The vision of Prayer 2000 continues to be realized with the establishment of a National Prayer Centre. This centre will be primarily used for ongoing national prayer, training of intercessors and evangelists and the staging of prayer events and meetings.
This centre in Kingston is also equipped to house missionaries and others who travel to the corporate area for the Lord’s business and need short-term accommodation.
This new initiative has become a reality through the partnership of OSJ and the Curtis Cole Foundation. The property, which is owned by the Curtis Cole Foundation, has been leased to OSJ to operate as a prayer centre.
Prayer 2000 held a series of meetings from May 11–14 in three locations: Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay. These were sessions in which we had intensive times of prayer and the ministry of George Otis Jr. of The Sentinel Group (Producers of the Transformation Videos) and Ruth Ruebal of Cali, Columbia.
The meetings were very successful as all were well attended and we believe they have prepared the way both in exposure and contact for the all-island community impact (OSJ Community Programme).
The Observer newspaper inaccurately reported one of George Otis’ comments which generated much discussion via editorials, articles and letters in the local media. Though most of the comments were negative, we consider the promotion positive. It gave us greater exposure through our replies and explanations and provided the avenue to reach others, who would not have taken an interest in the meetings otherwise.
In January of next year, a missionary couple, Graham and Katrina Palmer, from the UK will be coming to work with OSJ on its various projects. They will be here for six months in the initial stage. They are committed and ready to start. Their experience is wide and will be highly beneficial to us. Please pray for them and their time with us.
The All Island Community Transformation Programme seeks to ‘Preach the WHOLE Gospel to the WHOLE Nation, reaching the WHOLE Man, using the WHOLE Church’ The vision of the programme is to bring sustainable, social and economic revival to Jamaica so that, by the sovereign grace of God at the end of 2007 due to the efforts of an interdenominational intercessory and evangelical ministry, every Jamaican will have been introduced to Jesus Christ and offered the opportunity to:
This vision of transformation is no longer a dream but has begun with the development of the Old Harbour/Spring Village pilot project. The pilot project seeks to develop the programme on a smaller community scale, following on the pattern of the national zone programme which includes several communities. The pilot project will enable us to more efficiently plan the programme step by step to ensure all aspects are completely covered.
We are now in the intercessory phase of the project with the 40-day prayer and fast completed and intercessory training in progress.
Over the year we have had a number of gospel concerts in Majesty Gardens. The concerts have had a significant impact on the community as reported by David Chang of Covenant Community Church who we went in there to support.
He said that the concerts ‘wake up the area’ as many persons have became very open to the gospel and to attending church. He stated as well that the concerts helped to breakdown barriers, as persons from ‘up the road’ began to relate to persons ‘at the bottom’ of the road.
The concerts and the football programme supported by OSJ have made a significant impact on the young men in the area, a number of them are now committed Christians.
The above has resulted in the plan for a local church to be established in the community. We are therefore partnering with the Covenant Community Group of churches to establish a Majesty Gardens Covenant Community Church. There are regular weekly meetings held in the community.
We have answered the call of the area to have another major concert. This is planned for December 8, 2002. We have also started GSAT extra lessons managed by Wayne Rochester.
Operation Restoration is a vital ministry which we have continued to support in a number of ways—giving professional, financial and spiritual support and advice.
Recently the school rose in the esteem of the community when nine out of ten of its students obtained passes in the Grade Nine Achievement Test.
This outcome is not only positively viewed by the community but also by agencies such as the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and by the Member of Parliament for the area Dr Omar Davies.
Lorna Stanley who is the founder/director of Operation Restoration is regarded as a matriarch of the community and is an activist for positive change. This was recently evident when the Rema community asked her to speak on their behalf on national television to emphatically state that they would not retaliate after the brutal slaying of three young children and a child yet unborn.
The pastors in Trench Town continue to meet every second Thursday under the leadership of Pastor Errol Henry. This fraternal which OSJ played a prominent role in forming continues to be very active. One of the major events held by the fraternal this year was a crusade at which over a thousand persons attended and many responded to the call of the gospel.
The Hugh Sherlock Centre has been transformed from being two three-storey derelict and abandoned buildings to two refurbished buildings (one not fully completed). The renovated buildings are being beneficially utilized.
There is still need for support especially in the after school project and the completion of the various skills training facilities.
This summer MAN through Operation Rescue (Restoring Esteem through Securing Corporate Underwriting of Employment) successfully placed 25 young men in summer jobs with various companies needing their services but were unable to pay their salaries. Operation Rescue raised funds from other larger corporations in order to support these youngsters while they gained much needed work experience in these smaller companies.
OSJ has grown and the vision is unfolding. We have found that it is now necessary to consolidate and properly administer our activities. To this end we have officially established a secretariat dedicated to the work of OSJ.
The secretariat will administer and coordinate the various projects of OSJ, including the All Island Community Transformation Programme, the breakfast meetings, the concerts and other events and the new National Prayer Centre.
If you have any questions or need additional information on any aspect of our programmes, please do not hesitate to contact the Secretariat at info@operationsavejamaica.org.