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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Baccalaureate Service Challenges COB Graduands to 'Stick Their Necks Out' to Succeed
By The College Of The Bahamas Office of Communication
May 28, 2016 - 9:53:16 PM
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The Spring 2016 Commencement Class attended a Baccalaureate Service at the Church of God Convention Centre.
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Nassau, BAHAMAS - Spring 2016 Graduands of The College of The Bahamas came together in worship and celebration as their COB journey comes to an end. The annual Baccalaureate Service was held on Sunday, 22nd May 2016 at the Church of God Convention Centre William M. Johnson Auditorium. The hall was filled with melodic sounds from Voices of Paradise and the College Concert Choir under the direction of Mrs. Audrey Dean-Wright and Dr. Alvin Hepburn, Adjunct Professor, School of Mathematics, Physics & Technology
and Sr. Pastor, Central Church of the Nazarene gave the invocation.
College President Dr. Rodney D. Smith welcomed the congregation and shared his view of the power of education and citied Proverbs 4:13 which emphasizes the importance of knowledge and learning, equating it to life. “Education has the power to transform lives and I expect that the time you graduands have spent at The College of The Bahamas has been transformative, life-changing and now serves as your beacon to the future. Graduands, the effort and dedication you put into earning your degrees is no small thing. I am sure at times it felt this was all your life was about. You spent many late nights in the library, sacrificed time with friends and family and many other sacrifices only you know about to ensure you complete all your academic requirements in order to obtain your degrees,” shared Dr. Smith.
Graduating students lead the intercessions at the Baccalaureate service.
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In his sermon, Bishop Moses A. Johnson, a COB graduate, Outstanding 40 Alumni honouree and National Overseer and Administrative Bishop for the Church of God Bahamas challenged the graduands to glean from the life of Moses, realizing that God sees us how he wants us to be, not how we currently are.
“God sees the purpose for which you were born, the mere fact that you are alive today, says that there is purpose in your life…In the end, vision must always deal with its qualities, not its quantities. In order to achieve vision in life, I want to say to the graduates that in life there’s going to come the pressure of persecution, the pressure of disappointment, the pressure of change,” shared Bishop. “I came to The College some 20 years ago, I entered The College because I had a vision for my life, I was 36 years old and graduated when I was 39. But I entered The College because I had vision for my life because an old man put his hand on me when I was about nine years old. I could not speak…I stammered so bad that I had to beat myself on my knee to get the words out but that preacher saw something in me, he said ‘son you’re going to be a preacher and you are going to be in charge of this organization’, I said ‘no sir, it can’t be me I’m just a little boy from Bluff, Eleuthera’…he spoke into my life and that vision came to pass,” he recalled. “You feel good, your studies have come to an end and you are about to celebrate. But I tell you, it has just begun…prepare for real life. One of my favorite animals is the turtle; the reason is that in order for it to move, it has to stick its head out. There are going to be some times in your life when you need to stick your neck out, there will be challenges that will make you want to hide in your shell but in order to succeed you will have to stick your neck out,” explained Bishop Johnson.
The Baccalaureate service is the first of several signature events on the Commencement calendar at The College. With more than 600 graduands, the Spring 2016 Commencement Class has among its members the second group of eight Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree graduates.
COB President Dr. Rodney D. Smith reminded the graduating students of the power of education.
Bishop Moses A. Johnson, National Overseer and Administrative Bishop, Church of God Bahamas delivered the sermon.
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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