New York – Deputy Consul General to New York, Lisa Bryan-Smart, has called on nationals overseas to do more to help Jamaica achieve its development goals.
Mrs. Bryan-Smart, who was delivering the keynote address at the 50th anniversary celebrations and awards banquet for the International Pentecostal City Mission Church (IPCMC) held recently at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Queens, said that there were many positive developments taking place in the island and urged Jamaicans abroad to find ways to assist in the process of national building.
“Not everything is negative, not everything is crime and violence; there are lots of positive things happening in Jamaica. The challenge is for us to find them and encourage their development over the long term,” she stated.
According to Mrs. Bryan-Smart, “It would be of great benefit to the country if some of our educated, skilled, overseas Jamaicans could find a way to give back some of the skills that they have garnered while living overseas”. She further encouraged the church leadership to continue to point the way forward for young people to assist the country.
“We continue to look to you to provide some of the opportunities and mechanism that will make the church relevant in today’s society because of your unspeakable power and positive influence on humankind,” Mrs. Bryan-Smart observed.
The Deputy Consul General encouraged the leadership of the organization to continue to build on the outstanding legacy of the founding members, Bishops E.J. Wilson and A.M. Gale, who are both Jamaicans, and in whose honour and memory the event was staged.
The evening’s function was complemented by a performance by gospel recording artiste Marlon ‘Brother Paul’ Anderson and the presentation of awards for inspired leadership and dedicated service to Elders of the Brooklyn City Mission Church community by Bishop Petrona Reid.
