UNION — The Remnants Arise Conference is a powerful two-day gathering happening at Union Arts Center. The two-day conference, taking place on Friday, Aug. 28, and Saturday, Aug. 29, is designed to encourage, equip and inspire people to walk boldly in their God-given purpose. The event is hosted by Cynthia Jeter-Clements and Joe L. Clements.
Two of the featured speakers at the event are Dr. Willie Tolbert and Dr. Mamie Tolbert. The couple are overseers of Yes Lord’ Ministries, located in Kenilworth. They will be speaking at the conference on combining Faith and Career, on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 11 a.m.
Willie and Mamie celebrated their 50th anniversary on Friday, June 26. The couple’s parents knew each other. They were friends before Mamie was born. In fact, her mother used to babysit Willie when he was a baby. But the couple didn’t meet until they were teenagers.
At age 15, Mamie visited Willie’s father’s church, Christ Temple Church in Newark. “He [Willie] already had a relationship with God,” said Mamie. “He loved God.”
Both of Willie’s parents were ministers. “Every Saturday night, imagine this, six children all had to kneel in the living room and have family prayer, sing and study the bible,” Willie said.
Mamie felt God was leading her to establish a relationship with Willie. She then got involved in his church where Willie played organ and piano. Mamie became the choir director. Three years after joining the church, Mamie accepted Jesus Christ as her savior.
The couple saw each other every week at church and got to know each other. “When I met him at 15, I had a dream he was on his knees proposing to me,” said Mamie. “After I gave my life to the Lord, God brought that dream back. But my focus was on my relationship with God.” When Willie began talking to Mamie about marriage, she knew it was God.
The couple were together at Christ Temple Church and later Willie received a vision. After much prayer and fasting, Yes Lord’ Ministries came to be in May 1994. The ministry was originally in East Orange. Willie and Mamie were pastors.
“As time went on, we did the teaching, preaching, training, equipping people,” said Mamie. “Our goal is to see people fulfill the plan God has for their lives. That’s what we desire for people. We work together to train the people so they can enjoy a relationship with the Lord and still fulfill the purpose God has for their lives.”
Two years ago, their youngest son, Steve, began serving as a pastor at Yes Lord’ Ministries. Willie and Mamie then became overseers. “That’s our role and our function now,” Mamie said. “We still minister. We still train people. We still preach, but we’re not just local pastors anymore. Our ministry is more global.”
While the ministry’s home base is in Kenilworth, they have other ministries as well including in South Carolina, New Jersey and in South Jersey. They’ve also ministered outside the country, in the Philippines and Canada. “Wherever God opens the door for us,” Mamie said.
Even with life’s challenges, Willie and Mamie are blessed.
“We know what it’s like to experience financial challenges,” said Willie. “We were almost homeless for about six months. We had to live in a hotel.”
Through hard times, they learned the faithfulness of God in tithing and serving and trusting Him through any circumstances. “The sun may not shine all the time; the Son of God will always shine in our hearts,” said Willie.
With a background in business administration from Rutgers in Newark, Willie uses his education to help people he meets in all walks of life.
“You always have the challenges of having enough finances to do what God wants you to do,” said Mamie. “We’re all about building the people so they can see the perfect plan or destiny. Our goal is being a blessing to people and building people’s lives, helping to minister to them. That’s why we’re so big on making sure everyone knows who Jesus is, with Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We’re looking to spread the love of God and spread Jesus everywhere we possibly can.”
“The final thing,” said Willie, “we’re blessed to see how God is using people and sending people with various gifts, talents and abilities. Just like baking a cake. The ingredients by themselves may not be as palatable. Bring all the ingredients together, you get a beautiful cake. Everybody may not see the same way, but God brings all the gifts together to make his kingdom where He gets the glory, we get the story.”
Visit Yes Lord’ Ministries at: https://www.ylmconnect.org/.
To purchase tickets for the Remnants Arise Conference, visit: https://cynthiajeterclements.net/events/unstuck-bootcamp.
Photos Courtesy of Yes Lord Ministries
