NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Church of God of Prophecy East Street Tabernacle hosted a special community outreach effort to during the Christmas season featuring talented youth bands, free food, and entertainment for the children.
“After coming out of the pandemic, I decided it was time to show our face to the public again, so I sought the Lord and it came into my spirit that we needed to leave the year connected with our young people and our community,” Bishop Hulan Hanna said.
“And I further wanted to have the involvement of the community from the churches that we connect with and of course the wider community.”
COGOP East Street Tabernacle has for several years been involved in an evangelistic ministry called Manifestation with area churches. The community partners include Zion Baptist Church Shirley Street, Salem Union Baptist Church, Big Harvest Tent Ministry, Church of God East Street and Lily of the Valley Corner, Mt Pleasant Green Baptist Church, Wulff Road COGOP, Golden Gates World Outreach, and East Street Gospel Chapel.
Initially, the plan was to have the praise team of each partnering church participate in a part of a massive praise and worship session, singing seasonal songs. As the work began, through the direction of Minister Daren Seymour and his team—Katherine Beneby II and Travis Edgecombe—the vision and objective evolved to include youth bands instead, namely the Bahamas Brass Junior Band, the Golden Gates Assembly Band, and the Urban Renewal Band.
Hanna explained that while scheduling conflicts prevented some of the partnering and community churches from being directly involved, several of them and members of the wider community gave generously, including HG Christie Real Estate. As a result of the support and donations, each of the youth bands was presented with a donation of $500 towards ongoing efforts.
Additionally, Hanna explained that the church “walked away owing no one”, with all costs completely defrayed.
Several Bahamian vendors also came alongside the church to support the initiative, including Donkey Cone and LimeadeBahamas.
For Hanna and the members of East Street Tabernacle, the event acted as a reintroduction to the surrounding communities of Sunlight Village and Sunlight Cottage that they had not been forgotten. Their goal is to remind residents that they have not been forgotten and that the church can be counted on as a source of support.
Hanna continued: “For me, the highlights coming out of this, it was good to see the smiles on children’s faces. It was good to see a mother, who when she found out about the toys, and when I saw the look on her face that she was going to get something for her children, for her two boys, I saw how it resonated with her in such a positive way, it really, really touched me deeply.”
As for the holiday extravaganza, Hanna said that he would like to think that it will blossom into an annual event.
“And I pray that we will understand that the God we serve is bigger than every barrier, every hindrance that has plagued us during 2022 and that we will go by faith which is the victory into 2023,” he added.
“I am also looking up, looking to God to supply all those things that we need, I am looking up to him that salvation will sweep the community, that revival will be in the land.”
