One More Youth For Jesus
Jaden Cyrus from the Carmel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Guyana was among the hundreds of Pathfinders and senior youth who responded to the call of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Youth Ministries Director Busi Khumalo...
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Jaden Cyrus from the Carmel Seventh day Adventist Church in Guyana is standing with Makeda Perreria- MasterGuide Director (Emerald Masterguide Club) and his brother Neron Cyrus at the pathfinder camporee in Jamaica. Image by CARU media
Jaden Cyrus from the Carmel Seventh day Adventist Church in Guyana was among the hundreds of Pathfinders and senior youth who responded to the call of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Youth Ministries Director Busi Khumalo at the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium in Jamaica, on Sabbath, Apr. 8, 2023.
Khumalo’s call to service resonated with one Jaden had heard two years before at the 2019 Adventist Layman Services International (ASI) held in Guyana. Now the seventeen-year-old has joined the ranks of the millions of young people in the Adventist Church who have promised: “I will go.”
“It’s not enough to be baptized. You need to be involved in the mission of the church,” Khumalo said to the assembly on the final day of the Inter-America Division’s (IAD) 5th Pathfinder Camporee. Using his personal experience from South Africa to illustrate the boldness of Jotham in the biblical story of Judges chapter 9, Pastor Khumalo stated that “if young people are given a good cause to live and die for, they will do wonders. If you don’t engage them in mission, if you are making them just march and drill, that’s not the end. This is just a means to the end. The end is to be involved in the mission of the church. Our theme demands that we be involved in the mission of the church,” he said.
This is Jaden proudly displaying the flag of Guyana at the pathfinder camporee in Jamaica. He responded to Pastor Busi Khumali, youth ministries director of the General Conference, to be actively involved in the mission of the church. Image by CARU media
Because of his passion for Information technology, Jaden regularly volunteered in the communication department. But now he is embracing a more mission-minded perspective as he anticipates the upcoming the Guyana Conference opening session.
He said he is looking forward to being “part of the mission of the church… and to go on God’s errands and to be a missionary on my street, in my neighborhood, abroad, overseas, at school, at work, everywhere,” Jaden said. “Church leaders around can’t reach my friends and peers or speak the youth language. We are the right people to tell others that Jesus loves us in our own style, our own way as a young person today.”
The Sabbath morning service climaxed a week of spiritual messages and activities inviting IAD youth to embrace the opportunity to be on mission for God. Pastor Samuel Telemaque, Director of Mission in the Inter American Division is convinced that God is “birthing new leadership in this division and young people are part of it. I expect to see an evangelism explosion in the IAD led by Christ-centered, Bible-believing, Spirit of Prophecy-following young people and others who are consecrated to God’s last-day proclamation of the three Angels’ Messages since Jesus is coming soon,” Telemaque said.
Part of the group of Pathfinders and and youth leaders who moved to the stage in response to Pastor Busi Khumali, youth ministries director of the General Conference, to be actively involved in the mission of the church. [Photo: Daniel Gallardo/IAD]
“Mission is our culture as an Adventist Church,” stated Dr. Kern Tobias, President of the Caribbean Union Conference, “and to see young people take up the mantle and publicly declare the intention to become missionaries is heartwarming,” particularly as this action fosters faith development, authentic connections and ministry engagement. Tobias along with Treasurer of the Caribbean Union Conference Pastor Bertie Henry, traveled to Jamaica to be with the pathfinders for the camporee.
Just as the camporee theme, “Pathfinders In Mission,” challenged youth to be fearless, godly young men and women of wisdom, Pastor Khumalo’s invitation underscored the world church’s emphasis on missions and encouraging young people to be bold for Jesus because “through mission work, they develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their relationship with God, and their purpose in life,” he said.
This week Jaden is serving as a missionary volunteer in the communication department as it hosts the 6thquadrennial session of the Guyana Conference of Seventh day Adventist.