GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

Name: Leslie Nembhard

Church: Denbigh Gospel Assembly.

Position: Pastor

How long since being saved: 36 years.

Tell us about your moment of conviction: It is a two-phase conviction, actually. At the age of 12, was when I first decided to surrender my life to the Lord. Back then I was a little boy growing up in the country, and truly, I was impacted by the whole idea of going to church and being a part of church activities. There was really nothing else to do at that time, growing up with a very strict grandmother. Church was the name of the game. My life took a turn in the years after I started working. I went into my own business after working for ten years with a particular company. My life took a turn at that stage. The distraction of wealth and fame, so to speak, caused a strange relationship between me and the Lord; but the Lord obviously had a plan for me that I was not responding to, and so He allowed for the business to fail. I went through a period of bankruptcy and had to surrender to God.

Most challenging moment since being saved: The most challenging moment for me was after my business failed. I lost everything except my house. I lost my two vehicles and had to resort to taking the bus. I was living in an area where everybody was used to me driving my own vehicle and not riding in a bus. That was the most challenging moment.

Most miraculous moment since being saved: The miracle that I would like to identify with would have been my own health condition. I was born asthmatic and literally grew up in the hospital. I was more out of school than in school because of health issues, and so most persons would not know how much I achieved in terms of education, but my grandmother believed in prayer a lot; and say what you want to say about Oral Roberts, she was an Oral Roberts fan. She instructed me to write a letter to Oral Roberts and to seek prayer from his prayer team, and I guess you just have to say prayer works, because I have not had an asthma attack for donkey years now. I have been healed by the healing power of Almighty God.

Message to Christians: Life is challenging, and God did not call us to a life of glamour and a life necessarily of prosperity. What He did tell us that He wants from us is for our souls to prosper. Sometimes we mistake that to think that it is a wealth thing, but that is not so. We are going to have challenges. Get your personal experience with God. It is only then that you are going to handle the challenges that life throws at you. Once you have proven that, then you know for sure that you do not need anybody's testimony because you have your own. You know for sure that some way, somehow He will work it out.

Message to non-christians: Life is short, but one thing we know about life is that death is a promise to every man. The Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die, but after death comes the judgement. Guess what, you can have all what you want to have in this world, you can have all the fun and all the niceness, you can go to all the parties and do all you want to do and enjoy this life, but there is coming a day when life will be no more for you. The reality of that situation is that you will be going to eternity, but there are only two places you can go when you are going into eternity. You are either going to have an eternal Hell or an eternal Heaven. If you want to do temporary joy then you can reject Christ now. But if you want to have permanent joy, which comes after death, then you need to accept Jesus Christ now.

Favourite Bible scripture: Psalm 121.

Your favourite song: He cares, oh yes He cares.

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