MORE than 40 years ago, a brothel flourished at the property that is now the home of Mountain View New Testament Church of God.

Now the area has been transformed into a beacon of light and hope in a gritty community that has been marred by violence over many decades.

Members of the Clifton New Testament Church of God on Mannings Hill Road in St Andrew, were responsible for starting the church on Mountain View Avenue and Elder Lovell Pottinger — one of the original members from Clifton — told the Jamaica Observer that he was there in the early stages of the Mountain View New Testament Church of God.

“Mountain View [Avenue] was a very violent area. There were gangs in Wareika Hill that used to paralyse Mountain View and then they formed gangs and they took it to Jacques Road. Gangs used to torment the area right back up to that open lot at Excelsior. They would suppress that community and the people were in fear. You had soldier tanks and all the avenues were blocked off by soldier tanks and police prevented people from coming from Wareika Hill to go across to Jacques Road,” said Pottinger.

“Where the church is at the moment, there was a whorehouse called Smith’s Myrtle House. Sailors used to come in on ships down at Duke Street and they would come to these places. One was at Dunoon Road, where taxis would carry them and soldiers to these places to enjoy themselves at nights. There was a guy named Brian who lost his life outside Smith’s Myrtle House because his girlfriend was one of the prostitutes.

“He went there one Friday night and saw her jumping up on soldiers, collecting money and going into rooms and those things going into rooms. He didn’t like that, so he went outside and sat in his car, connected a hose from the tail pipe of the car, started it and the fumes killed him in the car. His lady used to work there. The most beautiful girls worked at those places. Kingston was filled with those kinds of places,” Pottinger recalled.

He said that in 1984 a suggestion was made for the pastor of Clifton New Testament to take up Mountain View as a project and form a church there.

“We started the crusade to build a church. The procurement of the land started October 1984. An evangelism team was organised to go into the area to do evangelism work for the church to be established. The church at Clifton did their investigation and found a spot out there that was being offered for sale, which was Smith’s Myrtle House.

“Due to the violence, they couldn’t do any business so they were pulling out of Mountain View. Clifton bought the land. We got the title and moved into the area with an evangelism team to start the church. I was a part of the group. Very few people had a motor vehicle, but I had one. I was able to be a part of the evangelism team to transport the people to and from and we got a loudspeaker that was put on my car and we went out in the evenings and announced that we’re going to have a crusade starting in June,” Pottinger shared.

“In June when we started, because of the unrest in Mountain View we weren’t permitted to stay out there later than 8:00 pm. We abided by the restrictions. The police told us that the area was troubled and we were not supposed to be out there with any form of service, meeting or anything past 8:00 pm. Mountain View was bad, bad, bad. The first night of our services two people got saved. It was an old man and a middle aged lady.”

Pottinger told the Observer that at the time Bishop Herro Blair was the national evangelism minister and he told the group that a crusade was necessary.

“He told us that we would have to put up a banner to attract people. We did that and a tent was pitched at 83 Mountain View Avenue to host the crusade. Different pastors came to speak during the crusades. Blair — who was just Pastor Blair at the time — came the night of baptism with a tank that we filled with water and people were baptised in it.

That night of the baptism, 38 people baptised. After the 38 were baptised, there was an altar call and 28 others came and baptised. We found out that people saw their girlfriend and boyfriend getting baptised and so gang members started to baptise as a result. They were not going to make their woman or boyfriend baptise while they weren’t baptised,” added Pottinger

He said parts of the building, that once housed the brothel, were knocked out in order to make the space into a big hall where meetings and services could take place.

“The tent cost money and we couldn’t keep the tent which had to move to other areas in and out of Kingston for evangelism work. We started to have church inside the old, old building. The bathroom inside the old building, that is what we turned into the baptism pool to baptise new people being added to the church.

“The following year it was decided that a permanent building would be started that would be known as the church. In December 1985, a plan was designed for the building which is now the church. Over the years a lot of work was done on the church to cause it to be where it is now.

“By December 1986 we had a young pastor who just left Bible school from Waltham Park Road. He was killed in Florida. He served the church for nearly three years before he went on vacation and was killed. He was the first [resident] pastor,” Pottinger said.

Fast forward to 2025, Pottinger acknowledged that gangsters still exist in Mountain View to this day, but have grown somewhat obedient and respectful of the church. He recalled that there were times when no service could be held for long periods because of gang wars in the area.

He said after Mountain View New Testament became an “established church” the group from Clifton withdrew.

Current Pastor Courtney Beason has been in charge at Mountain View New Testament Church of God for the past 10 years.

He said that people wonder how he has spent so long in Mountain View but according to Beason, he is really appreciative of the support he has been receiving and has been enjoying the journey.

“It is humbling. Based on the type of community, Mountain view is a garrison community but one with people filled with love,” Beason said.

“I think 100 per cent that the church was placed in the area by God. Where the church is, it is in the middle of the different areas that are at war most times. Whenever there was violence they would trade bullets at the church gate. When I came here, I was told that the front wall of the church, some of the men would hide behind it and fire shots. What I did was to cut the wall and put up grilles at the top of it and changed the gate,” he added.

Beason said there is evidence that the situation in Mountain View has improved “a whole lot”. He shared that every Tuesday the church has a fasting session, where prayers are unleashed, asking God to keep his hands on Mountain View.

“It is really God who allows us to experience peace. When I just came to Mountain View, there were not so many different businesses on the Avenue. There is a car mart, wholesales and so many different things happening. The place has really changed because that never used to happen,” he said.

According to Beason, many young people in the community have been gravitating to the church because it offers educational opportunities.

Since 2016, the church has offered free Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate classes with up to 100 students enrolled in each batch.

“They see the sign and when they come they can’t believe that we really offer classes for free. Normally when school reopens, we have orientation normally we have over 100 students for the programme,” he shared.

The pastor told the Observer that he is on a soul seeking mission for Christ currently and is doing so through its Sunday school outreach programme.