Cayman Keswick started its almost week long annual meetings last Sunday March 2^nd at First Baptist Church, Crewe Road, George Town with a packed audience anxious to hear renown speaker Dr Ravi Zacharias.

When I arrived at the church just after 6:30pm (the meeting was to take place at 7pm) I had a job to find a space in the car park – and it is a very big car park that extends from the front to the sides and at the rear of the church.

The ground floor auditorium was almost full and I found a seat third row from the back. Well before 7pm both the ground floor and the upper balcony were filled and additional seating was being put out. Such is the reputation of Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias.

The evening started almost as soon as I sat down with the wonderful voices of the First Baptist Church Choir under the direction of Pr. David Jorge that set the tone for the rest of the evening. Their singing started rousing and finished with the emotional “Power of the Cross” with everyone joining in with moist eyes.

Paul Reynolds, Director of Discipleship and Children’s Ministries at First Baptist Church and Chairman of Cayman Keswick introduced Mr. Zacharias.

DR RAVI ZACHARIAS

Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (born 26 March 1946) is an Indian-born, Canadian-American Christian apologist. A defender of traditional evangelicalism, Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver. He has authored or edited over 20 books, several of which have been translated into Russian, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Spanish, and other languages.

He is the founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, host of the radio programs Let My People Think and Just Thinking, and visiting professor at Wycliffe Hall of Oxford, where he teaches apologetics and evangelism. Zacharias studied as a visiting scholar at Cambridge University and held the chair in Evangelism and Contemporary Thought at Alliance Theological Seminary from 1981 to 1984. Commentator Chuck Colson referred to Zacharias as “the great apologist of our time.”

Zacharias was born in Madras, India. Zacharias claims descent from a woman of the Nambudiri Brahmin caste and Boatman caste. Swiss German missionaries spoke to one of his ancestors about Christianity and his family was converted. Zacharias grew up in a nominal Anglican household, and was an atheist until the age of 17, when he unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by swallowing poison. While in the hospital, a local Christian worker brought him a Bible and told his mother to read to him out of John 14. Zacharias says that it was John 14:19 that touched him and caused him to commit his life to Christ. In 1966 Zacharias immigrated with his family to Canada earning his undergraduate degree from Ontario Bible College in 1972 (now Tyndale University College & Seminary) and his M. Div. from Trinity International University.

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM celebrates its thirtieth anniversary in 2014. Dr. Zacharias has spoken all over the world for 42 years in scores of universities, notably Harvard, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and Oxford University. He has addressed writers of the peace accord in South Africa, the president’s cabinet and parliament in Peru, and military officers at the Lenin Military Academy and the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow. At the invitation of the President

of Nigeria, he addressed delegates at the First Annual Prayer Breakfast for African Leaders held in Mozambique.

End

Dr. Zacharias said he wasn’t used to now speaking for a week but he would do his best and said his theme was “Old testament – New Lessons”. He then said he would not be speaking at the lunch time sessions but had brought with him Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, a member of his staff and a former Muslim, to lead those workshops.

DR NABEEL QURESHI

Dr. Nabeel Qureshi is a former devout Muslim who was convinced of the truth of the Gospel through historical reasoning and a spiritual search for God.  Since his conversion, he has dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel through teaching, preaching, writing, and debating.

Nabeel has given lectures at universities and seminaries throughout North America, including New York University, Rutgers, the University of North Carolina, the University of Ottawa, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Southern Baptist Theological  Seminary, and Biola University. He has participated in 17 moderated, public debates around North America, Europe, and Asia. His focus is on the foundations of the Christian faith and the early history and teachings of Islam.

Nabeel is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He holds an MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, an MA in Christian apologetics from Biola University, and an MA from Duke University in Religion.

End

Cayman Keswick

For 40 years Cayman Keswick has brought Christians together across all denominations for a dynamic week of fellowship and teaching.

There are still both lunchtime and evening sessions so if you haven’t been yet you are missing something very special.

Thursday 6 March at 12:00 p.m. at the Family Life Centre & 7:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church

Friday 7 March at 12:00 p.m at the Family Life Centre. & 7:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church.

Keswick Convention

The Keswick Convention began in 1875 as a catalyst and focal point for the emerging Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom. It was founded by an Anglican, Canon T. D. Harford-Battersby, and a Quaker, Robert Wilson. They held the first Keswick Convention in a tent on the lawn of St John’s vicarage, Keswick, beginning with a prayer meeting on the evening of Monday, 28 June. During the conference—which continued till Friday morning—over 400 people attended uniting under the banner of “All One in Christ Jesus”—which is still the convention’s watchword.

Robert Pearsall’s formative impact probably influenced the Convention’s use of the American term “convention” rather than the British, “conference”.

Keswick Ministries was established in 2003 with the aim of taking the Bible teaching ministry at the Convention to a wider audience both nationally and internationally throughout the year using the many and varied forms of media available.