After these messages were read, F. W. Franz, vice-president of the Watch Tower Society, spoke. He stressed the seriousness of their commitment. He drew on Scriptural examples to show the importance of their dedication and the fitness of the term. He then elaborated on Ecclesiastes 5:2-7, where Solomon stresses the obligation to keep a vow, noting that a vow is something voluntary. In conclusion he urged the students to be true to their missionary assignments.

The program to this point might be said to have been preliminary, leading up to the main talk given by the president of the school, N. H. Knorr. He noted that it was in the midst of World War II, when there were but 90,000 Witnesses world wide, that the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead was conceived and began to function in 1943. He quoted from Romans 12:9-11 and emphasized the need to hate what is bad, to cling to what is good and to be aglow (literally “boiling”) with the spirit. Today when people ‘go unrestrained because of having no vision,’ it is the privilege of Christian witnesses to give the people a vision of God’s kingdom. (Prov. 29:18) He also stressed the need for them to be humble, not even making reference to their Gilead school training, so as not to put a gap between the lowly people they are teaching and themselves.