St. Ann Jamaica…Omar Oliphant/JAMU
At a Service of Ordination, punctuated with joy and solemnity, Pastors Amiel Summerbell and Tavauhn Thomas were set aside for the work of the gospel. The Service took was held on Sabbath, March 11, 2017 at the Brown’s Town Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Ann.
Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica delivers the main charge to the Ordinands at the Service of Ordination held at the Brown’s Town Seventh-day Adventist Church on Saturday, March 11, 2017 (photos by Nigel Coke)
Make Spiritual Needs a Priority
In a very focused spiritual charge, Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica implored the Ordinands to make their spiritual needs and that of their family a priority.
“I charge you”, Brown said, “to know God, not merely academically and professionally, but to know Him as King of your life. Be God’s man and servant wherever you are. When you walk off the pulpit after you have delivered a sermon, your practice must be more powerful than your pronouncement. Dig deeper in the Word of God, spend more time with the Bible than social media, making sure the connection with Him is there every day.”
No Second-Class Vocation
As Pastor Brown’s message resonated with all who packed the Church, he reminded the Ordinands that their vocation is not a second-class one.
“You are called to carry out a ministry that is characterized by grace and excellence, a ministry where no one can buy you or sell you, where your frame of reference is God; to stand before kings and walk with peasants and share with them the love of God and lift them up to heavenly places where they will be broken by the Holy Spirit, and fall at the feet of Jesus and experience the love of God. That’s not a second-class vocation; it is a vocation of the highest rank”.
Finish the Race
The spiritual leader of the Church in Jamaica further charged the Pastors to “be faithful to your calling as a minister of the gospel and finish the race. Do not allow anything to make you lose sight of your ministry and as a consequence, fail your God or shortchange your flock. Be a good shepherd to your people…Do not allow anyone to sidetrack you…your call is a call for life”.
Born in the parish of St. Ann, Pastor Thomas pastors the Duncans District of Churches and has led over 200 persons so far to Christ since his employment in NJC in 2010. Pastor Summerbell, who is also from St. Ann, is the pastor for Stettin District of Churches in Trelawny and has also had a successful ministry since joining the work in NJC in 2011 with more than 200 baptism.
The ordained pastors were presented with their Certificates of Ordination by Pastor Astor Bowers, Ministerial Secretary of Jamaica Union Conference. They were also presented with copies of the Bible by president of the NJC, Pastor Karl Archer.
