GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

Prayer-mother sister Roslyn Bennett is now 90. She is a founding member of the Cobbla New Testament Church of God, Manchester.

"I am 90 years old now and I remember that I bowed to the cross after my father fell ill and was unable to get better after going to several doctors, who could not find a cure for him. A preacher from a church in Liecesterfield in Clarendon came over and prayed for him in 1933 and he was cured," said Bennett.

She said the preacher who prayed for her father rested at her house that night and he introduced Christ to her by telling her that it was time for her to surrender her life to the Lord.

Bennett said she went to church the following Sunday night in a makeshift building where she knelt before a chair and surrendered her life to the Lord.

Since then, she has been following God, she has no plans to give up on her Maker.

"I knelt at the chair and prayed and then surrendered my life to God. From thence, until this day, I have been walking with the Lord," testified the church founder.

Bennett said she loves the Lord with passion and there is nothing more pleasant to do than live for God and serve Him in spirit and truth.

The founding member of the Cobbla New Testament Church said the congregation was started when a church member was searching for somewhere to worship, after his church broke up and members were scattered.

"The church broke up and he came to Bombay (Manchester) and started to worship down there, and he saw me down there, and married me and came up here to Cobbla. When he came up here, we still worshipped at the church in Bombay," said the prayer mother.

Bennett said she attended a fasting service at the Bombay church after she got married, and told those in attendance that she wanted to have fasting at her house in Cobbla. A woman visited her house and led the fasting service there.

"When the lady came up here, she told her husband that it was he who called her to his house, and questioned why she was called. My husband told her that he would like souls to be saved in Cobbla. He then went down the Tuesday night. The Wednesday night, plenty of the church people came up and had a meeting here. Some of the people in the district got saved in that meeting. The church services started keeping right here in my house," noted Bennett.

She said after persons in the Cobbla community got saved, the pastor from the Bombay church went to Cobbla and purchased a piece of land to start a church building. Some time after, the church grew in numbers and the church building had to be relocated to its present location in Cobbla.

Bennett said she has served as a prayer mother for decades and her husband was a deacon as well. Though she is not as strong as she used to in former years, the prayer mother said she still attends church services.

"I will not leave this church until the Lord takes me to my home in glory. I love God because I have found many favours in Him. He is a miraculous God. He cured my father's sickness and every day He provides for me. It was the Lord who helped my husband so that he was able to grow his children and to make me what I am today," said Bennett.

The church founder cited her favourite Bible scripture as Psalm 23. A line from her favourite song is 'he lives, christ Jesus lives today'.

She wants persons who have not yet started their walk with the Lord to understand that He loves them and wants them to come to Him before it's too late. Bennett added that she has proven God for herself, and they need to act quickly before opportunity runs out.

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