As the Master Guide graduation candidates from the New Jersey Conference prepared for their final review, Reina Zapata, Master Guide state coordinator, realized that one was not a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Virgilio Osorio, his wife and their children accepted the Lord after volunteering in the Pathfinder program at the Lake Nelson church in Piscataway.
Leaders in the church told Zapata that Osorio had taken the initiative of joining the staff to assist with events and support the ministry wherever needed. “Through the work of the Holy Spirit one thing led to the next, and he became involved as a Master Guide candidate,” says Zapata. “I had to break the news to him that he would not qualify to be invested unless he was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” Zapata says that Osorio knew this, and informed his pastor that he was ready to take that step. Osorio was baptized in a March church service, and later that afternoon was invested as a Master Guide.
During the ceremony, 10 New Jersey Conference and two Greater New York Conference candidates were invested as Master Guides. Conference leaders also awarded the Pathfinder Leadership Award to four Master Guides.
“We praise God for the work he is doing with the Master Guides, and for one more soul brought to Jesus through this great ministry,” says Zapata.