CHARLESTOWN, Nevis. May 25, 2010. Worshippers drawn from seven Methodist Church congregations in Nevis on Sunday held an open air crusade and engaged in an adventure Gospel extravaganza on a Sea Bridge cruise in the Caribbean Sea from 4.00 p.m to 8.00 p.m the same day.
On board was Jamaican charismatic preacher, Franklin Small, who had drawn huge crowds during a seven-day crusade held at the Charlestown Methodist Church grounds last week. Small is a Baptist Pastor in Hannover Street Circuit of Baptist Churches in North Coast.
The Methodist movement with over 70 million followers worldwide was founded by John Wesley. Wesley believed open-air preaching was the most effective way of reaching large audiences. People in the harsh rough-and-tumble of eighteenth-century Britain were attracted to his message.
In the style of Wesley, a former Rasta, Franklin told worshippers that the only foundation that can stabilize lives is Jesus Christ, “some build their lives on pleasure, hypocrisy, wealth but the proper foundation is Jesus Christ.”
He likened Jesus to the capstone, the cornerstone and a key stone and said Jesus was alive, “He is not dead. He is still alive. Biblical Peter told his audiences in the past that he was inviting them to the corner stone, a stone that is alive. The same Jesus is alive and can stabilize your life. We all have to build our lives on a proper foundation and that foundation is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the corner stone that completes and seals your life.”
“If you reject Jesus, you will be sorry when you stand before God and give an account of your life. He has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light,” Small told an attentive audience.
During the week, he spoke about his personal experience with Jesus Christ. As early as the age of 14, Small embraced the Rastafarian faith. A student friend in third form took him to a revival meeting where he was convinced Jesus was the way and the truth, “I experienced the transforming power. It was a different type of high. It was not temporary. I did not have to take another joint and another to maintain the high. I experienced and still experience a sense of joy that no one else and nothing else can give..”
He said in an interview after the conclusion of his speaking engagement in Nevis that he is still very proud of black culture and still admires certain values and principles Rastafarians uphold and cited their ability to share, respect and love each other. “When Rastas serve their meals, they scoop out equal portions. You share your meal. You go back for another helping after this equal portion is shared out.”
However, Small said the type of fulfillment and peace derived from accepting Jesus as Lord and saviour creates a greater level of consciousness about God in a personal way than I felt when I was a Rasta.”
Asked how the church in Jamaica was responding to gang violence, he said his church offers training in various skills and ensures that the church members interact with youth in inner cities where they are. His church also coordinates a soccer team, “I rarely sit in my church office, I am out in the streets preaching.”
“Christians must accept and reach out to those making mistakes,” Pastor Small told followers of Jesus Christ. Methodist Church, Charlestown’s Pastor,Rev.Baptiste Dennis who invited Pastor Small to Nevis said Pastor Small’s preaching engagement had been well received, “he was greatly appreciated. Persons were challenged. Persons made commitments. The response to his messages was overwhelming. They wanted us to continue another week.”
Asked why he and members of the Methodist Church had chosen an open air approach that included a Gospel cruise on the Sea Bridge, he said, “Jesus went to the market place. We need to go where people are.” Pressed to say what his church was doing about the gang related violence, he admitted that many people find it a major challenge to confront the gang issue.
“We should continue to use the public forums to address the issue. We should also continue to use the media but the most effective way is to go where the gang members are. God alone is able to give us bold spirits that give us courage to confront the issue,” he said.
“The churches have to get out of the box and reach youth where they are. Paul became all things that he might win people to Christ. We can only know the reality by going where the youth are,” Rev. Dennis noted.
