Saphire Faith International Ministries will host its fourth annual Start Your Year Strong summit next weekend.

The title of the virtual conference, We Are Troubled On Every Side Yet Not In Distress, was inspired by 2 Corinthians 4:7-10.

Co-founder Marlene Flynn explained the inspiration behind the theme for this year: “Stress and distress is nothing new. From the foundation of the Earth, humanity has gone through stressful situations and overcome.

“When we look at what is going on around us, it is clear that there is trouble everywhere we turn. One only has to listen to the news once per month to realise that every nation is suffering in one way or another.”

The Covid-19 pandemic exasperated an already tense global scene and, while we may now be moving into our new normal, there have been many whose lives have been dramatically changed, and their faith as well.

“The world has always had its share of trouble and crises, but Covid has caused some of us to lose our jobs, our healthcare, family members and more. This has resulted in people feeling as if they are in distress. I’ve met a lot of people who are feeling a sense of hopelessness,” Ms Flynn said.

“But the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians how to deal with distress. We are not to be in despair because we have the power of God.”

The conference is designed to reactivate and reignite the faith of believers.

“As Christian believers we can’t allow ourselves to become spiritually impotent. We must take risks, we must activate our faith. The more we use it, the more we will see results and the more our faith will grow.

“Our prayer is that people who attend the conference will receive information on how to grow spiritually. Conferences such as this one provide the word of God and tell of others’ experiences, which helps to build your faith, encourage one to see outside of the box and to take risks. Once you are growing spiritually your life will be enhanced on all levels. The Bible tells us that faith without work is dead, so we have to put our faith to work”

The conference will feature six speakers – Minister Juliet Grant, The Right Reverend Nicholas Dill, Reverend Dr Yvonne Ramsay, Reverend Dr Blanche Burchall, Bishop Vernon Lambe and Bishop Ishmael Charles.

The conference will be moderated by Janita Burke, who writes songs under the name JB Psalm. Her 2021 single, Stand Still, will be the theme song of the conference.

Saphire Faith Ministry International was founded by Ms Flynn and her daughter Shaunte’ Fox. Four years later the mother-daughter duo continues to offer exciting and spirit-filled Christian conferences.

The Start Your Year Strong conference in February 2019 grew to include other events, such as the Bermuda Singles Summit.

“We have received two testimonies thus far from persons who applied the lessons learnt at the Singles conference and are now happily married. We look forward to hosting the next Singles conference within the next two months – definitely by April,” Ms Flynn said.

“Last year we only hosted two conferences and people were not happy. We were stopped on the road and contacted by phone by persons asking why they had not heard anything from Saphire. Glory to God! There is a demand for this type of ministry even from persons who are not of our faith. We give God thanks for giving us the capacity to do this, to bring means of enlightenment so people can be transformed.”

Ms Flynn is excited to see how the conference will grow this year.

“We are excited that during these four years God has allowed us the capacity to build on each year’s success. This year we have speakers from various denominations, and we thank all of them for saying ‘yes’ to God’s instructions to speak to the nations.

“We are expecting people, not only from Bermuda and the Caribbean but from the UK, Africa, Belgium and more. When we consider that we will be given instructions for our troubled times, it is exciting indeed. We anticipate a great time of fellowship across denominational lines and worship unto almighty God.”

The fourth annual Start Your Year Strong summit takes place February 19 and 20. Interested persons can join on Facebook Live, and Zoom with logon ID: 841 8028 7871. For more information: info@saphirefaithministries.com