ST. PETERSBURG – The Naomi and Titus 2 Covenant Alliance (NT2CA) Ministries held their annual Daughters of the King last month at the Word of Life Fellowship Church where the Senior Pastor Ellis Hodge tends to his flock.
Five young ladies from the ages of 11-18 stood up in front of packed house to demonstrate their knowledge of the scriptures and how God’s love never fails as it relates to topics concerning the youth. All of the presenters are actively working in their church ministries, and were able to give biblical and practical insight while incorporating scriptures within the allotted time of 12 minutes.
These young ladies are a part of the R.O.S.E. team, which stands for Reflecting Our Savior’s Example. Their purpose is to be a mirror image of Jesus Christ through service, acts of love and fellowship. Some of their past events include neighborhood yard sales, community cleanup and providing school supplies for children in need.
But on Sun., Feb. 28, these daughters of the King demonstrated that they are becoming young ladies of wisdom and students of the Word of God. All speakers were given John 14: 15 and 15:10 as their base scriptures.
The first speaker was Alexus Burr, daughter of Belinda Jones and Stanley Burr. This 17 year old is a member of the New Congregational Church of God where she serves as an usher, youth praise and worship leader, works on the church bulletin committee and is an intricate part of the church and pastor’s anniversary committee.
She spoke personally on the pressures of fitting in with the world. In middle school she wanted to be popular and fit in with the crowd so she began fighting. She wanted to be known as the “girl that was not afraid.” After getting in trouble at school and at home, she realized she had to make a change and that being different is a good thing.
“That fist that was once closed and ready to fight is now raised how to my heavenly father,” Alexus said. “The world can only pretend to love me but since I know that His love never fails, then I know that I am loved forever.”
Speaker Olivia Anderson is the daughter of Pastors Jonathan and Kimberly Anderson of Exceeding Grace Christian Center. At 15 years old, she sings with the youth praise team and also manages the church’s social media outreach.
Being homeschooled, she is not faced with peer pressure on a daily basis, but she is not totally sheltered from the influences of the world.
“I think the world has given the model of you only live once; live today because you might not have tomorrow. But that is not how Jesus wants us to live. Jesus wants us to do the things that he says so that we can have a forever tomorrow,” said Olivia.
She went on to bemoan the celebrity culture that has this world in its clutches.
“You have these celebrities who aren’t doing anything that God says but they look so good,” she said. “I like clothes and shoes, and the world, they are wearing it well. But they aren’t doing anything that Jesus says.”
Olivia said she decided that she was going to follow God’s commandments because “he gave us the commandments for a reason; he’s trying to protect us from Satan.”
Charlott Rhymes is the daughter of Barbara Gaston and Wilbert Wallace. The older of the five speakers, she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior at the age of 17. This 21 year old is a member of The Holy Ghost Church of God Purchased With His Blood and is involved with the youth department, Sunday School Ministry and the media team.
She showed how young people could get wrapped up into lies and deceptions and end up following in Satan’s footsteps instead of God’s.
“Lying is basically an attitude problem and a bad attitude is like a flat tire, it won’t get you anywhere,” she said.
Charlott said people lie because they do not love the truth or love God as they should. She admonished that the heart needs to change, which will let God’s love abide therein.
Citing John 16:13 she said, “God will lead you into all truths, and if that boy is leading you to no good, you need leave him alone.”
Kimora Early is the tender age of 13 but she used the scriptures to get her point across as if she had been studying the bible for decades. The daughter of Athian and Michelle Early, she is active in her faith at Word of Life Fellowship serving as youth assistant on the Move-4-Christ Praise Dance team and ballet instructor to the Heavenly Praisers Pre-K dance team. She also serves in the children’s choir ministry.
She had heartfelt counsel for the youth from Galatians 1:10 when she advised them not to spend time and energy on pleasing people, but to work to please God.
“You cannot spend your time trying to win the approval of your friends and still be a servant of God,” Kimora said.
Citing 1 Thessalonians 2:4-5, she said our purpose is to please God because He is the one that examines the motives of our heart.
“We are to love God not because of what He can give us, but because He loved us first. We should love Him simply because He woke us up this morning and provided us with shoes on our feet, clothes on our back and food on our table,” she said.
Trinity Adams is the daughter of Troy and Nevida Adams. She is an active member of New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church where her father serves as pastor. She participates with the Youth Ministry, Youth Choir, Praise Dance Ministry and the Mime Ministry.
This high schooler spoke directly to the youth about temptation.
“Teens are tempted to do many things, which leads to peer pressure. You have to look at the consequences and say to yourself: ‘Do I really want to do this or will God be pleased with me and my actions as well as my appearance?’”
Trinity said that temptation relies on your own obedience. Following God’s commandments, especially honoring your parents, will help to stave off temptations.
“I know there are sometimes when you feel like your parents are getting on your last nerves,” she said “or you may feel they never understand you or what you go through. But sometimes you have to recognize the situation that they can never understand what you go through unless you tell them and express to them how you feel,” said Trinity.
The parents of these five young women should be proud of the jobs they have done in rearing their children, who demonstrated wisdom far beyond their years that Sunday afternoon.
These girls are also products of the NT2CA R.O.S.E. team, which is the brainchild of the First Lady of World of Life Fellowship, Teralyn Hodge.
She formed the group to bring girls together in a safe a nurturing environment. During their quarterly meetings, the R.O.S.E. team gathers together to activate their faith by focusing on engaging activities that incorporate modestly, manners and moral.
“After teaching in the school system for more than 30 years and experiencing things that you might not want to see, hear or know, it is so refreshing and I feel so blessed to hear these babies in the house of the Lord speaking kingdom language,” said Hodge.
She praised the youths for doing a beauty job of making God’s Word their own.
“Sometime the teenagers and young people hear form their parents so much they become deaf as to what they are saying. But when you begin to hear from your peers, something on the inside has to change,” stated Hodge, who said she prays that this is only the beginning of something greater for each of the girls.
