The Tribune

By KORTNEY RODGERS

PASTOR Jeremiah Duncombe, former full-time pastor and president of The Bahamas Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, launched the Bahamas Global Impact Prayer and Fasting Network (BGI-PAFN) yesterday to address what he sees as “an eroding of the moral foundation of our country”.

Pastor Duncombe, the founder and CEO of the City of Refuge Agriculture Bible College in South Andros, said the initiative emerged after 40 days of prayer and fasting for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas this year from May 1 to June 9.

At the launch in the College of The Bahamas’ Harry C Moore Library he said: “There appears to be an eroding of the moral foundation of our country, and this is of enormous concern to myself and to our officers here in this organisation. We believe that with all of the anti-social activities occurring and the many challenges that our Commonwealth faces, there is one central solution. There is a panacea. And we believe that it is putting God first in our individual lives and in this nation.”

BGI-PAFN is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian network funded by its members designed to marshal prayer intercessors throughout the Bahamas by recruiting “hundreds and thousands of individuals from all Christian denominations to assist with praying and fasting for all political, civic, and religious leaders in the Bahamas.”

In addition, the Network plans to establish several other ministries, including collaborative evangelism with churches and communities, humanitarian services, education and training, affiliations with other national and global prayer and fasting ministries; body, soul, and spiritual renewal; and fundraising and scholarship ministries.

The organisation will set up units throughout New Providence and the Family Islands in order to gather people in one place to pray for blessings and unity within the country. Their first workshop and seminar is scheduled to take place over the National Heroes Day weekend in South Andros at the Agriculture Bible College. Its first significant fundraiser will be a benefit concert on October 26 at Evangelistic Temple, Collins Avenue, Nassau.

Elder David Williams, Director of Uplifting Men Ministry and treasurer of the BGI-PAFN, told The Tribune that he views this affiliation as an opportunity to cover Uplifting Men Ministry with unceasing prayer.

“I am seeking to recruit as many of the men that I get involved with to become a part of this organisation because true success in anything begins with prayer,” Elder Williams said.

His programme, which airs on Sunday at 3pm on ZNS, discusses issues facing young men within the Bahamas and will eventually become a part of the Network’s various ministries.

According to Pastor Duncombe, “if we adhere to Christian principles as our constitution suggests, we will have a better country; we will turn things around; we will see a diminishing of the blood-letting, the violence and the crime in this country because righteousness still exalts a nation”. Pastor Duncombe told The Tribune that he anticipates the establishment of a global centre and annual summit to be held in South Andros in the near future. The organisation invites the public to weekly prayer meetings at Evangelistic Temple every Tuesday from 12 to 1pm and encourages the community and corporate society to donate via their website www.bahamasglobalimpactpafnetwork.com.