Sylvester had friends, a lot of them, and they were all talented kids. From the day he entered the School of Dawn, he had decided to start his cult. That included even the kids who were at the bottom of the class of God's Favoured.
The reason was simple. If a kid was talented or intelligent enough to enter God's Favoured class, then he was already among the top talents of the Church. So, Sylvester evaluated every single kid and made a character profile on them.
He looked into their past, their motivations, and their future aspirations. The common theme among most was that they came from poor financial backgrounds. So, from the start, he began giving them money to send home to help their family. In addition, he used Sir Dolorem's contacts in the Inquisitors to help many kids by providing aid to their parents.