The analogy of the instructors would be that of military officers. Our instructors must have experience and be dedicated to prayer and great personal effort to encourage our youth to find perfection in Christ.
“The inexperienced are in need of wise generals who by prayer and personal effort will encourage and help them to become perfect in Christ Jesus, wanting in nothing.”
The Review and Herald, December 1, 1904
We find in this rebuke how instructors are to train the youth to be self-reliant and to learn critical thinking skills.
“I am sorry that, as a wise general, he has not trained them to be self-reliant, and has not refused to do their thinking and brain work, that they might have obtained an experience which today would be more valuable to them than gold.”
PH167 21.1
Instructors must be well balanced, wise, considerate, have insight into human nature and a healthy fear of God.
“O for generals, wise and considerate, well-balanced men, who will be safe advisers, who have some insight into human nature, who know how to direct and counsel in the fear of God.”
Selected Messages (2SM 362.3)
Our instructors must understand the unique age we are living in and while they should not allow for compromise, should also not be isolated from the church but instead unite with ministers and church officers gaining the support of the Seventh-Day Adventist church body.
“The leaders in God's cause, as wise general, are to lay plans for advance moves all along the line, In their planning, they are to give special study to the work that can be done by the laity for their friends and neighbors. The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church-membership, rally to the work, and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers.”
Young Men as Missionaries (PH010 6.3)
Our instructors must prepare for the challenges which will soon face us in the future:
“Though the Lord does not require that his ministers labor beyond their physical ability, still, if they had, like wise generals planned to make every stroke tell for the future as well as for the present influence of the work, there might have been many more believers than there are today.”
PH118 9.1
“There are many who wait to have the truth. There is hope of them. While their minds are aroused and convicted, and they have a disposition to investigate, present truth prudently, as wise generals prepare for the issue.”
2LtMs, Lt 34, 1875, par. 18
Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our instructors must be able to assess the natural talents which God placed uniquely into each worker so that they can be best utilized based on their ability.
“God would have us bring far more thoughtful intelligence into our labors. We should appoint certain ones to do a certain work, and not lay upon one man several kinds of work, so that he will not have a chance to do any of it with efficiency. Men should be trained up so that they will be prepared to fill different positions of trust. There are many who do not offer themselves to the work, but wise generals will see to it that those who are qualified for the work, shall have a place in it. They will counsel, encourage, and give them assurances of sympathy and confidence.”
The Home Missionary (HM February 1, 1890, par. 9)
Our instructors must be discrete and be flexible to change, adapting as necessary on the spiritual battlefield.
“From the light given me by the Lord, I have a warning to present to our brethren. Do not wise generals keep their movements strictly secret, lest the enemy shall learn their plans, and work to counteract them? If the enemy has no knowledge of their movements, they have an advantage. We are to study the field carefully and are not to think that we must follow the same methods in every place. If we move wisely, without one tinge of boasting, without stopping to challenge the enemy, if we advance one line of truth after another, crowding in the most important and soul-testing [truths], the Lord will take care of the result...”
Letters and Manuscripts (12LtMs, Lt 13, 1897, par. 9)
Our instructors must demonstrate sound judgment and undeviating principles with unbending integrity while executing this with gentleness and demonstrate the love of Christ. They must daily request wisdom from the Holy Spirit and demonstrate emotional, cultural and spiritual intelligence.
“It is of great importance that the one who is chosen to care for the spiritual interests of patients and helpers be a man of sound judgment and undeviating principle, a man who will have moral influence, who knows how to deal with minds. He should be a person of wisdom and culture, of affection as well as intelligence. He may not be thoroughly efficient in all respects at first; but he should, by earnest thought and the exercise of his abilities, qualify himself for this important work. The greatest wisdom and gentleness are needed to serve in this position acceptably yet with unbending integrity; for prejudice, bigotry, and error of every form and description must be met.”
Testimonies for the Church 4:546, 547 (1880)
Moreover, they must be humble, compassionate and other-centered.
“Man would have dispensed with that long period of toil and obscurity, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom called him who was to become the leader of his people to spend forty years in the humble work of a shepherd. The habits of caretaking, of self-forgetfulness and tender solicitude for his flock, thus developed would prepare him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. No advantage that human training or culture could bestow could be a substitute for this experience.”
Patriarchs and Prophets, 247.4 (1890)
They must have faith and prayer, earnestly seeking truth and wisdom.
“Those holding the positions of counselors should be unselfish men, men of faith, men of prayer, men that will not dare to rely upon their own human wisdom, but will seek earnestly for light and intelligence as to what is the best manner of conducting their business.”
Patriarchs and Prophets, 247.4 (1890)
As described by Jesus they must understand they are operating behind enemy lines and must be ever mindful of the battle they are fighting while operating with love.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”
Matthew 10:16
Realizing that those around them may not be awakened to reality of the Great Controversy and having sympathy for those we encounter who do not seek chaos.
“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”
Daniel 12:10