The Attributes of Christ Ministries, a small evangelical church on Troy Avenue in Brooklyn, on Jan. 13 memorialized its beloved, late Vincentian-born pastor and founder on the fifth anniversary of his death.
The Rev. Dr. William Muckett, otherwise known as Brother Muckett, who represented St. Vincent and the Grenadines in football (soccer) as a stout defender, before becoming a Born-Again Christian, died at SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn, on Jan. 13, 2013 after a prolonged illness. He was 65.
The memorial service was held at the larger Miracle Temple Ministries in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, the same church where Dr. Muckett’s “Home-Going” service was conducted.
“As much as he was fully ordained, one of the things that drew me to him [Dr. Muckett] was his humility,” said Dr. Roxie Irish, a youth minister at the Miracle Temple Ministries and former St. Vincent and the Grenadines national netball star, at the three-hour-plus-long service.
“This is a man I really admired,” added Dr. Irish, who is also the president and founder of the United Vincie Cultural Group of Brooklyn. “Brother Muckett knew Jesus. He loved Jesus, and everything he did was for Jesus.”
Dr. Osbourne Ross, an assistant pastor at Calvary Cathedral of Grace in Brooklyn, who served as liturgist at the service, agreed: “He loved Jesus so much that he was called ‘Jesus Boy.’ I thank God he’s in a better place.”
Bro. Tevern Roberts, a minister at Attributes of Christ Ministries, said Dr. Muckett was “a man who believed in respecting time.
“Being a mentor, he was very persistent,” he said. “He knew if you come to church, something can happen.
“One thing with Bro. Muckett, he could simplify the Scriptures,” he added. “If you met Bro. Muckett, you got the impression that he knew you for a long time. He made an impact. He was a great man of God. He loved the Lord.”
Pastor Rudvin Samuel, who succeeded Dr. Muckett at the Attributes of Christ Ministries, said Dr. Muckett was very disciplined, adding: “Bro. Muckett always said, ‘please God.’
“He is missed,” he said. “I learned a lot [from Dr. Muckett].”
In his sermon, Pastor Darwin Grant, of Trinity Methodist Church on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, said: “If there’s a legacy that Pastor Muckett left was preaching the gospel.
“We [as youths] used to climb through windows to hear Pastor Muckett preach [in St. Vincent and the Grenadines],” he said. “One of the legacies of Pastor Muckett is to preach.
“That was a man who preached from Fancy [the most northerly village on mainland St. Vincent] to way down the Leeward [western] side,” Pastor Grant added. “Really, to remember the man’s ministry is to remember his footsteps.”
Roel Drummond, Dr. Muckett’s Jamaican-born son-in-law, said Dr. Muckett was “driven.” Roel is married to the Muckett’s only daughter, Cathy.
“This was a man who had a vision,” Drummond said. “He was a man who did not judge. This was a man who you could go to.”
Before singing “Falling in Love with Jesus,” Claudette Muckett, Dr. Muckett’s widow, said: “It’s only by the grace of God why I am her today. Had it not been for falling in love with Jesus, I would not have made it thus far.”
She also sang “God’s Grace” in tribute to her late husband.
A number of other gospel artistes also paid tribute to Dr. Muckett in song. They included: Lady Juliana Grant and the Trinity Methodist Church Choir; Sis. La Fleur Durant; Attributes of Christ Ministries Choir; and Evangelist Shirley Browne.
Evangelist Browne brought the house down with “I am a Warrior” and “I am Getting Ready.”
Dr. Muckett had founded Attributes of Christ Ministries shortly after migrating to New York in 1998, and was the pastor until his death.
He had also founded the radio ministry, “Movers in Christ,” which broadcast throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the singing group that bore that name.
“Here’s a man who had no formal training, but he had more impact on people who had more education,” said the Most Rev. Dr. Russell Mc Callahan, Archbishop of the Province of St. Peter in Florida, in his homily at Muckett’s funeral service, in bestowing posthumously the “Doctor of Divinity” on him.
“William was, for me, a true friend,” added Dr. Mc Callahan, disclosing that, as head of the Tallahassee, Florida-based Evangelical Episcopal Theological Seminary — which boasts 4,000 churches world-wide — he will be establishing a scholarship fund, known as the William Muckett Memorial Fund, in Muckett’s honor.
