More than twenty years ago, Adrian was a young Christian in a young campus ministry. He was “a president by force,” but he took the challenge to lead his fellow students. When he graduated in 2003, IVCF Negros Oriental State University in Dumaguete City was a thriving organization, active both in in- and off-campus activities.
Those years were crucial to his spiritual growth. Of the plenty lessons he learned through IVCF, one stood out: servant-leadership. It was, according to him, “a way of life for IVCFers.” He saw it displayed among student leaders in the city and the region. He saw it among the staff and graduates, some of whom became speakers at camps but came alongside students to wash dishes or sweep the floor. He modeled it himself, filling in the mold of those who have gone before him and, ultimately, back to the perfect Servant-Leader Himself, Jesus Christ.
Servant-leadership is not a fading echo of Adrian’s college days two decades ago but a loudspeaker that consistently blares in his life at present. He is a chief of police now, not by force but by vocation. In his new capacity, he likes to “meet, converse and talk to people from all walks of life, from the detainees in my station, their families, the visitors, the lowest rank in our office, the lowest and highest ranks in the community, and listen from their hearts and pray that I could give even a single word of encouragement and hope that comes from the hope and joy of my relationship with my Father and Savior.” He heard many times from people that he is the first police chief who has ever talked to them. Talk about a leader in true service to his constituents.
Viewing his career as his calling, Adrian reflects that he is there “not just to enforce the law but to continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord and testify of His love and goodness so that others may know Jesus Christ.” In addition, he enforces the law “not just to arrest violators because they violated the law but my desire is to address the heart of the offenders.” “Instead of hating them, I must have compassion for them,” he adds, because they, too, “need a Savior.”
The tucked-away tambayan in his school, the rooftop where they met for daily prayer meetings, the rooms at the College of Arts and Sciences where they held large group fellowships, or the lush Freedom Park where they chipped in for bread and extended talks – all these are far removed from his current confines, the chief’s office whose walls envelop the community Adrian now serves. But it was there that the seeds of servant leadership flourished in the heart of PMAJ Adrian A. Nalua. Or, as we fondly call him all these years, Kuya Ian.
PRAYER POINTS
- Pray for Adrian and other graduates who are in strategic positions, that they may bring transformation to where God has placed them.
- Pray for more graduates to work alongside the staff, either as Graduate Team (GT) Volunteers who will do “online campus work” or as ministry partners who will financially support the staff.
- Pray for the Kingdom Calling webinar series which will start on April 24. Pray that it will help the attendees see their strategic places in God’s Kingdom and will be challenged to act accordingly.
