Report on 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend

God is Good all the Time & all the Time God is Good

Well, the weekend many Carmelites were looking towards have come and gone and once again, God has come through and confounded us with His faithfulness & goodness. Can you imagine that in the midst of seemingly insurmountable negative circumstances – notably, the tense situation caused by violence in the community and inclement and unstable weather for about seven (7) consecutive days, including the day of our kickoff session, we were able to have such a blessed time together.

With rains in the forecast for the whole weekend up to Monday, things really looked dismal for our anniversary celebrations, but now, reflecting on the way God worked things out for us, we can say like the Apostle Paul, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen (Eph 3:20-21).

Truly, we had a blessed time, meeting, greeting, reminiscing, laughing, working, playing, praising and more. With all that was happening, we had to adjust our plans a number of times, but in the end the Lord led us to the right mix, that allowed us to give back to Carmel and the community, and to truly achieve our anniversary theme of, “Remembering the Past, Redeeming the Present, Renewing for the Future.”

We share some of the highlights below:

Liming at the Annex.

This kickoff event was originally scheduled for Carmel’s balcony, but was held at Maranatha’s annex instead. In two words, it was “absolutely great.” Braving the persistent showers, over seventy (70) Carmelites and friends had a whale of a time meeting, greeting and going down memory lane.
· After the initial meeting, greeting, nuff hugging we were led by members of the Carmel Praise team down memory lane with some old time choruses.
· To bridge the gap between present & former Carmelites, Paul and Opal had us doing some activities to answer the questions, “Who am I? Who are you?
· A brief sharing session followed, and we still remember Michelle’s (or is that Gertrude’s) disturbance at the worship service, and her uncomfortable encounter with Bro Rich and Rhona.
· Finally, Glen encouraged us to endeavor to keep the Carmel vibes & fellowship going, wherever we may be.

Click here to view liming pictures

Workday at Carmel

Though off to a slow start, we were able to work on a number of projects. It really was refreshing and heartening to see present & former Carmelites, youngsters (including small kids), oldsters and friends from the community chipping in and doing their bit to make the work day a success. Some of the projects worked on were:
· Complete tiling of rooms behind main hall.
· Cleaning/ of Church office
· Concrete patching of Netball Court
· Sorting/categorizing and data entry of library books (ongoing)
· Repairs to ceiling and electrical wiring of toilet facilities.
· Installation of network for the whole property (computer lab, office, hall etc). This project is ongoing and should be completed by Oct 27th

CLICK HERE TO VIEW WORKDAY PICTURES

Of note also is a meeting convened among former Carmelites to discuss the present and future needs at Carmel. One of the main decisions coming out of that meeting is a plan to pool resources for investment in a Foreign Exchange club (e.g. Olint), with the monthly accrued interest being used to support the work at Carmel.

Special Morning Services & Anniversary Service

Adjustments were made to the order of our morning services to allow for a earlier start at 7:30 am - Breaking of Bread, Family Bible Hour (Speaker – Ray Wynter), Sunday School (Storyteller – Michelle Clarke-Scott)

Highlights included:
· The dynamic praise & worship session led by the Praise Team
· Andrea’s singing of “He’s so Wonderful”
· Keith’s best memory of Carmel – becoming a Christian. On the humourous side, he could not remember what he remembered
· Doreen singing “Alleluia to the Lamb”
· Ray’s exposition of Acts 2, highlighting that Carmel must continue to be like the early church/pioneers, which was a force in the community and was characterized by numerical and spiritual growth
· Michelle’s telling the story about the feeding of the over 5000, and that like the little boy giving up his lunch, God wants boys & girls to give themselves and what they have to Him. The kids enjoyed it.

Click here to view Sunday Morning pictures

The turnout for the anniversary service on Sunday evening was tremendous. Despite the news of violent flare-ups in the community, our brethren from other assemblies turned out in great numbers to celebrate with us God’s blessings over these fifty years. There were representatives from most South East assemblies, and of note Galilee closed their Sunday evening meeting to be with us. The turnout was so good that at the end Clarry had to advise Carmelites that this was one time “Parson could not chrisen him pickney fust,” as we had to allow our many visitors to eat first of the refreshments.

Highlights included:
-Another great praise & worship session led by the praise team.
-Andre’s accompanying on the piano
-Carmel combined choir singing our anniversary anthem, “Everyday is a Day of Thanksgiving”
-The dedication of the 2-floor multipurpose building in memory of Bro. Edgar – now called “The Edgar A. Smith Learning Centre”
-Barry’s singing of, “I’ll tell the World that I’m a Christian”
-Carmel sign team doing, “My Help"
-Jasper's challenge from a number of passages including 1 Cor 10:11, James 4:14 & Rom 12:1-2 for us to live up to the our anniversary theme of remembering the past, redeeming the present ,and renewing for the future.

Click for Anniversary Service pictures

Sports Outreach & Concert

Some persons felt that Sunday night could have been a fitting climax to our celebrations, but the Lord had much more in store for us and what unfolded on the Monday (Heroes Day) was truly awesome (a sell-off if you will). Originally planned as a sports outreach venture for the whole community at the Rockfort Football Club, the event was relocated to the grounds of Carmel. Though scaled down, again the turnout of Carmelites and friends was quite heartening.

Highlights of the day included:

-Prizes & Surprizes for the kids.
-Table games including dominoes, table tennis etc
-Sale of Jerk chicken, curried goat, soup etc
-5 a side football match - Oldsters vs. Youngsters which ended 1-1.
-Netball match - Oldsters vs. youngsters which the youngsters won 11-9. Of course, most persons agree that the result would have been different if the youngsters did not get help from a male (David).
-The grand finale – A outreach program in the form of a concert by a gifted group of singers and musicians called the Voices (from Fellowship Tabernacle) and message by Donahue Collash from Galilee. Their gig was truly inspiring, and by this time the church yard was packed with worshippers, singing, dancing & praising the Lord. Collash spoke from Prov 14:27 and shared from his personal experience growing up in Rockfort, that respecting & reverencing God, leads to a blessed life.

Click here to view Sports outreach pictures

What's in a Name?

There are two “Carmels” mentioned in the Bible – a range of hills about twelve (12) miles long near the west coast of Palestine where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to prove the true and living God (1 Kings 18). The other one is a little town near Haifa on the Mediterranean coast. God proved Himself to Israel during Elijah’s time, and He has proved faithful over these fifty (50) years of Carmel’s existence. In these “last days” when the community and country is facing so much moral and spiritual decline, and is at war with itself, we continue to trust Him and only Him for providing hope in the midst of hopelessness, and peace in the presence of war.

Carmel means “fertile or fruitful place,” and though we are not always at the place we should be, let us endevour to spare no effort in growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus (2 Pet 3:18)

Carmel - Celebrating 50 Years of Ministry in Rockfort

Cicero the famous ancient Roman orator and governor once said, “To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain a child forever.” It is important to know your history, for it is in looking back we can appreciate our roots, learn from our failures and successes, so that we can work and plan effectively for the present and the future.

Carmel’s history is a testimony to the goodness, guidance and power of God. In the early days there were no local church in the Rennocks Lodge community, and a team of concerned brethren from Galilee Gospel Hall which started in 1947 would conduct Open Air Meetings across the community. Eventually the Sunny Side Evangelistic Crusaders comprising Noel Aiken, Aubrey McGann and Keith Rowe of Galilee Gospel Hall started a crusade on the grounds where Carmel now stands on Dec 31, 1956 – exactly fifty (50) years ago. The main speaker was Aubrey McGann who, besides being a tall and talented footballer was also a gifted Evangelist. The meetings attracted hundreds of people from the area and many got saved. So good were the signs that the meeting was extended for another week.

After the excitement of the crusade had died the difficult work of “following-up” the new converts started. It was here that the hard working Noel Aiken excelled. First, he organized regular meetings in the tent and saw to the visitation and care of the “babes in Christ.” They had many problems in those early days. They found out that the man who claimed to own the land was not the rightful owner – this after they had paid him a deposit of five pounds for it. Eventually the land was acquired from the government.

Carmel since then has grown from strength to strength and continues to make a significant impact on the community for the Lord. Known as a young people’s church, our main ministries and growth areas include the Sunday School, Youth Fellowship, Boys/Girls Club, and annual Easter Camp. As such, sports evangelism is an integral part of our outreach programme. In an effort also to cater to the whole man, and provide meaningful skills to residence, the HEART Skills Training programme was introduced a few years ago, and continues to benefit residents (mostly females) from inside and even outside the community.