On Sabbath, February 25, the Greater New York Conference (GNYC) Women’s Ministries Department celebrated its first Haitian convention at the Gethsemane church in Brooklyn, New York. A group of dedicated women graced the pulpit in collaboration with Andy Lee Lagredelle, the church’s senior pastor and GNYC Haitian Ministries director. Lisa González, GNYC Women’s Ministries director, in coordination with her team, prepared a divinely-inspired program that was bathed in prayer.
The atmosphere was festive and uplifting. Peggy Filossaint, Maranatha Haitian church associate pastor from Newark, New Jersey, was the keynote speaker and delivered a heart-warming message through the story of Delilah (Judges 16) as she expounded on the role of the woman of God as an ezer kenegdo, a helpmeet, a helper, a source of strength. In her sermon titled “Who commissioned You?” (“Qui t’a envoyé?”), Filossaint drove her point home while switching seamlessly between English and Haitian Creole. Before the sermon, Glenny Mendez-Calcaño blessed the congregation with her spiritually-charged intercessory prayer. The dunamis power of God could be felt in the message, the prayers, the songs, and every word spoken during the entire program.
The speaker for the afternoon was Perla Bastien-Larivaux, a versatile and multi-talented psychotherapist, who describes herself simply as a servant of God. She emphasized to the participants the importance of caring for their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health in order to be fit for heaven. González and Mendez-Calcaño concluded the day with an interactive prayer session.
Marcia Clarke, Queens Faith Temple Women’s Ministries director, said, “Our first Women’s Ministries Franco-Haitian Convention was a tremendous blessing. It was inspiring and Spirit-filled. One could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst.”
Lagredelle said, “It was a wholistic meeting that met the needs of the Franco-Haitian women on so many levels. People left inspired, motivated, renewed, and transformed.” GNYC is truly blessed by González’s ministry. She is an inspired leader, a prayer warrior, a visionary, and the conference’s ezer kenegdo. May God continue to bless and empower her and enlarge her ministry as she works diligently to unite and strengthen the women of the Greater New York Conference.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the program: the leaders of the Gethsemane church, Lagredelle, Marysland Bourdeau, Gethsemane Women’s Ministries leader, the women’s choir, the praise team, the musicians, the speakers for the afternoon conference, the choristers, the women’s ministries leaders who attended from other churches, and all the attendees. Everyone is looking forward to this convention next year.
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—Johanne Vital-Rhuma, Women’s Ministries supporter and Prayer Ministries coordinator, Old Westbury church
