Seventh Day Adventists organise 2 week gospel event about life and health on Sportsfield

The Daily Herald reports today that the Seventh Day Adventist Church is organising gospels for a period of 2 weeks at Princess Juliana sports field in the Bottom. These gospels are initiated by Pastor Sams from St. Eustatius under directorship of the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh Day Adventists (SDA). The gospels started on Sunday, November 2, and were opened by Governor Jonathan Johnson. There will be a gospel every night (except Thursday) until November 15 starting around 6:30pm. On Saturday it will be held in the afternoon.

“The aim of this programme is to create awareness of health and life and to avoid people on Saba from getting sick” says 26-year-old Pastor and Saba resident Mervin Al
exander. In an informal meeting, Alexander explained he came to Saba in March 2014 after his wife Tessa got a job offer as a social worker for the Centre of Youth and Family. Their initial plan was to move to Statia but when this offer was presented to them they simply couldn’t refuse.

Alexander was born and raised on St. Lucia and finished his study in theology in Trinidad in 2013 at the University of the Southern Caribbean. Now, besides being a pastor for the SDA Church, he is an assistant social worker for the island government.

Alexander starts the gospel every evening with a song, after which guest speakers Dr. Davis (USA), Henry Peters (Grenada) and his wife Margaret take over. They will talk about Health and Life.

Mervin calls this a “gospel explosion” because of the vastness of issues that are brought up during their gospels. In the “Life” topics they talk about being free from addiction and learning to find your purpose in life. One example of a health issue addressed is that there are many remedies to be found in nature such as for instance the healing and cleansing effect of Garlic. “The trick is to avoid getting sick instead of treating a disease and garlic helps greatly to achieve that goal.” explains Alexander.

There are many problems concerning health on Saba, they include cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. On Wednesday morning Pastor Sams met with Dr. Koot and Dr. Blauwboer at the Saba Hospital to talk about these issues.

The number of attendants at the gospels has grown rapidly from about 15 people on the opening night to about 35 on Wednesday. Pastor Sams expects more people to come during the coming days. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.