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The Spirit of Prophecy Convention, with the theme "Sharing the Vision has officially opened. Held at Adventist Academy Cebu International Church, Bulacao, Talisay City, Cebu City, the event, which started on October 9, 2024, will culminate on October 12, 2024.

On the opening day, the program started with the 'Entrance of Participants,' a march by delegates from the missions and conferences across the Central Philippine Union Conference. The march, accentuated by a 'red carpet theme' in the background, created a sense of excitement, setting the event's tone.

Mr. Justice Ken Francisco, Adventist Academy Cebu treasurer, Pastor Charles Nogra, Central Visayan Conference president, and Pastor Calev Maquirang, CPUC executive secretary, gave the welcome address.

After a few song renditions, keynote addresses, and prayer, Pastor Eldyn Toledo, director of the Ellen G. White Study Center and Spirit of Prophecy, officially declared the SOP Convention open.

In a keynote address during the opening ceremony, Pastor Edgar Bryan Tolentino, D.Min., Adventist Heritage and SOP director of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, talked about "The Gift of Prophecy." He tackled the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-Day Adventists, wherein the gift of prophecy is also contained.

He further elaborated that the gift of prophecy is a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit given by God to explicitly communicate to people through His servant prophets, through the unity and maturity of the church, in order to testify of Christ to the world.

Moreover, Pastor Mark Joseph Percival Pearce, the director of EGW Research Center Avondale University in New South Wales, Australia, continued the discussion by elaborating on the "Development of Gift of Prophecy Doctrine."

Pastor Pearce started his message by asking how the early pioneers came to believe that God had given Ellen White the prophetic gift. He then guided the listeners to the comprehensive overview of the Adventist understanding of the gift of prophecy, from its historical origins in 1844-1863 to the early recognition of Ellen White's prophetic gift, then to the relevance of prophecy in the church's mission.

He then left words of encouragement to everyone as his closing message, saying, "We need to be faithful to those in earlier generations by continuing to learn, continuing to study, and continuing to grow in faith, even as they did."

Donny Chrissutianto, Ph.D., and an associate professor of Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, also highlighted the opening ceremony with his message "Understanding Ellen White's Writings."

Opening his message in the overview of White's literary corpus legacy of approximately 100-thousand pages of materials, he stated that White is the most translated female non-fiction author in the history of literature and the most translated American non-fiction author of either gender. 

Supporting his topic on understanding White's writings, Dr. Chrissutianto said, "We need to understand her writings to avoid misinterpretation because misinterpretation leads to wrong conduct, and wrong conduct can lead to wrong character." He also added that the Spirit of God prompted White's writings.

With the event officially declared open, the program continued in the afternoon, with Pastor Tolentino and Dr. Chrissutianto delivering another round of messages.

In the evening, the midweek worship featured Pastor Agapito Catane Jr, a retired CPUC president, as the speaker. In his message, he elaborated on the Bible verse found in Joel 2: 28, relating it afterward to the visions of White.

The verse said, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions."

As Pastor Catane explained, this passage speaks of the need for God's vision to be shared in the last days. The Holy Spirit's outpouring leads to prophetic visions, which must be shared for the church to be spiritually active and awake.

As the first day of SOP Convention ended, the delegates retired to the night filled with learnings about the early Adventism, Whites' writings, and prophetic visions.