Nearly three hundred Seventh-day Adventist business owners, healthcare professionals, executives, and ministry leaders recently gathered in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, for the 2026 Adventist Laymen’s Services and Industries’ Inter-America Convention. Under the theme "Living in Purpose," delegates representing 53 chapters across 28 countries met to examine how lay leaders can transform faith into real-world marketplace action.

Of the delegates, more than 40 individuals represented the Asi Bahamas Chapter. The Bahamian delegation also reported how they impacted their community and churches through health, mission and evangelism.

During his presidential report, ASI Inter-America President Rohan Riley detailed how lay-led ministry has expanded significantly across the territory over the past three years—growing into 53 chapters in 28 countries.

“We’ve been able to do some outstanding things in this division,” Riley said. “But the most amazing thing we’ve been able to do is come together… committed to serving God, serving our communities, and making the Inter-American Division special.”

At the convention, delegates also voted executive officers to serve ASi Inter-America for the next two years, including the re-election of Rohan Riley as President, and Elder Ian Greene as ASi -Vice President for Projects.

“If a chapter does not have a project, we have found in times past that chapter dies within a matter of years,” Greene said. “In the Bahamas, our main mission and project is health, and we push that. In Tobago, theirs is media, in Jamaica, theirs is the center of influence where they feed people, and they have been very successful over many years.”

Over the past three years, ASI leaders have driven disaster response initiatives following Hurricane Beryl in Jamaica, supported medical mission projects, expanded digital evangelism training, and launched new chapters in Belize, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. Local chapters are also leveraging technology—such as a new digital platform announced by Dominican Republic chapter president Ricardo Casado—to connect Adventist entrepreneurs and streamline marketplace outreach.

Delivering the closing charge, Jamaica Union President Pastor Glen Samuels reminded attendees that true Christian ministry extends far beyond Saturday worship services.

“Real church takes place after we’ve left the building called church,” Samuels said. “Real impact takes place when salt escapes the saltshaker.”

Drawing from Christ’s description of His followers as the salt of the earth, Samuels challenged ASI members to see themselves as stewards of purpose and opportunity, using whatever God has placed in their hands to serve others.

“You have been prepared to serve,” he said. “You have been prepared to preserve the world from moral decay and corruption.”

Armed with new digital initiatives, strategic tools, and renewed spiritual focus, professionals return home ready to transform their daily workplaces into mission fields.



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