Leaders Run in 5K Ministerial Retreat Race in the Dominican Republic

Dozens of Seventh-day Adventist men and women, each one a pastor or a pastor’s spouse, woke up at dawn on September 10 to take part in a 5K run in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, during the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) ministerial retreat.

The run sought to promote exercise in a profession that has many pastoral couples in a rat race every day as they minister in up to 20 churches in their district, organizers said.

“This is not a race just to run, but a race for ministerial health,” said Isaías Espinoza, publishing ministries director of the IAD and organizer of the activity, as he addressed the more than 100 participants before the race started.

“We have a great deficit in the ministerial body of pastors who do not exercise, and that is of great concern, because we know that the body unites with the spirit,” Espinoza said. “Remember that what we think is reflected in our actions, so the wish of the church in Inter-America is for more pastors to have a healthy lifestyle not only for the body but in the three dimensions that the church highlights: body, mind, and spirit.”

To reward the winners for the men and the women separately, there would be cash prizes, Espinoza announced. Prayers were offered moments before the race started.

Dary Dinart, 34, from Guadeloupe, finished the race in under 20 minutes, taking the first-place spot. He is pastor of four churches back home, is co-parenting his two young boys, and has been participating in triathlons since 2018. For Dinart, running began when he was studying at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad in 2008. He started competing in 2014 and has been keeping it up ever since. Every Sunday he makes time to run, swim, and cycle. “We have the health message, so we must practice what we teach,” he said.

José Miguel Fernández, 31, came in second place, just behind Dinart. Fernández oversees 12 congregations in his district in the Southeast Dominican Conference and has been running with his wife, Yasira, for more than a year. He’s been encouraging his more than 400-member congregation to exercise. “I’ve been preaching about the health message and trying to motivate them to join in walking and running,” Fernández said.

His conference is one of three, along with the staff of the Dominican Union, that has been engaged in exercising and promoting healthy habits since 2023. The balancing act of pastoring in his district means making time to exercise. “The only way to take part in running and keeping fit is scheduling it as part of my daily and weekly agenda,” Fernández said.

Rebeca González finished in first place on the women’s 5K run. Her husband, Cesar Hernández, is a pastor in Rio Piedras in the East Puerto Rico Conference. She’s been running for four years and has run in half marathons, along with her husband. “I just love running, it’s for health, and our church is all about being healthy,” González said. She has a group of friends who participate in 5K runs and is planning to go to Chicago to take part in a marathon.

For Orpha de la Cruz, finishing second meant a lot to her. She has been running with her husband for more than a year. Together they have been encouraging church leaders and members to exercise and lead a healthier lifestyle. De la Cruz is the women’s ministries director of the Dominican Union Conference and said it’s been about setting an example wherever she goes. Her husband is Teófilo Silvestre, president of the Dominican Union, who also ran in the 5K.

“We have taken the eight natural habits and decided to move two habits per year, and this year it’s been coined as ‘Move and Breathe,’ ” Silvestre said. The focus has been to highlight how important exercise is to spiritual life, which is what the Seventh-day Adventist lifestyle is all about, he added. “Just start exercising, and the rest of the healthy habits will fall into place, because you put into practice breathing properly, drinking water, taking in the sunshine, and sleeping well.”

The initiative has reached three of the local fields on the island where 5K runs have been organized. Many churches have started walking, running, and cycling clubs, and more. At Central Quisqueya Seventh-day Adventist Church in Santo Domingo, a recent 5K run engaged more than 500 members.

In the South Dominican and Southeast Dominican conferences, a 5K run involved its pastors running together initially, and later they began promoting the exercise initiative in their churches. Each of the races have seen many friends and members of the community take part in the exercise initiatives. These are coupled with several other components, including a prayer station, health talks, and information on the service institutions the church offers, he explained.

In the coming months, three more local fields are planning to get involved in the “Move and Breathe” initiative.

“The plan is for a national race, where we can invite thousands of people to take part in a massive event in February 2026,” Silvestre said. “It would be the first national race organized by the Adventist Church, and we want it to become a huge community impact in our country,” he said.

Third place winners Kenia Lara of the Dominican Union and Jason Charles of the South Caribbean Conference in Trinidad were also awarded a cash prize.

“I hope this race can awaken more interest among the ministerial families across the IAD,” Espinoza said. The ministerial retreat held in Cancún, Mexico, during the previous week saw more than 400 men and women finishing the 5K run.

The original version of this story was posted on the Inter-American Division news site.