Pastor Torrance Bobb and his wife, Elsa, celebrate 25 years at First Assembly of God

By Christopher Tobutt

Pastor Torrance Bobb and his wife, Rev. Elsa Bobb are celebrating 25 years at the First Assembly of God Church on Old Crew Road, George Town. Under Pastor Bobb and Rev. Elsa Bobb’s leadership the church has steadily grown from a congregation of around 70 when they first came in September 1997 to around 400 active members today. The couple has been instrumental in establishing two new congregations, each with their own pastors.  One is in West Bay, complete with its own church building and parsonage, and the other in the heart of Camana Bay, which meets in the Cinema there, and is the only church in the area.

During those 25 years of faithful ministry they they have touched thousands of lives, and reached out beyond the borders of their church into the community at large to give assistance, counsel and comfort whenever and wherever they could. They believe in spreading the good news of the gospel, and walking by faith.

 “I believe our vision has been the vision that the Lord has given to the church, which is to share the gospel in the community, in the region, and around the world. This is what we have been seeking to do, continually reaching out with the gospel,” Pastor Bobb said.

Pastor Torrance Bobb was born in Trinidad and has been full-time in the Pastoral ministry for over fifty years. He holds a Bachelor of Theology degree in Bible and Theology from Northwest Bible College in Edmonton Canada. He also has a Masters of Arts degree in Biblical Studies from Briercrest Graduate School in Saskatchewan Canada. He is currently Senior Pastor of the First Assembly of God and the Chairman of the Cayman Ministers’ Association

Rev. Elsa Bobb was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where she lived until high school then migrated to Canada where she pursued music as well as Business Administration and Secretarial Studies. In 2016 she was ordained by the Florida District of the Assemblies of God. As well as being an ordained minister, Rev. Bobb is a wife, mother, singer, multi-instrumentalist, speaker and author. She co-produced the television program ‘Kids Jamboree’ that was shown across the United States and Trinidad. After completing her studies, Rev. Elsa Bobb worked at the University of Alberta. Shortly after, she met her husband Torrance Bobb, and they had their first daughter, Kevon, while pastoring a church in Mayerthorpe, Canada. They later migrated to Trinidad where they had two more children, Lorraine and Wendell.

The Assemblies of God arose from the Azusa St. Revival, and now has churches all over the world. It is part of the Pentecostal tradition, which means that they believe in speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “We emphasize the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit,” Pastor Bobb explained, “Jesus said ‘You will receive power and you will be my witnesses.’ The baptism of the Holy Spirit means that you are filled with the Holy Spirit and you are empowered to be able to effectively share the good news of the gospel. Speaking in tongues is the initial evidence that one is filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s a continual experience that is available to assist us to be able to pray in the Spirit, because we ‘don’t know what we should pray for as we ought.’ By speaking in other tongues in prayer, we are able to pray in the spirit and pray very accurately. The Word of God, the Bible is very important, that we use the Word of God even as we pray, because the Spirit of God always works with the Word of God.”

Rev. Elsa Bobb said, “I do work along with my husband’s plans and I am more in the area of ministry where I like to pray for people and to see God heal them, and do things in their lives. I also work in the areas of music I’ve only written about two songs, but I like to write Christian drama, like the birth of Christ, and his crucifixion, and different things that I read in the scripture.”