Messengers of Hope Children Preach to Adventist Leaders

Four children between the ages of 9 and 14 stepped into the pulpit during Annual Council, preaching to the world leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as part of the OneVoice27 Messengers of Hope initiative.

Each child was introduced by leaders from their home division, prayed over before and after preaching, and welcomed with applause by more than 300 members of the General Conference Executive Committee.

“Mission for all includes the voices of children,” said Joel Okindo, president of the East Kenya Union Conference, before one of the sermons, a theme the four young speakers carried throughout the week.

Answer the Call

The first Messengers of Hope speaker was Jaazan “JT” Taylor, 9, representing the North American Division. Born in Jamaica in 2016, he is a fifth grader at Greaves Seventh-day Adventist Academy in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the son of Anthony and Zenobia Taylor. He has been practicing preaching since he was 3 and was baptized by his father at age 6.

Preaching from Jeremiah 1:5-7, Taylor asked the room, “How old do you have to be to serve God?” Like Jeremiah, he said, believers are tempted to say they are too young. “You are not too young or too unqualified,” he told committee members.

He pointed to the Pathfinder movement, which he joined in September, noting it was started in 1879 by two teenagers. Taylor ran through a list of young people God used, from Samuel and David to Naaman’s servant girl and Timothy. “Give God committed young people,” he said, “and He will turn the world upside down with the gospel.”

Afterward, his father joined him at the pulpit. “We received a powerful message today,” said Erton Köhler, GC president and session chair, “not because it came from a child, but because it came from the Lord.”

We Have Been Called to Go

On Sunday the Inter-American Division (IAD) presented Ntando Asher Lwandle George, 14, who was born in South Africa and has lived in Tobago with his grandparents since he was 18 months old. A student at Harmon Seventh-day Adventist School in Rockley Vale, Scarborough, he has preached since age 5 and serves as outreach coordinator on his district youth council.

“The Holy Spirit does not consult a person’s birth certificate,” said Marvin Smith, IAD associate Youth Ministries director, as he introduced George.

George opened candidly, telling leaders his journey had included trauma, brokenness, and even a suspension from school. “God can still have a purpose for your life while He is working on your life,” he said.

Drawing on Jeremiah, Samuel, and Isaiah, George urged listeners to stop waiting for someone else to act, illustrating the point with the parable of Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. “Mission is not about being seen,” he said. “It’s about being available.”

He closed by singing an appeal as Executive Committee members stood. Busi Khumalo, GC Youth Ministries director, then prayed over George, saying young preachers were helping to change the narrative that young people are not doing anything.

Here Am I, Send Me

Monday’s Messengers of Hope speaker was Ondieki Braham Ondinya, 12, a Pathfinder from Nairobi, Kenya, representing the East-Central Africa Division. A seventh grader at Advent Hill Primary School in Ongata Rongai, he was introduced by the division's executive secretary as an avid reader, creative writer, and debater. His mother, Jacqueline, attended with him.

Before he spoke, Saw Samuel, GC vice president and session chair, urged delegates to give the children “your best smiles,” noting that inviting them to address the committee was unusual.

Ondieki opened with a question: If Jesus stood in the auditorium and asked who would go, how many would answer at once, “Lord, here am I”? Preaching from Matthew 28, he told leaders that mission “is the very reason the church exists.”

He cited Daniel and Joseph as examples of faithfulness in secular settings and recalled how the church kept its mission going online during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Technology can transmit information,” he said, “but only Jesus Christ can transform the human heart.” He closed by asking the congregation to rise and repeat Christ’s promise from Matthew 28:20.

One Little Voice, One Great Mission

Tuesday’s Messengers of Hope presenter was Zofia Elizabeth C. Fugoso, 11, a fifth grader from the Southern Asia-Pacific Division based in the Philippines. Beginning with the little maid in Naaman’s house in 2 Kings 5, she told leaders that although the girl was a captive in a foreign land, her mission outweighed her pain. “Mission begins when we notice the hurting people around us and their need of Jesus, our Savior and our Friend,” she said. Someone had clearly taught the young captive, she noted, adding, “What our parents and our teachers do for Christ today will echo into eternity.”

Fugoso shared testimonies from her home division, including Irwin’s, a man with a severe toothache whose niece, Julia, persuaded him to visit a free Adventist clinic despite his fear that staff would try to convert him. Moved by how they served him without preaching at him, he attended the evangelistic series that followed and was converted. Fugoso then told of her own experience. When asked to help with her mother’s children’s evangelism program, she expected to hand out crayons, but became a teacher instead and learned the 28 fundamental beliefs for herself. “Every invitation I gave others became God’s invitation to me,” she said. She was baptized with 20 other young people.

“Jesus did not save me so I could simply wait for heaven,” Fugoso said. “He saved me so I could help others find heaven too.” She urged every member to share Jesus’ love, saying God’s mission “has never depended on age, position, or title,” and thanked leaders for “helping build a church where little voices can become mighty witnesses for Jesus.”

She closed with the story of a 7-year-old girl found alive in mud and debris four days after the August 26 flash flooding in Nepal. “Somewhere in the world there is another child who feels buried beneath a disappointment,” she said. “Jesus did not stop searching for us . . . and now He asks His church to go and search for others.” Her final appeal: “May we go, may we search, may we serve, until every person has had the opportunity to know about Jesus.”

A Message for the Whole Church

On Tuesday Leonard Johnson, GC vice president and session chair, told delegates the young preachers had been outstanding. After Fugoso’s sermon, he said it was obvious that the Spirit of God was at work in the hearts and minds of these young people. Then Orathai Chureson, GC Children’s Ministries director, offered a prayer of consecration.

The Messengers of Hope are part of OneVoice27, the church’s global mission initiative leading into 2027. “The four young preachers and other Messengers of Hope members will speak at congresses and events,” church leaders said. “They will share the gospel and motivate other young people to use their influence and talents for mission.”

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