The Capitol Center Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Cebu City recently conducted its inaugural church-based Master Guide Investiture Ceremony on Nov. 30, 2024.
Thirty-five individuals with diverse professions were invested in the service after a year of intensive training under the Master Guide Program. This first batch of Master Guides, dubbed “Sidlak” (“Shine” in Cebuano), marks a significant milestone for the local church.
Dr. Arn Evange Mendoza, a master guide deputy director, initiated a special vesper program before the investiture. She titled it with “My Sash, My Emblem of Service,” a dedication of honors and talents by the Adventist Youth to the ultimate Master Guide, Jesus Christ!
Pastor Edgar V. Bojos, the local church pastor, and the elders then offered a dedicatory prayer to all master guide aspirants.
The new Master Guides comprise doctors, engineers, business people, young professionals, and a remarkable 71-year-old senior citizen who defied the odds, surviving a brain-raptured aneurysm and coming out victorious in Christ.
These new Sidlak master guides had been into an intense, transformative, and servant-leadership program designed to equip participants with a wide range of spiritual, practical, and interpersonal skills.
They embarked on this journey with open hearts and minds, prepared to immerse themselves in a process that would test their limits and push them beyond their comfort zones.
On the Sabbath, Pastor Von John Sanchez, youth director of the Central Philippine Union Conference and a master guide, delivered a timely and impactful message about the fundamentals of leadership, its significance, and its value.
“One of the challenges of the world today is a challenge in leadership,” he said, emphasizing the importance of quality leadership in society and inside the church.
“The church is facing leadership crises, and often, if we lose the leadership, we lose the vision and the sense of mission.”
Pastor Sanchez highlighted the value of master guide training, which makes significant leaders with ability, values, and willingness not to be served but to serve. He pointed out that everything in the church or any organization always rises and falls on leadership.
On the other hand, he commends the initiative and dedication of Pastor Orval T. Bacolod, master guide and assistant church pastor at Capitol SDA Church, for his dutiful service in discipleship.
Pastor Sanchez also appreciated the newly accepted master guides for responding to the call. He acknowledged their dedication to rigorous training and cultivating leadership, spirituality, and community service skills. He also believed that each one had undergone a profound transformation at the end of the training.
Their commitment to faith, personal growth, and service embodies the batch name, which means to shine and radiate. Above all else, it defines their aspiration to be like Jesus while inspiring others to walk with Him.
For the new master guides, the investiture ceremony is just the beginning of a life with a deeper purpose of serving God by serving others. It was more than just a personal triumph; it was about the lasting impact of a dedicated group of young leaders committed to shining the light of hope, love, faith, courage, and selfless service to the church and community.
By Ganie Rose Tuñacao- Macabugwas
The original version of this article is posted on the official Facebook page of the Central Visayan Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists.