Three Men from
Three Different Countries
Make their Lifelong Commitment to the
Servants of the Word
August 2018
At the end of August during
the
conclusion of the Servants of
the Word Brotherhood Council
Meetings in
Chelsea, Michigan USA,
Philip Morrison (Northern Ireland),
Jean Pierre Fahd (Lebanon) and Jerome
Quiring (Philippines), made their
lifelong commitment to the Servants of
the Word. Here is a brief introduction
to each of these men:
Phil Morrison
grew up on a dairy farm in rural County
Down, Northern Ireland. At the age of 18 he
took a GAP Year with Youth Initiatives in
Belfast, which is where his journey with the
Servants of the Word began, becoming an
affiliate a year later. He studied Social
Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh
for four years, before beginning further
discernment with the brothers.
His first experience of
living with the Servants of the Word was
in London, England where he served mainly
doing youth work and some student
ministry, before moving to Michigan, for
two years of further formation. For the
last three years Phil has lived in Belfast
focusing on student ministry with UCO
Belfast and also with the church he
attends. Phil has a focus on discipleship
and building community amongst students.
Amongst other things he enjoys playing the
saxophone and following rugby and
football.
Jean-Pierre (a.k.a. JP)
is originally from Lebanon, where he grew up
in a Christian family that is part of the
People of God, a Sword of the Spirit
community. He is the eldest of four children,
followed by his sister Nadira, his brother
Mark, and his sister Najat. He is not the
first Fahd to make his lifelong commitment –
his cousin Joe made his Lifelong Commitment
four years ago!
JP studied Computer and
Communications Engineering at the American
University of Beirut. Right after
graduating, he moved in to our house in
Belfast for two years. Then he spent the
two years in out International Formation
Household in Ann Arbor, and after making
his first temporary commitment to the
brotherhood he moved to London where he
has been living for the last three years.
JP’s analytical abilities have allowed him
to contribute greatly to the mission of
the brotherhood. He serves in finances and
IT and he is also the steward of our
London house, which involves maintaining
the house and overseeing the brothers
there in their house service. In addition
to all that, JP serves with the Antioch
community youth group and with university
students in Koinonia. His main role in
Koinonia is caring pastorally for some of
the men as well as caring for the worship
environment and training students to lead
prayer meetings. In his free time, he
likes to hang out with people, read a good
novel, go for a run, or play football
(soccer).
Jerome “JR” Quiring
had an unusual discernment process. When
he first lived with us and was in
training for two years, he discerned not
to continue with the brotherhood.
However, two years after that, he
reconsidered. This time he heard God
call him to serve him as part of the
brotherhood. As of yesterday, he’s now a
lifelong brother!
JR is not new to making “surprise”
moves. His father is a doctor, and
growing up he and his three older
brothers were dead set on following
suit. After graduating from the
University of the Philippines with a
degree in Public Health, many
anticipated that he would be a
successful medical doctor and practice
in the small town where he grew up,
Gubat. (Gubat is a coastal paradise
south of Manila). But, this was not the
case. Upon graduation he decided not to
go to medical school and that decision
led him two more important decisions.
First, he decided to work full-time for
Christ’s Youth in Action (CYA), the
college outreach he was part of when he
first met the brotherhood. Secondly, he
decided to join the Servants of the
Word.
When he considers it, JR sometimes still
finds himself in awe of how things have
turned out, because the world has a
million choices to offer. He could
have pursued a hollywood dream but he is
content with just “belting out” around
the house or occasionally performing for
his community. He could have jumped on
to being a “legit” triathlete, but he is
fine with just biking to his office once
in a while, swimming twice a week in a
(not-so-clean) pool nearby and running
after college guys who need to encounter
Christ. For a 30-year old guy, there’s
still a lot more “could-have-beens”, but
JR firmly believes that his
surprise-filled life is not a surprise
to God–but rather it’s in the hands of
the sovereign God who has great plans
for him!
