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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Community
Nassau, Bahamas - While most churches were busy sprucing up their sanctuaries to welcome members and guests on one of the most important Sundays of the year, Transformation Ministries International pastors decided that they would step out of the walls of the church and into the community to ensure that their entire community looked bright and beautiful for Easter. The Men of Valor, the men's arm of the church, gathered it members for the first annual Community Clean up event. As Easter time marks the spring time, the church thought it a good idea to reach out to those in their neighborhood and assist in making the community an even more attractive place.
Located at 11 Dignity Gardens, the Men of Valor began at 8am on Saturday April 15, first by cleaning up the church grounds, and then moving through every corner of Dignity Gardens off Carmichael Road, and then heading to Millars Road in The Bacardi Road area. They worked along with a dump truck throughout the day and kept the mandate: "Take pride in your community, help clean up, tame the brush, make the paths more walkable!" Elder Roosevelt Whymms called for all churches to take up the same kind of mission in their various community so that as a whole, churches throughout the Bahamas can play a vital road in making "such a beautiful country" even more beautiful. He encouraged the general public to visit the church on a Sunday morning, where free breakfast is served to encourage members and visitors to attend even if they didn't have time to feed their families that morning. He said the youth arm is exciting and appealing to the young people, and groups such as the Men of Valor exist to keep members active and inspired.
"This community means a whole lot to us, and we intend to empower our community by cleaning it up, hoping that this effort would bring unity and awareness and express the love that we supposed to have for our community," said District Elder Paul Rolle. Psalms 133, said Assistant Pastor Ellis Farrington, notes that it is a good thing for brethren to dwell together in unity. Not only are the Men of Valor having a level of comradarie amongst themselves, he said they are knocking on doors in the community and sharing the good word whilst asking them if they may have any debris in the yard they wish to have removed. For residents who were not home, they still made sure to tend to the areas near the street along the walkways. He noted that even the pastors of the church put on their gloves and grabbed garbage bags and helped to clean up the community. "The Bible says by this should all men know that ye are my discipled if you have love together - and we see all the residents of Dignity Gardens as our brothers and sisters," said Pastor Farrington. The lone female on the Saturday clean up, Senior Pastor Sharon Rolle, was more than happy to cheer on the men and hand out flyers for her church, noting that as men are the head of the household, they set good examples for their families by engaging in this exercise.
"We at transformation Ministries International live in the land of Goshen, where nothing is lacking and nothing is broken," she said. "I am so excited to see a lot of young men going about and doing the work of the Lord. They will know we are Christians by our love. We have come to bring change and transformation into the lives of others and make their lives worth living."
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