Top Seventh-day Adventist leaders met with Dominican Republic's President Dr. Leonel Fernandez Reina on November 22 to discuss the church's work on the island and worldwide. The one-hour private meeting at the National Palace was the first such meeting between national leaders and a religious non-Catholic organization, Adventist leaders said.

"We had the opportunity to meet with President Fernandez and tell him about the Adventist Church's work in educating youth, strengthening families, serving the community as well as its medical work," said Silvestre Gonzalez, executive secretary and spokesperson for the church in the Caribbean nation of more than 9 million.

President Fernandez thanked the six church leaders for the meeting. "We are so busy in our work that sometimes we fail to see that there are valuable groups like you that can do so much for society, for the benefit of others," he said.

Cesario Acevedo, president of the church in the Dominican Republic, gave words of encouragement to Fernandez and offered a prayer for the leader and his government.

The protestant mainstream Seventh-day Adventist Church with its more than 238,000 members is the second largest organized church in the Dominican Republic. The church operates 92 elementary and secondary schools, one university, six radio stations and one hospital. [Editors: Libna Stevens, Christian B. Schäffler and ANN Staff]