mission and the South Caribbean Conference,

6. That the Western Union group included: Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador, Colombia and the West Caribbean Conference,

7. That a superintendent be appointed to supervise the work in each union group, and a field and home missionary secretary to foster the interests of the publishing work,

8. That the division executive committee consist of the vice-president, who shall act as chairman, the secretary-treasurer, the auditor, the superintendent and field missionary secretary of the Eastern Union group, and the superintendent and field missionary secretary of the Western Union group.¹⁸

In the early 1920s, this initial geographical and administrative configuration appeared to be the best arrangement for bringing order to what was perceived as a widely scattered and complicated region of the world.

At the 1922 session, the church agreed to a new constitution and bylaws that incorporated the new division structure. Establishing the IAD was the next step in bringing the church’s organizational structure in that region up to date with the worldwide SDA Church. It also took an action necessary to advance church work within the Caribbean and northern Latin American regions; it voted to make this region the eighth division of the SDA Church.¹⁹

The most difficult tasks at the establishment of the newly created division were restructuring the organizational and administrative units that existed before establishing the IAD. Three union missions were created: Aztec Union Mission comprising the church work in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Colony of British Honduras (now Belize); Central American Union Mission comprising the other countries of Central America, notably Panamá; and British West Indies Union with headquarters in Jamaica comprising most of the Lesser Antilles and the three Guianas in northern South America.²⁰

A division-wide newsletter was also created to share important news, information, and articles on various topics relevant to all members of the division. This monthly publication was started in 1924 and called the “Inter-American Messenger.” By 1928, it was published in Spanish – the main language of the region’s largest populations.²¹

Public evangelism and soul winning were very important to the early administrators of this newly-created division. In July 1925, at the division council meeting, its president announced: “Our primary work is that of saving souls rather than simply managing conferences, missions, and institutions.”²² The division administration saw the need to establish more boarding training schools and to develop ways to financially support the few that existed. At the 1930 GC Session, the IAD president declared: “Our schools are the most important institutions in the world; hence, they should be provided with every faculty necessary for successful work in training our youth for efficient service… [In] every line of work, we need laborers who were born in the tropics, whose mother tongue is the vernacular of the people, who know their people as no foreigner can know them, and who are accustomed to the climatic conditions that are often fatal to a foreigner.”²³

The most pressing objective of the IAD in its inception was the overall increase of membership. The 1935 division president’s report clearly paints the period’s steady membership growth when he said that, during the ten-year period of 1925-1935, church membership increased by 16,867 members, or 182 percent; Sabbath school membership increased by 26,593, or 227percent; and missionary volunteer membership increased by 6,668, or 235 percent. Also, during the four-year period from 1931-1934, membership increased by 10,472, or 67 percent; Sabbath School membership increased by 68 percent; and total baptisms were: 3,012 in 1931; 3,619 in 1932; 3,774 in 1933; and 3,956 in 1934.²⁴

IAD Headquarters Locations

New York City

A pressing early challenge was to find a suitable location for the division’s headquarters. In the early months, temporary offices were opened in New York City, and there were considerations of establishing the headquarters in New Orleans. The main reasons for these considerations were the need to communicate with and travel to and from the division territory. It must be remembered that, at that time, most travel and communications were done via seaports, and, with the territory being so diverse, the headquarters needed to be in a location that facilitated this.²⁵

Panamá Canal Zone

The first location of the IAD headquarters was in the US territory of the Panama Canal Zone,²⁶ where it stayed from 1922 to 1943, when, due to entry of the US in the war, all civilians had to be evacuated from the strategic Canal Zone. However, the site of the headquarters in the Canal Zone has remained in hands of the church, has served as the headquarters of Panama Conference, and is currently the headquarters of Panama Union Mission.

At the 1936 IAD meetings held at the division offices in the Panama Canal Zone, GC President Spicer stated: “What growth since my first visit to this field in 1903…The Division Council in Balboa, just closing, has been a blessed one. The Consecration and personal surrender to Christ has dominated all proceedings. I have been attending councils and conferences for 50 years and never have I seen a body of workers more diligent and earnest in the study of the work committed to us.”²⁷

Island of Cuba

The second location of the IAD headquarters was at Rancho Boyeros in Cuba, where, for the first and only time, the division was not in the US territory; instead, the new offices were in a 14-room house “in the General Peraza district, a Havana suburb.”²⁸ Its president was a leader with a clear, spiritual vision and wrote in the February 1943 “Inter-American Messenger” that, “instead of 5,000 baptisms a year, we should be baptizing 15,000 or 20,000 new members each year. I believe this is a goal towards which we should bend every effort in the days that still remain in which to labor for the salvation of souls.”²⁹

The Division functioned in Cuba from 1943 to 1945, when the General Conference voted to move the division office to another location on the US mainland. The building erected for the Inter-American Division in Cuba is still being used by the church and is the current headquarters of Cuban Union Conference.

Suburb of Miami - Coconut Grove, Florida

The third location of the IAD headquarters was on 1921 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, Florida, due to the need for good communication, ease of travel, etc. with the territory. The IAD continued to build on its legacy from previous decades. Public evangelism continued to be the focus of all activities and programs with its president stating: “Evangelism is the main reason for being. Everything we do we believe should be done with an evangelistic purpose; after all, soul winning is our most important business.”³⁰

Even though all administrative plans were in place to operate from this new location, on February 25, 1954, the division offices were destroyed by fire and the headquarters had to be moved again. Plans were immediately made to build new offices to better facilitate the division’s expanding operations.³¹

City of Coral Gables, Florida

The fourth location of the IAD headquarters was a necessity due to the fire that had consumed its previous headquarters, and a new location was sought near the one that had been burned. The new offices opened on March 17, 1955, at 760 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Coral Gables, Florida, a highly regarded business and residential area, and functioned at this location until 2001.³²

The IAD administration began to reshape and expand the goals of the division’s evangelistic program, suggesting the division-wide evangelism resolution: “The gospel commission has been entrusted to us. In this awesome hour we must do more than ever before to discharge this responsibility, to carry salvation’s story to every heart in Inter-America.”³³ This reflected the beginnings of the intensification of the division’s evangelistic program. This approach was immediately successful, resulting in the IAD’s membership reaching over 278,000 believers in 1970.

The November 1979 division meetings indicated that the total membership of the division had exceeded 550,000, making it the largest division in membership of the SDA World Church and gaining attention at the 1980 GC Session in Texas. In 1980, there were 2,498 churches with 593,016 members.³⁴ At the 1993 Annual General Conference Council in Perth, Australia, IAD President George W. Brown’s retirement report after serving for 13 years indicated that the number of churches across the division had almost doubled to 4,653 churches with 1,443,476 church members. Additionally, the administrative union structures were reorganized, five new unions were created, and the education and health facilities had also experienced program growth and physical expansion.

During this time, the church had dealt with external challenges that directly impacted division-wide operations of the church and its members. One of the most challenging was changes in the policies of many Caribbean and Latin American governments who placed currency restrictions on receiving overseas goods. This impacted the church’s long tradition of serving its members. By the early 1980s, many governments’ policies placed restrictions on the import of books and other literature printed outside their region. This affected the cost of Sabbath School quarterlies and colporteurs’ literature.

In response to this growing difficulty, the IAD administration established the IAD Publishing Association in 1983 to print all materials the division needed.³⁵ This division-owned publishing house rapidly grew in response to the division’s printing needs. In 1993, besides the publishing house, there were 13 hospitals serving its communities, 10 colleges and universities serving the region’s youth, 16 dispensaries and clinics, 35 Bible correspondence schools, and seven radio stations carrying the Adventist message.³⁶

Suburb of Miami - Kendall, Florida

The fifth location of the IAD headquarters was necessary due to the rapid growth of the division and the need for larger space to house its operations. Therefore, the IAD administration decided to build a new office for the division. Consideration was given to the possibility to move the office out of the city of Miami to a location in the IAD territory. However, when all needs and requirements for the operation of the division were taken into consideration, it was decided to remain in Miami, the hub for Latin America and the Caribbean. The decision was also based on Miami’s location and its facility of travel and communications with the entire IAD territory.

After years of planning, the IAD headquarters moved to the newly constructed building in Kendall, a suburb of Miami, at 8100 SW 117^th Avenue, Miami, Florida. The division’s inauguration was held on January 11, 2001, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony done by Jan Paulsen, president of the GC SDA World Church.

It must be noted that, although, at the beginning, part of the surrounding territorial area where the IAD headquarters was located based on decisions of the General Conference was assigned to the Inter-American Division, subsequent decisions reverted all territories on the US mainland to the North American Division’s Southern Union Conference. Currently, only the property and space occupied by the IAD headquarters is considered to be IAD territory.

During President Israel Leito’s leadership from 1993 to 2018, the division’s membership grew to over 3,782,922 in 13,784 churches.³⁷ This growth was mainly due to the undertaking of various division-wide evangelistic and community based drives; the expansion of various Church programs; the upgrading of numerous educational institutions, including all 13 universities, many of them upgrading their academic offerings at the graduate level and receiving various academic accreditation approvals from leading, well-established, world-recognized accrediting bodies; and the expansion and updating of the division’s health facilities and the territory’s 13 hospitals.

Present Day

In April 2018, the General Conference Executive Committee elected Elder Elie Henry as the division’s 10^th president to continue the path of those who have, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, made the IAD what it is today. The SDA Church remains a religious numerical minority in some countries in the division. However, decades of official government and religious exclusions have given way to a measure of inclusion as believers of a Christian faith that contributes to the betterment of the wider community.

The increasing presence of Adventists across the IAD since 1922 illustrates the effectiveness of its visionary leaders; the committed members of the various division committees; and all other workers and leaders, ministers, Bible workers, literature evangelists, and very active laypeople. We continue to firmly believe that the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is real and will occur soon and that each believer has an obligation to warn their neighbors and to encourage them to be ready for that Great Day.

The early ambivalence that was prevalent toward the early SDA members across the region has subsided in recent decades. Over time, Adventists across the IAD have shown that they are excellent neighbors and citizens who work to improve their countries through positive lifestyles, sharing their strong faith in God, community services, health care, and education programs in elementary, secondary, and higher learning.

In response, increasing numbers of civic and government leaders have recognized these attributes and come to embrace the significant role that SDA members have played in their societies. Consequently, some countries have had Adventists serve in a wide range of positions in their governments and in private sectors from business to legal matters, education, and medicine. In Jamaica, Governor-General Sir Patrick Linton Allen had previously served as Jamaica Union Conference president. Furthermore, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is also a Seventh-day Adventist.³⁸

Today, members of the IAD laity serve their communities as elected officials, as government cabinet members, as ambassadors, and in other prominent positions.

Executive Office Chronology

Presidents: E. E. Andross (1922-1936); G. A. Roberts (1936-1941); Glenn Calkins (1941-1947); E. F. Hackman (1947-1950); Glenn Calkins (1951-1954); A. H. Roth (1954-1962); C. L. Powers (1962-1970); B. L. Archbold (1970-1980); George W. Brown (1980-1993); Israel J. H. Leito (1994-2018); Elie Henry (2018- ).

Secretaries: S. E. Kellman (1922-1924); F. L. Harrison (1925-1936); W. C. Raley (1936 -1941); C. L. Torrey (1942-1946); W. E. Murray (1946-1950); A. H. Roth (1952-1954); C. O. Franz (1955-1962); David H. Baasch (1962-1966); B. L. Archbold (1966-1970); Jose H. Figueroa (1970-1990); Agustin Galicia (1990-2000); Juan O. Perla (2001-2010); Elie Henry (2011-2018); Leonard A. Johnson (2018- ).

Treasurers: J. A. Leland (1922-1923); S. E. Kellman (1923-1924); F. L. Harrison (1926-1936); W. C. Raley (1937-1941); C. L. Torey (1943-1946); Leonard F. Bohner (1948-1962); C. O. Franz (1962-1966); A. R. Norcliffe (1966-1975); R. R. Drachenberg (1976-1980); R. H. Maury (1980-2000); Filiberto M. Verduzco Avila (2000- ).

Sources

“Allen: Perfect Man for the Job – SDA Leader.” Jamaica Gleaner. January 17, 2019.

Amundsen, Wesley. The Advent Message in Inter-America. Takoma Park, District of Columbia: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1947.

Anderson, Godfrey T. Spicer: Leader with the Common Touch. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1983.

Cooper, Emma Howell. The Great Advent Movement. Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926.

Enoch, George F. The Advent Message in the Sunny Caribbean. Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: The Watchman Press, 1907.

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. General Conference Bulletin of 1922. Takoma Park, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922.

“Glenn Alwin Calkins.” ARH. July 5, 1962.

Greenleaf, Floyd. A Land of Hope: The Growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America. Tatui, Sao Paulo, Brazil: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2011.

Greenleaf, Floyd. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Latin America and the Caribbean. Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1992.

H. M. W. “Our Medical Work From 1866-1896 – No. 16: Advance of Foreign Medical Missions.” The Ministry. Vol. 14, no. 4, April 1941.

Inter-American Division minutes. 1985. 7685. Inter-American Division archives, Miami, Florida.

“Inter-American.” Seventh-day Adventist Church. Accessed July 2019. https://www.Adventist.org/en/world-church/Inter-American/.

James, Richard A. Editor. A Stone of Help: Presidential Reports of the Guyana Conference of SDA. Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana Conference of SDA, 2015.

Land, Gary. Editor. Adventists in America: A History. Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1998.

“Mexican Mission.” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Takoma Park, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1921.

Olsen, M. Ellsworth. A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 2^nd edition. Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926.

Powers, C. L. “10,000 Baptisms by June, 1970.” The Ministry. June 1967. Accessed February 10, 2020. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19670601-V40-06.pdf.

Roth, Arthur H. “A Word of Greetings.” Inter-American Division Messenger. Vol. xxxi, no. 8. August 1954.

Schwarz, Richard W. Light Bearers to the Remnant. Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979.

Seventh-day Adventist Church 2019 Online Annual Statistical Report. Silver Spring, Maryland: SDA Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, 2019. Accessed February 2020. http://adventiststatistics.org/view_Summary.asp?FieldID=D_IAD..

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2018.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Takoma Park, Washington, D.C. and Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922, 1923, 1980, 1993.

Spicer, W. A. “A Message to You.” Inter-American Division Messenger. Vol. xiii, no. 2. February 1936.

“The Most Honourable Andrew Michael Holness, O.N., M.P.: Current Prime Minister.” Jamaica Information Service. Accessed September 2, 2019. https://jis.gov.jm/profiles/andrew-michael-holness/.

Notes

1. Seventh-day Adventist Church 2019 Online Annual Statistical Report (Silver Spring, MD: SDA Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, 2019), accessed February 2020, http://adventiststatistics.org/view_Summary.asp?FieldID=D_IAD.↩

2. “Inter-American Division,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2018), 85.↩

3. “Inter-American,” Seventh-day Adventist Church, accessed July 2019, https://www.Adventist.org/en/world-church/Inter-American/.↩

4. “Inter-American Division,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2018), 85.↩

5. Floyd Greenleaf, A Land of Hope: The Growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America (Tatui, Sao Paulo, Brazil: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2011), 414; and Wesley Amundsen, The Advent Message in Inter-America (Takoma Park, District of Columbia: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1947), 158.↩

6. George F. Enoch, The Advent Message in the Sunny Caribbean (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: The Watchman Press, 1907), 31.↩

7. Richard A. James, ed., A Stone of Help: Presidential Reports of the Guyana Conference of SDA (Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana Conference of SDA, 2015), 190.↩

8. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922), 150.↩

9. Richard W. Schwarz, Light Bearers to the Remnant (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1979), 227.↩

10. M. Ellsworth Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 2^nd edition (Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926), 538.↩

11. Emma Howell Cooper, The Great Advent Movement (Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926), 222.↩

12. H. M. W., “Our Medical Work From 1866-1896 – No. 16: Advance of Foreign Medical Missions,” The Ministry, vol. 14, no. 4, April 1941, 36.↩

13. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922), 150; and Greenleaf, A Land of Hope, 151-179.↩

14. Floyd Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Latin America and the Caribbean (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1992), 180.↩

15. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1923).↩

16. Gary Land, ed., Adventists in America: A History (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1998), 117-119; Amundsen, 64-65; and “Mexican Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1921), 240.↩

17. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996), 593.↩

18. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, General Conference Bulletin of 1922 (Takoma Park, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1922), 292; and Amundsen, 107-108.↩

19. Godfrey T. Anderson, Spicer: Leader with the Common Touch (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1983), 84; and Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…, 284.↩

20. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1923), 172-176.↩

21. Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…, 414; and Amundsen, 158.↩

22. Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…, 69.↩

23. Ibid.↩

24. Amundsen, 207.↩

25. Ibid., 109.↩

26. Ibid.↩

27. W. A. Spicer, “A Message to You,” Inter-American Division Messenger, vol. xiii, no. 2, February 1936, 1.↩

28. “Glenn Alwin Calkins,” ARH, July 5, 1962; “Glenn Alwin Calkins,” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996), 277; and Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…, 138-139.↩

29. Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…, 142.↩

30. Greenleaf, A Land of Hope, 269; Arthur H. Roth, “A Word of Greetings,” Inter-American Division Messenger, vol. xxxi, no. 8, August 1954, 1; and Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…, 104, 139, 177, 239, 245.↩

31. Ibid.↩

32. Ibid.↩

33. C. L. Powers, “10,000 Baptisms by June, 1970,” The Ministry, June 1967, 4, accessed February 10, 2020, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/MIN/MIN19670601-V40-06.pdf.↩

34. “Inter-American Division,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 207-233.↩

35. Greenleaf, The Seventh-day Adventist Church…; and Inter-American Division, 1985, 7685, Inter-American Division archives.↩

36. “Inter-American Division,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1993), 147-179.↩

37. “Inter-American Division,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2018), 85.↩

38. “Allen: Perfect Man for the Job – SDA Leader,” Jamaica Gleaner, January 17, 2019; and “The Most Honourable Andrew Michael Holness, O.N., M.P.: Current Prime Minister,” Jamaica Information Service, accessed September 2, 2019, https://jis.gov.jm/profiles/andrew-michael-holness/.↩