Joyfully Serving with Constancy—Encouragement for Gilead School’s 67th Class
IT WAS a thrilling day for the 51 students about to graduate from the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead’s 67th class. Graduation day, September 16, 1979, was bright and clear, and great anticipation was in the air as 2,033 persons filled up Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly Hall at Long Island City, New York. The students had volunteered to serve as missionaries in any part of the world. The occasion was a fine opportunity for the school’s president, instructors and others to give them some parting counsel to help ensure success in their far-flung missionary assignments.
Some speakers, such as F. W. Franz, the school’s president, highlighted the need for the missionaries to keep their joy. Franz referred to the joyful Festival of Booths celebrated by the ancient Israelites and encouraged the students to have this same kind of joyful spirit, for it would be a strength from Jehovah to them.
Other speakers stressed the need for constancy. For example, C. Chyke said: “Constancy is an admirable quality and one that we should all want others to see in us.” Jehovah, “the Father of the celestial lights,” he explained, is the prime example of constancy, since “with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.” (Jas. 1:17) Chyke cited Daniel the prophet as another example in constancy. Even Persian King Darius, he showed, noted that Daniel served his God “with constancy.” (Dan. 6:20) The result of serving with constancy? “Many blessings will come your way,” he explained, “as you receive further good gifts from our celestial Father—providing you show appreciation for the privilege you now have of serving as a missionary by sticking with your assignment and working constantly in the furtherance of the ‘good news.’”
Giving more such encouragement, instructor Karl Adams asked: “Where will you be next year at this time?” Those in the class, he said, have shown a fine attitude that can have a bearing on the answer. He observed that they have displayed the spirit of the prophet Isaiah, who said to God: “Here I am! Send me.” (Isa. 6:8) It was not merely Isaiah’s offer that counted, but “it was what he did.” Despite problems and difficulties, he stayed at his assignment for 46 years. ‘Next year, will you be caring for an assignment that was given to you because you said to Jehovah: “Here I am! Send me”?’ the speaker asked. In closing, Adams noted that the students not only have this fine spirit but serve with joy, not being ascetics, but knowing how to enjoy life.
To maintain joy and constancy in missionary service requires something brought to the students’ attention by instructor U. V. Glass. “One word best characterizes this class,” he observed, “and that is ‘balance.’” He added: “You know how to have a good time. And you know how to be serious.” Their background may account for this good balance, he explained, since they are not novices in the Christian way of life but average over 13 years, and in age they averaged 30.5 years. Glass encouraged them to continue to show balance: “Don’t get caught up in any kind of extremism. Don’t allow inconsequential things to get out of focus. Don’t lose your sense of humor, but keep it in control.”
Another speaker, R. Wallen, asked the students, “What will you be—an asset or a liability in your missionary assignment?” To be a real asset requires ‘remembering that your Gilead training may have made you better equipped but not better than your brothers.’ As a result of their Gilead training, he said, their lives, as well as their lips, should offer fine sermons attracting others to true Christianity.
At intervals Chairman Schroeder read cablegrams from all continents of the earth wishing the students well. They had come from 15 lands and now they were going to 23 different ones. Among them Chile, the Solomon Islands, India, Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Japan, Upper Volta, Suriname, Ivory Coast, Austria, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic, Senegal, Colombia, Martinique and Nigeria.
After an intermission the graduates put on an international musical program and also a Bible drama about Jacob and Esau. The day’s program indeed encouraged the missionaries, and all present, to serve Jehovah with joy and constancy.
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Sixty-seventh Graduating Class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead
In the list below, rows are numbered from front to back and names are listed from left to right in each row.
(1) Urairat, C.; Isobe, J.; Vesgosit, S.; Macura, S.; Pereira, C.; Perez, G.; Tsukamoto, S.; Pama, J. (2) Dawal, S.; Mowbray, C.; Lee, J.; Berkers, G.; Pitcher, C.; Verwiebe, P.; Walker, I.; Earnshaw, L. (3) Allan, S.; Wilson, C.; Pama, P.; Williams, J.; Pereira, K.; Stewart, P.; Kassholm, A.; Darawan, S. (4) Urairat, A.; Wiesinger, G.; Crail, S.; Saunders, C.; Schnell, S.; Souilhe, P.; Verwiebe, S.; Samuel, R.; Walker, D. (5) Allan, R.; Wilson, J.; Bhatt, K.; Lechelt, M.; Kassholm, M.; Solnier, R.; Perez, A.; Lee, D.; Kennedy, G. (6) Davies, J.; Berkers, R.; Heytman, D.; Earnshaw, R.; Baugh, D.; Labryn, J.; Demetrius, J.; Crail, J.; Macura, G.