One Church, One Family

EL PASO, TEX. – The El Paso Central and Northeast Seventh-day Adventist churches kicked off 2023 very united. After many months of planning, the vision of Eliab Quiñones, pastor of El Paso Northeast Seventh-day Adventist Church and the pastor of El Paso Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ray House, took place the first two weekends of January. The two churches combined services for the “One Church, One Family” event. 

More than 200 people attended the successive weekend events which included a vespers and Sabbath school program, worship service and Bible study gatherings. There were several breakout seminars that were presented by local speakers and leaders of the Texico Conference. The seminar topics were broad enough to allow attendees to find an engaging topic in which to gain knowledge. The topics included mental health, family, marriage, Christian disciplines, leadership, finances, archeology, dinosaurs and creation. 

“People were very interactive in the Sabbath school table groups, using the discipleship styled lessons designed by the South Pacific Division,” said House. “I promoted this as a new way to do Sabbath school in our churches, favoring the more relational style with simple two or three Bible passages and discussion questions. Subsequently, at the El Paso Central church, we have moved our three large sanctuary Sabbath school classes into the Fellowship Hall to carry on this table group approach that is more relation-based and discipleship oriented.”

The El Paso Central church has asked the members to try this method for the first quarter of 2023 and report back to the church board as to how they wish to proceed in the future. 

The Friday night vespers connected to the weekend were highlighted by two excellent presentations by David Merling, Ph.D., former professor of Archeology at Andrews University and Art Chadwick, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Geology and director of the Dinosaur Science Museum and Research Center at Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Tex. 

Overall, the “One Church, One Family” event was an exciting church ‘community-building’ event that proved to be successful. The El Paso Central and Northeast churches look forward to coming together again soon.