By Billy Hall, Contributor
The Rev. Dr. Gerry Gallimore, former president of Youth For Christ International and is wife Sonia.
IN THE previous article on Gerry Gallimore, the closing paragraph made the bold assertion: "By any fair measure, for national, regional and international accomplishments, and for polished performance, Gerry Gallimore is arguably, the Caribbean's number one leader for the latter half of the 20th century."
I hasten to add that the statement did not originate from Gerry, not even the thought. His humility would not permit such. Therefore, it is left to someone else to make the assessment, even someone intimately acquainted with evangelical witness across the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean during the latter half of the twentieth century.
Granted, the region can be proud of evangelical giants of the faith such as Myles Munroe and Rex Major of the Bahamas, Gerry Seale of Barbados, Walford Thompson of St. Vincent and Frank Goveia of Guyana. Doubtless, others will differ in the choice of Gerry Gallimore. Their differing is a right and privilege I concede.
There are some who might even consider such comparison odious but cannot deny that such is ineluctable and will not readily go away or be easily dismissed, even though in the final analysis God himself decides.
For the Lord's sake, we esteem all his chosen vessels highly and must be committed to them as faithful followers of the one Lord who is above all and judges all.
By our human evaluation, however, we must deservingly accord Gerry Gallimore, a very dear place in our hearts for his inspiring, outstanding life of ministry, with integrity.
Of course, in assessing him, we cannot do so without some scrutiny of his family. Sharing his busy life with him for 40 years (married February 23, 1963) is his wife Sonia, daughter of Franklin and Elaine Wright.
In her own right, Sonia deserves particular recognition. While her husband received the Prime Minister's Medal of Honour (1984), Sonia has been twice honoured. She holds the Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service in the field of Social Work and the prestigious Order of Distinction (OD).
While rendering social service, motivated by her Christian commitment, she completed with honours a Bachelors degree in social work. And while assisting her husband with his pastoral work in Florida, she earned from St. Thomas Catholic University the MSc in Marriage and Family Life Therapy.
Gerry and Sonia have three children of whom they are justifiably proud - Trudy (Beerman), a journalist and gym trainer; Lisa (Hyde) who holds a Masters in Business Administration and is a teacher at Montego Bay High School and Oliver, a graduate in Computer Science, who is now pursuing theological studies at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Gerry and Sonia, now in their 40th year of marriage (February 23, 1963), have seven grandchildren who keep them busy for attention. To get away from everyone, Gerry likes to go fishing and considers a highlight of this recreational experience when he went to Alaska to catch salmon.
NO CHRONIC AILMENT
"I'm feeling the weight of work now" he says, reminding that this August 29, he will be 65 years old, and has been busy for decades as an evangelist, youth leader, conference speaker, administrator and pastor. Of course, he rejoices in his good health for he suffers from no chronic ailment. Thirteen deacons care for the administration of the church. They have full responsibility for the running of the church, particularly for the finances. Gerry, in accordance with his integrity, principles, has nothing to do with the counting or accounting for funds. The finance committee does not provide for non-church speaking engagements, he says.
Not all Baptist churches have this strict policy he explains, for each Baptist church is autonomous, although having denominational affiliation, if not independent. The Metropolitan Baptist Church is affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest single denomination in the USA, with 16 million members, and 44,000 pastors.
Southern Baptist Churches are strong on Scriptural Authority, local church autonomy, leadership plurality, and male pastoral exclusivity. However, in recent years some of them began ordaining women to pastoral ministry but a few years ago took a firm decision to cease the practice, at the same time pledging not to discourage or disappoint the existing 25 female pastors already ordained.
The four major issues Gerry sees in pastoral ministry in the USA are money, sex, colour and power. On these issues he is particularly sensitive in his life and witness, he says.
Money is always a strong temptation for those desiring material things or creature comforts above ministry concerns. Gerry's lifestyle is decidedly modest. During his many years in Jamaica he was a "faith worker" struggling for basic support.
Sex is an area he guards "scrupulously" he says for even the smell of scandal can bring down a minister of the gospel. He says relations with the opposite sex has to be consciously and carefully guarded for the sake of Christ.
COLLECTIVE RULE
Colour issues are always there in the USA, he says, considering the history of the country. However, having grown up in Jamaica where tolerance is ingrained was a good training ground for pastoring in the USA. Nevertheless, the fact that 80 per cent of his members are Jamaican is cause for concern, for his vision is for having a greater spread across racial and national lines.
Power, he says, is something pastors need to be aware of, especially in the administration of church affairs. He is a firm believer in collective rule and set the decentralisation of power. "My guiding philosophy in this area of minority" he says, "is the servant concept of leadership." By this philosophy, humility must reign over arrogance yet not diminish confidence.
Although at the beginning of his ministering years in the 1950s Gerry was more an evangelist, he has emerged in his maturing years as a pastor and international ambassador of Christ, even the region's number one, for spread of influence and international recognition.
