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A New Kind Of American Gothic
Related to country: United States

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

A different kind of American Gothic:
By JAMMAL SMITH, Guardian Business Desk -
Nassau, Bahamas:



New reports suggest an increasing number of American baby boomers are watching their life savings evaporate as the stock market and indeed the economy tank. It's a phenomenon that threatens to rob them of their dreams of a home in the sun and our second home market of their once-sizable investment power.

In a new survey conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons, more than 50 percent of Americans between 55 and 64 have had to cancel their travel plans due to the downturn in the economy. That's to say nothing of any plans to buy a home in the Caribbean.

Another research study is sending just as powerful a message our way. It reveals that more than half of retired Americans cut down their 1Q spending because of worsening economic conditions. The upper-class is by no means immune, as 21 percent of wealthy 60-year-olds are also canceling, shortening or otherwise postponing vacations due to the economy. Some 22 percent are also contributing less to charities, says the Bell Investment Advisors research.

The study participants had a minimum $1 million in investment assets and as such represent the target market for this second-home destination. It's worth noting that more than 70 percent of the resort development projects expected to take place over the next 10 years depend on second-home or hotel-condo sales in order to win their own financing.

But clinching that deal has now become all but impossible in too many cases. It's understandable, say U.S. analysts. They've watched as thousands of baby boomer playing on Wall Street have had 20 or 30 years worth of stock investments — and their accumulated gains — stripped in as little as six to 12 months. Any shares, for example, held in General Motors has now been reduced to their 1958 value, well below what many Americans would have purchased them for.

All and all, it means that more of those U.S. citizens at the height of their earning power and at the top of the corporate totem pole have been forced back to square-one in terms of investments.

They're scrambling, many of them, to re-lay nest eggs that were otherwise supposed to have afforded them the $500,000 to $2 million homes of a Nassau or Harbour Island.

The effects of that changing focus may already be felt by developers here.

As Guardian Business reported last April, Atlantis had only sold about 60 percent of the 495 hotel-condo units it began to hawk two years earlier.

Those suites start at $730,000 and allow the owner 90 days of use annually, with the unit then thrown into the Atlantis pool of guest rooms for the remaining days. The hotel and owner share profits when a guest books the condo. It's a relationship not unlike those offered by other developers and tailor made to the kind of baby boomer American who once had the income to manage such a buy.

There may in fact be too many resort developers still counting on those deep pockets now considerably shallower.

According to a recent KPMG survey canvassing the opinions of regional bankers, our hotel and second home supply may well outweigh demand, something likely contributing to the banking industry's collective decision to remove The Bahamas from the list of Caribbean destinations they feel are best able to weather the global economic storm. That deteriorating state is entirely owing to fallout from the U.S. subprime collapse, an ensuing credit crunch and the skyrocketing fuel costs that have only exacerbated the decline.

With all those balls in the air, baby boomers, that generation born after the Second World War and before the mid 1960s, have largely canceled some of the lavish retirement plans that our tourism industry is increasingly focused on fulfilling.

July 4, 2008 | 9:58 AM Comments  0 comments



God's Work And A Multiplying Church In The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Splitsville—When war erupts in the church:
By KARAN MINNIS, Guardian Lifestyles Reporter -
Nassau, Bahamas:



As the saying goes: All is fair in love and war, but what about when that war strikes inside the church?

Over the years there have been countless stories of in-fighting among church leaders and the rifts that take place, which eventually leads to a split, not only in the church's hierarchy, but also amongst its members, resulting in a number of new churches being formed.

But do these breakaways end up being successful?

According to Bishop Delton D. Fernander, at New Destiny Baptist Church, Blue Hill Road, for him it has.

"I am a man of God, and over the years I have come to understand that God does things to show you better sometimes," he says. "Sometimes He does things to show you that its time to move on or to say, hey you're not seeing where I'm trying to take you. But today I am sure that it was God's will for me to create, and be the Bishop of New Destiny Baptist Church. Even more importantly, I'm sure that I am following His calling."

Prior to the formation of New Destiny, Fernander served as special assistant to the bishop of St. John's Native Baptist Cathedral, Michael C. Symonette, for five years before he was fired in 2002. It was something he did not see coming, and was difficult for him to deal with.

"I grew up in St. John's, and so when I was forced to step away from there it was very hard for me to do. My whole desire was to work in the church that I had grown up in. My whole desire was to help them ... just to bring and do what I had been trained to do, so it was tremendously hard for me to walk away from that," said Fernander.

"My grandmother was buried at the door, my grandfather was a former pastor there, and my mom (Delores) is still an active member there. But it had gotten so bad that the Lord said to me that I needed to start a new thing. So I walked out on faith on Mother's Day 2002," he stated.

During the first service of New Destiny held in the Governor's Ballroom of the British Colonial Hilton, 150 persons showed up. Fernander was shocked.

"I expected 50 people and I planned for only 50 people.

I booked a room for those 50 people, but that by evening the hotel called to say that because of the calls they received I needed a larger room. So I told them to book the larger room, but not to open the dividers unless we had a crowd, and that's what we got a crowd," said Fernander.

After four weeks, the church relocated to the Lion's Club on J.F. K. Drive and then to the Superwash building on Wulff Road, before New Destiny settled in its present location on Blue Hill Road in the old Sunshine Twin theatre.

"When I was fired, I really didn't understand it, but now I do," he says. "I was trying to take a church that was set in its ways into a direction it didn't want to be in. I'm not saying that the direction it was headed in was bad, but I wanted to do things differently [but] they didn't want that."

Fernander said he was hurt for a long time after the split, to the point he felt that people were just mean. He then went into teaching school, which he said allowed him to develop into a more open pastor

"I now listen to my people and let them help me make decisions. I didn't do that before. I just used to push. So now that I have developed that understanding I understand why things happened the way it did. Now I know my church is truly blessed and now we have about 1,000 members. So I guess it is a success story," he said.

Bishop Lester Cox, senior pastor of Word of Truth Ministries International, says his split from the church into which he was born and raised, Faith Temple Ministries International, also turned into a success story.

"I had to leave the church that I was raised in due to a difference of opinions. In March 2007, along with my wife Vanessa, I left my pastoral post at the Pentecostal denomination to start my own non-denominational church. And although it was not something I planned to do it just happened that way."

Cox declined to go into details surrounding his split, but he said that God was simply showing him that it was time to move on.

"I have fond memories of my time at Faith Temple but sometimes God has different plans for us. Today, our church is established upon five foundational pillars upon which we have declared and decreed to be so. They are, God and His word, God and His truth, God and His unity, God and His love, and God and His Faith," said Cox. "We have based our church on an independent apostolic ministry and we are not under a denomination — we are independent, We answer to God. We do have a council of bishops that I deal with, but other than that we are an independent apostolic ministry, and since our first service which saw approximately 120 persons in attendance, we have been growing ever since."

Cox says he has no regrets, because he's doing God's work

"I strongly believe that it was His will for Word of Truth to be born and for me to be where I am today, so, I have no regrets."

On the other hand, Jesus Centered Ministries senior pastor Sheldon Newton, says not all church splits happen because of "bad-blood" between ministers.

"All pastors have to create an environment where believers can be taught the word of God," said the religious leader at the church on Carmichael Road.

"In my life time, I saw that a lot of Christians are not being victorious because they have not been taught from the basics straight into the mature Christian life and I wanted to be able to help bring people from babies straight into maturity in Christ."

Newton was an elder for five years at New Life Christian Center, Prince Charles Drive, before he started his own church. He left with the blessings of his pastors, Pastors Douglas and Betty Cleare.

"There was no fight, nothing of the sort. They just sent me out to do my own thing. They told me that it was time for me to build my own church and they felt that I could do more on my own. The church gave me their blessing and they sort of pushed me out the door. I wasn't even sure about it, but I did it anyway," said Newton.

Newton's church, which has been operating for a year, is independent, and not affiliated with New Life Christian Center.

He is currently looking for a new location, as he says the membership which started out at 12, and has grown to 80, has outgrown its present location.

"The people just keep on coming, and we just keep being blessed."