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Pastor Wildish-Reece of The Meeting Place, on Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay, closes her eyes in fervent prayer for the city of Montego Bay. The occasion was the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce's peace gathering in Sam Sharpe Square in May 2005.
Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
Mary Wildish-Reece never intended to be a pastor. But in early adulthood it became clear to her that such was the calling the Lord wanted her to embrace. Today, she is the senior pastor in a thriving congregation, The Meeting Place, located on Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay.
The church began six years ago in a hotel. Not long after, the present site on Howard Cooke Boulevard became available and they began their first service there with 100 persons. There are now typically 400 persons present on a Sunday morning and the forecast looks good for continued numerical growth.
Pastor Wildish-Reece is the daughter of the late Dr David Wildish of Jamaica Broilers fame, and his wife, Betty. She is also the granddaughter of famed Christian Brethren Bible teacher Harold Wildish and wife Marion. Both now deceased.
Born in 1966, she spent much of her formative years living in Claremont, St Ann. She attended Hillel Academy, The Priory High School and completed her high school education in North Carolina.
After high school, she went to the University of Georgia where she graduated with a degree in special education. On her return to Jamaica, she began attending Covenant Community Church and worked in the affiliated school. It was there that she came into a deeper spiritual experience with the Holy Spirit. It transformed her. It was a far cry from the conservative way in which the Holy Spirit was taught in the Christian Brethren Curch in which she was raised.
New spiritual awakening
This new spiritual awakening created in her a zeal to share the Christian gospel. Accordingly, she began a Bible study in the home of a friend. The Bible study which began with about four persons, grew exponentially. Within a few months, it grew to 100. A lot of persons who were backslidden were restored. Others got saved. It was through the experience gained in leading the Bible study that young Mary grew into an awareness that there was a calling on her life to teach and to preach - but even then, she still did not have any notion of becoming a pastor.
"I decided that since I was teaching so much that I needed to get myself some formal theological training," she explained. This led to her enrolment in Regent University in Virginia Beach, where she did a Master of Divinity degree.
After the university, she sensed the call of the Lord to work as a missionary with Christian Associates International - a ministry that seeks to establish English-speaking churches in Europe.
She was assigned to work in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. There, she said the Lord began an amazing job of humbling her. For her first four years there, she was not paid a salary. Instead, she was paid as a faith-worker. She resided in a ghetto community there and did a variety of menial tasks.
After a year of working with the church to which she had been assigned, she was made associate pastor. After five years of being in Amsterdam, she was made the senior pastor. Altogether, she spent seven years in Amsterdam. Her thoughts then was that she would spend the rest of her life in Europe. But then, she sensed God urging her to return to Jamaica.
By this time she had been out of the island for about 10 years. When she landed in Jamaica, there was still uncertainty in her mind concerning what it was God wanted her to do. She got a job as assistant pastor at the Priory Covenant Community Church in St Andrew.
In the homes of friends, she taught the Alpha Course, a world famous discipleship programme which seeks to explore topical theological issues, including the meaning of life. Again, under her ministry, persons were strengthened in their faith. The course lasted typically 10 weeks and her fame spread to Montego Bay where some folk there issued an invitation to have the course taught there. She went to Montego Bay and taught the course. She found herself making many trips to the Second City in an effort to properly disciple young converts. Gradually, she began to sense the Lord telling her to relocate to Montego Bay to become a pastor. She did and The Meeting Place was birthed with the Alpha converts among the charter congregants.
Her congregation is comprised mainly of persons who became Christians through the ministry of The Meeting Place rather than transferees.
Pastor Wildish-Reece told The Gleaner that she uses the term 'partners' in preference to 'members' at her church. This is, she said, is in part to emphasise that the Kingdom of God is not a democracy but a theocracy. The church has six full-time staffers. She has chosen not to appoint elders at this time. It is not that she is averse to such. But she is waiting for God to unmistakably raise up such persons. Meantime, the affairs of the church is governed by a 12-person leadership team.
Pastor Wildish Reece spoke of the importance of having an accountability structure for herself. In that regard, she disclosed that she has a number of spiritual fathers - based locally and overseas who guide and hold her accountable.
As a pastor, her dream is that at least 70 per cent of the congregation will be meaningfully engaged in at least one area of ministry. (At present, the church has 26 ministries/outreach efforts.) To facilitate that end, her church has a clearly mapped-out discipleship programme that typically runs for six to nine months and which is designed to secure a clearly defined level of spiritual maturity. Her church embraces all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. including prophecy and deliverance ministry. Her passion is to equip young people in these and other skills and release them to pursue their gifts.
Witchcraft
There has been an increase in witchcraft and satanic activities in Montego Bay, she said. Much of the blame for this development lies at the feet of churches because there is too little teaching on witchcraft in local churches, she said, and that's why some Christians are not aware that they cannot embrace God and obeah at the same time.
As witchcraft and crime soar in Montego Bay and the rest of the nation, Christians need to realise that the condition of the country is a reflection on the state of the Church, she said. There is an urgent need for churches to demonstrate unity, and set an example to the nation by genuinely repenting of their sins, she said. "We cannot separate ourselves from what is happening in the nation. The Bible is very clear - righteousness exalteth a nation, sin is a reproach to any people."
At the beginning of 2007, Pastor Wildish-Reece sensed the Lord telling her to go on television. She agonised over it as the expense of cameras and production equipment would be a huge challenge. She told no one about this directive from God to go on television. Within 48 hours of telling God she would obey and go on television, a man walked into her office with a huge cheque. The man said God told him to give her the cheque so that The Meeting Place could begin a television ministry. The cheque was enough to buy cameras, editing machines and to pay the expenses of a US church group that came to the island to train her production team.
Lonely woman
Then she got an invitation to begin a teaching ministry on Mercy and Truth Ministries (MTM). She took up the offer and has been on the air for less than a year. MTM television is also broadcast on the Internet at http://www.mercyandtruth.tv.
Despite her successes in ministry, Pastor Mary acknowledged that "I was very lonely and wanted a companion that would share in her heart and her vision". Then she met John Reece in 2007. They got married on November 11 last year - three months after meeting each other.
John Reece is a certified public accountant (CPA) who worked in the insurance industry in Washington, DC. He now lives in Jamaica and is complementing the ministry of his wife by contributing his administrative and website skills.
"As a pastor, you don't go out and tell your congregation go out and marry within three months. But God had His hands sovereignly on us. We had the blessing of our families and my spiritual coverings," Pastor Wildish-Reece said.
Send feedback to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com
