Doyle dies

Jippy Joel Doyle, once a household name as a televangelist in Barbados, has died from the COVID-19 virus at age 52.

Pastor Doyle was one of two patients who passed away on Wednesday while in the primary section of the Harrison Point Isolation Centre in St Lucy.

Even though Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George did not identify him by name, he told a press conference this morning that an unvaccinated 52-year-old man with no chronic illnesses had succumbed to the disease while in isolation for three days.

And since then, prominent fellow evangelist Rev David Durant who knew Doyle well, has been paying tribute to the once controversial preacher who was head of JJD Ministries located at Haggatt Hall, St Michael.

“I really want to express my deep sorrow and regret at his passing of a fellow colleague, a ministerial colleague. I believe that most of the ministerial brethren would agree with that. One being taken from us, we all feel it,” the former government senator told Barbados TODAY.

“Evangelist Jippy is not an old man, he is very young and I believe that there is a lot more that he would have been able to do. He being taken now so early is a sad day for us really. I really admire his zeal and his commitment to church; his passion and the things he was involved in. He started very young in ministry, that is why a lot of people would have thought he was even older,” the senior pastor of Restoration Ministries in Gunsite, Brittons Hill, St Michael recalled.

Rev Durant wished for strength for Doyle’s wife and children and God’s comfort in their time of grief.

“We will remember his family in prayer this Sunday here. The church will pray for his family and also pray for the nation as well because I heard calls were made for prayers to be made for the nation; and when you hear calls like that coming, there are calls that need to be heeded,” the church leader stated.

Doyle’s national profile as a prolific preacher and evangelist took a hit when in October 2008, he was sent to prison on a rape conviction that was later substituted with the lesser offence of indecent assault. He was sentenced to three years’ in prison and was released in January 2011 still proclaiming his innocence. (EJ/KC)