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Jamaican Update I Cor. 13:11
Preaching &
Teaching in the Classroom
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as
a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.” I Cor 13:11
This week’s classroom study at Pike All Age School in
Manchester Jamaica our lesson was taken from the 116th Psalm. I said to
myself, where in America (in a school funded by the government) can a
Pastor conduct a class with the Bible as his textbook? Then I realized
what an awesome door of utterance for someone unworthy as me.
This week I had the privilege of sharing our experience
of salvation with about 20 students. I told them when I was their age I
lost interest in school (and the golden rule) and took on the nature of
raging bull. I ran with some unruly boys and was known by the company I
kept. It was about a month after my release from the county detention
facility that I traveled from the Missouri side of Kansas
to Southwest Missouri Ozarks to spend some time on my Uncle & Aunt’s
dairy farm. My Uncle and Aunt carried me to revival and there the songs,
the testimonies and the preaching had a strange influence on me. It all
affected my heart and soon like the psalmist in our lesson I found
trouble and sorrow in my soul. At that moment I realized I was lost and
began to cry trying to hide my tears but I did not want to die and go to
hell. I fell on the altar and cried unto the Lord and He gave me peace
and forgiveness for my sins. When I came to my senses having been moved
by the Spirit, the classroom was quiet and every student had their eyes
fixed on me.
It was a humbling experience as I remembered Isaiah 55:11
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Brother Dwen shared his experience of salvation and captured their
attention. The thought being accountable to God for being bad, dying and
going to Hell did not sit well with some of the students in the
detentions class.
I recall some years back when during a revival at Silent
Hill one of the young men on the altar turned out to be one of the
students I had preached to in my early devotionals when he was a student
at Pike All-age School. That occasion blessed me knowing that our labor
at the school was not in vain.
It was heartwarming to know I had the attention of the
class as I told them after being saved I had a blast doing good and my
report card reflected the change in me. Please pray for us in the weeks
to come that the Lord will use Bro Dwen and me as we continue our weekly
class. Who would have ever thought a boy placed in detention for his
unruly behavior would find favor in God eyes and today have the
opportunity to preach to a class of students about his & their Savior!
Elder Rick Jones
Old Timey Missionary Baptist Church
PO Box 1694
Manchester, Jamaica W.I.
(876) 420-7866 |
