Friday, March 29, 2024

MONDAY MAN: Preacher creating forum for men

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IN 2003, A YOUNG MAN was sitting in the congregation when he heard the preacher speaking words he felt were directed at him.

Although the preacher did not identify this young man as the intended receiver, he told the congregation the Lord was calling this individual to do something great for the nation.

That young man was John Elcock.

John had been saved a year earlier. Nevertheless, he felt a conviction and an urge when he heard those words and went forward for an altar call. Hands were laid on him and, according to John, he felt the affirmation of that prophecy.

Fourteen years later, he is an ordained minister and senior pastor at Eagle Wings Prophetic And Deliverance Ministries.

This ministry was born directly out of the preacher’s prophecy, John told the DAILY NATION during an interview at his church’s base in Marhill Street, The City.

However, it took some time before it was birthed, but since that time, he said he believed that prophecy had come to pass.

“I believe the Word of God and I recorded the prophecy on audio and I wrote it down, and anticipated, and I watched it begin to manifest,” he said.

The father of four recalled that the manifestation began on a trip to Trinidad and Tobago in October 2012. This wasn’t a vacation but an opportunity for him to take flight. There, he was allowed to minister the Word to three different churches and gain some experience. After the first church visit and as he was about to leave, he got a surprise.

That was when the pastor of that church pulled him aside. He informed John the Lord had spoken to him about forming ministries all over the Caribbean and that He wanted him to ordain John for a ministry in Barbados.

“I was about to say no to him; being immature and not familiar with that kind of stuff . . . but then I remembered the prophecy said to me: when God calls me, just say ‘yes’ and I said yes to the pastor then.”

But before he left, John told him: “I say yes to God first but as for you and your members, make sure you pray diligently, as long as it takes for you to receive confirmation from God to make sure that I am the man. If I am the man, God will let you know.”

A few months later when the pastor came to Barbados, he found John and again addressed the proposal. John said his season of prayer and fasting began as he sought the favour of the Lord.

After this point, he constantly received confirmations until he knew for sure it was the Lord’s way and “so I accepted”.

He was ordained on June 10, 2013, at the Bridgefield New Testament Church in Barbados.

Following training under Pastor Glen Jones and searching for a church base for about two years, the Lord gave him a release in October, 2015.

“What I was doing was searching for a building; but what happened was God wanted to complete me first with marriage. I got married in July, 2015 and from that moment I felt the confirmation. A few months after, God led me to the open door of a building on Roebuck Street and we [Eagle Wings Prophetic And Deliverance Ministries] were there for about seven months.”

The prophecies did not end there. Back in 2012, John had a vision about establishing a Christian support system for men who had been and are demoralised, ridiculed, rejected, debilitated and dysfunctional. However, under the previous ministry, it did not come to pass.

On his own, the 44-year-old felt it was an opportune time, and on February 6 last year, Restoring And Empowering Men Again (REMA) was launched.

John said REMA was needed because the modus operandi of the adversary the Devil was to kill and destroy the mandate of men who had been imparted by God to rule and hold dominion over all the earth.

He explained that REMA was established as a confidential forum and support system where men could freely confess, testify, voice their concerns and frustrations, and encourage and pray for one another in an effort to bring hope, reconciliation and restoration to each other through love. He added that men seemed to have lost their way socially, financially, morally and spiritually and were not fulfilling the mandate given to them by God.

John was convinced the Lord had chosen him to be a vessel.

“I am a young man who came up with a lot of struggles in life, and was fatherless. The difficulties I would have had in my careers, even in my relationships, imprisonment, the things I would have faced in life, have stirred my heart to want to help other men not to go down that path of demoralisation. So I believe that God has chosen me . . . to help other young men.

“Many of the churches seem not to be equipped to handle these challenges that I would have been faced with as a young man. Where would I find help if not the church? I believe God is raising this ministry up to help men.”  (SDB Media)

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