By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

krystal@nasguard.com

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church officially kicked off its Bible Marathon during a ceremony at the Torii Gate of the International Bazaar yesterday.

The Bible Marathon is a week-long initiative, ending on Saturday, September 20, which encourages members of the public to participate in the round-the-clock reading of the Bible.

Pastor Ricardo V. Bain, the Follow the Bible Coordinator for the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Grand Bahama explained that the program aims to call people back to the Word of God.

The concept is to encourage Christians of every faith to become students of the word of God and to engage in regular devotion and develop a one-on-one relationship with God.

"We feel as though the Bible is the most important book in the world, but yet the most neglected book and so we want to call Grand Bahama back to the Word," he said.

"The reality of it is, the Bible has all the answers to life's questions and because of this fact we all can say that the word of God is relevant to our day. Whether you need money, food, clothing, shelter, whatever you need, the Word of God has answers for you."

Bain said the Church hopes that the program will inspire Bahamians to begin to read their Bibles more, and apply its Word to their lives.

"We hope to ensure that with this campaign people would even give their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of coming to read the bible," he said.

Besides church members, those gathered to celebrate the program's launch included Member of Parliament for High Rock, Kenneth Russell and Member of Parliament for Eight Mile Rock Verna Grant.

Ian Rolle, the president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority was also in attendance.

Following the welcome by Bain, Pastor Tinker, the president of the North Bahamas Conference of SDA addressed the crowd.

Once the speeches were complete, the Bible Marathon was officially declared open and the readings began.