On Wednesday evening, January 8, 2025, the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church hosted a special prayer meeting to launch the world church’s 10 Days of Prayer with emphasis on "Seeking God's Spirit" for Pentecost 2025. Introduced last year, Pentecost 2025 — the NAD’s invitation for church leaders and members to hold at least 3,000 proclamation initiatives — had already seen more than 5,200 church and school registrations by December 31, 2024. 

“We’re delighted to have you here with us tonight. We’re excited about what God is going to do and about His promises, and tonight, we’re going to claim those promises.” NAD president G. Alexander Bryant said in his greetings. 

The hour-long program, live streamed from the NAD studio to YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom, featured pre-recorded performances from Oakwood University’s Aeolians and prayers from leaders division-wide. Viewers participated via a digital prayer wall, which has received 326 prayers to date, and an afterglow led by Vandeon Griffin, NAD associate director of youth and young adult ministries, and Calvin Watkins Sr., NAD vice president, regional liaison/evangelism.

By January 13, 2025, the event had reached more than 29.7K global viewers on Facebook and 4.6K on YouTube. Same-day views on Zoom peaked at 1,000, with nearly 600 staying for the one-hour afterglow. Behind-the-scenes social media “lives” reached an additional 19.4K viewers. 

General Conference president Ted N.C. Wilson joined a panel of NAD leaders, including Bryant, Rick Remmers (assistant to the president), Judy Glass (treasurer/CFO), Kyoshin Ahn (executive secretary), Kimberly Luste Maran (communication director), and Watkins. Each panelist contributed in unique ways — Wilson and Bryant through messages and prayers; Remmers, Ahn, and Glass through introductions; Maran by sharing resources; Watkins with the initial welcome; and Vandeon Griffin by hosting the prayer wall. 

“There’s no place I’d rather be than here tonight. It’s so exciting,” said Wilson, affirming the NAD “on behalf of the 23 million brothers and sisters around the world.”

Seeking God’s Spirit 

Themed “Seeking God’s Spirit,” the evening emphasized, per Bryant, that “Pentecost 2025 is not an event; it’s a clarion call. It’s an acknowledgment to God and ourselves that our resources are not good enough, our plans are not good enough. We need extra power from God to fulfill His mission.”

Wilson underscored the necessity of Pentecost 2025. “Wherever my wife, Nancy, and I travel, we see signs [of Christ’s imminent return]. Things are falling apart, disintegrating.” He then prayed, “Lord, fill us with a sense of urgency as Pentecost 2025 begins in the North American Division. And as we join others around the world, may we see the fires burning brightly of Your power working in the lives of people so that soon we can see Jesus come.”

United in Prayer Across the Division

The NAD was represented by leaders spanning the division. These included:

• Abraham Jules, Atlantic Union Conference president;
• Paul Llewellyn, Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada president;
• Marcellus Robinson, Columbia Union Conference president;
• Matthew Kirk, Guam-Micronesia Mission president;
• Ken Denslow, Lake Union Conference president; 
• Craig Carr, Mid-America Union Conference ministerial director;
• John Freedman, North Pacific Union Conference president;
• Leon Brown, Pacific Union Conference executive secretary;
• Ron Smith, Southern Union Conference president; and
• Stephen Brooks, Southwestern Union Conference executive secretary; 

They offered prayers of thanksgiving, repentance, empowerment, unity in mission, a passion for the work, and the Holy Spirit’s equipping to carry out God’s mission through 2025 and beyond. Leaders such as Jules asked for the Holy Spirit’s power to proclaim His Word and noted that to be filled with His Spirit, “we must first be emptied of self and sin.” 

Others, such as Llewellyn, drew attention to the post-Christian context that makes the North American field especially difficult; he asked for boldness and wisdom to reach the secular mind. Robinson prayed for unity in a divisive world. “If there’s any trace of bias, prejudice, or supremacy reigning in our lives, we ask You to expose it to us and set us free. May we go forward in peace and love one for another; love that builds bridges to those in need of a Savior.”

Kirk asked for the Spirit’s aid to overcome challenges weakening our churches’ impact in their communities. He noted that while we may be lacking resources or knowledge of how to serve our communities, we can take comfort in Romans 8:26, the promise “that Your Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not even know what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”B

Brown drew attention to the wildfires ravaging the Greater Los Angeles Area. “I want to pray for the millions who stand in the presence of the fires burning tonight. We pray that You will intercede on behalf of the Pacific Union.” [Click here for updates.]

In between prayers, viewers were treated to a beautiful music of meditation, “Take it to the Lord in Prayer,” by the Aeolians, Oakwood University’s award-winning choir. 

“Prayer still works,” Griffin said after the union prayers concluded. He then read a few requests on the prayer wall and offered a general petition for the Holy Spirit and each need represented. 

Next, Maran noted, “Although we will leave here, we will not leave prayer behind.” She pointed the audience to Pentecost2025.com, where they could find evangelistic training and prayer resources such as daily prayer readings, songs, scriptures, and testimonials. 

Finally, Bryant reminded viewers of 2 Chronicles 7:14, adding, “We have been praying, and God’s promise is that if we pray, He will answer.” 

Then, he prayed, “Lord, we pray, as You did for the imperfect disciples on the day of Pentecost, let the fire fall. Let it fall in New York. Let it fall in Toronto. Let it fall in Florida. Let it fall into Missouri and Texas and all over the land. Let us see people responding by the hundreds and thousands. And let us work unlike we’ve ever worked before. Thank You, Lord, for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for what You are doing and what You will do. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Additional Information

Watch the replay of the Pentecost 2025 prayer meeting at this link: https://www.youtube.com/live/6PanACzha7M?si=sS4374n6gQPHns36

Click here to learn more about the NAD’s 10 Days of Prayer focus and here to learn more about Pentecost 2025.

Click here to contribute a request to the digital prayer wall, which NAD staff will pray over.