Maranatha Volunteers International President Don Noble and Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Weiss appeared at a special event hosted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic on March 21, in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros. Eight thousand people gathered for the Sabbath program, which concluded an evangelistic series and celebrated Adventist Youth Day. Noble and Weiss took the stage to accept gratitude from Church leaders for Maranatha’s support through vital infrastructure. Adventism is spreading in the Dominican Republic, and Maranatha is helping put roofs over the heads of members at ten locations across the country.
“We are so pleased to be part of this grand event for the Church,” said Noble to the crowd. “This is really exciting–to see God’s work going forward. And your Church leadership has invited Maranatha to continue to be involved here in this country. … We want the same thing you want: we want Jesus to come back.”
In addition to thanking Maranatha for decades of vital infrastructure, President of the Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic Teófilo Silvestre announced the organization’s next major construction project in the country. “We have just closed an agreement with Maranatha … to build a complete school from initial level to secondary level in the city of CotuÃ,” he said. “The Cotuà school currently has 325 students, but every year it rejects more than 100 students because they do not have space to receive more students. And this is an answered prayer because, here, we will be able to house more than 600 students for the glory and honor of the Lord!”
This segment of the program closed with a prayer for Maranatha’s continued efforts in the Dominican Republic and beyond. “We want to put this project and all Maranatha projects in God’s hands,” explained Silvestre. “Glorified be the name of God. Let us pray for this ministry that has helped so much in the development and growth of the Church in the Dominican Republic.”
Maranatha has a long history of working in the Dominican Republic. In 1980, after the destruction of Hurricane David, Maranatha constructed 160 houses there. In 1992, the Dominican Republic was the site of a watershed moment of growth for Maranatha, when the organization coordinated the construction of 25 churches over 70 days. Dubbed “Santo Domingo ’92,” it was the first time Maranatha concentrated on one place for multiple volunteer projects. Later efforts occurred in 2003 and 2013, and in 2022, Maranatha returned once more and has been working there since.