Each graduation began with a time of praise and worship to the Lord. |
They’ve learned to till the ground, plant the seeds, water the crops and fertilize. They’ve even learned how to work deep into the night finishing the task while the harvest is ripe. After three years of training to work in the fields, they’re ready to sow and reap as full-time workers. But these aren’t farmers. They’re laborers for the Lord.
Over the past couple of months, several Gospel for Asia Bible colleges conducted graduation services, signaling the start of the students’ lifelong service to God. Throughout January, they will go to the unbroken ground where the Lord has called them—preparing the soil—so in the future, the Lord can gather an abundance of souls.
The graduations also served as a time to commission the third-year students who are taking part in their practical internships throughout the spring. For the past two and a half years, they have studied the Bible in depth, learned about discipleship and taken part in local outreach. Now they will be partnered with established missionaries for six months, so they can truly understand the sacrifice of serving the Lord in the unreached mission fields of Asia.
The graduation was an intertwining of joy and tears, the light-hearted and solemn. Each graduate is filled with the thrill of accomplishment and the excitement of moving forward in the Lord—yet each is also somber, knowing the gravity of the choice to follow Him.
A prayer of dedication was said at each service before the graduates received their diplomas. |
The road will not always be easy. Persecution and even possible death may ensue. But the assurance and calling that God has placed on their hearts drives them to pursue His will—not their own.
To an outsider, the close of each service might not have looked much different from any other. The graduates hugged, traded pictures and wished each other well. But behind the chatter and smiles was a deeper connection found only between those who know they’ll face the same trials.
They will get their hands dirty, and their foreheads will be beaded with sweat. Like any other field laborers, the graduates will endure long, painful days so they can gather a bountiful harvest. Yet their harvest will not reap perishable goods, but everlasting fruit.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Luke 10:2 NIV