Eric Alindogan, pastor of the 23-member Lanai church, struggled when trying to decide upon a public outreach approach to evangelism. Wanting to be a part of the Hawaii Conference evangelistic thrust during this year, Alindogan said, “It is important for us to address a felt need in our local community. In this way, we can make the community more aware of our church and build relationships and partnerships with other local organizations. They need to know that we are people of hope.”

There are just over 3,000 people on an island of 140 square miles. Although it is place of deep cultural significance to the Hawaiian people, Lanai is just 13 miles wide and 18 miles long with 47 miles of coastlines. This island was once considered the “Pineapple Island” because it was entirely owned by the Dole Plantation. Today, it is touted as the “Most Enticing Island” — a place to get away from it all. Indeed, the island claims only a few miles of paved roads.

“Given that money matters seem to be of great interest to people in the community, we decided to sponsor a financial seminar,” explained Alindogan. The seminar was entitled “Personal Finance Basics: Caring for Your Money and Your Family.” It was held at the Hale Kapuna Community Hall for two hours on two consecutive evenings. Not only were the meetings well attended, those that came even exceeded the expectations of the church members.

Five financial experts from the local branches of the First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawaii, and the accounting department of Castle and Cooke Resorts presented the seminar. “Because I wanted the community to know that it was our church who was sponsoring the event, I introduced the presentation and explained what it was all about,” Alindogan said. The experts then covered the topics of financial self-assessment, consumer credit and financing, budgeting, record-keeping, taxes, savings, and investment strategies.

“What the Lanai church has done with its first public outreach of the year was not only innovative, they were able to reach their objectives of building relationships in their local community,” said Arnold Trujillo, Hawaii Conference president. “We hope this ‘seed-building’ activity will provide more awareness of the Adventist church with the eventual opportunity to have ‘enticing’ evangelistic meetings in the foreseeable future.”