Meet me in Enterprise to pray

Senator Foster Cummings, an active member of the Spiritual Baptist faith, yesterday said, “So come, dress up nice in your Baptist clothes”, and join him at the one of the main roadways leading to the besieged community.

“You have the place? You have the date? You have the time? I will see you there. Let us meet Sunday at 6 am at Enterprise Street.

All the Baptists from Enterprise, from all over TT, I want to invite you to pray with me,” Cummings said, to which the congregation responded with a resounding, “Yes!” He was speaking at the St Ann’s Church of Spiritual Metaphysics in Mc Bean Village, Couva yesterday during annual thanksgiving service in commemoration of the Spiritual Shouter Baptist Day celebrations.

Also at the celebrations was Community Development, Culture and the Arts Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby- Dolly.

In praying for the community, Cummings called on citizens to take time out from what they are doing and, “For the next couple days” remember those in Enterprise.

“We pray that these young men return to Jesus. We pray for God to draw them away from crime.

We send some love to Enterprise...

sometimes when the land is troubled, we need to call upon God,” Cummings added.

Yesterday, scores of Shouter Baptists flocked to the Couva church in a vibrant ceremony to worship, following a street procession which commenced at Deonarine Junction.

Prior to Cummings’ invitation, Archbishop Patrick Brown of the Church yesterday said the solutions to crime are love, unity and prayers especially among the youth.

“We want an injection to come down from God to inject them from sin to righteous. If we do not get that medicine, marching comes like nothing and prayer comes like nothing. We must have love in the country. We want the youths to have love and not hatred and jealously for one another,” Brown said.

In commenting on the amount of money government allocated to the Shouter Baptist groups, Cummings said the $20,000 figure was, “not completely accurate”.

He admitted while he did not have the exact figures, $20,000 may have been what one group received.

“We live in difficult times now.

The country is not in a position to fund things as before, but I would prefer in terms of the specifics as to how much was given to the Baptist community, the ministry gave those figures. I know it was well over $20,000,” he said.

Minister Gadsby-Dolly, in addressing the congregation, called on them to reflect on how their forefathers may have felt back in 1917, when the ordinance had passed.

“How would we feel now if that is to happen to us? Would some of us continue to worship anyway? Would some of us feel to go and hide and go into other religions just because we cannot celebrate the way we want to?” Gadsby-Dolly called on citizens notwithstanding their religion to help heal the country which is facing many challenges. “We all know that at this time your country is facing challenges and we the people are hurting and all of us have a responsibility to heal and help our country,” she said.