Minister Marion Hall Launches US$2 Million GoFundMe Campaign To Build Church
Minister Marion Hall has launched a US$2-million GoFundMe campaign in aid of building her church.
The gospel artist, who hung up her secular shoes as the formidable Lady Saw in 2015, founded the Holy Ghost Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ in 2020. The church streams live from her social media pages on Wednesdays (prayers and fasting) and Sundays (church service).
Calling it “the Lord’s house”, Hall wrote, “We have found a property to built the home of Holy Ghost Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ. Can you please help us by donating too the purchasing and building of the lord house. Thank you. May the lord bless you in all things.”
The campaign went live on Thursday with a stated US$2-mil goal, $70 of which was raised that day. The campaign’s description, however, had a different monetary goal.
“Holy Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ is seeking $2.7million US dollars to purchase a property that is now available to us to build our church on,” the description reads. “Any amount you can give towards this project will be greatly appreciated.”
The building will also serve as the base for Hall’s cooking ministry which she started long before baptising in 2015, feeding the less fortunate once weekly.
Hall became an ordained evangelist in 2018 at the Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Kingston where she had previously been baptised by Bishop Everton Thomas. She had been ministering since her conviction, particularly in western Jamaica and the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre in St. Catherine.
In January 2020, she revealed that God told her to build a church.
“What I plan to do is not my plan, the Lord planned it for me,” she said at the time. “He told me (while I was in Birmingham) it’s time to preach and He has been giving me a lot of equipment. He gave me a church name and said it’s His church so I’m getting ready and just waiting on the Lord to show me this parcel of land. Where I’m gonna put this church? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just start on the street side.”
Currently based in Miami, Florida, the I Won’t Worry singjay has periodically mentioned wanting to have her church in Jamaica.
For its first anniversary, Hall reflected on her journey to the pulpit. She said she took an online course that tested her biblical knowledge through 100 questions (one of which she said she got wrong). Hall had intended to go to Bible School before she said God intercepted and told her to start preaching immediately. The result was her first live-streamed sermon from her home, with a few family members comprising the face-to-face congregation.
“I went back to watch my first sermon titled I Am Not Afraid… I did great, I was hooked on it. I’m not normally a fan of mine but I think I’m kinda becoming a fan of Minister Marion Hall… I am not a perfect this (or) that and I can’t preach the most perfect sermon – I did not say I can. But however God give mi, mi give it back to you…”
Her messages and delivery have sometimes come under public scrutiny, be it her blasting of lewd music from artists like Shenseea and Spice, or her biblical defense for dressing like worlians to save souls. The backlash has seen her suspending her online sermons several times.
Cyberbullying aside, her decision to focus on preaching has seen her endure financial strife, which she revealed this year.
“I told you that the reason I believe that the Lord shut me in so long is because the pandemic was coming, which I didn’t have no idea when He said it was time to preach… However, times are hard, as you know, and sometimes I’ll sit here with you and sometimes I get US$15 when I get off. I get $30, $100, $50, $20.”
But as she sings in I’m Doing Better, she’s seeing better days lately, even accepting more music bookings like the recently-concluded Reggae Sumfest.
Hall joins contemporaries Goddy Goddy and Ryan Mark, who are church owners.
Veteran gospel deejay Papa San also recently hosted a fundraising concert in aid of acquiring a building for his church, Our Father’s Kingdom Ministries.