Anguilla’s Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, declared open an Evangelism Crusade on Sunday, May 20, now being conducted in The Valley by Pastor Henry Peters, Personal Ministries Director with the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Evangelist Peters at podium, CM Fleming fourth from right

The crusade is called: “Hope for the final generation Bible Expo.”

“I think that this crusade is timely in Anguilla when we look at all the problems that we are facing on the island,” Mr. Fleming stated among other things. “We need the spiritual strength to forego all the problems that we have before us. We feel sometimes that we cannot overcome them but we can.”

A section of the congregation

The Chief Minister commended the resident Minister, Pastor Danny Phillips, for his hard work. “He is always on the road. He has done a lot for us Seventh-day Adventists in Anguilla and he needs a big round of applause,” he added.

Pastor Phillips described Evangelist Peters as “a dynamic speaker who understands how to minister to the needs of others.” He graduated from Caribbean Union College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and History; later from Andrews University in Michigan with a Master’s Degree in Divinity and at present he is enrolled in the Doctoral Programme of Ministry at the same university.

Mrs. Peters and daughter Denise

“I know when this island was crime free, drug free and AIDS free,” Evangelist Peters said in his opening sermon. “It seems like yesterday when we consciously slept with unlocked and sometimes opened doors with no lights on the outside. It seems like yesterday when the prison was practically empty with one prisoner guard on duty and one member of the administrative team at work. I remember visiting the prison about fifteen years ago and there were five prisoners at the most…Fifteen years later when I visited again, I discovered that there are forty-two inmates. We are talking about an increase of over 800 percent…This must raise some concern.”

He spoke of the formation of gangs on the island leading to youth violence and the constant fear of young men to travel from one part of the island to another.

The Evangelist noted however that all over the Caribbean and the rest of the world the crime situation was just the same and even worse.
“I am telling you that what is happening here in Anguilla is a global problem,” he stressed. “We need to wake up and understand the world in which we are living. It seems to me that world leaders and NGOs are taken by surprise and are calling for summits, passing legislation and implementing programmes. It seems to me that they are placing bandage on wounds without proper diagnosis.”

He continued: “I am not surprised about what is happening around us. As I read my Bible I discover that God, through His word, has revealed with accuracy the condition of our world today. We call it Bible prophecy.”

Evangelist Peters is being assisted with the crusade by a team of workers comprising the resident pastor, other leaders and ushers as well as assistants from Antigua and St. Croix. Among them are his wife, Margaret Peters, a Counsellor and Bible Instructor with the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, and their daughter, Denise, a Singing Evangelist in charge of Music Ministry at the American Temple Church in Maryland.

The crusade will continue over a period of several weeks. The general public is being invited to attend the evangelistic meetings.

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