Graduation 2006

We did it!! After 16 months of attending monthly classes we graduated from the Bible Planters Institute. However, one of the graduates, Mrs. Pat Smith was not able to attend the ceremony as she had a family emergency and had to travel to the U.S. And another graduduate, Mr. Derick Grinage, could not attend due to working commitment

The ceremony was held at the Sand Hill Zion Methodist Protestant Church and our guest speaker was Rev. Phillip Knight, the President of the Congregational Methodist Church. He delivered an inspirational message to us graduates urging us to be R.E.A. L. leaders now that we have been equipped to go out and lead others to Christ. He even threw in a few jokes which brought smiles to our faces. In our midst were also three other special guests; Jerry Jones, the Director of Missions for the Congregational Methodist Church, Rev. Billy Frank Gerald, Executive Secretary of our very own Methodist Protestant Board of Mission committee and last but no least Rev. Ladon Dawson, President of our Conference's Board of Mission committee in the United States. We were very glad to have them all there and having our family and friends also present to experience this moment with us made the event even more meaningful. And we cannot forget Charlie Joe Green who also made a special effort to be with us despite his recent misfortune.

Of the 12 graduates five were from the Sand Hill Zion Methodist Protestant Church; Mr. Oswin Blease, Mrs. Alice Leal, Ms. Marion Wade, Mrs. Gloria Vaccaro and her daughter Mrs. Tanya Sutherland. For our church this is the second set of members to graduate from this course and we have found the classes and facilitators to be very interesting, educational and practical. Much of what we have learnt has already been put into practice and having our folder to use as a future reference will make it so much easier for us. Thanks very much to our teachers, Rev. Santiago Shol, Mrs. Candice Shol, Rev. Charlie Joe Green and Rev. Claudio Leal. We appreciate the time and effort it took for you to prepare and present the lessons you shared with us. We hope and pray that others will see the benefit of a course such as this and enroll in the next session.