By Evangelist extraordinaire Billy Hall, Contributor
The Rev. Dr. Gerry Gallimore, former president of Youth For Christ International.
JAMAICA IS the Protestant stronghold of all the Caribbean and Latin America and so, not surprisingly, is blessed with a plethora of great preachers. However, by international measure, one stands above the many - Rev. Dr. Gerald Osborne Gallimore, popularly known as 'Gerry'.
This pinnacle assessment is easily substantiated by the facts of appointments and performances nationally, regionally, and internationally - pulpit delivery in 2000 when the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association brought together the greatest assemblage of evangelists in the world from nearly 200 countries for AMSTERDAM 2000, held in the Netherlands.
At that historic conference Gerry was one of the select 15 speakers chosen to give keynote addresses to the plenary sessions of more than 10,000 itinerant and pastoral evangelists. Significantly he was the only one of those 15 speakers to receive a standing ovation, marked by prolonged applause which he acknowledged as the glory of God.
This 6' 2" eloquent 195-pounder is a member of the politically prominent Gallimore clan of St. Ann, but all his life he has steered clear of all appearance of links or association with partisan politics, keeping his intense focus on being a dedicated gospel preacher. When 15 years old, in 1953, he committed his life to Christ, and has never looked back in a long life of service to God.
He attended Henderson High School (now York Castle), the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now, UTech) and at Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary in the USA, where he received the MA degree in Theology. In 1994 the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (CGST) conferred on him an honorary doctorate.
But despite his early showing of academic prowess when he left high school with a Grade One Cambridge University Certificate, he has leaned more to fieldwork evangelism by attending Youth for Christ rallies in Kingston, when 18 years old his passion for the gospel overtook all else and has dominated his life ever since.
His working career ended by the time he was 31 years old. He had been until then associated with the Government Savings Bank, the Gleaner Company, United Printers, and Mead Johnson, in pharmaceutical sales. He did well in all those endeavours but was restless until he found his rest in full time Christian Ministry.
A Dale Carnegie course on "How to win friends and influence people" made him discover his rhetorical capabilities and his love for the gospel - in Biblical parlance - his spiritual gift, nurtured by opportunities in Youth for Christ and his home church, Bethel Baptist, as well as several Christian Brethren assemblies, led to his fast pulpit maturation.
In 1969 he answered God's call institutionally to become Director of Jamaica Youth for Christ, struggling there to survive in its 21st year of operations, following the sudden death of its youthful previous leader, Neville Witter.
Bethel Baptist Church, whose leaders had carefully observed and nurtured the young evangelist in the years since 1955 when he first began public preaching, commissioned him in 1969 in an official service, as an Evangelist, with particular reference to the Ministry of YFC.
For more than 16 years he was executive director of Jamaica YFC, moving it from three centres to being an islandwide witness in 1985 he became Caribbean Director, while being recognised as the Americas Area Director for YFC International.
Not surprisingly, in 1990 he was elected World Head of YFC International - president and chief executive officer - the first non-American or Third World person to hold that position since the organisation was founded in the USA in 1945.
He and his family moved to Singapore in the far East to administer YFC affairs, and stayed there until his term ended in 1996, when he was appointed a YFC International Ambassador, and now chairs the USA Board of YFC International.
His home is now Florida, where he pastors a medium-sized church, fast growing, for in his seven years since being installed the membership has more than doubled the 145 he began with to the current regular main Sunday service of 400 worshippers.
Metropolitan Baptist Church is on Davie Road Extension in Hollywood, Broward Country, Florida. It has moved several times and was recently for three years in a high school auditorium. But last year the members bought a beautiful building from a Pentecostal Church.
Although the main sanctuary seats 600 persons, the Gerry's Board is committed to a one million dollar expansion project on the 2 1/2 acre site, to accommodate a fellowship hall, education rooms and 13 Sunday School classes.
The vast majority (80 per cent) of the members are originally from Jamaica, even though the congregation is composed of eleven nationalities. Gerry's great preaching, humble spirit, diplomatic administration, gentle relating, and impressive reputation for moral integrity have followed him from Jamaica, land of his birth and lasting love.
Many remember him for his outstanding work in Jamaica. At Bethel Baptist Church he was for many years Church Secretary, Deacon and frequent speaker. He was an announcer for the Baptist hour for almost a decade.
In wider circles, apart from YFC responsibilities, his substantive work, he was for several years Vice Chair of the Kingston Keswick Council, and a main speaker at Keswick conventions in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Barbados.
Gerry was a pioneer of the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, and as well chairman for five years. Also, he was twice invited to be the main speaker, in that regard he joins the Rev. Carmen Stewart as the only persons to have been, thus far, accorded that privilege.
In 1973 and 1980 he was asked to be Chairman of Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusaders conducted in Jamaica and led those events effectively. Also, he chaired the inaugural and second Congress on the Evangelisation of the Caribbean (CONECAR) in 1984 and 1988 and each time addressed a plenary session. In 1992 he was appointed Honorary Chairman of CONECAR.
By any fair measure, for national, regional and international accomplishments, and for polished performance, Gerry Gallimore is arguably the Caribbean's number one evangelical leader for the latter half of the twentieth century.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
