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WORLD REPORTMárcia Ebinger, South American DivisionIn South America,Seventh-day Adventist Web Evangelism RisesFor first time online viewers interactwith pastor during seriesFrom the Seventh-day AdventistChurch’s South Americanheadquarters in Brasilia,South American youth spent eightnights in “Countdown.” The webbasedevangelistic effort ran fromSeptember 20-23 in Portuguese, andfrom September 27-20 in Spanish.Transmitted on esperanca.com.br andesperanzaweb.com, the two events werecoordinated by the Youth MinistriesDepartment of the Seventh-dayAdventist Church in South America,along with the Evangelism, NovoTempo [Hope Channel] Network, andother departments. The initiative madepossible, for the first time, interactionbetween participants and the officialspeaker, Luís Gonçalves.The Public Identifies the TopicsThe general program coordinator,Areli Barbosa, explained youth-targetedevangelism efforts require differentlanguage and music, and anopportunity for interaction betweenparticipants and presenters. “We arekeeping up-to-date on modern mediathat reaches the youth, but the messagewe share is prophetic and biblical, thatis, the same message that has [already]transformed so many lives,” he said.According to Gonçalves, end-timetopics were covered for two main reasons:“People are focused on the Mayancalendar and the possibility of the worldending this year, so it’s time to clarify thefacts. In addition, we had a survey onthe Internet offering various topics. Ofall the options, prophetic subjects stoodout as the public’s preference.”For that matter, those who thinkyouth aren’t interested in last-day eventsare fooling themselves. In a YouthDepartment survey, topics related to theApocalypse and the end of the worldwere voted as being of greatest interestfor Internet presentations. With theseresults in hand, the four topics chosenwere “Signs of the Times,” “If there’s justone God, why so many religions?,” “Theseal of God and the mark of the beast,”and “The enigmatic number 666.”Another important impact of theseries sharing messages of biblicalprophecy was that the hashtag #ContagemRegressivamade it, at variousmoments, onto the Trend Topics Brazil,a real-time list of Twitter’s mostpublishedphrases. “We reached almost2,000 tweets per hour at the start ofthe program, which translates to 1.7million views (the number of timesthose tweets appeared on user timelines)per hour,” said Rogério Ferraz,the program’s technical coordinator.Other numbers also stand out.Over the four nights of programmingin Portuguese, 43,000 computers wereconnected with an estimated public of84,000 users. In Spanish, there were23,000 computers for some 45,000users. These numbers were calculatedwith a sample of Internet users whoresponded to the question “How manypeople are watching the program withyou?” Fifty-two percent watched theseries with one or more companions,while 48 percent watched alone.The average age of those watching“Countdown” in Portuguese wasbetween 25 and 34 years old, and inSpanish the most frequent users werebetween 18 and 24.Ferraz noted the program requireda team of more than 40 professionalswho, as he stated, “worked hard andheld nothing back from making surethat every programming detail wasdone right.”Besides the numbers, another thingthat stands out was the interest manyshowed for learning more about thetopics presented by Gonçcalves, theprogram speaker. Dozens of Internetusers, from South America and around6 Adventist World | December 2012
Left: ONLINE EVANGE-LISM: Luís Gonçalves(center) was the speakerfor “Countdown,” aregion-wide outreachof the church’s SouthAmerican Division. Right:YOUTH PARTICIPATION:Seventh-day Adventistyouth participate asvolunteers.PHOTOS COURTESY SOUTH AMERICAN DIVISIONthe world, sent questions about thesigns of the coming of Jesus Christ, themillennium, the number of those whowill be saved, etc. More than 50 countrieswere connected, including Mexico,the United States, Spain, Honduras,Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia,South Korea, Fiji, Slovakia, and theDominican Republic.“Countdown” Points to FutureInitiativesErton Köhler, president of the Seventh-dayAdventist Church in SouthAmerica, said about this new evangelisticformat, “The Internet-using publicis growing. As a church we have to gowhere the people are. And if they’re ontheir computers, we have to go to them,speaking a language they understand.”The project will have a sequel,Köhler said. “Once a year we will haveWeb evangelism in this same format.Beyond that, we will have video chatsand other initiatives.” He pointed outthat this first program will continue tobe enhanced and “growing, maturing,we will reach a better understandingof how we should move forward withthe Internet public.”Leaders celebrated the fact that1,869 people responded to the callsthat were made at the end of each program–anexample of technology beingused to convert hearts to Christ. nMembers Volunteer inWeb EvangelismIn Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo, Carolina Rodrigues do Prado, 17, hopes thatthe program helped promote volunteer evangelism projects such as the one shehas been coordinating for two years, called Tweet KM. It’s a group of 400 youthfrom various parts of the country who gather virtually to pray for friends andto post videos and Bible materials in a language used by youth. It has just onemission: to share the gospel with everyone.“For us, Countdown was really important because it motivates us to use ourtalents to serve God,” says Rodrigues do Prado.What People Said AboutCountdownJohnatan Elías Adarme Rodríguez—Colombia: “This program has incrediblepotential, not just for South America, but for other areas, too. Here we have youthgathered in homes with groups of friends to watch “Countdown.” I suggest thatother countries copy the idea.”Fabiana Büchert Lerch—Venezuela: “Excellent initiative. There should bemore programs like this.”Silvia Fulchignoni—Brazil: “The program was really good. I wish we had liveBible studies online every day. I’m a businesswoman and my time is so limited.”Viviane Souza Paz - Brazil: “You deserve congratulations for the[presentations]. I’m from another religious denomination and I’ve neverunderstood the Bible as well as I do [now].”December 2012 | Adventist World 7
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Left: ONLINE EVANGE-LISM: Luís Gonçalves(center) w<strong>as</strong> the speakerfor “Countdown,” aregion-wide outreachof the church’s SouthAmerican Division. Right:YOUTH PARTICIPATION:Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>youth participate <strong>as</strong>volunteers.PHOTOS COURTESY SOUTH AMERICAN DIVISIONthe world, sent questions about thesigns of the coming of Jesus Christ, themillennium, the number of those whowill be saved, etc. More than 50 countrieswere connected, including Mexico,the United States, Spain, Hondur<strong>as</strong>,Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colombia,South Korea, Fiji, Slovakia, and theDominican Republic.“Countdown” Points to FutureInitiativesErton Köhler, president of the Seventh-day<strong>Adventist</strong> Church in SouthAmerica, said about this new evangelisticformat, “The Internet-using publicis growing. As a church we have to gowhere the people are. And if they’re ontheir computers, we have to go to them,speaking a language they understand.”The project will have a sequel,Köhler said. “Once a year we will haveWeb evangelism in this same format.Beyond that, we will have video chatsand other initiatives.” He pointed outthat this first program will continue tobe enhanced and “growing, maturing,we will reach a better understandingof how we should move forward withthe Internet public.”Leaders celebrated the fact that1,869 people responded to the callsthat were made at the end of each program–anexample of technology beingused to convert hearts to Christ. nMembers Volunteer inWeb EvangelismIn Mogi d<strong>as</strong> Cruzes, Sao Paulo, Carolina Rodrigues do Prado, 17, hopes thatthe program helped promote volunteer evangelism projects such <strong>as</strong> the one sheh<strong>as</strong> been coordinating for two years, called Tweet KM. It’s a group of 400 youthfrom various parts of the country who gather virtually to pray for friends andto post videos and Bible materials in a language used by youth. It h<strong>as</strong> just onemission: to share the gospel with everyone.“For us, Countdown w<strong>as</strong> really important because it motivates us to use ourtalents to serve God,” says Rodrigues do Prado.What People Said AboutCountdownJohnatan Elí<strong>as</strong> Adarme Rodríguez—Colombia: “This program h<strong>as</strong> incrediblepotential, not just for South America, but for other are<strong>as</strong>, too. Here we have youthgathered in homes with groups of friends to watch “Countdown.” I suggest thatother countries copy the idea.”Fabiana Büchert Lerch—Venezuela: “Excellent initiative. There should bemore programs like this.”Silvia Fulchignoni—Brazil: “The program w<strong>as</strong> really good. I wish we had liveBible studies online every day. I’m a businesswoman and my time is so limited.”Viviane Souza Paz - Brazil: “You deserve congratulations for the[presentations]. I’m from another religious denomination and I’ve neverunderstood the Bible <strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong> I do [now].”December 2012 | <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>World</strong> 7
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