rickenomoncur

Nearly six weeks after resigning from Mt Tabor Church as senior pastor, Pastor Rickeno Moncur and his new congregation unveiled the name of their new church on Sunday in the ballroom of Bahamar, Revolution Church.

With standing room only, hundreds of worshippers crammed the ballroom for the church’s unveiling, with famed American worship leader Benita Washington leading the praise and worship segment.

Former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis accompanied by his wife, was spotted in the crowd.

https://fb.watch/qDrTgusyHa/

“We are here tonight to witness the birthing of a revolution of love, designed for one purpose, to give life and life abundantly,” Moncur told an exuberant crowd. “This is not just any kind of a revolution, this is a love revolution based on John 3:16: For God so love people, he gave his only begotten Son.”

Forty-year-old Moncur established Revolution Church after serving many years in ministry. He transitioned to pastoral ship at a young age, leading a small but vibrant congregation of young people at Word of Life Kingdom Church, before dissolving it to become the lead pastor at Mt Tabor.

On Sunday, he emphasized that the mandate of Revolution Church is different and people-centered.

“Jesus is saying you can’t take ministry to another dimension and do things the same way.

“Next levels attract new devils but also require different and unique strategies.

“I have been revolutionized. Church is all about God but God is all about his people. For God so love people, he gave his only begotten Son.”

The apostolic preacher has been holding church at Superplex Fusion after he left Mt Tabor unexpectedly, announcing by a video that “challenges surround[ed] my presence” at the influential church and later acknowledging he was “hurting for one year.”

“I had to preach through it,” he told the congregation of his plight one Sunday morning in its 8 am service. “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.”

Details of the challenges he encountered while serving have been sketchy, only stating that it appeared as if he “created some offences” while there. After praying and reflecting, he determined it was “the end of this particular season.”

However, Moncur has been careful to express gratitude to Bishop Ellis for the opportunity to lead the congregation at Mt Tabor.

“Doing what I did was not easy, but I believe it was a God move.”

Since the move, Revolution Church now consists 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; the newly joined members of Mt Tabor; and some new members who joined the new church after the resignation.

Moncur said he endeavours to change and improve the lives of his congregants while upsetting the status quo.

“The revolution in this church is that no one in this church, regardless of their status will go without their needs being met.

“The failure of the church in our times is that in many instances, we have deceptively sought to make the church about God and not about his people as a coverup for our selfish ambition to build up our personal kingdoms and empires where pastors and bishops live like kings while their parishioners suffer like hogs.

“We drive the best, wear the best and we live in the best. We fly all over the world, while our members can hardly pay the two-dollar bridge toll to get over Paradise Island. We eat to our heart’s content, taking the tithes from the single mothers on minimum wage but could care less if she ate or was able to pay her rent or take care of her children.”

Moncur continued, “We have no time to meet with people any more, talk with people or be among people. For too long, we have built kingdoms unto ourselves on the backs of people who were deceived into thinking this was God’s way.

“We use God to control people when in fact, being his representative, we try to be him and violate people.

“Our kingdoms are coming down so that God’s kingdom can truly be built. God is reclaiming his church, his throne and his people,” Moncur said.

Before Moncur’s appointment to Mt Tabor, Bishop Ellis sought to appoint US-based Bahamian Pastor Dario Carey as senior pastor, but Ellis reneged on his promise and suggested that God told him not to do so anymore. So, 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.

Moncur changed the dynamic at Mt Tabor, rebranding the church and increasing its membership.

Going forward, Moncur said, “We will challenge the status quo. We will challenge governments, and the unjust systems and policies, as the Holy Spirit leads.

“We are not interested in tradition, religion, selfish and hypocritical ideologies. We have no interest in self-serving, carnal, evil-driven, arrogant, pompous ministry. We are going back to God, we are going back to the Bible.

“We are going back to Jesus culture as our model and as our standard.”

Pastor Rickeno Moncur believes a new move of God is taking place in the Bahamas as hundreds of believers who are “in love with Jesus” pack the cinema for church services, seeking forgiveness and rededicating their lives to Christ.

The second church service that began last week is now heading for the establishment of a new church since Moncur’s resignation as senior pastor of Mt Tabor.

“As we get ready to move this thing forward, I’m only prepared to lead people who are going all the way after God,” Moncur preached passionately in the 8 am service.

Thirty-nine-year-old Moncur once pastored a small church Word of Life Kingdom Ministries before he was asked to become the Senior Pastor of mega church Mt Tabor where he served for one year, following the retirement of prominent clergyman Bishop Neil Ellis.

But Moncur’s surprise resignation last week following challenges with his leadership at the church, has sent believers in a frenzy, who have come to enjoy his fiery, apostolic preaching, and many have followed him at his new venture for prayer and encouragement.

“If you want religion, if you want your name called, if you want to be seen, then this is not for you. But if you want to see Jesus, if you want to go all the way with him, then this is it.”

The response to gathering at the Fusion Superplex for prayer and worship has been beyond what Moncur expected. Just days since the start, hashtag #IchooseGod has spread on social media, a nod to one of Moncur’s latest sermons.

Believers lined the door on Sunday to get a seat in the already packed cinema with only standing room available, as ushers sought extra chairs to seat believers filing in.

Millennials and elderly church mothers make up most of the new congregation.

“God wants to do something new. Our instruction from heaven right now is solely to gather and seek him,” Moncur wrote in a social media post.

The response has prompted Moncur to establish a children’s and teen’s church to free up space in the theatre for more worshippers.

The church will launch its brand in February and is recruiting church volunteers.

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.