Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
The Northern Nigeria Union of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has tasked Nigerian youths to change the battered image of the country incurred through internet fraud and other vices, by shining as a light in the midst of darkness.
Evangelism Director of the association Pastor Vealumum Iorkyaa, who spoke as Guest Speaker during the annual Convention of the Nigeria Association of Adventist Students (NAAS), Northeast Conference, held in Gombe, said Nigerian youths have the capacity to shine and change the situation by making a difference with the intellectual ingenuity they are known for.
Speaking on the topic “Chose to be different to make a difference”, and choosing his Bible text from Matthew 5:16, Pastor Iorkyaa called on Christian youths to emulate Bible characters such as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, among many others, as their role models.
“Nigerian youths have no excuse not to shine and excel, let them go out there and shine and change the situation by themselves where ever they will be,” the pastor said in an interview with reporters shortly after the presentation at Baptist Primary School, Gombe.
He equally advised students against indulging in antisocial activities such as drug abuse and cultism, warning that “I have always said that they should avoid all substances that negatively affect our bodies because they will also affect our minds negatively too”.
Also speaking, the Youth Chaplaincy and Public Campus Director of the Northeast Conference of the Church, Pastor Ishaya Chulu, said the 2019 Convention was organised to transform the students, considering the challenges posed by the youths in the Church and society with regard to indecent dressing, drug abuse and cultism, among many other vices.
The Northeast Nigeria (including Plateau) NAAS President, Mr Micah Micah Jnr expressed optimism that with the sermons and lectures communicated at the convention, the students will remain faithful to God and have a focus in their lives.