Northpine Adventist College in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, had an extra-special guest lead staff worship — General Conference President Erton Köhler.

While not originally part of his schedule, Köhler was pleased to be invited to visit the school and spend time with staff. Northpine Adventist College is located on the same grounds as Watson Park Convention Center, where the South Pacific for Christ launch has been held this past week.

“I have a good impression of everything that’s happening here, the Lord is using you,” Köhler said.

“More than [presenting] a message, I came here today to express gratitude to you for your faithful work to God’s cause.”

Reflecting on the story of the Good Samaritan, Köhler focused on the innkeeper and his role in caring for the wounded man, drawing a parallel to the caring role of educators and school staff.

“Please move forward, always accomplishing your mission, always taking care of the students, staff, families and all of those who the Lord [has entrusted to you].”

School chaplain Gerrard Price welcomed Köhler to the college and prayed for him before the worship.

“We are committed here not only to educate but to live out our mission with purpose,” Price said. “Our mission at Adventist education is to reveal Jesus. In recent days, we have been intentionally praying over the South Pacific for Christ initiative.

“Today we actually see those prayers being answered in a very tangible way because global leadership is connecting with our local faith community, and we are so blessed to have you here today.”

Later in the day, Price shared that one of the teachers, who is not of the Adventist faith, approached him after the worship to express gratitude for Köhler’s visit.

“He was very grateful for the opportunity to be part of a worship where our GC president was taking it,” he said. “And he was saying, ‘If I ever had a doubt in my mind why I was called to Adventist education, the GC president, through his worship, really clarified that and made it known.’ So he felt very inspired as to why he was called for this purpose to be part of our mission as Adventist education globally.”

The original article was published on the South Pacific Division news site, Adventist Record.