“Tell the people to Go Forward; this is my counsel and encouragement to the leadership of the Church in the North Jamaica Conference (NJC), exclaimed Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, as he addressed the newly installed leaders of the Conference.
He continued “There is a saying that I have used time and time again, but it is worth repeating…Leadership is not easy, Leadership is hard work, it is lonely, it is hardship. Dr. Archer as leader your message to the workers and members must be ‘Hitherto has the Lord God brought us’, Let us Go Forward.”
The Service of Installation for the newly elected officers, directors, and executive committee of the NCJ was held on Sabbath, March 5, 2022, at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Falmouth.
Referencing Exodus 14, Pastor Brown explained that “In what could be considered a watershed moment in the history of the liberated slaves of Egypt, the children of Israel doubted God and questioned their God-appointed leader Moses. But God spoke to Moses and gave him a succinct and terse message for the people he led. Doubts had crept into the camp of Israel; the people were complaining. They were tempted to forget the way God led in the past, and the deadly virus of unbelief and the cancer of doubts were slowly finding their way into the language, psych, mindset and mode of operation of the people of God.”
“Ebenezer We Will Go.” Like Israel, people will forget; like Israel, people will be tempted; like Moses, God’s message to you this evening is ‘keep raising your Ebenezer, keep moving forward’,” Brown added.
The officers and directors who were elected at the Fourth Quadrennial Session held February 22-23, 2022, are as follows:
- President – Pastor Karl Archer
- Executive Secretary – Pastor Carlington Hylton
- Treasurer – Elder Dane Ellis
- Vice President – Pastor Astor Bowers
- Sabbath School and Personal Ministries – Pastor Daniel Miller
- Youth and Children’s Ministries – Pastor Ameil Summerbell
- Family ministries – Pastor Kirkland Parkinson
- Communication and Ministerial Secretary- Pastor Wenworth Monroe
- Stewardship and Trust Services – Pastor Astor Bowers
- Health and Women’s Ministries – Elder Christine Shand
- Public Affairs and Religious Liberty – Pastor Carlington Hylton
Appointments for the positions of Publishing and Education Directors will be done at the executive Committee meetings of the Conference and Jamaica Union.
“You are being installed as church leaders in a time of unprecedented spiritual and social crisis. Sinners are embolden to sin. Immorality is celebrated as normative and immoral men and women have been placed on the pedestal of national and international prominence. In these times the Church must speak and shine as the light of the living God in a darkened world.”
“Members of the Committee, to accomplish the task, the mission before you is onerous and by your strength alone it is not only impossible but inconceivable.”
“Welcome once again to the joys and sorrows of leading God’s church. Be assured as you lead that you are not alone, you are not on your own; God is with you and nothing is impossible with God. Therefore in your ministry and service to God and the Church, be faithful, be honest, be courageous, be truthful, fair-minded to the people you lead and serve, be just, be transparent, be forgiving, be like Christ,” Pastor Brown concluded.
