Byron Buckley, Associate Editor - Special Projects

HE NOW leads the 260,000-member West Indies Union (WIU) Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, but Pastor Derek Bignall has not forgotten the persons who gave him a helping hand when he was a poor lad struggling to attain an education.

The faith-based conglomerate he now presides over includes a university with more than 5,000 students enrolled - a level of education that nearly eluded Bignall, had he not been assisted materially by caring people during his youth.

"She is not going to be forgotten in my life," says Bignall about church sister, Mary White, from Kildare, Buff Bay, who sacrificed to pay his school fee of one shilling per week at the Seventh-day Adventist-operated school that he entered at age 10. His mother could not afford the fee.

Investment

"Mary White invested in me - this poor, but ambitious, little boy who loved his church and his God," recounts Bignall, who was elected on January 28 as president of the WIU Conference which includes Jamaica, The Turks and Caicos Islands, The Bahamas and The Cayman Islands. He succeeded Dr Patrick Allen, who resigned to take up his appointment as governor general on February 26.

Derek, the third child and second son of James and Frances Bignall was born in Buff Bay, Portland 61 years ago this month. His father was an ex-soldier, a former member of the Royal Air Force, while mother was an unskilled housewife. Father eventually left home and died years later in tragic circumstances that, 34 years later, still evoke emotion from son Derek.

"I was the first boy to be born in that community between January and March that year," Bignall claims. He attended the Buff Bay Primary School, but left in 1959 when the Seventh-day Adventist church opened a school in that town.

"I never got the opportunity to take the Common Entrance or the Over-Age examinations. So I left school at age fourteen," Bignall tells The Sunday Gleaner.

In a quest to further his education, Bignall journeyed, mostly on foot, from Buff Bay to Tranquility district, several miles away, to take private lessons offered by a teacher at the all-age school in preparation for the Third Year examination. But he was not successful in passing nine subjects in one sitting - that was how the Third Year examination was structured at the time. The examination subsequently gave way to the Jamaica School Certificate (JSC).

Good Samaritan

But it was through the kindness of another good Samaritan that Bignall was able to sit the JSC examinations.

He recounts: "There was a young lady by the name of Norma Roper. We grew up as young people in the community; she was doing nursing assistance. One day while I was walking, seeking work at the parish council and the public works department (now National Works Agency) she saw me and said 'Derek, aren't you going to take the JSC?' I said I had no money, but she said 'Today is the last day to register'."

She loaned him one pound (dollar) and said he could repay her when he could afford to.

"I walked straight to the tax office (Inland Revenue Office) and paid for five JSC subjects, and I subsequently passed four. That was the beginning of my life. That showed me that I could pass external examinations," Bignall recalls.

But he needed to prepare for the exams. Enters a third Good Samaritan. Ewan Richards, a friend of young Bignall, attended Titchfield High School, 20 miles away in Port Antonio.

Bignall recounts: "One evening, Ewan said to me: 'Derek why don't you come to my house?' He made me read his textbooks. I read them and studied. The only other place I could find books would be at the public library at Buff Bay, and I lived there."

To attain a certificate in the JSC examination, a candidate had to pass five subjects - English, mathematics, a science subject, civics and any other subject. At his first sitting, Bignall passed four subjects, excluding mathematics. At the next sitting, he passed mathematics and general science and became eligible for a certificate.

"These three people helped to establish a foundation for me in terms of education" Bignall says reflectively.

As the newly installed president of the WIU Conference, Bignall oversees 33 affiliated schools. This is a homecoming for him, because 40 years earlier, at age 15, and armed with six JSC subjects, he was employed for the first time as a pre-trained teacher at the church's school in Buff Bay, Portland.

The teaching job was a far cry from the menial tasks he did previously when he had no qualifications.

"In Buff Bay, there was no job; the only work available to teenagers was at the parish council," he says. "My maxim from the Bible was: 'Whatsoever your hands find to do, do it with your might.' There are very few jobs that other people call menial that I have not done to save myself, because after I left primary school, my mother - when she got work - could not afford to send me for further education."

While teaching at his church school in Buff Bay, Bignall sat five General Certificate of Education (GCE) subjects - four in the year he was teaching grades seven, eight and nine. "As I studied, I taught; and I studied and I taught. I still have the record for JSC passes at that school. Students passed up to 10 subjects at one sitting."

Higher studies

In 1970, after teaching for five years, and attaining five GCE passes, Bignall was ready to pursue higher studies, so he enrolled in the Seventh-day Adventist-operated West Indies College - now Northern Caribbean University (NCU) - where he is currently chairman of the board. In addition, his wife, Yvonne, is the vice-president for university relations at NCU, and their only child, Shelli-Gaye Simone, is enrolled there as a final-year secondary-education student.

As a student attending NCU, Bignall pursued a bachelor's degree with two majors - education and theology - but fell six credits short of completing the education major.

"My mother asked me why was I studying to become a pastor when I was doing so well in teaching. But I felt a compelling urge to be a pastor; that was always my ambition and my first love," says Bignall. "So I decided I would pursue studies in both areas. To be truthful, I did better in Greek than in Spanish, and I did better in church history than the history of education. But a great pastor must be a great teacher," adds Bignall.

He says the Church has been the bedrock of his life, and both parents were Seventh-day Adventists. On the night of his conversion, he was the only person who walked to the altar at the Buff Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church and was subsequently baptised at a tender age.

Bignall relates: "I asked for and was baptised one week before I was nine years old. In those days, you were not baptised until you were age 12. I begged and my mother initially said no, because she said I was too lazy."

However, his mother relented after he was interviewed by the church board and admitted to her charge of laziness.

Bignall reflects that had he not been baptised at such an early age, he might not have ended up in the ministry, because he had a talent for writing songs, and who knows where that might have taken him.

Slow ascent began

After teaching for a year at the Seventh-day Adventist school in Port Antonio on graduation from West Indies College, Bignall began his slow ascent to the leadership of the WIU. As part of his preparation for service, in 1981-82 he enrolled in a master's programme in education at Andrews University, operated by his denomination in Michigan, United States of America. He specialised in curriculum and instruction. He aborted a second master's programme in counselling and guidance because the Church needed his service back home.

Over time, Bignall has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in various capacities at different levels - as teacher from kindergarten to college level; as acting principal for Portland and Kingsway High schools; as pastor of several churches, mainly in the parishes of St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew. He has also served as director of several denominational ministries and as president of the East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. In 2003, he was called to serve as youth ministries director at the WIU and in 2005, was elected to be family ministries director and secretary of the union.

As head of the WIU Conference, Pastor Bignall has responsibilities for numerous high and preparatory schools, while acting as chairman for Book and Nutrition Services, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Andrews Memorial Hospital, and Northern Caribbean University.

How well prepared is he to offer these institutions policy direction?

Bignall says he has gained valuable experience serving on the boards of several of these institutions during his 40-year-long association with the Seventh-day Adventist organisation in Jamaica and the northern Caribbean region.

"I am not a novice to church administration. There has been some exposure that counts," he asserts. In addition, I think we have some competent people manning these agencies."

Secret for rapid church growth

Asked about the secret behind the rapid growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Bignall says it was attributable to its core message and the sense of urgency that it conveys: Serve God who made Heaven and Earth. He references Revelation 14:6-12, which states that we must fear God and worship him who "made Heaven and Earth".

"We want to call all people who respect creation to respect the Sabbath of creation. We should follow Jesus by respecting the One who says 'I am the Lord of the Sabbath'," argues Bignall. He says this message should be propagated worldwide because the angel in Revelation 14 gives a global message.

The WIU Conference president says the organisation will support worthwhile efforts by others, especially in the area of healthy lifestyle: "There are certain health messages, such as anti-smoking, alcoholic drinking, for which we will stand behind any organisation."

Bignall says he does not intend to change the strategic plan for the WIU formulated under Dr Allen's leadership, involving church growth, community outreach and education.

"What's new on the table? The slain Lamb of God and the recipe book, the Bible," states Bignall.

Bignall says his presidency will emphasise caring and kindness throughout the organisation, the same attitude others showed him during his challenging youth. He intends to implore his fellow church leaders to ACT HOPE (All Come Together, Help One Person Every Day).

"I believe if the more than 260,000 members of the Church deliberately and intentionally help one person, not necessarily with money, just a kind word - including those persons who by their behaviour don't deserve it - that is a quarter million persons helped every day. We need to ACT HOPE," counsels Bignall.

byron.buckley@gleanerjm.com

Bignall's former board and committee memberships