The Rev Dr Sam Vassel will be the main speaker at the Mandeville Keswick Convention scheduled for July 22-29 at the Ridgemount United Church, Main Street, Mandeville. The meetings begin nightly at 7:00.

The Rev Dr Vassel, a Jamaican-born cleric, has been serving as the Senior Pastor at the New Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene, in New York, since 2000.

Prior to emigrating to the United States, he served for a number of years as staff worker with the Students Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union (SCF-SU). His stint with SCF-SU also saw him representing Jamaica at various forums of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

In 1986 Dr Vassel left the SCF-SU and became a full-time lecturer in New Testament at the Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS). His life has been one where he has balanced being a lecturer and a pastor.

While teaching at JTS, he also became the Senior Pastor at the Bethune Avenue Holiness Christian Church, in Rose Town, St Andrew, a position he held for 10 years. During his time at Bethune Avenue Holiness Christian Church, his denomination appointed him to serve for two years as its bishop.

Dr Vassel is a much sought after speaker to deliver keynote addresses, lecture series and panel discussions, national or community events for political and business leaders and church groups.

During his time in Jamaica, Dr Vassel was well known for his fine oratorical skills. He had the distinction in 1997 of being the main speaker at the annual National Leadership Prayer Breakfast. Many persons who have been regulars at this event attest that his delivery was stirring and perhaps the best in the 37 years that the event has been convened.

So good was his speech that LOVE 101 FM played the presentation many times in the years since it was first delivered.

Dr Vassel holds a Doctorate in Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary, (Doctoral Dissertation: Understanding and Addressing the Absence of Men from the Jamaican Church), a Masters in Theological Studies from Wheaton College (MA Thesis: Socio-political Concern of the Gospel in the Gospel of Luke) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of the West Indies.

He is a lecturer at the Alliance Theological Seminary in New York and a contributing writer for Preacher’s Magazine: A Preaching Resource in the Wesleyan Tradition.

Dr Vassel is married to wife Angela and they are the proud parents to two grown offspring

— David and Kara-Beth