AVALEDI CTORYSPEECHDELI VEREDBYUFERE, GODSWILLOME( THEOVERALLBESTGRADUATING

STUDENTOF2020AND2021)DURI NGTHECONVOCATI ONCEREMONYOFTHEGRADUATI NGCLASS

OF2021ATHUGHGOLDI ETHEOLOGI CALTRAI
NINGI
NSTITUTI
ON, AROCHUKWU(I
NAFFILIATI
ON
WI THABI ASTATEUNI VERSI TY,UTURU)ATTHESCHOOLCHAPELON25THJUNE, 2021
TheVi sitor ,
YourEmi nence, t
heMostRev .N.N.Eke;
ThePr inci pal Of f
icersoft heGener al Assembl
y,
TheVi ceChancel lor,AbiaSt ateUni v ersi
ty,
Prof .Ony emaechi Max wel lOgbul u;
TheAct i
ngChai rmanofCol legeCounci l
,
Eld.Engr .Nnamdi Udoh;
TheModer ator,EastSy nod,
Rt.Rev .OsonduK.Ukpai ;
TheModer ator,Ar ochukwuPr esby tery,
Rt.Rev .Godwi nEy i
bioOkon;
OurLandl or ds,
TheOkoni NaAkor oKindr ed;
TheRect or ,HGLTTI A,
Rev .Dr .Ol oNdukwe,
TheRegi st r
ar, HGLTTI A,
Rev .JonesOt i
si Kal u;
Lect urersandResear chAssi st ants;
Student s;
Fell
owGr aduands;
I
nv i
tedGuest s;
Brother sandSi stersint heLor d.
Ifeelhighl
yhonouredandhumbledt ostandhereastheclassval
edict
ori
anforthegr
aduati
ng
cl
assof2021ofHughGol di
eTheologicalI
nst
it
uti
on,Arochukwu-Ci
tadelofGodl
yLear
ningand
Relevance.Oyes,
wehav econquer
ed; thi
sdayisagr
eatone.

Iwi l
lnotfailtosay"many,manycongr at
ulati
ons"tous-t hegr
aduati
ngcl ass,
theclassof2021.
Wel l
,wemadei t
.Wemadei tthr
oughper i
odsofGr eekandHebr ewcl
asses, t
hroughper i
odsof
hermeneut ics and exegesis cl
asses,t hr
ough weeks ofsy stemati
c and publ i
ct heol
ogies,
throughper i
odsofOl dand New Test amentt heologiesandofcour se,classesofchur ch
histori
es.Wehav eachievedoneoft hemaj ormi lestonesofourl i
v es:graduati
onf rom a
theologicalinsti
tut
ion.Thisisamaj orst epint hej ourneyofourlives,onet hatshoul dbe
recognizedf ori
tsimmensesi gnif
icance.

Onahi storicdayliket hi
s,Ir efl
ectonhowi tallbeganfouryear sago.Weal lcamet hroughthe
prestigi
ousgat eoft hisschoolasi ndi
vidualsf r
om dif
ferentbackgr ounds,ful
lofhopesand
aspirati
ons.Mostofusdi dnotknowourwayar oundandwer euncertainwhatoury ear sinthi
s
schoolwoul dbr i
ng.Wehadagoodj ourneywi thsomechal l
engesal ongthewaybutwear e
gratefult hatwear eseat edher ethisafternoonnotasst ranger
sbutasaf ami l
y .Those
assignment s,
term paper s,semi nar
s,f
eesandexamswhi chwet houghtwi l
lmakeusnott obe
partoft hisdaybr oughtst rengthstousinstead.Tot hi
s,Ir e-
echot hewor dsofApost lePaul,
"Nott hatwear eadequat ei noursel
vestoconsi deranyt
hingascomi ngf r
om ourselves,butour
adequacycomesf r
om God. ” Wear ethankfult oGodf ort husf arHehasbr oughtusas
i
ndiv i
dualsandasacl ass.

Toourl
ecturer
sandal
ltheColl
egestaff,
youdeserveasal
uteandabowforyourhardworkand
dedi
cat
ion.Wecametot hi
sschoolveryroughandrawbutweareleav
ingref
inedandpolished
fort
heworkofGodintheworld.Youtaughtuswithsomuchzealandjoy
,makingsurethatwe
Val
edi
ctor
ySpeechbyUf
ere,
Godswi
l
lOme(
Classof2021)
,HughGodi
eInst
it
uton,
i Arochukwu:
:
::25thJune, Page1
2021.
becomebet terper
sons.Evenwheny ouwereowedf ormont hs,youwouldnotrel
enttopasson
knowl edgetous.Wi thJesusjoyinourhear
ts,wesaymor egr easetoyourelbows.Aswel ook
att hesef ourquicklypassedamazi ngyears,i
tiseasyt o sayandseet hatHughGol di
e
Inst
ituti
on has played an i
nstrumentalr
olein helpi
ng to shape us int
ot he past
ors and
theologianswear etodayandeachofy ouwasoneoft hesecretbehi
ndit.

Toourlovelypar
entsandfamil
ymembers,youdeser
veatapontheshoulderf
oryoursuppor
t,
car
eandv al
uabl
eadv i
ce.Younev
erabandoneduswhil
ewedi st
urbedyouwithcall
sforone
paymentortheother
.

Mor eso,ourl i
vesasst udentswoul dhavebeenwoef ul
lyi
ncompletewithoutcour semat es,
fri
ends,andacquai nt
anceswemadeal ongthewayandatbestf el
lowpastorsin-tr
aini
ngf r
om
yearonet oy earfourclasses.Ther
ei ssomethingtrul
ywonderfulaboutthest udentsoft hi
s
cit
adel.Thereissomet hingamazingabouttherefector
y(noeati
ngoff oodthere,butGol di
ans
canexpl ai
nbet ter
),thespor tsdays,thehostelli
fe,fet
chingofwat er
sf rom streamswi t
h
fasci
natingnamesandwal kingdowntheschoolandbei ngablet
onameeachandev eryface.It
waswonder ful.

Foury earsago,wewer et agged“ YearOnes.”In2017,Icanr emember ,wesati nthissame

chapel forori
ent at
ioni
npr eparati
onf orourent
ranceexamsandf ormat r
iculat
ionlater
,buthere
wear et odayr eadytov ent
ureintot heworldinordertoachi ev
enewmi l
estonesinspi t
eoft he
chall
enges,di scomf or
ts,sleepl
essni ghtsandthef earoft heunknown.Weper si
stedbecause
webel ievedthatobst aclesandt r
ialsareinev
itabl
e;reall
y,whenweov ercomet hem,weonl y
growst rongerandbet ter.Sadly,notallofussur vi
vedti
llthisday;f
orinstance,outof61ofus
thatmat r
icul
at edon10Nov ember ,2017,notallaregr aduati
ngtoday.Itcanonl ybeGod’ s
mercy.

Throughoutmyst ayint hi
sschool,ti
l
lnowt hatam standingher e,“excel
lencegui dedbyGodl y
disci
pli
ne”wasmywat ch-word.Isoughtf
orthisinal
lareas:fai
t h,charact
erandl earning.So,to
theyearone,t woandt hr
eestudentswhowear el
eav i
ngbehi nd,weencour agey out oseek
excell
enceinall.Remembert hemot tooftheschool,“Studytoshowt hy
sel fapprov ed….”This
mot t
oaswel lcall
sforexcell
enceinyourcharact
er,f
aithandst udies.Themor ey out hinkabout
i
tt hr
oughthesey ears,themor eitwil
lbecomer eal
.Ther ef
ore,shunmedi ocrit
yandembr ace
excell
enceinyourstudies,ev
enasGodwi llhelpyou.

Tomyf el
l
ow graduands,today,weareleavi
ngthiscitadelofgodl
ylearni
ngandr elevanceas
bet
terindi
vidual
s,notjustbecausewepossessDi plomasi nTheol
ogyorBachel or
sofDi v i
nit
y
and Bachelors ofArts butbecause v
italpri
ncipl
es such as di
scipl
i
ne,i nt
egri
ty,humi li
ty,
har
dwor kandper sev
erancehavebeeninsti
ll
edinus.Aswepr epar
etobeginanewchapt erof
ourl
ives,l
etuscont i
nuewi t
hthesevi
rt
ues.Ientreatustov al
ueandmaintaintherelat
ionships
wehav ebuil
twitheachotherovert
heyears.

Atthi
spoint,Iwouldconcl
udebygi vi
ngthiswordofadv i
ce:weeachhav eouruni
questrengths
andabili
ti
es.Ifafishwasj udgedbyitsabi l
i
tytofl
yorwal k,i
twouldbeconsi
der
edaf ai
lure.
Thus,weshoul dnotmeasur eoursuccessbywhatot hersar eabl
eorunablet
odo,inst
eadwe
shoul
dut i
li
zeourGod- giv
engi ft
sandt alentsandsetst andardsthatwi
l
lmakeuspr oudas
al
umni ofHughGol di
eLay/Theologi
calTraini
ngInst
it
uti
on.

Val
edi
ctor
ySpeechbyUf
ere,
Godswi
l
lOme(
Classof2021)
,HughGodi
eInst
it
uton,
i Arochukwu:
:
::25thJune, Page2
2021.
Congr
atulat
ions,cl
assof2021.
GodblessHughGol dieI
nsti
tut
ion.
Godblessusall.Thankyou.

Val
edi
ctor
ySpeechbyUf
ere,
Godswi
l
lOme(
Classof2021)
,HughGodi
eInst
it
uton,
i Arochukwu:
:
::25thJune, Page3
2021.