The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

UNDER the theme “Strengthen The Things That Remain”, members of the Bethel Baptist Association will celebrate their 75th convocation, kicking off today.

The convocation activities started this morning with a session at St Paul’s in Fox Hill, and will continue tonight at 7pm with a combined session for women and men.

Minister Lavette McFall, chairperson of the Bethel Baptist Association, said these sessions are for members to come together to speak on critical issues in the Bahamas.

“We are going to talk about how can we can come together and bind our strength to help communities. All of our churches are in communities that need our help. We want to know how can we pull our resources together and strengthen our programmes,” she told Tribune Religion.

“We are putting godly wisdom together to ask how can we do it together and not by ourselves. We are looking forward to a strong teaching. For the women and men session, they will come together to be in the forefront to display a combined effort in strength and unity.”

During the Youth Night session to be held tomorrow night beginning 7pm at Bethel Baptist Church, Meeting Street, Minister McFall said Bahamians from all around the islands are expected to take part.

“They will come and have a time of praise and worship. The word of God will be there to teach the youth that the choices they make determine their future. They can choose which way to go,” said Minister McFall.

Additionally, a prayer breakfast will be held at 8am at the New Mount Zion Baptist Church, Baillou Hill Road South, on Saturday. A conference workshop will follow at 11am at the Bethel Baptist Church, with a closing session to follow on Sunday at 7pm. Music will be provided by the association dance ministry, praise team, sanctuary choir, youth choir and men’s choirs. All sessions are hosted and moderated by Rev Timothy Stewart.

Speaking on the “Strengthen The Things That Remain” theme of the convocation, Minister McFall said it was inspired by everyday issues that people face in the Bahamas.

“Our nation seems to be decaying and falling apart. We are looking at our families and how the foundation of the family has been weakened. We look at our church, communities and our governmental systems. It is just so many things around us that seem to be on the down low, so we thought it was critical that during these trying times to have something that would reassure people that there is hope,” she said.

Minister McFall said the answer to these issues is God, and the word of God will stand forever.

“We say that we are a Christian nation and our whole system is based on the word of God, so we are reminding people that the Bible says that heaven and Earth will pass away, but the word of God will stand forever. So what we are saying is the word of God is still what it is. We need to get the message out and strengthen the message of the gospel.

“We need to let people know that there is hope in God.

“We believe that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and we believe that our God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Other things change, but God does not,” she said.

Minister McFall said it does not matter if a person finds themselves in a difficult or trying situation; there is always hope. She said she would like to encourage all readers to strengthen what they know, strengthen their prayer and praise life and the positive things around them. “Do not just get caught up in the negativity that you may see every day,” she said.

“We want people to leave the convocation services knowing that they came in one way, but they will leave feeling as though they can conquer their situations and rise up. There may be single people that attend, I want them to leave knowing that they can make it with the help of God. If God has me here, I know that he has me here for a purpose. Once I have what it takes, I know that I will overcome and I will be promoted in due season. We want people to leave knowing this. We want them to know that the God in them is greater than any situation facing them.”

Being a part of Bethel Baptist for many years, Minister McFall said the association has grown in strength because there was always a focus on coming together and a fellowship.

“Over the years people have gotten sidetracked with social media and all of the different things that attract us now, and back then we didn’t have so many distractions.

“However, I can say that in spite of the distractions, I can see where we have come together as a body and stay determined to continue to promote the gospel and connect with our Family Island churches.

“So in spite of the changes, I still see a strong youth, women and men’s arm. We have been able to hold on and that growth has gone from four founding churches to 19 strong, vibrant churches,” Minister McFall said.