Group of men and women who took part in Inter-American Division’s 5k Ministerial Retreat run in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Sep. 10, 2024. The group is made up of pastors and pastor’s wives from across the Caribbean islands. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
Group of men and women who took part in Inter-American Division’s 5k Ministerial Retreat run in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Sep. 10, 2024. The group is made up of pastors and pastor’s wives from across the Caribbean islands. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]

Adventist Leaders Run During 5K Ministerial Retreat Race in the Dominican Republic

News September 24, 2024

The race was meant to promote exercise among the men and women who minister in churches across the Caribbean.

September 14, 2024 | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

Dozens of Adventist men and women, each one a pastor or a pastor’s spouse, woke up at dawn to be part of a 5K run, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, during the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) ministerial retreat last week.

The run was meant to promote exercise in a profession that has many pastoral couples in a rat race every day as they minister up to 20 churches in their district, organizers said.

Group of men and women who took part in Inter-American Division’s 5k Ministerial Retreat run in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on Sep. 10, 2024. The group is made up of pastors and pastor’s wives from across the Caribbean islands. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]

The race was meant to promote exercise among the men and women who minister in churches across the Caribbean.

September 14, 2024 | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

Dozens of Adventist men and women, each one a pastor or a pastor’s spouse, woke up at dawn to be part of a 5K run, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, during the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) ministerial retreat last week.

The run was meant to promote exercise in a profession that has many pastoral couples in a rat race every day as they minister up to 20 churches in their district, organizers said.

Pastor Isaías Espinoza (center) , publishing director of the Inter-American Division and in charge of the 5K run explains the route before the men race in the 5K run, as David Uribe (left) of the Dominican Union stands by as part of the organizing team. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]

“This is not a race just to run, but a race for ministerial health,” said Isaías Espinoza, publishing ministries director of the IAD in charge of the activity, as he addressed the more than 100 persons before the race started.

 

“We have a great deficit in the ministerial body of pastors who do not exercise and that is of great concern because we know that the body unites with the spirit,” said Espinoza.  “Remember what we think is reflected in our actions so the wish of the church in Inter-America is for more pastors to have a healthy lifestyle not only for the body but in the three dimensions that the church highlights: body, mind and spirit.”

To reward the three top winners for the men and the women separately, there would be cash prizes, announced Espinoza, Prayers were offered moments before the race started.

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