It is Yahweh who speaks, come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, and mourning. Joel 2: 12.

In this verse Joel reminds us that our disobedience has separated us from God and as such that beautiful relationship and powerful bond we share with our Creator is lost. Hence, a heartbroken God is pleading with us his people to come back to him.

This was the theme used by the parish of Gran Couva/Tabaquite as their roving Outreach Crusade made its journey from one community to another within the parish.

The Outreach Crusade was the brainchild of Fr Roger Paponette, who received assistance from the Evangelization Commission. The Outreach Crusade began on August 6, at Mamoral and rolled into Flanagin Town, Los Atajos, Brasso, Gran Couva and ended at Tabaquite on August 24.

The crusade was an appeal to the wandering members of the Roman Catholic communtiy to come back to an affectionate, compassionate and supreme God.

When the Roman Catholic community gathers, there is a certain spirit and energy that pervades such a gathering and so it was throughout the Outreach Crusade.

This was evident each night as the crowd grew in magnitude as people came together from various communities to satisfy a spiritual hunger, greet each other and chat with old friends they had not seen in a while. As one individual said, “I knew the crusade would have been big but I never expected to see so many Roman Catholics as well as non-Roman Catholics.”

Music is a wonderful language used to share the love of God with the lost and this is exactly what our music ministry, “Moments” and “GRACE”, did as they ignited a fire of the Holy Spirit inside each person with their songs of praise and worship every night.

Cross-section of the crusade crowd

Fr Hudlin described the coming together of these two choirs, as “truly a moment of grace.” The Word speaks "You shall worship me in spirit and in truth” and this was well executed by Pamela Lee-Sam as she conducted the praise and worship every night calling on the congregation to “surrender all to Jesus because he is our all in all, he is everything to us and our desire should be to worship him". 

According to Romans (12:1-2), worship is not the song we sing, it’s the life that we live. Every night the powerful and dynamic speakers reminded the congregation of this as they appealed to them to “Come back to Jesus.”

The speakers included Frs. Urban Hudlin, Roger Paponette, Steve Duncan, David Khan, Rev Robert Christo, Thora Mootoo, Kirk Philip and Keith Patrick.           

Fr Hudlin explained that repentance is important in order to develop a close relationship with our God. He said, “It is very easy to wander away from God through sins, but we can come back to God by repenting for these sins.”

Thora Mootoo also spoke eloquently about forgiveness as she explained, “God is merciful and he neither judges nor condemns our actions. Instead he has given us the opportunity to come back to him through the Sacrament of Reconciliation but we need to avail ourselves to it.” 

Similarly, Fr Duncan pointed out to the participants, “We live in a world of consumerism but we need to remain faithful to God, endure the adversities and we shall find favour with God”.

The charismatic deacon Rev Robert Christo also shared the view that we live in a world of consumerism, he said, “We live in an imperfect world of materialism and consumerism and we need to be open in order to be healed as, doubt, selfishness and bitterness prevent us from coming to the greatest physician, Jesus.”

Likewise, Fr Paponette stated, “God’s gift is a spirit of boldness, as God’s people, we are asked to be bold and to love everyone all the time while exercising a spirit of self-control, love and power.

However, we must remember ‘boldfaceness’ is not boldness and we must never use them interchangeably, as ‘boldfaceness’ means crossing boundaries.” 

The Outreach Crusade held on August 9, at Flanagin Town and August 16, at Brasso was dedicated to the youth and those young at heart. On both nights the youth were very fortunate to have Kirk Philip as their speaker.

Kirk was an energetic and vibrant speaker who brought a very crucial and inspirational message to the youth. He explained to them, “Although you may be young, do not allow people to disregard you because of your age, you must show that you are an example by the way you speak and behave.”

Fr Khan had a similar message when he said, “God calls us to live and be people of the truth. Your lives must be testimonies of that truth and then we will truly be free to come to God.”

This momentous and very meaningful crusade climaxed on August 24, with a Mass at Tabaquite with

Fr Paponette and Fr Hudlin concelebrating. The multitude of people gathered there on that night, and all the other nights of the Outreach Crusade, despite the inclement weather, was a living testimony of their love for God.

As Fr Hudlin pointed out at the Mass, “When you look around, you can see the Church is alive in this parish by the vast gathering seen here.” Testimonies were also given by some parishioners as evidence that, “God is merciful and everything is possible with God.” 

Fr Hudlin also told the enthusiastic and fervent gathering that each person had to make a choice. He left these words of wisdom with them,

“The crusade is like a bird in your hands you can snap the neck of the bird and kill it or you can open your hands and grant the bird life.”

The Outreach Crusade successfully ignited a deep desire in everyone to come back to a loving God.