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Mt Tabor Church has appointed Bishop Delton Ellis as its interim pastor following a shakeup in the administrative team when Rickeno Moncur resigned after one year as senior pastor of the mega-church.

Bishop Delton the brother of the church’s founder Bishop Neil Ellis has served on the church’s pastoral team but was never up for the post as senior pastor of the church.

Since Moncur’s surprise resignation more than three weeks ago, Mt Tabor Church was without a senior pastor as the church pondered its next move.

Bishop Delton was appointed last Sunday and Kenneth Romer was appointed its First Assistant Pastor.

Bishop Delton has a level of pastoral experience, serving as Provincial leader in Neil Ellis’ global ministry, Global United Fellowship.

Mt Tabor announced it in a social media post, not before members of the church circulated the church’s quiet announcement.

Its last week broadcast ended before Neil Ellis made the announcement.

Before Moncur’s appointment, Bishop Neil Ellis sought to appoint Bahamian US-based Pastor Dario Carey to the church’s top post but that fell through when Bishop Neil reneged on his promise and suggested that God told him not to do so anymore.

Carey, his wife and children then moved back to New Orleans, and Bishop Neil then appointed Moncur to the position.

The fiery pastor changed the dynamic of Mt Tabor, helping to rebrand the church and increasing its membership.

Since he left and restarted his ministry, the membership at Mt Tabor has dropped and the church is attempting to regain its footing.

It remains to be seen how long Bishop Delton will serve as interim pastor, but it is hoped he provides the church with some stability before the church settles on its next senior pastor.

Bishop Neil Ellis won’t comment on his recent church split which has gained widespread attention.

“I am not talking about that,” he told a reporter following the National Day of Prayer Service in Rawson Square on Monday night.

He was there to offer prayers for the nation and the government,  but appeared solemn.

“I’ve been quiet and I remain quiet on that,” he said before walking away.

Bishop Ellis appointed Pastor Rickeno Moncur to the church as senior pastor one year ago, but the relationship seemed to have soured, resulting in Moncur’s resignation on Friday in a video post.

Moncur, in his first Sunday service, acknowledged that he was  “hurting for one year” while “preach[ing],” “serv[ing]” and “minister[ing] through it.”

“Some of you didn’t even know about it because I did not make it the priority,” he said on Sunday while he met with new congregants at the Super Flex Fusion. Moncur seemed to have carried with him some faithful members of Mt Tabor’s pastoral team, some church mothers including Bishop Ellis’ mother-in-law, and those who would have joined during his tenure.

Mt Tabor continued as usual though, with Bishop Ellis’ brother Delton Ellis on the podium offering the preached word where the pews seemed scant compared to other Sunday services.

At the end of his sermon, he invited hurt members to the altar to release their pain. Bishop Ellis’ wife Patrice was the first, where she knelt and prayed. Their eldest daughter stood near Bishop Ellis, and she was seen wiping tears from her eyes.

This makes the second humiliation for the church in one year. Bishop Ellis was preparing to appoint US-based Pastor Dario Carey to the post. Eventually, Bishop Ellis reneged on it, saying God told him not to do so anymore, after introducing Carey to the church and placing billboards on street corners.

With his wife and children, Carey moved back to New Orleans.

Claiming this is what God wants, Bishop Ellis then appointed Moncur.

As Mt Tabor Church begins its search for a new senior pastor, newly resigned Pastor Rickeno Moncur held his first service at Fusion Superplex.

Since his separation from Bishop Neil Ellis and the congregation of Mt Tabor just two days ago, he and a packed theater of worshippers gathered at the facility for Sunday service.

“I was hurting for one year. I had to preach through it,” he told the congregation of his plight. “I had to minister through it. I had to serve through it. And some of you didn’t even know about it because I did not make it the priority,” the apostolic preacher acknowledged.

On Friday in a surprising move, the thirty-nine-year-old preacher who was appointed by Ellis as the senior pastor of Mt Tabor last year, announced by video that he resigned because of “challenges that surround my presence.”

Moncur said it appeared as if he “created some offenses” while he served at the mega church, and after praying and reflecting, he determined it was “the end of this particular season.”

“Doing what I did was not easy,” he said on Sunday morning. “But I believe it was a God move.”

The packed audience consisted of some members of Mt Tabor’s pastoral team; some church mothers of Mt Tabor including Bishop Ellis’ mother-in-law; those who would have followed Moncur after he first closed his church Word of Life Kingdom Ministry; newly joined members of Mt Tabor; curious onlookers and some of his pastoral friends.

“I follow God. I did not do this thinking this would happen. It is not about this. I did this when I had 20, 50, 70 people. It didn’t matter to me. It was about pleasing God.

“It’s not about pomp, pageantry and platforms.”

Before Moncur’s appointment to Mt Tabor, Ellis sought to appoint US-based Bahamian Pastor Dario Carey to the top post but that fell through when Ellis reneged on his promise and suggested that God told him not to do so anymore.

Carey, his wife and children then moved back to New Orleans where he pastored Solid Rock Missionary Baptist Church, and Ellis soon appointed Moncur to the position in an official ceremony.

The fiery pastor changed the dynamic of Mt Tabor, helping to rebrand the church and increasing its membership.

All seemed well until an article written in the editorial of Tuesday’s Tribune sounded the alarm that something was amiss at the church.

By Friday, Moncur resigned.

He formerly pastored Word of Life Kingdom Ministry, which was dissolved because of the move to Mt Tabor.

It is not known if he will reuse the name as he moves forward.

The new congregation is expected to meet again next Sunday at 8 am.

“I have no plan…so give me some space. I believe God will give me the details as I go.”

The fragmented congregation of Mt Tabor Church was reminded to trust in God through the pain at its first Sunday service since Rickeno Moncur resigned as senior pastor of the mega-church in the Bahamas.

“In every separation, there are casualties of war. In every separation there is pain. But don’t make a permanent decision on a temporary situation,” Bishop Delton Ellis, brother of Founder Neil Ellis cautioned the congregation.

After 34 years of preaching, Ellis handed the church over to Moncur last year, but his reign as senior pastor did not last long and seemed to have been mired in controversy as revealed in Moncur’s resignation announced by video on Friday.

Service was noticeably different as Delton preached. The seats seemed sparse and occasional sounds of “hallelujah” littered the church as congregants listened attentively to the preached word.

“Bishop Ellis has been my brother before and he will remain my brother after,” Delton boldly stated as Ellis’ wife and children sat in the first pew.

“I stand in the gap to carry this family through.”

“Lift your head up, strengthen your feeble knees,” he told Bishop Ellis who sat stoically. “The devil desires to sift you like wheat, but we pray that your strength will remain.”

Pastor Kenneth Romer did not hesitate to discuss the matter, reminding the congregation to be grateful for Moncur’s service to the church. “Pastor Moncur has blessed my life [and] this ministry. We are not an ungrateful church,” to which the congregation, including Bishop Ellis stood in applause.

Moncur served as the pastor for one year before his immediate resignation.

On Saturday Mt Tabor issued a response, stating that it was unaware of Moncur’s decision before the video was released but assured followers that the service would be held at its regular times on Sunday.

“We wish him all the best.”

Bishop Ellis told ZNS that he awaits the decision of the board but has no plans to pastor the church.

The church will hold a general membership meeting on January 29.

After Bishop Neil Ellis rescinded New Orleans pastor Dario Carey, he is installing Rickeno Moncur as Senior Pastor of Mt Tabor.

The young pastor of Word of Life Kingdom Ministries is expected to assume the position at the mega-church when Ellis steps down in three months.

This comes after Mt Tabor unanimously ratified Carey for the position who moved from the US to pastor the church. But controversy followed when reports circulated that Ellis wavered in his decision to make him the senior pastor, attributing his uncertainty to God.

Ellis’ about-face negatively affected Carey’s financial situation, who in a social media post stated that he had already sold his belongings, house furniture and vehicle, to relocate to the Bahamas.

Carey was in the process of moving his wife and two children to the Bahamas, since Ellis, 61 who is the presiding Bishop of the Global United Fellowship of Churches, promised to step down from the church after 34 years of preaching.

Carey’s appointment was publicized but Ellis never publicly stated that he retook the position from Carey, but he only removed billboards that once announced Carey’s appointment.

Now that Moncur replaces Carey, he will be expected to charter a new course for the larger congregation. Moncur has pastored a smaller congregation for many years but was well known in religious circles.

Many took to social media to congratulate him.

His mother Nadine Moncur said, “…Now is the time for my Joshua to come forth and lead my people to the Promise land. It’s a new day.”

Pastor and Former Senator Jasmin Dareus said, “Look at what the Lord has done. Glory…”

Deno Cartwright, another pastor joined the chorus. “Built and bred for this moment—embrace the call, serve his people [and] run the race.”

It remains to be seen if Moncur will disband his church and how many of his members will crossover.

The spotlight has shone on Pastor of Mt Tabor Bishop Neil Ellis who lambasted Prime Minister Hubert Minnis from his church’s pulpit on Sunday, railing against his handling of the COVID-19 while accusing him of “acting like a god” and one who “does not believe in God.”

Ellis spoke up against the continued lockdowns and restrictive measures implemented to prevent the spread of the virus.

But the part of Ellis’ speech that caught the most heat was accusations that Minnis was not a follower of Jesus, which he later denied that he referenced the prime minister.

Ellis said in his sermon on Sunday, “You (PM Minnis) are insulting our intellect and parading on our democracy and sidelining our right of movement and humiliating our business owners and entrepreneurs. Your one-man stand is killing our economy and it sure doesn’t help when the one in the chair does not believe in God.”

But on Monday morning, Ellis told ZNS in an interview, “I will never seek to say who believes or who does not believe in God because only God knows the secret of a man’s heart. So this was definitely not attributed to the prime minister.”

Who is Bishop Neil Ellis?

Ellis is the senior pastor of a megachurch, reported having nearly 7000 members in 2011. He affiliates with renowned preachers and mega international churches, once connected to the Full Gospel Church in New Orleans, then forming an organization of his own called the Global United Fellowship, which boasts of nearly 1400 churches in 42 Countries.

Ellis has since transitioned from the title of “Bishop” to “His Grace.”

He was referred to as Former Prime Minister Perry Christie’s spiritual adviser, during the PLP’s 2012-2017 reign in power. His influence runs deep within the PLP claiming to be a protege of the PLP’s founding father the late Sir Lynden Pindling and a close friend of PLP’s campaign financier Frankie Wilson.

Bishop Ellis made similar spirituality claims of Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie but denied it too

A 2011 Wikileaks cable shows that Ellis told US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Witajewksi in 2003 in a meeting that Hubert Ingraham is “not a man of God,”  even if he does attend church, nor is Perry Christie a “true man of God,” although he was trying to be religious.

When the Nassau Guardian confronted Ellis with the statements in 2011, Ellis denied the statements attributed to him, saying, “I don’t qualify to determine who is a man of God and who is not a man of God.

“…For me to say I think Christie is a pretender would be very hypocritical of me because I’ve always said publicly and I would say again, I believe Perry Christie is one of the greatest humanitarians I’ve ever met.”

Bishop Ellis further rejects claims he told members to ‘vote PLP or leave the church’

Ellis further denied a controversial statement made in 2002 when reports claimed that he told his congregants to vote for the PLP, and if they did not, they should leave his church.

But according to Wikileaks reports, Former US Ambassador Richard Blankenship said Ellis told him that the tape — “which he claims contains selectively edited portions of three different sermons — could easily lead you to believe he had instructed his church how to vote.”

Blankenship continues, “According to Ellis, his comments were taken out of context, and that while he did officially endorse Christie and the PLP from the pulpit on several occasions (doing as he says the Holy Spirit moved him to do), he never tried to tell others how to vote or threatened anyone if they didn’t vote for the PLP.”

Despite his particular political opinions, Ellis says he has respect for all leaders.

Featured picture: The Christian Post