In his sermon Validated Faith, Michael Anthony speaks of the necessity of faith from experience. When he was appointed Eastern Caribbean District Superintendent for the Apostolic Faith organization four years ago, he faced a daunting challenge. The half-completed Smith Bay church on the island of St. Thomas had been under construction for years, with no end date in sight. Progress was at a standstill and no funds were available to proceed.

From the beginning, Brother Michael refused to regard finishing the Smith Bay church as an insurmountable undertaking. Rather, he saw it as a challenge to be conquered by faith. He was resolved to put the project on a fast track to completion, and with the support of the local Board of Trustees and the saints of God, that occurred. The faith of many was rewarded, and in a relatively short period of time, God made a way for construction to begin moving forward. Two months ago on November 9, 2014, twenty years after the 1994 ground-breaking ceremony, the Smith Bay church was dedicated. We give the glory to God! Completing the project took more than vision and determination, as beneficial as those aspects were. It took help that only God could provide, and faith to believe that He would provide it. The beautiful new Smith Bay church is now the Eastern Caribbean district headquarters for our work.

As with all of our 1,750 churches worldwide, the Smith Bay sanctuary is dedicated to be a place where teachings of the Word of God can be declared and experienced. The Apostles of Bible times preached repentance, justification, restitution, entire sanctification, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, divine healing, and more. Prayer was the foundation of their faith, and when they prayed, miracles often followed. That is the case in our day as well. In fact, on the second night of special services which followed the Smith Bay dedication, a woman weighed down by sin prayed through to salvation. The new church had its first convert!

This magazine is the product of our church services. Sermons that are preached and personal testimonies that are publically shared in our meetings are recorded and transcribed. Whether distributed in print or by electronic means, selected messages and testimonies are made available to readers around the world, free of charge. You will read some of them in this issue of Higher Way. We pray that what you read will inspire you and engender faith to believe that God can help you overcome your most daunting challenges.