Father Of A Community

Shepherd of 600 members and father of a community, Pastor Benjamin Agard’s influence is seen and felt strongly in the Morvant Laventille area. Despite being called “crazy” and questioned for even considering to bring change to this community, Pastor Agard was unhesitant in his approach and immediately followed the direction of God.

His gentle and compassionate disposition can be attributed to his humble beginnings. Benjamin Agard was born into a large family in the small village of Coromandel in Cedros. Poverty was one of his major challenges growing up, and he recalled having to walk over three miles to get to school and using fig leaves to shelter when the rain would fall.

However, at a tender age Pastor Agard was introduced to Christ, and that was when his entire life changed.  After gaining 5 O’level passes, he went on to Bible school and in 1980 began full-time ministry at the Laventille Open Bible Church. Prior to becoming a pastor in 1984, he served in the capacity as a musician, youth leader and assistant pastor.   

After 12 years as the senior pastor of Open Bible, he then became the pastor of Church on the Rock in Morvant. At the time, murders were rampant and many questioned his judgment but he believed that God had sent him there to bring change. Pastor Agard immediately put his hands to the plow and began  establishing relationships with members of the community. 

Pastor Agard’s work with the youth took flight after he was robbed . “I was held up at gunpoint, and my car was stolen , when the guy was driving away with the car, the spirit of the Lord  spoke to me and told me that if we don’t do something about the young people, they will rise up and kill us…”  he recalled. Since then he has started a children’s ministry, where and the word of God is taught. These sessions take place in homes or even police stations, anywhere young minds could be reached.

Due to the intervention of the church many young men who were once involved in gangs and drugs turned their lives over to Christ. “There are some young men now that would tell you that if Jesus Christ didn’t come into their lives they would’ve been dead, because of the life they were involved in and the friends they kept " Pastor Agard said. Since the church has intervened in the community, the murder rate drastically decreased, and Pastor Agard gives all the glory to God.

Shau D'eau is another way in which the church engages young men. Shau D'eau is an intervention program where the church carries a group of young men to a beach resort for a weekend, during the Easter vacation. The young men participate in counselling sessions, prayer and worship. They are even taught how to fish and hunt. Most importantly, however, they are shown how to demonstrate brotherly love, one to another.

Pastor Agard’s daughter placed first in  mathematics in the Caribbean, even though she was told that she couldn’t do math by her teacher. This brought to his attention the importance of education. Inspired by this, he began to challenge young people to excel academically. He recalled that there were young people who when they first started attending the church, didn’t believe that they had any hope of becoming anything at all, but they are now police and army officers.

Pastor Agard encourages young people who feel hopeless always to believe in themselves. “You  must never give up on yourself , you must always believe that good things can come out of Laventille” Pastor Agard even drew reference to a young woman who grew up in Morvant and place first in the world for in the field of accounting.

The church also offers counselling to families, married couples and for those hurting as a result of violence in the area.

The church also has a homework centre that provides educational assistance and demonstrating true community spirit, it has also opted to provide housing for the Lower Morvant Government School.

However, Pastor Agard believes that the entire Body of  Christ nationwide could do a lot more “ I feel that the church can be a little more involved in communities and let people know that we care… it doesn’t matter to people how much you know until they know how much you care.”