ADVENTIST SCHOOLS – A SECOND HOME FOR OUR CHILDREN!
Greetings in the name of Jesus, our loving Saviour!
This morning I would like to share with you a personal testimony. I was born and raised in a wealthy family in Brazil. My father was a renowned and respected Dentist. My mother was a teacher who later became the Vice Principal of 700 students’ school in the town were my family lived as “nominal Christians” with no affiliation to any church denomination. Unfortunately, my family’s situation changed drastically when my parents got divorced. This involved a long process, and it drained a lot of energy and finance from my parents. My father moved from our town nearly bankrupt, and my mother had to take a second job to keep “bread” on the table for five children. I am the second child and was eleven years old when that heart-breaking experience happened to the Torres family. Shortly after that terrible experience, my mother truly accepted Jesus as her Saviour and was baptized as a member of our church.
At the age of sixteen I had become a “professional DJ” and was the “owner” of a small business related to music and employing two other people. I had to register the company in my mother’s name, who was not happy at all with the path I had chosen. Long story short, my mother was specially praying for me for five years already. Through her faith in God and much prayer and fasting, God honoured her prayers, and I was the recipient of a full scholarship to attend one of our boarding academies in Brazil. I was nearly failing in all high school subjects because my business had become the reason for my life and a “refuge” from all of my anger against someone who people called God. I was very reluctant to accept the scholarship and go to that school near Rio de Janeiro – 700 kms away from home. What would I do with my business – my world? How about all the contracts that I had signed and committed to? Change my lifestyle completely? How about my friends? The devil was working hard and was bringing to my mind many other objections for me not to go to that school. As a loser, he knew that he would run the risk of losing one more soul to Jesus! I experienced a real “battle” in my mind. Again, due to the limitation of time and space, I will not go into the details that God used to convince me to accept the scholarship. Perhaps, I should write another message about that in the future. The bottom line is, I miraculously surrendered to the sweet voice of the Holy spirit and joined the Adventist boarding academy, for the second semester of the 1977 school year. My mother came with me and “introduced” me to the people there.
The Lord continued to work in my heart. During a Week of Prayer at the school, God He used the beautiful musical groups and their soothing songs to appease my anger against Him and find the ”real peace” that was missing in my life for years. I responded to the pastor’s “altar call appeal” with tears of joy and freedom. This could only happen because of my mother’s continuous powerful prayers, the soft work of the Holy Spirit in my heart, and the environment I was in – our school!
I thank God for Adventist schools. They are an extension of our homes to assist the parents.
We have an amazing school system in BC and around the world. They are solid and they teach our students to excel in their academic needs. Most of our schools have “cutting edge” programs to offer to their students. Our schools in the BC Conference are part of this selected group. Our committed principals, teachers, and support staff–all of them love the Lord and want to make a positive impact in the lives of our students:
My request to you, parents, are these:
1 – Trust with all your heart that God wanted you to be a human parent for the children He has given you to raise for Him.
2 – Let your actions speak louder than your words to your children.
3 – As a Christian, never comprise your faith in whichever situation you encounter with your children.
4 – Never ever stop praying for them – prayer works!
Thank you, pastors, church leaders, and church members, for your faithful service and His Cause in our Conference.
Please find below the link to our April BC Conference. Bro. David Jukes. He is currently teaching Math at FVAA Math teacher. He has taught, encouraged, inspired and blessed his students in different SDA’s schools for nearly 47 years. His story will captivate all who watch this video.
May God richly bless you, your children, and our schools.
Happy Sabbath!
In His Service,
Wesley Torres, D.Min.