Freelance Correspondent
A pastor is defined as a Christian leader responsible for guiding a congregation, preaching, teaching, and providing spiritual care. Kimrol Ali, who preaches at the Evangel Temple in Barataria, is an example of this definition.
He recently published his first book called ‘Know God’s Word’, which consists of a crossword puzzle and word search about the first book in the Bible, Genesis.
In a conversation with the Sunday Guardian, Ali explained that each page in the book is based on a chapter of Genesis with the intention being “if a reader cannot find the answer on a page, they will be forced to go in the Bible to search for the answer.”
He admits it is a unique way to present a book, but the preacher further explained the reason was to find a fun way for people to understand verses in the Bible and the kind of significance those verses bring.
He credited God for the idea. “I realised that some Bible commentaries out there can come across boring, so the idea came about: why not do it differently, in the form of this crossword, and you are asking the same questions but with one word answers, and that just sparked something in me, and I really believe this was a God idea,” he told the Sunday Guardian.
With the book taking three months to publish, the 50-year-old reflected on the challenges he faced while writing it.
He said, “Some of the trials were coming up with interesting ways to get the questions across, because it is one thing to read the word, then another way to try and ask questions, and it is trying to get people interested in answering the question with one-word answers.”
Beyond writing the book, Ali encountered additional obstacles when trying to get it edited. He also faced financial constraints, which led to printing fewer copies than intended.
It’s a major achievement for someone who never thought he would end up a preacher. However, he was destined to become a pastor, as he grew up in the home of a pastor, with his father being Bishop Hasratt Ali.
However, much like getting his book published, the road to him becoming a pastor was one filled with obstacles.
“Although I grew up in a Christian setting, there came a time where I reached a point in my life where I decided that I wanted to see what the world has to offer, and I left the church setting and I realised that out there has its benefits, but every benefit had its opposite effect, which brings no true joy, which brought me back to the church and get serious in the things with God.”
From there, Ali stated that he went into the corporate world, working in various institutions, with his longest stint being at Plipdeco at the Point Lisas Port as the manager of the harbour until he left to work full-time in his ministry.
Becoming a pastor was something that Ali ran from his whole life until one day, after being so involved in the ministry, he decided to give preaching a chance. He never looked back. Since then, Ali said some of his fondest memories have come from work in his ministry.
“We just last week had a prayer march in the streets of Barataria that was indeed an awesome time as we were worshipping and praying on every street corner, and as a result of that, we saw a lot of people visiting church afterwards, having at least two persons give their lives to God, and it truly was an awesome experience.”
Ali has intentions of making a series out of the books, with Genesis just being the first of many as he is currently working on the other books of the Bible.
“I am now finished with Genesis, and I am presently working on other books in the Bible, so at the end of the day, people are going to have an encyclopaedia of the Bible to do crossword puzzles and word search.”
Pastor Ali’s mission is to make learning the word of God less of a chore. Instead, he wants readers to be able to fully engross themselves in learning the lessons of the Bible.
