He's just 12 years old, but Jaidan Best is proving that knowing and serving the Lord Jesus Christ has no age boundaries.
Jaidan has been an ordained deacon at the Rhema Apostolic Deliverance Ministries International in Bridgetown, Barbados, an island country in the Caribbean with more than 277,000 people, more than 74 percent of whom are Christian.
His mother Ann told the Nation News that Jaidan's work at the church was the result of a prophecy made by the church leader, Apostle Robert Herbert.
Jaidan was barely eight years old when Herbert took him under his wings.
This came about, according to Ann, after Herbert received a message from God about Jaidan. "Herbert prophesied that God told him to put [Jaidan] in the capacity of a deacon," Ann said.
Herbert started training Jaidan for deaconship in early 2015.
"The training has been good and helps me to understand my role, my responsibilities and my calling to serve," Jaidan said in an interview.
He said he understood the huge responsibility placed on his young shoulder. "I don't know about others but I take it on very well. Once you trust in God, you can get it done," he said.
Jaidan knew that most children his age could be expected to be out playing football or cricket with friends or even spending hours on end playing video games or surfing the Internet.
But he said "sacrificing" these "things of the world" does not bother him.
"I don't even see it as being a sacrifice. After this season, some other season [has] to come so I know once I give God, I can't come last. So I just give God my all," he said.
Jaidan explained his devotion to his faith. "I believe when I give God something . . . God will say 'My son always there ready to serve me, do something for me.' I can give Him and will continue to give my life over to Him no matter what. He protects me, He covers me," he said.
Even at an early age, Jaidan has shown interest in such kind of work, staying after service to help pack the chairs, clean and assist in whatever way the church needed him to.
He enjoyed the work tremendously, his mother Ann told the Nation News.
She said Jaidan is very disciplined and committed to his goal. "I never had a problem with Jaidan going to church; he was always ready even sometimes when we get church Jaidan would start ministering and doing whatever he had to before the actual service starts," she said.
"It is tough a responsibility but he is accustomed. He is very serious of this and it just makes you look into yourself more and see what God has done for you. This was nothing that was forced upon him. He had time that if he wanted to change his mind he could, because we were training for a while. He was always ready to go further," she said.
