Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis Saturday applauded the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church in The Bahamas for the community’s commitment to education and the promotion of family life.
Prime Minister Minnis said the social health and wellbeing of a community, or society, requires healthy, loving families that nurture children, and which “promote” values such as discipline, respect, good citizenship, gratitude and generosity.
“The Seventh-Day Adventist Church is an extraordinary gift to The Bahamas,” Prime Minister Minnis said.
Addressing the Saturday service of the Good News Seventh Day Adventist Church, Flamingo Gardens, Prime Minister Minnis pointed to the community’s contributions to education in The Bahamas through the establishment and operation of Bahamas Academy, as one of the “many areas of national development you have contributed to.”
Founded in 1912, Bahamas Academy is owned and operated by the South Bahamas Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists
Prime Minister Minnis observed that Bahamas Academy continues to produce “fine young men and women” who receive holistic educations that molds minds, bodies and souls.
“This holistic approach is part of the broader theology and moral world view of your community. This worldview, guides your vision of human and spiritual development. Your students not only receive noteworthy academic training, but also ethical information. Also of note is your deep commitment to family life and to family life ministry.
“Your community of faith and fellowship,” the Prime Minister continued, “is well-known for high ethical standards, including in your professional lives.”
Prime Minister Minnis said “family life” has sustained and continues to sustain him during his life.
“Family is the refuge where we should first learn and where we should see practiced, the healing gifts of forgiveness, reconciliation and mercy,” Prime Minister Minnis said. “It is because of my family that I found the encouragement and discipline to work hard as a student and to pursue my medical studies.
“With the great privilege of serving as Prime Minister, there is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t think of my family members who sustained me during my life’s journey.
“My mission is to help provide for others, especially the less privileged in our country, the opportunities my family gave me. After all, we are One Bahamas and One Bahamian family,” Prime Minister Minnis added.
Prime Minister Minnis used the occasion to welcome Dr. Carlton Byrd to The Bahamas. Dr. Byrd, who was in attendance at the service, is the Senior Pastor of Oakwood University Seventh-Day Adventist Church located on the campus of Oakwood University, Huntsville, Ala., and is well-known as the Host/Director of the Breath of Life Television Broadcast for the SDA Church in North America. Oakwood University currently has a Bahamian student population of around 30 persons.
“Dr. Byrd, may God touch your heart and spirit with grace and insights during these days [and] may the God of Life continue to bless your ministry. It is a joy for us, having you here in The Bahamas,” Prime Minister Minnis said.
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