Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter

Pastor Andrew Samuels and his supportive family. - contributed photo

Meet Pastor Andrew Samuels, a Jamaican who last August became the president of the Seventh-day Baptist General Conference of United States and Canada. Pastor Samuels, 45, hails from the Mountain View area in Kingston and attended the Mountain View Primary and later Wolmer's Boys School.

He grew up in the Seventh-day Baptist tradition. His paternal grandparents were among the early leaders of the church when it was established in Jamaica during the 1920s. His parents too were Seventh-day Baptists.

From as early as his teenage years, Mr. Samuels exuded confidence and competence in administration and preaching. Beginning at 14, he preached in his home congregation, Mountain View Seventh-day Baptist Church and many other churches across the nation.

Journey as a youngster

After leaving Wolmer's, he secured a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two years later in 1982, he was assigned to work with the Jamaica Permanent Mission to the United Nations located in New York City.

So he packed up his belongings and headed to New York. The Big Apple proved to be a place where he had accelerated spiritual maturity. He was preaching in various churches there as he pursued a four-year modular theological degree programme offered by the Seventh-day Baptist Church there.

In 1986, the weight of the call of God on his life was so intense that he decided to resign from his job at the United Nations to make himself available for full-time Christian ministry. While still a third-year theological student, he was invited by the denomination's Miami church to candidate there for the position of pastor.

By June 1988, he was officially inducted as the pastor of the Miami Seventh-day Baptist Church, where he remains till this day. On his watch, the Miami church has birthed two other congregations - one in Fort Lauderdale and the other in West Palm Beach. At this time, he pastors both the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale churches.

His theological pursuits have not ended. He is pursuing a Master of Divinity through John Knox Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale. Before that, he earned from the Miami Christian College (now Trinity International University) a bachelor's degree with a double major covering business management and biblical studies.

Pastor Samuels reports that his churches in Florida have strong representation of Jamaicans. About 85 per cent of the congregation in Miami are from Jamaica, he said. But that fact has its own challenges.

Experiences between JA and Florida

Asked what observations he made between doing ministry in Jamaica vis á vis Florida, Pastor Samuels said his North American congregations tend to be a little laid-back and complacent. They have grown a little bit too attached to the conveniences and comforts of living in the United States, he said. As such, he said, it is hard to get members of the congregations to commit to a regular routine, to stretch themselves a little. In Jamaica, he said, he does not have that problem as the Jamaican Christians will often go the extra mile to get a job done.

As president of the the Seventh-day Baptist General Conference of United States and Canada, Pastor Samuels oversees about 80 churches and 6,000 congregants. His term is for one year. But when it expires, he will continue to serve on its executive as immediate past president.

In Jamaica, the Seventh-day Baptists have about 30 churches islandwide. The movement in Jamaica was started by persons who were members of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. These persons became disillusioned with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and began meeting among themselves until they learnt of a Seventh-day Baptist churches in the United States. The Jamaicans wrote to the leadership in the United States and before long were accepted in the body of Seventh-day Baptists.

Seventh-day Baptists are Baptists who observe the Sabbath. In fact, Seventh-day Baptists are members of the Baptist World Alliance. Pastor Samuels pointed out, however, that local Seventh-day Baptists tend to be more conservative than their U.S. counterparts, as some of the Seventh-day Adventists distinctives have not been set aside - notably kosher eating. Seventh-day Baptists in Jamaica, he said, tend to encourage eating according to the dietary laws recorded in Leviticus chapter 11.

The autonomy of the local church is a strong guiding principle of Seventh-day Baptists, Pastor Samuels stressed. There is a general doctrinal statement to which each member congregation must subscribe.

These include:

Salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.

The Bible as the inspired Word of God. The Bible is our authorityfor our faith and daily conduct.

Baptism of believers by immersion, witnessing to our acceptance of Christ as Saviour and Lord.

Freedom of thought under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The congregational form of church government.

Every church member has the right to participate in the decision-making process of the church.

But a lot of the issues that have sparked much debate in Protestant Christianity are left for local churches to grapple with, he said. These things, he continued, would include the place of tongues-speaking, the eternal security of the believer and deliverance ministry.

The Seventh-day Baptist churches have their origins in the 17th century. The Seventh-day Baptist Church dates back to 1653, when the first such congregation was established in London.

Today, the denomination is in 22 countries with a membership of more than 50,000. The denomination is served through its world body, the Seventh-day Baptist World Federation.

Responsibilities as president

As president of the North American chapter of Seventh-day Baptists, Pastor Samuels has among his responsibilities, the planning of the next conference of the church which takes place August 3-9, 2008 at Cartage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin. He chose as the theme 'A limitless God for a hungry people'. By the choice of theme, Pastor Samuels explained he hopes to awaken the North American Seventh-day Baptists to the truth that God is not limited by one's environment and thoughts. Furthermore, God, he said, will show up in a big way in their lives if one is hungry enough for Him.

Explaining the theme in his denomination's newsletter, Pastor Samuels said: God wants to do so much more for us as a people! The big question is, "Are we hungry enough to receive the feast of the Lord? "In many ways, we are a dissatisfied people. We're dissatisfied with our churches, we're dissatisfied with our leaders, we're dissatisfied with our programmes. Could it be that we're not satisfied because we're not hungry enough for Him and His righteousness? Again, Jesus' admonition is to "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew: 33, NASB).

Apart from his work with North American congregations, Pastor Samuels is a vice-president of the Seventh-day Baptist World Federation and as such has specific responsibilities for the church's work in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Pastor Samuels is married to wife Kay, an elementary school teacher, and they have two daughters, Tshai, 23, and Tsafiq,17.

Pastor Andrew Samuels may be reached at Andyosam@aol.com. Send feedback on Mind&Spirit to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com