Today Opal Chambers is a vibrant worker in the Freedom Come Ministries, headquarterd at the Tarrant Baptist church. Overwhelmed by the change it has brought about in her life, she eagerly shared her experience.
Coming under the conviction of the Holy Spirit while living in the Cayman Islands over 20 years ago, she was baptised there. In March 2005, she visited her homeland on a two-week break, which eventually led to her making the decision not to go back.
Being a Christian, she needed a church to fellowship in, and so the search started. She got the right hand of fellowship at the Rectory Land Church of God of Prophecy and was a member there for over 12 years.
“A pastor and his wife, who are both close associates, came together and started a ministry. After a lot of fasting and prayer, I got a vision when I was in the USA to name the ministry Open Arms of Love. I was on the board of directors; I invested so much in the ministry, but it was not hard for me to walk away,” she revealed.
Five years ago, Chambers said she encountered the Freedom Come Ministries International after several encouragements from her daughter.
According to her, every time her daughter visited, she would gush about a pastor on the radio who was so different from the rest. Her convincing argument was that he taught so many things differently about Christianity, things she had never heard before or even knew about.
“I just listened to her but wasn’t interested; she kept annoying me whenever she came by my house, even to the extent where I got disgusted with her,” Chambers confessed, adding that at one point she even told her, “Gal gwaan a yuh yaad and stop terrorising mi!”
However, her daughter would not be fazed, and every time she heard a message that moved her, she would return to share it with her. Still, Chambers didn’t budge, as she said at the time she was with a ministry that she thought needed her full attention.
She eventually changed her tune and embraced the ministry. Reminiscing, Chambers highlighted how it all came about.
She said she got a dream one night about her going around and kneeling down at every entrance of the 14 parishes, praying to keep out the evil spirit from entering them.
She shared the dream with her daughter, who excitedly told her to turn on her radio and select the TBC channel.
She informed her that her dream sounded like the project Apostle Jeffrey Shuttleworth, the pastor at TBC, was promoting called ‘Boots on the Ground’.
“That drew my attention, so I turned my radio on that station, truly curious. I heard something that I had not heard before, and I was so drawn to that station from then until now. It plays 24 hours. I go to sleep with it on and wake up with it on,” Chambers said.
Still living with her grown children, she said they know not to touch it as she owns that space with her radio!
She confesses that when Apostle is on and saying things she thinks they should hear, she deliberately turns up the volume! She remains ignorant of their protest.
In 2020, when COVID-19 hit, she was working as a nurse at the May Pen Hospital. She had reasons to be thankful that she had found that platform with Apostle Jeffrey Shuttleworth.
“He was the one who took me through that period vaccine-free even when I was placed in an isolation ward with patients showing severe conditions from COVID; some nurses and doctors said I was crazy not to take it, some believed she took it and I said I didn’t,” she related.
However, Chambers went through still keeping her faith in God every step of the way and with the encouragement from Apostle Shuttleworth.
Another encounter that impacted Chambers was one of the meetings that was held under the tent in Spanish Town. Living in Clarendon, she was determined to experience it, and despite the challenges, she put fears of safety aside and set out to be a part of it.
She said it was at Newland in Portmore, St Catherine, and they were having an all night prayer meeting. She had mistakenly thought it would be two nights and went the following night, thinking she would be all night.
After she came off at Spanish Town, the driver showed her where she could take a taxi to the tent. A lady (Sis Dor) was walking beside her, and she made some inquiries. Sis Dor told her she was heading there as well.
She discovered it wasn’t an all-night meeting when Sid Dor asked her if someone was coming to take her to Spanish Town; getting a ‘no’, she was invited to stay at her home. She, however, asked to be taken to the Spanish Town Hospital, where she thought, as a nurse, she could find somewhere to stay until she was picked up by her daughter.
“To my surprise, I reached there at about one in the morning; it’s noting like May Pen Hospital that you can go inside; you have to sit under a tent to wait. I said, Lord, you wouldn’t let me receive such a wonderful blessing from that service and let anything happen to me.”
She took her seat under the tent and blended right in under the protection of the Lord.
“God bless TBC, it is such a great power ministry with a wonderful team of presenters. Anyone that is not tuned in to TBC is missing out on a lot; even pastors and bishops near and far are a part of this wonderful ministry that has so much to offer. May God, continue to cover apostle and his family and his team as they continue on this side of the vineyard,” she said.