Faithful, disciplined, and dependable aptly describe a great man and Dr Wilbert Lee is truly deserving of all those accolades. He’s one of the faces that can be seen early most Sunday mornings at the First Assembly of God church entrance, standing tall and wearing a serious look, quietly ensuring that everything is executed in perfect order. But underneath his stoic expression is a treasure trove of experiences and wisdom.
Dr. Lee came from humble beginnings, growing up in the farming community of Sandvoort village, West Canje Berbice. He was introduced to farming and cattle rearing at an early age on his family’s small acreage of land. His childhood on the farm instilled in him a habit of being an early riser as he was awakened to the screeching sound of the whistle coming from the Rose Hall Sugar Estate at 4 AM.
His first chore of the day was to collect cow manure to dab the bottom house and the fireside where the family’s meals were prepared. He would then journey to the farm and tend to crops such as ground provision, corn, and sweet peppers. After his morning tasks were completed, he made his way to the St. Ambrose Anglican Primary School, where he was enrolled, returning to the farm in the afternoons to additional work. Dr Lee has a deep appreciation for radio programs and fondly attributes this appreciation to the many hours he spent listening to programs such as Sunshine Corner and radio personalities like James Sidney on his grandmother’s radio while working on the farm.
In 1975, Dr Lee’s mother moved their family to Georgetown. Among her reasons was her desire to protect him and his siblings from the continuous taunts of the villagers for being born out of wedlock. In the city he was enrolled at St. James The Less Primary School, where his father was the headmaster. He had the opportunity to write the Preliminary Certificate of Examinations, which he successfully passed, and then continued on to sit the College of Preceptors Examinations, gaining five subjects and securing a place at Charlestown Secondary School. These successes came after he failed the common entrance exams twice at the St. Ambrose Anglican Primary School in Berbice.
He graduated from Charlestown Secondary with five subjects at the GCE ‘O’ Level Examinations. He went on to teach for a few months after graduating, trying to honour his father’s desire for him to become a teacher. However, he had an overwhelming passion for the military, and unbeknownst to his father, he enlisted in the Guyana Defense Force as a private soldier. His love for the military started when as a young boy in Berbice, he became active in the scouts’ organisation. It further grew after he moved to Georgetown and was exposed to the youth arm of the National Service, The Young Patriot Movement at St. James The Less Primary.
Dr Lee would spend two years as a private soldier in the force before applying to become an Officer Cadet, having already had all of the required qualifications. He was rejected four times for various reasons. Determined to become an officer, he did not let the setbacks deter him. He turned to the Lord, making a covenant with God that if He helped him to become an officer, he would serve Him for the rest of his life. Armed with the covenant, he applied for the fifth time and was finally successful. He spent almost a year completing the cadet course and emerged as the best graduating student. He was awarded the Sword of Honor and other distinguished honours such as the Venezuelan and Brazilian Armed Forces prizes. Dr Lee is convinced he could not have done this without God’s help since the competition was steep and his classmates were from Guyana’s top high schools.
He moved up the ranks over the years, holding several offices, including captain and major. He held the rank of Colonel when he retired in 2015. During his tenure at the GDF, he was granted many opportunities to further his studies in the USA and Canada. He obtained several academic accolades, including a Doctorate in Transformational Leadership and a master’s degree in Strategic Defence Studies, and a diploma in Hemispheric studies.
As a boy, Dr Lee attended the Orange Chapel Congregational church in his village in Berbice, but in his youth, he started visiting First Assembly of God, Wortmanville, after being exposed to some open-air meetings the church held near his home in Bent Street. However, his deep faith in Christ was truly cemented when he made the promise to God and became an Officer Cadet. Upholding his end of the bargain, he began attending church regularly but was soon stationed in Lethem. While there, he was baptised in the Takatu River and began fellowshipping at the Lethem Assembly of God. He remembers Pastor Patrick DaSilva (the worship leader at the time), singing, ‘I am determined to hold on to the end, Jesus is with me, on Him I can depend’ while being immersed in the water. When his work assignment was completed in Lethem, he transferred his membership to First Assembly of God, where he remained to become an integral part of its leadership.
Not long after he transferred, Sister (now Elder) Angela Massiah began encouraging him to become active in the ministry. He began to lead the Royal Rangers department and, with further nudging from Elder Massiah, soon began his long tenure as a Sunday School teacher. Always willing to be used by the Lord wherever the need arises, he has also served as editor of The Issacharian, president of the Men’s Fellowship Department, head of the youth ministry Nulli Secundus, elder, and pastor. Most notably, though, he is recognised as the longest-serving board secretary, a position he has held from 1991 to 2010.
Maintaining a balance between ministry and secular work can pose a challenge to many and Dr Lee is no stranger to this challenge, but he diligently completed his duties on both fronts. In the early years, he made a special effort to craft time to allow him to travel to Georgetown for every board meeting, often returning to Timehri by public transportation in the wee hours of the morning. Several times in the case of annual general meetings, he worked tenaciously the night before to craft and complete his presentation. In addition to the discipline he brought to the role of secretary, confidentiality is another quality he has had to embody. Dr Lee shared that serving in such a trusted position, he understood that matters discussed are to be held in the strictest confidence. He constantly reiterated to the people around him, including his family, that whatever they needed to know would be made public at the appropriate time. He said, “I brought the question of the need to know over from the military; if you don’t need to know, I wouldn’t tell you. So, many things will leave this world with me because they ought not to be divulged to persons that don’t need to know.”
Moving up the ranks in his career was no easy task either. He faced countless challenges that may have broken the ordinary man, but Dr Lee is by no means ordinary. He shared that he has always intentionally placed his trust in the God of his salvation and never forgot the promise he made as a young recruit to serve the Lord faithfully. He shared many experiences of having to call upon God in life-and-death situations that seemed hopeless to both him and the soldiers under his care. He recounted an instance when he led a patrol in The Pakaraima. They journeyed by foot from village to village, and while on their way to the village of Tipuru, Dr Lee became aware that they were lost. Wishing to avoid the alarm from the group, should they be made aware of the dire situation, he instructed them to rest. Always a man of prayer, he separated himself and found a quiet place to kneel and cry out to the Lord. Shortly thereafter, he saw what appeared to be an Amerindian man standing close by. He called out to the man, “Tipuru! Tipuru!” (the name of the village). The man pointed his finger in the direction that should be followed. Reflecting, Dr Lee said, “I don’t know who that man was or where he disappeared to, but I’m sharing this story because we found our way out. Neither my uniform nor my rifle was an instrument of intimidation for God answering my prayer.”
He recounted another of several instances where the unmistakable hand of the Lord delivered him from certain trouble. Serving as Base Commander at Base Camp Stephenson, Timehri, a few soldiers broke the rule of swimming without a lifeguard on duty. Their escapade was interrupted by the military police, which left them running from the scene. Upon inspection of the pool, the military police discovered the apparently lifeless body of a soldier lying at the bottom of the pool. They fished him out and rushed him to the camp’s medical facility, and alerted Dr Lee of the incident. When he arrived, efforts to revive the soldier had been unsuccessful, so he immediately ordered that the soldier be taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Hospital. It was determined that 95% of his lungs were filled with water, and his survival was slim to none. Understanding the gravity of the situation, Dr Lee called his wife, Bishop Massiah, and a few other believers and asked them to intercede with him. As the believers prayed and extended their faith, miraculously, the soldier began to show signs of life and was ultimately revived with no health issues stemming from the incident. Dr Lee noted that he is grateful that during his tenure, he saw the miraculous happenings of the lord.”
His military career and ministerial work were not his only areas of responsibility. He has had to prioritise and navigate being a husband and a father, roles he loves and considers the highlight of his life. He explained that creating and maintaining a sound family unit was paramount to him since he had longed for it as a child. He and his wife, June-ann, were married in 1988 after some anxiety-filled efforts on his part to both approach her and ‘wrote home’ to her mother for permission to court her. They were subsequently blessed with two children- Robert, their son and eldest and later, Shaunette, their daughter.
Dr Lee praises his wife as the quiet force primarily responsible for maintaining their family unit, crediting her for effectively running their home and guiding their children when he was called away for work. He recounted being summoned for a one-week emergency which turned into three months, “these were the days without cellphones,” he said while expressing how difficult it must have been for his wife and commending her for the grace she exhibited in such situations. He said, “I am grateful to God for my wife, the things that I have achieved in both ministry and the military can be attributed to her help.” Whenever he wasn’t away on duties, he would make every effort to spend time with his family. He happily recalled memories of taking his family to the museum, library, and playground to play volleyball. He dutifully read to his children and shared stories of his adventures, and whenever possible, he took them on work trips to the interior. He wanted them to understand his absences and the nature of his job. This, he believes, helped them to pray for him with understanding.
With his children now married and on their own, he marvels at how quickly time has passed but is satisfied that he and his wife have laid a solid foundation for them. He is grateful that the close bond built with their children during their childhood still exists. He believes that his greatest asset is his family, and as it expands, he is enjoying his new role as ‘grandfather’ with all it entails.
When asked if he felt his purpose was fulfilled, Dr Lee responded with a resounding no. He reflected on his work with the Nulli Secundus youth ministry and expressed his desire to continue to impart into the lives of young people. “I have a lot more to give until God says my time is up, especially with the young people that have passed through my tenure in the youth department. I want to see them do well in ministry and not separate their professional callings from their ministry. There must be a merger of the two, so they can take the gospel wherever they work.”
As for what’s next on his horizon professionally, Dr Lee excitedly spoke about his venture into the agricultural sphere. Reaching back to his younger days on his family’s farm in Berbice, he has come full circle, establishing his own farm in which he grows products such as avocados, pineapples, plantain, bananas, hot peppers, and lemons. Ever the academic, he is also a lecturer at the University of Guyana, focusing on strategic development studies. Dr Wilbert Lee’s advice to everyone attempting to balance life and ministry is to “Make God your priority, depend on Him, and obey His word. Never divorce family from ministry; building a strong family relationship is what will allow you to serve effectively.”
