Northern Caribbean University (NCU) has declared international evangelist Pastor Glen O. Samuels as its Product Sample for 2022. NCU President Professor Lincoln Edwards made the announcement during the 99th Commencement ceremony held August 14, 2022. Pastor Samuels is an alum of West Indies College, the forerunner of NCU.
Pastor Samuels, the President of the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, has an extensive career in religion and evangelism, administration, television presenting and community involvement. As an exemplary alum of NCU, the life, values and work of Pastor Samuels reflects the values and objectives of the university. He is a mentor of youth and an advocate and defender of the abused and the poor.
Reacting to the announcement, Pastor Samuels said: “I am humbled by the honour given by the university in selecting me as the 2022 Product Sample. Thank you NCU, as you continue to provide a place for people like me, from very poor circumstances, to get quality wholesome-balanced education, so we can make significant contributions in building a better nation and a better world.”
He credited NCU for producing thousands of persons that have impacted the world: “Northern Caribbean University has mentored, moulded and shaped the academic, moral and spiritual life of thousands of students from many countries, who have become great building blocks of their respective nations – making significant contributions to the building of a better world.”
While establishing his ministry, Pastor Samuels was able to get results in the period between his internship as a pastor and his ordination as a pastor. During the period he was able to baptise over 800 souls. Over the years, he has baptised thousands, making a record of over 1,100 souls, by the end of a single evangelistic event, in the year 2000. Over time, he has become a renowned international evangelist, travelling to places in the Caribbean, the Americas, Canada and Europe.
Television ministry and evangelism are a great part of his life. He was the first speaker and director of the Jamaican Adventist produced programme, Behold He Cometh in the 1995-2002. For another local Adventist-produced programme, Word of Hope, he is a presenter.
The most impactful of his evangelistic series of recent times was the Footprints of Hope Series that was staged in collaboration with the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists (IAD). The series was carried simultaneously on various forms of social media, as well as eight television stations and 20 radio stations in the IAD. On average, 1 million people tuned in per day and the grand total membership view was 42.5 million persons.
Pastor Samuels is a well-sought speaker globally. Highlights of his career includes him being a guest speaker at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists’ World Ministerial Council in 2000. Five years later, he was the devotional speaker at the General Conference Session of Seventh-day Adventists in 2005.
Since 2014, Pastor Samuels has been the West Jamaica Conference president. Prior to that, he had several conference and union level positions of administration. These include positions at the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists such as Executive Secretary and Ministerial Secretary.
In October 2017, Pastor Samuels was awarded the Order of Distinction – Officer Class, for his work in religion and community service. Through his initiative in getting community leaders and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice to talk, Pastor Samuels established the Granville Restorative Justice, Training and Community Development Centre in the 2006-2007 period. Through the establishment of day and night football on the West Jamaica Conference premises, at-risk and unattached youth were directed into opportunities for training through the Human Employment and Resource Training Trust/National Training Agency (HEART-NTA).
He serves his community in several other ways. He is a Justice of the Peace (JP) and a member of the Police Civilian Oversight Committee. Additionally, he is Chairman of the Board at the Harrison Memorial and Savanna-La-Mar High Schools. Another membership of his is that of the St James Peace Management Board.
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