{"id":3077,"date":"2018-04-20T04:26:17","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T08:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/?p=1938"},"modified":"2018-04-20T04:26:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T08:26:17","slug":"chicago-pastor-celebrates-80-years-of-life-and-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/?p=3077","title":{"rendered":"Chicago pastor celebrates 80 years of life and Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago<\/strong> pastor<\/strong> celebrates<\/strong> 80<\/strong> years<\/strong> of<\/strong> l<\/strong>ife<\/strong> and<\/strong> Ministry<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Saturday, March 3, Pastor Ginette Lariv\u00e8re, founder of the New Jerusalem Evangelistic Church in Chicago, Illinois, celebrated her 80th birthday with\u00a0friends and family as well as church members. But instead \u00a0of\u00a0the attention being on her, Pastor Larivi\u00e8re dedicated her 80th birthday as a celebration of God\u2019s\u00a0goodness to her and those around\u00a0her, complete with worship songs, choir selections and rous- ing words of encouragement from herself and other Chicago Haitian pastors.<\/p>\n

Pastor Lariviere, originally\u00a0from Gonaives, Haiti, came to Chicago in the 1970s with her husband and six children. She founded the New Jerusalem Evangelistic Church (NJEC) in 1994. The church exists to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to their community in Chicago and beyond.<\/p>\n

Pastor Yves Th\u00e9odule, Senior Pastor of NJEC, spoke on Pastor Larivi\u00e8re\u2019s influence on his life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a young man growing up on the South Side of Chicago,\u00a0you know what that means,\u201d Pastor Yves shared. \u201cI was into all sorts of mess. Pastor Larivi\u00e8re\u00a0had the courage to give me the gospel when some people were shying away from talking to me about the Word of God, because of the title I held. But, to the Lord for this woman. She sat down with me and fed me the gospel with a teaspoon. When I say with a teaspoon, I mean she hand fed it to me in order for me to become the person I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Th\u00e9odule came to know God under Pastor Larivi\u00e8re\u2019s leadership, was married by her and later became the Senior Pastor of the very congregation where he became a Christian. He has now been tasked with bringing the church \u2014 which started in Pastor Larivi\u00e8re\u2019s living room\u2014to a new level as they expand from their current building to an adjacent 24,000 square foot property.<\/p>\n

Others throughout the night shared how Pastor Larivi\u00e8re has been a spiritual mother for them in so many ways, helping them to\u00a0grow not only in their faith in Jesus Christ but also as individuals. For some, she was the only person they knew when they immigrated to the United States, while others counted her as a consistently warm and helpful presence, full of integrity, tenacity and wisdom.<\/p>\n

At the core of the event, Pastor Larivi\u00e8re addressed the attendees, primarily giving glory to God and sharing what these past eight decades have meant to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen God put you on the earth, He put you here for a reason,\u201d says Pastor Lariviere at the\u00a0opening. \u201cIf you asked me what I\u2019ve learned in my 80 years, I would quote the Apostle of Paul in Philippians 4:11, \u2018I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.\u2019 You may think circumstances are bad, but God is teaching us things that we don\u2019t know. Enjoy the present, learn from the past and the future is a question mark, because it\u2018s in God\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we\u2019re so worried about the future that we can\u2019t even enjoy what God has given us in the present. God wants you to use the gifts He has given you to honor Him in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consul General of Haiti in Chicago Lesly Cond\u00e9 also shared his experience with the formidable, compassionate and faith-driven pastor, thanking her for her service to the community.<\/p>\n

Pastor Larivi\u00e8re would like to thank her physical family for her celebration as well as her church family at the New Jerusalem Evangelistic Church who helped make this celebration possible; as well as all those who came to celebrate God\u2019s goodness with her. If you are ever in Chicago, she invites you to worship with them at the New Jerusalem Evangelistic Church, 1706 E. 75th St. Chicago, IL 60649. Sunday School starts at 9:45 a.m. and service at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n

Pastor Yves Th\u00e9odule\u2019s remarks for Mrs Larivi\u00e8re\u2019s birthday<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only as permanent Pastor of\u00a0New Jerusalem Evangelistic Church but also as spiritual son of Pastor Larivi\u00e8re, it was fitting for Yves Th\u00e9dule to speak at the occasion of this birthday. Referring to her as PL, Mr. Th\u00e9odule says :\u00a0PL is someone that is very, very special to me. From the time I met PL as a young boy, I didn\u2019t know that would be the start of my life. I was just a young man doing whatever that I wanted to do in the world. I had all the stuff that I needed. I was having a good time. Then I met PL and a new chapter in my life began. I\u00a0know PL doesn\u2019t like when people put her on the spot, but I have to in this moment.<\/p>\n

PL sat down with me and literally tea-spooned-fed me the gospel. When I say tea-spoon-feed me, I mean she hand-fed it to me in order for me to become the person I am today. She talked with me, walked with me, dragged me, and when I laid flat on the floor and said I couldn\u2019t do it anymore, she grabbed me by my feet and said, \u201cLet\u2019s keep going.\u201d She just kept pushing and pulling and dragging. She gave me so much encouragement. As a young man growing up on the South Side of Chicago, you know what that means. I was into all sorts of mess. Some of you heard the story many times before. She had the courage to give me the gospel when some people were shying away from giving instructing about the Scriptures because of the title I held.<\/p>\n

But, thank God for this woman. The Lord called this woman named Ginette Larivi\u00e8re and He said something special to her. Today I know for a fact that\u00a0the Lord looked at her and just as He looked at Gideon and said, \u2018Man of God, you\u2019re a Soldier.\u2019 God called him a soldier when he was nothing. He wasn\u2019t a soldier, he wasn\u2019t a hero. The man was hiding out, but the Lord called him a warrior. And I believe the same thing happened to PL. The Lord called her a soldier, a warrior. Because of this woman\u2019s obedience to the Lord, it has impacted many, many lives, not only in Chicago but all over the place, because the same Gospel\u00a0she gave me, I\u2019m walking out preaching it.<\/p>\n

\u00ab There were many times, where she took that section of her house and changed it into a\u00a0Sanctuary. This woman obeyed the Lord. PL thank you for obeying the Lord. Today we thank God because when he spoke to you, you said yes. She could have chosen the easy way. I watched my pastor get brutalized, and my heart would be broken.<\/p>\n

And I ask myself, would I have had the strength to keep going how she has ? To tell you the truth, I have it easy today. I have a great team in the church; but when she was doing it, she was standing there alone with the Lord. It wasn\u2019t easy. So, today when we come here to celebrate, know that those 80 years weren\u2019t\u00a0easy. We need to recognize someone like that to say thank you, we appreciate you and the Lord bless you today, PL.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0 were having our service\u00a0in the 14×16 living-room. We moved into a church that was just a little bigger. We said PTL, but today we\u2019re on our way to build a church that is 24,000 sq. ft. That\u00a0was this woman. We\u2019re making an impact. We\u2019re touching lives on the South Side of Chicago because this woman opened the door of her living room. That same little church we\u2019re talking about has brought jobs to proba- bly hundreds now. We\u2019ve had\u00a0hundreds of people coming to our classrooms that we teach how to secure jobs, because this woman was obedient to the Lord and I\u2019m sure there are many more stories we can tell. Today Pastor, I want to take the time to say thank you, we appreciate you, we love you. I praise the Lord for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

this original article is in P. 15<\/strong>, of the curent edition april 18, 2018 at :\u00a0http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/H-O-18-April-2018-2.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago pastor celebrates 80 years of life and Ministry On Saturday, March 3, Pastor Ginette Lariv\u00e8re, founder of the New Jerusalem Evangelistic Church in Chicago, Illinois, celebrated her 80th birthday with\u00a0friends and family as well as church members. But instead… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,22,53],"tags":[637,1495,2175,2438],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglais","category-flash","category-usa","tag-chicago","tag-haiti-observateur","tag-ministry","tag-pastor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}