Javaughn Taylor bringing the ‘gift of Jesus’ – Part II

Javaughn Taylor is a young preacher from Annotto Bay, St Mary, who is studying theology at Midland Bible Institute in Clarendon. He is convinced that God has already come to Earth in the form of Jesus, thus “Jesus was a gift from God”.

In this conclusion of a two-part conversation that Family and Religion had with Taylor, he talks about what he wants to achieve with his belief that Jesus was a gift from God, especially in his home town, where there are many social challenges among the youths.

Taylor said that while there seems to be a rebellion against the Creator, there is still hope and only a belief in Christ can manifest that hope. As a young man, he said he is convinced that the word of God is needed to overcome the challenges that people face every day. Spreading the word of God is what God wants him to do, thus God is guiding him. In addition to preaching in church, he goes from house to house and participates in street meetings

While admitting that it is difficult being a young Christian with all the distractions around, he said, “It doesn’t matter what you wear, it doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you make Jesus Christ the centre of your life. God must get all the glory.”

Being different, having chosen to go God’s way, was by choice, he said. God has called him to serve, and he has heeded the call, and he is helping to carry the cross. God is using him to spread the word, for which he will receive his crown one day.

YOUTH IN CHURCH

Taylor said the Church needs young people like him, and so they should return to the fold, go back to the gospel, and get rid of their sinful mindset, starting with Sunday school. To him, young people are the future of the Church. Without young people, the Church will perish, the member of the Annotto Bay Gospel Chapel said.

But he himself is not happy with the attitude and behaviour of certain Christians, and thus he wants the image of the Church and some Christians to change. He is particularly peeved about church people who do not greet ‘sinners’ along the way, those who are consumed by material gains, and pastors who set themselves up to be idolised. Humility and holiness are what is needed, and not grand adoration, fake gifts of prophecy, and ‘idolising’.

The type of church he wants to see is one that embarks upon community outreach programmes because, he said, that is one way of spreading the gospel. “We need to have programmes that will change the mindset of the young people … If we can help to fix a man’s house, that would make a man smile, that would be encouraging because that is coming from the Church. God is working through you to fix a man’s house.”

Taylor, who is also a member of the Christian Brethren Assembly Jamaica, wants to set up his own church eventually, and the emphasis will not be, he said, on the acquisition of material gains for himself. It will be about a commitment of “holiness to the Lord”. The “word of God is food”, he said, and that is what is keeping him grounded.