On the morning of Sunday, March 17th, the Dominion Faith Center, under the leadership of Pastors Jerome and Ruthlyn Harrigan, held its eighth anniversary service in a jubilant spirit of praise and thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God and His providence throughout the course of its ministry.
Eight years ago, the Dominion Faith Center was the embryonic vision of Pastor Dexter Welcome and his wife, Rochelle, who had established the charismatic ministry, amidst a welcoming atmosphere, with devout and faithful saints. Over the years, the church had developed significantly. When Pastor Welcome left Anguilla with his family, in July of 2017, he relinquished his leadership to Pastor Jerome who has held the reins since then.
Sunday’s celebrative service, with the theme: “Still Looking Unto Jesus”, featured several specialties. An anointed prayer of thanksgiving was offered by Sister Mary Walters who is a dedicated and longstanding member of the church, and a special prayer of blessings was made by Sister Michelle Daniel.
The worship team effectively led the congregation in spirit-filled praises, through the energetic singing of inspiring songs, the likes of which were: “You Wear the Victor’s Crown” originated by Darlene Zschech; and “You Still Love Me”, made popular by Tasha Cobbs. Pastor Ruthlyn also led a song of befitting testimony, “For Every Mountain”, originally performed by the Kurt Carr Singers. All these preceded the theme song for the sermon, “We are Able to Go Up and take the Country”.
Special renditions of the day continued as Bro. Shem Wills chaired a brief program, which called for more rousing items like a worshipful dance to the song “Lord You’re Holy”; the rendering of the song “I Will Trust in You” magnificently done by the children, led by young Shae Wills, and the song “Still” by the Men’s Ministry. Tim Godfrey’s “You’ve Done so much For Me” (Nara) was gracefully performed by the Women’s Ministry. Jade Laurent finally choreographed a captivating, most riveting, dance to the song, “He Turned It”, sung by Tye Tribbett.
By this time, Pastor Jerome was ready to deliver his sermon, but, before he did, he thanked and commended several of the parishioners for their longstanding faithfulness and dedication to the work of the ministry over the years. His message of encouragement bore the theme: “The Power or A Caleb Spirit.” His text was taken from the Book of Numbers, Chapter 13 and 14.
This scripture gives an account of the people of Israel’s challenge after God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. They were now instructed by God to go up and possess the Land of Canaan — the Land of Promise.
The Pastor preached: “God had instructed Moses to prepare a group of men and send them up to Canaan to spy out the land and to see who was there and what was there. In this process, God was testing the Israelites to see how determined they were to actually possess the land that He had promised them.
“So, Moses sent twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel, as spies to assess the Promised Land. Let me remind you that there are some things that God has indeed promised us, but we must have sufficient determination and fortitude in order to possess them. We must work and fight to claim them and bring them home.
“The Christian race is for no weaklings. We wrestle not against the elements of flesh and blood. We are not fighting a physical battle, but we are battling a spiritual war. It will take spiritual strategy in order to conquer, and we will ultimately win because God is on our side. He is fighting for us.”
Jerome Harrigan
He noted how God fought on behalf of the Israelites, even though many of the men whom Moses sent to Canaan considered themselves as insignificant grasshoppers in the eyes of the people who dwelled there. However, he applauded the faith of Caleb and Joshua who was positive in their outlook, claiming: “We are able to go up and take the country, and to possess the land.”
“The Pastor went on: “Today, I want to challenge you to take on the ‘Power of a Caleb Spirit’. The scripture tells us that Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said to them: ‘Let us go up at once and posses the land, for we are well able to overcome it.’
“So, tell your neighbor, ‘Leh we go!’. We are not afraid of any giants, for God has placed a greater spirit within us. It’s a Caleb spirit. In verse 25 of Chapter 14, God said this: ‘But because my servant Caleb had another spirit within him, and he followed me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it.’ It is a Caleb spirit that will say, ‘yes we are able’. It is a Caleb spirit that would not mind the giants around us.”
Pastor Jerome encouraged the congregation, on this eighth anniversary, to believe in, and agree with, the Scripture in Luke 1:37 that “with God nothing shall be impossible” for Dominion Faith Center.
Written by Staff Reporter, James Harrigan
