Greater New York Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Adventist Youth Ministries Department
Pastor Jose’s Update & FYI
9/10/08
1. Update on Summer Ministries by the Adventist Youth Ministries Department
2. Youth & Young Adult United Campmeeting in New Dome (this Sabbath, September 13 @ Camp Berkshire)
3. New Adventist Youth Ministries Website in Greater New York
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1. Update on Adventist Youth Ministry: The last weeks of our summer have been filled with Youth & Young Adult Evangelism & new young people who have accepted Christ and joined our churches.
Area Youth & Young Adult Evangelism in the Bronx & Manhattan: Our AY Coordinators working together with the Pastors of these two areas have been used by the Lord to do wonderful things. I was present at the Mott Haven Church on August 23, when 10 young people got baptized; Pastor Plinio Cruz closed his tenure at the church with 10 baptisms. The youth of the Bronx had decided to hold two weeks of Evangelism and finished the following week with 15 youth and young adult baptisms. On that very same Sabbath, in the afternoon, I went to the Fort Washington Church in Manhattan, where many made decisions for the Lord and a one young man, Ricardito, was baptized by Pastor Santiago Mejia, that evening. Special thanks to the AY Coordinators and Youth Leaders who allowed God to use them mightily, Sunilbe Rosario, Rafael Vargas, and their team in the Bronx and Tibisai Brito and Cynthia Martinez in Manhattan. The local churches, Mott Haven & Highbridge or Bronx Manhattan School (Bronx) and Fort Washington (Manhattan). You were excellent hosts. And of course I’m grateful to the area pastors who supported these Evangelistic Series and the preachers: Derrick Cruz, Abraham Henry, Hector Quinones, Sheldon Cooper, and his interpreter Herb Orellana.
This past week, there were also two evangelistic initiatives in Manhattan: the Collegiate Kick-Off, with the First Friday Café and Taste of Life. Both of these initiatives were planned and organized by young adults and sponsored by our Adventist Youth Ministries Department. The café and worship service were packed with college and university students and their non-Adventist friends. Special thanks to the collegiate team there, as well as Alex Espana, our Collegiate Coordinator and Pastors Todd Stout and Tony Romeo. Taste of Life at Central Park was attended by over 2,000 people, lots of them registered, leaving their info with us. The team has not finalized tabulating all the registrations yet, and up to this point there seem to be many interested in studying the Bible. Congratulations to Tony Sebro and the Taste of Life, allow God t continue using you. Special thanks to the churches who contributed with the project and to the pastors who were present to support the event: Tony Romeo, Ernie Wright, Todd Stout, Victor Dyman, Gilberto Alvis, Efrain Pena, Petre Danci, among many others, as well as Pastors Lloyd Scharffenberg, Ruben Merino and our President Richard Marker who were also there from the office.
2. Youth & Young Adult United Campmeeting in New Dome (this Sabbath, September 13 @ Camp Berkshire): The new dome is already up and it looks great. It’s big and spacious; the challenge is to fill it up. We would like to invite each church in the Greater New York Conference, each teen, each young adult, each College and University student, as well as each Pathfinder, Adventurer, and Master Guide, to attend United Campmeeting. On this day, we will be opening our new building, the Youth and Young Adult Inflatable Dome, with a huge capacity (170-180 ft length to 120 ft width) and a lot more safety than the youth tents we’ve had in the past. God has blest us so much and given us the growth to go from the Senior Youth Building with capacity for 400, through 3 different tents with increasing capacity each time, to an Inflatable Dome with capacity for thousands. He has given our Conference the vision to purchase this new building for the young people, therefore we must come together on this day to celebrate.
The Youth and Young Adult Sabbath School will begin at 10 AM and will continue with a spiritual, vibrant, powerful worship service. During the worship service we will make an appeal to each youth, young adult and teen present to become a disciple who shares Jesus with others. The rest of the day will be dedicated to training and teaching teens and young adults to witness for Jesus, to share Him. Please, post the Flyer/Mini-poster in your church’s bulletin board.
The first 1,000 people to show up will receive a beautiful wooden “I’m not just a church member… I’m a Disciple” key ring or key chain, compliments of the Department of Adventist Youth Ministries in Greater New York. The new dome already arrived in Camp Berkshire and it’s been put up right now.
*Those who have graduated from the Adventist Youth Leadership Certification (AYLC), please wear your Jackets. Adventurers, Pathfinders, and Master Guides must also wear their Class A Uniforms.
3. New Adventist Youth Ministries Website in Greater New York: Our official website, www.gnycyouth.com, has been re-designed and will be online and ready for viewing on Sunday, September 14. It is a new and improved version. Congratulations and special thanks to Emanuel Pelote from Simplicity Networks www.symplicitynetworks.com/ and Joanne Cortes, my gorgeous wife and one of my very competent assistants, for the re-design and all the long hours of work that have gone into this website. We want this website to be one that each teen, young adult and adult in our Conference can be proud of and use as a great tool for ministry.
It contains sections for each Adventist Youth Ministry in our Conference, Resources, Small Groups, Evangelism, Pictures, Videos, Leadership, Prayer Requests, Testimonies, Schools and their info, churches and their info, links, and Polls. There is also a section dedicated to the Bible, where you can access the Bible and read many Bible resources; another section dedicated to Ellen G. White and young people; there you can access the writings of Ellen G. White. Another section is dedicated to Ideas; this is your website we would like to receive your ideas, as well as the materials you have developed in your ministry in order to improve the site and continue to make it a tool disciples can use in ministry in Greater New York.
Most of the Church’s websites that I see have lots of info, but do not have an area where an individual searching can meet Jesus and accept Him. We have included a Meet Jesus Section on this website, you’ll love it; we pray many will come to know Him better and make a decision as a result of this. Another section is Pastor Jose’s Blogs; there I will share some of my thoughts with you on a regular basis.
We are excited about the site and really pray it will be a blessing to you in your ministry.
Keep in touch:
www.gnycyouth.com (website)
ay@gnycyouth.com(Veronica)
gnycyouth@aol.com(Pastor Jose & Joanne)
Jose
Pastor Jose H. Cortes Jr., M. Div.
Director of the Adventist Youth Ministries Department
Greater New York Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
7 Shelter Rock Road
Manhasset New York, 11030
Office: (516) 627-9350
Fax: (516) 627-9272
Mobile: (516) 749-6057
E-mail:
gnycyouth@aol.com
Website: www.gnycyouth.com
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