Noted Grammy Award singer and Pastor, Wintley Phipps who, accompanied by his wife, has had a most enjoyable and relaxing stay in Anguilla, which he calls “a very, beautiful country,” has offered some helpful advice to the people of the island regarding family life and the raising of children.

Pastor Wintley Phipps

“The most important thing you can do in this country to keep it strong is to celebrate, applaud, reward, advertise and glorify the beauty of a strong, close-knit family,” he advised.

He was speaking in a telephone interview with The Anguillian from Covescastles Resort where he and Mrs. Phipps were guests for four days last week. “In America, what we have learnt is that whenever the family begins to disintegrate and fall apart, that is when children get into trouble and go into prison,” he stated.

Pastor Danny Philips, Crusade Conductor

He went on: “In 1960, 75 percent of all African American children were being raised by a mother and a father in black marriage. It is now 30 percent, 20 percent. Seventeen or 18 percent of all black children in America will never sit at a table with a mother or a father. It is no longer part of the conscious reality of most children in America. As a matter of fact, a recent Harvard study showed that an African American child, born into slavery, had a better chance …of being raised by a mother and a father than today. One of every three African American male, between the ages of 18 and 30, is in prison in the United States of America or supervised by the court system.”

Pastor Phipps noted that this should be a warning to Anguilla “that when the family breaks down, the children are going to end up in crime and trouble.” He further advised: “Do everything you can to ensure academic success for children. We don’t know completely why the ranks of the juvenile offenders are not filled with successful students, but we know it is fact that the failure to master critical school skills is one of the leading indicators for delinquency, truancy and incarceration.

How well said is this in relation to Anguilla!

Section of the congregation at the “Signs of the Times Crusade”

In addition to being the Seventh-day Adventist Minister of a church in Palm Bay, Florida, Pastor Phipps runs a ministry which provides tutoring and mentoring after school for children of prisoners and those who have fallen behind in school. He reported that about 17 percent of children in America who go to prison are the children of those in prison. He started this work ten years ago “to help break the cycle of inter-generational incarceration” and so far has about a dozen centres in various states and cities in America. His work has been praised and supported by Presidents and other leading officials in the United States.

Pastor Phipps, who began singing in his teens, is the recipient of two Grammy Nominations; he has recorded 15 albums and “was the first man of colour’ to sing at the inauguration of a President of the United States – last year when President Bush was re-elected. “Music for me has been the key that has opened the doors for me to really minister and sing for the some of the most amazing personalities of the 20th century,” he said.

Section of the congregation at the “Signs of the Times Crusade”

Born in Trinidad, Pastor Phipps immigrated at young age with his family to Montreal, Canada in 1965. After high school, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama where he attended Oakwood Collage and graduated in 1976. He then went to Andrews University in Michigan where he did a Masters in Divinity and has been pastoring churches since 1976 and is now based in Palm Bay, Florida.

His wife, Linda, is a Registered Nurse. They have three grown sons. In addition to his busy schedule, he is on the Board of Directors of Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN), on which programmes are seen by cable in Anguilla. “It is gratifying to see that it is a part of the life and fabric of this nation,” he commented. He spoke of another service to be introduced soon called World of Praise Television Network “which will focus on some of the more critical needs of the urban families and their children to educate and inspire them.”

During his visit to Anguilla, he sang at the Signs of the Times Crusade much to the delight of all. A message he left here is that: ‘The Lord says that true and undefiled religion is ministry to the fatherless and to the widows.’ I encourage you people not to forget children who are without fathers and mothers who are raising children alone... and to live for God’s glory.”

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