Two Pastors of the African Methodist Episcopal Church announced that they and their congregation had cleared their mortgages and were now debt free.

Also during the conference Pastors from both Bermuda and the United States announced that they would like to be the AME Church's new bishop for the Bermuda churches.

The presiding Bishop Zedekiah Grady will be finishing up and a new Bishop for the Island's Churches will be selected in July.

Several pastors said they would also continue to assist the Matilda Smith Williams senior's residence financially and with food.

Rev. Rodney Grimes from Heard Chapel said at the close of Black History Month that it was important to make sure that the youth knew about the history of the Church.

He said: "He (God) is the vine and we are the branches."

Rev. Grimes also stressed that it was important for the Church to continue to grow.

"It is important for the AME Church to bear fruit," said Rev. Grimes.

Pastor Leonard Santucci, who put himself forward for the post of Bishop, told the congregation that the Church had set up the AME Church Reinsurance company.

He urged the congregation not to look past him, but to pick him for the post.

Another contender, Rev. Dr. Ricky Spain, urged the congregation of several hundred people to choose him because of his work with youth.

He said: "Ricky Spain cares about the Church; Ricky Spain cares about the community; Ricky Spain cares about ministering; and Ricky Spain cares about developing the youth."

St. Paul AME Church has raised more than $1.5 million through all sort of avenues in the past year. It has a membership of almost 1,800 people and the congregation has cleared their mortgage for the Centennial Hall.

Rev. Dr. Conway Simmons said that they were now out of debt and they planned to go back into debt to extend their sanctuary.

He said: "We are planning to expand the church and go back further because we need more room.

"There is a limited amount of room ? the Pastor might hit somebody.

"We got out of debt to get into debt."

St. John's AME Church Pastor Rev. Dr. Michael Burgess said the Church had raised $273.053.72 in the last year. It has 1,016 members.

He said: "During Hurricane Fabian we were serving 60 to 70 meals a day to people who were facing hardship."

Rev. Dr. Burgess, who has been the pastor at St. John's for five years, said he was looking for people to provide personal testimonials on the way the Lord had changed their lives.

Rev. Howard Dill, Pastor at Vernon Temple, said the Church had raised over half a million dollars and he spoke about its youth and adult network and the changing face of the church.

He said: "Vernon Temple is becoming a multi-cultural church and last week were able to count ten different nationalities worshipping with us.

"This is a new level of spirituality."

The Pastor of St. Philip AME Church Ruth VanLowe Smith announced that the church was free of debt.

"I'm glad to report that we are free of indebtedness," she said.

"St. Philip is a great church ? we can call it Great St. Philip."

Presenting her 11th annual report was the Rev. Betty Furbert-Woolridge, who said that they planned to demolish the current church and build another which featured underground parking.

She said the Church also planned to develop a new site and build eight new apartments.

The Rev. Furbert-Woolridge announced that they too were debt free and she also announced that the church raised more than $460,000.

The Richard Allen AME Church Rev. Micah Chandler raised almost $300,000 in the past year.

Pastor Chandler urged his congregation to allow him to be their pastor for another year.

Mount Zion AME Church pastor the Rev. Wilbur Lowe, who was making his first year's report, said his first year had been an experience of growth.

"I have experienced spiritual growth as I lead a Church that is on the cutting edge of praise and worship," he said.

He said the old parsonage had been turned into an educational centre; they had removed a dangerous bank and made room for parking; and they purchased a four bedroom parsonage.

"The people of Mount Zion have worked hard over the past conference year and we were able to make a balloon payment of $36,000 along with our monthly mortgage payment of $6,000," said Rev. Lowe.

"We plan to pay off this $800,000 mortgage well before time."

Rev. Santucci asked that he not be moved from Heard Chapel if he did not receive the Bishop-hood, but if he received it he wanted to stay with his congregation.

He said Heard Chapel had an active women's fellowship who meet on the first Saturday of every month.

Several Pastors also said that they have food programmes, single mother ministries and a host of other aids for the community at large.

Several hundred people turned out for the annual conference on Thursday and today they will be holding the YPD annual meeting, a business session, memorial service and an ordination service.