Pastor Virgil Sams
A newly-appointed Resident Minister of the Seventh-day Adventist community in Anguilla was installed at a joint service of all three congregations at Mount Fortune Church on October 17.
He is Pastor Virgil Sams, who is accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Violet Sams, their daughter, Vernette, who has just completed high school in St. Kitts, and their son, Vaughn, now a fourth form student at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. They are not complete strangers in the Anguilla District as the Pastor’s wife’s mother, Catherine Barry, and her brother, are long time residents and members of the South Hill Church.
Pastor Sams, who has served in St. Kitts for almost a decade, a record for any SDA Minister there, succeeds Pastor Danny Philip who has been appointed Youth Director at the Headquarters of the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.
Pastor Sams, a native of St. Eustatius, was installed by Pastor Charles Heskey, Ministerial Secretary and Family Life Director at the Conference Office. He was welcomed to the Ministry in Anguilla by First Elders Wilkin Harrigan, Evelyn Hodge and Samuel Theodore of Mount Fortune, Shemei Tabernacle, Long Bay, and Jireh Tabernacle, South Hill, respectively. Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, who is a member of the Church at Mount Fortune, also gave welcome remarks at the installation service.
Pastor Heskey, who served in Statia during the time when Pastor Sams was growing up, was delighted to see him taking up his appointment in Anguilla after a very successful ministry in District Two, St. Kitts. Pastor Sams, who resided for sometime in the Windward Islands, studied Theology at West Indies College, now the Northern Caribbean University, the flagship educational institute of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the region, in Mandeville, Jamaica. In 1992, following his graduation, the North Caribbean Conference appointed him to St. Maarten. Over the years he served in Saba, Antigua and St. Kitts.
A glowing report was submitted on Pastor Sams’ work in St. Kitts. It described him as having had a close working relationship with other leading religious denominations, government officials and various organisations who often called on and benefitted from his ministerial services. The report concluded by stating that his ministry had “touched many lives and hearts”.
Just before delivering his sermon (with reference to the ministry of the Apostle Paul and the role of the Church), Pastor Sams told the congregation in part: “It is certainly a joy and a privilege to serve you as your Pastor. My family and I are very happy with the decision that was made to be transferred to Anguilla.” He was grateful for the warm welcome accorded to him and his family by the members of the Church. and looked forward to their support and cooperation as well as that of all other persons in the wider community whom he was also anxious to serve in various capacities.