Pastor Ann Marie Richards on a mission
Published:Saturday | January 18, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Horace Fisher, Gleaner Writer
Prophetess, pastor, missionary, counsellor, mummy are just some of the many titles the congregants at the Voice of Victory Ministry in May Pen, Clarendon, have bestowed on the church's leader, Pastor Ann Marie Richards.
Richards said upon receiving a 'divine command' to evangelise in Clarendon, she resisted and was stricken for 14 days with a mystery illness. However, upon surrendering to the 'call', the dynamic evangelist told Rural Xpress that she was miraculously healed. She said she packed "stock and barrel" and headed to Clarendon, where she has since established one of the parish's most progressive and dynamic worship centres. The church is located at 16 Manchester Avenue in May Pen, with a new branch in the Cayman Islands.
"I was rooted in Kingston. My family was well settled and I had a very successful catering-restaurant business going there. So, honestly, when I got the Clarendon 'call', I questioned God and resisted like Jonah, and I was likewise flung into the whale's belly," Richards recalled.
However, surrendering to the call was not the end of her misery. She lost her multimillion-dollar catering-restaurant business and with it her glamorous lifestyle. The confessed fashionista, with a pair of shoes to match every suit, recalled that she was stripped down to a single pair of well-worn shoes, and after many attempts to establish a permanent structure for worship in May Pen, she and her devoted young congregation eventually established the Voice of Victory Ministry in what she described as challenging circumstances.
Generous blessings
"When we started here, we pitched a tent first. But the place was just swamp and mosquito infested. The members didn't like it one bit, but as you can see, the Lord has been generous with His blessings," she said. The Manchester Avenue-based worship centre that over the years has transformed into a multi-disciplinary complex, hosts a spa, a courier service, offices, a church, a netball court, and a cadet ground.
"But it hasn't been easy; the road was rough. However, through the grace of God and my purpose-driven, never-say-die attitude, we persevered," she said.
The self-described, out-of-the-box, holy-Ghost-filled preacher said that her congregants were mostly young people and persons who most other churches wouldn't want to worship with because of some of her members' backgrounds were quite dubious.
"I don't focus only on the person's spiritual side. I also cater to their physical and social needs because there has to be a balance. That is the approach I have to take. With quite a young congregation, coupled with some with questionable backgrounds, many other churches wouldn't dare worship with some of my members," she said.
While Richards likens her then punishment for resisting to the call of Jonah, she was quick to admit that her blessings had multiplied tenfold like the biblical Abraham. She laughingly quoted 3 John 1:2: "It is my will that you prosper and be in good health, as your soul prospers."