Front Pew with Reverend Garnett Roper

BY NADINE WILSON Sunday Observer staff reporter wilsonn@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Name: Reverend Garnett Roper Marital status: Married to Georgia and has three children Church: Portmore Missionary Church Location: 114 Cecille Avenue, Edgewater, St Catherine Membership: 800 Has been a pastor for: 31 years

Four things about you that people would be surprised to know.

1. That I am not a party activist

“I am not the party animal people think I am in terms of a political party. It's the single most-repeated thing about me I think in Jamaican media. It's funny that I have been on radio 30 years and on talk radio for 20 years and that is how people see me. Talk radio is six hours a week, so it is a very small percentage of my life and it is very restricted and narrow. My life is far more colourful than that.”

2. I am a linguist by profession

“I was educated in Jamaica, the US and England and I am a linguist by training. I am an expert in Hebrew and Greek, that is my normal work. It is my training, so like a doctor is a doctor, I am a linguist. I taught everybody for a few years. I don't teach too much anymore, but that is what I am. My discipline is academics so what I speak is English but I use Spanish, German, Arabic, Latin and Hebrew, but just for work.”

3. I was educated by Seventh-day Adventists

“I am from Montego Bay so another thing I think is interesting is that I went to a Seventh-day Adventist high school. I went to Harrison Memorial High which is in Montego Bay.”

4. I am a farmer

“I once had the largest citrus nursery in Jamaica and I live in Highgate. But business is not good, although Minister Tufton says otherwise. For us farmers it is a little bit difficult, the market is just not there. I like producing something from nothing, just the idea that you grew something from scratch.”