Pastor Alverna Margaret Annique Shadwick was born on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat to Joseph Leon and Philomena Latour. She is the fifth child of seven children. Elder Shadwick has always taken pride in her faith in God beginning as a little girl while attending the Methodist Church in her homeland. At the tender age of eleven she relocated to New York City in the United States to live with her loving family and to continue her education.
It was during these years she began attending Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem, New York where Bishop Carlton T. Brown is Pastor and the late Bishop Dr. Ezra N. Williams was Pastor Emeritus. At Bethel she started to take her walk with the Lord more seriously, and developed a deep love for God’s word and a heart to share with others the message of salvation.
Pastor Alverna has always had a heart to use her gifts to the glory and honor of God: she has always loved serving in her local assembly in many roles as a choir member, youth leader and is prominently known as a Minister of Dance. It was while attending a worship conference in 1995 where she yielded to the Holy Spirit and began dancing before the Lord in worship. Pastor Alverna’s dance ministry continues to this day with anointed demonstration of God’s power. It is birthed through prayer, fasting and the studying of God’s word. God has used this vessel of honor to reach the lost for Him in the church, on the streets, in the workplace and abroad. It is this very passion for the Lord, which continues in her ministry to this day.
On September 7, 2002, Reverend Alverna married her knight in shining armor, Pastor Arthur Maurice Shadwick after graduating from Hunter College with her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and minor in Secondary Education. The couple relocated to Hackensack, New Jersey not realizing that God would call them to begin an apostolic work a year later. She recounts, “I remembered God giving me the scripture Genesis 12:1-3…And so like Abraham, we moved and started plowing; years of blood, sweat and tears!” So on November 23, 2003, The Gathering Church was established to be a ministry that would seek to be a place of grace for the hurting and hopeless. Though vocationally known as educator, God has used Pastor Alverna to do some great exploits for His kingdom. After three years of plowing-praying, encouraging, teaching and evangelizing to those in the surrounding community-the pastoral call was evident on Alverna’s life. Thus in November 2006, she was ordained as an Associate Pastor.
She currently trains dancers of all ages as a certified liturgical Dance Instructor, and is the Youth Director for The Gathering Church. In addition, she preaches and teaches the Word of God in her local assembly along her husband’s side. This servant longs to infect the various spheres of influence with God’s truth and have begun doing so by mentoring other leaders who desire to run the course of life and finish the race. As she was encouraged to lift up the torch of truth in her youth, she encourages others to do the same for their generation.
Pastor Alverna resides in Hackensack, New Jersey with her husband Pastor Arthur Maurice Shadwick. As an example of the believer, she continues to make herself available to be used to minister in churches, prisons and conferences in the spoken word and in dance.