Interview held with Pr. Miguel Pinheiro the Head of Christian Stewardship department of SAD, by Otoniel de Lima Ferreira, Doctor Ministry Student of Andrews University. English is my second language but not perfect still need editing.
How did you get this wonderful idea “40 days of prayer?
Everything started from my own necessity to have a deeper experience with God. When I was nominated to work in a Christian Stewardship Ministry Of Brazil’s Northeast Union, I did not have any experience in this area, and by the context of the call, I understood that my mission was to create a good structure in the Ministry in order to increase the tithe and offerings. I asked my President for one year in order to create a consistent project that would last. It was in 2002, and in august 2003 I went to a meeting in Foz Do Iguassu with Pr. Benjamin Maxon the formal GC leader of Christian Stewardship. This colleague spoke of Jesus and of the necessity of have a permanent communion with Him as a base and the principal work of Christian Stewardship. In the end of the meeting, He called the leaders and challenged us to seek for intelligent and creative manners to take the message to the church and the growth of tithe and offerings would come naturally. That was the way we started to conceive the Idea of the SEE (Seminario de Enriquecimento Espiritual) 40 early mornings of prayer was a name given and used by some Unions but today is not used anymore. Because the movement has to do with habits, today we work with the emphasis on the very first hour of the morning. We have 40 days to develop the habit, and 180 days to consolidate the search of God on the first hour of the morning. The ones who did not take serious the daily commitment at the end of the Journey of early mornings, they would say “good finally I finished my penitence of getting up so early every morning, since then we adopted the principle of the first hour of the morning according to Jesus Christ experience.
When and where did you start this program?
We started on May of 2004 at the central church of Natal in the Northeast Mission, with 100 participants.
How was the acceptance initially?
We had a good time to promote, and because we started the process with the leaders, the church’s opinion formers of the region. They really have to love it. Since the beginning, the project was formatted with a strategic vision that would involve theory and practice; we did not want just to transmit information, but information with a strategy that would involve a period of maturation in such way that the teaching would become a habit and consequently, part of the individual character. In this way, they would have 40 days to practice and after this they would come back to the reencounter when each person would tell how was their experience with God, and how would them continue with the habit. And further than that, in the beginning of the journey each participant should pray for friends, people who were not Seventh-day Adventist during the 40 days. At the day of the reencounter, each one should bring those people to listen to the testimonies of how the power of the Holy Spirit had operated in their lives. Many of those people took the decision of giving their heart to Jesus during the 40 days of prayer or they would take it at this moment of emotion, contrition and fellowship.
What were the results of the First program?
I don’t need to tell you how were the results, because I already described on the question above. From that moment on the movement grew amazingly, and one more detail, since we started the participants pay to participate, this payment is for logistic (Food, rent of the local ... He has to apply with antecedence, to receive the theory manual and at the end of the seminar to receive the Book of the journey of the 40 days of prayer, and until today we keep this tradition, who pays valorizes.
Do you have some results of any research or survey done about the program?
The Jounalist Heron Santana from Brazil’s Northeast Union made a gook research, about the movement, many others have been done, but to the objective that you have I believe that this Will be the Best. Inclusive it was published in the magazine “Revista Adventista” Because I am now in Equador I don’t have this detail, to present to you.
In your opinion, what is the impact and what is the contribution that this program brings to the church?
I believe that the great contribution has been a awakening to seek God in the first hour of the morning as a habit. The base of the movement is the intimacy with God as a habit. Every other year we change the emphasis, but the continuing highlighting is retro-alimented during this period. For example, The “SEE 1” launched the base, and the “SEE 2” with Health and Worship it worked the idea of the necessity of having a healthy body, understanding the clearly the will of God in order to listen His voice in the first hour of each morning. The SEE 3 which is the phase that we are working in 2010 e 2011, talks about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and it is a call to search deeply the Father as did Jesus each morning and so successively.
This is the great contribution, but we cannot discard the growth in tithe and offerings that we had in the five last years in the SAD. In the period of the quinquennial before, The South America Division increased 4,001% in tithe and had a decrease in offering of 39%. And at this moment when we are almost closing this actual quinquennial, we have an average growth above the normal in 116% in tithe and 128% in offerings. Since 2005, we are the second division in tithe, and that had never happened before in the whole history of the church.
What is the Impact this program brought to your particular life?
In these last years never more I neglected the moment with God in the first moment of the of each day. When it becomes a habit, it is part of your life. It completely changed the vision I had about Christian life of a believer, a pastor, a father, a leader, a human being who depends daily on God and His Word. We were created for God to give the command in our minds and our hearts every day in the morning. This is what we need in order to live an authentic Christianism.
How many times in a year, would you advice a church to launch this program?
It depends on the necessity, The SEE is not a program it a movement. Always when new person is converted is necessary to take the SEE and also people are Adventist and did not involve themselves yet. Here in SAD, usually we separate the second Sabbath of December in order to launch the program; the main goal is assist the new believers and the non-believers as well.
Do you think this program will keep having success or it tend to decline in some time?
Every movement has its normal life cycle. That is why we change the emphasis every two year, seeking to strengthen the basis, which is the intimacy with God. We created also a marketing of fidelity, which means that in order to participate of the SEE II it is necessary to have participated in The SEE I. In the way, we have reached the majority of the members in the last five years. And in each new phase increases the interest of the one who did not pay so much attention in the last ones. Because, in order to participate in the actual one, he will have to participate in the first one. In fact, whatever movement that intends to last longer, needs to be aware that innovation is necessary not only in the content but also in the intelligent promotion. None of the movements will grow by it self, the leader has to be creative in order to have followers that will copy the ideas and reinforce the goal to be reached. Everything depends on who is the leader. The leadership that subsists is the one that is built with the right strategic vision of the Holy Spirit; He is the major leader of the movements of our church.
Can you offer us some hints how one pastor can use this program to develop growth and evangelistic strategies?
The main key would be search for all the basics information in order to start well. The ones that start in that way will generate good expectative and certain will attract the indifferentists. The main public to be reached is the members of the church; it came to fulfill a lacuna in side of the SDAC, and these members are the ones who have the goal to reach the ones out side of the church. It is not wrong to seek that objective, but we need to have our holophotes aimed to the ones inside as well. Was there that the See met its space; feeding the ones in side. But as every movement might have a evangelism view, during the forty days of prayer we have prayed for five close people that are not yet Seventh-day Adventist, and this has demonstrated a tremendous evangelistic tool. Children, wives, husbands, and relatives in general, friends, worker colleagues and neighbors, are many that came to the church through the intercessory prayer during the forty days.
Can you tell at least 10 steps of how one implant this program in a church?
1- Start to pray about the purpose
2- Define the segment that the church wants to reach at first, (we recommend first the leaders, the ones who influences the church, in this case don’t promote it publically)
3- Adopt the strategy of personal marketing for the first SEE, usually we don’t announce it publically in the beginning.
4- Define the Local and the dates for the event and to begin and to finish the applications
5- Provide the books “Salvo Para ser Santos” this is the book to use in the seminar and might be given in the moment of the application, in order to the participant read it before the event, in the seminar what was read will be re studied to deeper the knowledge. At the end of the seminar, the second book might be given; this is the book called “Comunhao e Santidade” which means “Communion and Holiness” to be used in the journey.
6- The leader should know very well the dynamic and the logistic
a. “Salvos Para Ser Santos” (theory, motivation and preparation in order to start the practical process of the development of the habit of seeking God every morning)
b. “Comunhao e Santidade” – Participate in the Journey of the forty days always in the first hour in the morning, preferentially in the same time in order to create the habit (each individual has his first hour; 5-6, 6-7, 4-5, it depends on the activities and the time to go to bed)
c. Do not break the chain during the forty days, this first stage is to form the habit.
d. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the five people you are going to pray during the forty days. Tell them that you are praying for them and it was the Holy Spirit who indicated them. And ask them if they have some prayer request.
e. Reunion Day- After 40 days of the journey invite all the participants a nd the friends that received the prayer for a meeting of testimonies thanksgiving and praises, put what the Lord has operated during the journey of the forty days of prayer
f. Consolidation of the habit – in the reunion day set up the challenge for the next 180 days for the period of consolidation of the habit – Bible an the Spirit of Prophecy (Bible year reading)
7- Date for the next segment to be reached. Normally it is done after the 40 days journey after the reunion
8- Choose the next segment to be reached
9- Define the marketing to be utilized in order to reach the segment pretended. To segment the church depending on the size of the church is fundamental to have a lasting longer implantation for the every stage of the movement
10- Don’t be in a hurry, usually the larges movements loose the strength when try to do the thing in a hurry. Each phase of the SEE should last 2 years After all of them will be available constantly for new believer and for the later ones. Remember in general we reach the whole by part. Our church might learn this lesson in case wants to have lasting and consistent moviments.
Thank you so much.
Otoniel de Lima Ferreira.
Doctor Of Ministry Student - Andrews University.
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