TCI News
Turks and Caicos Pastor gets world class training in Public Speaking, as he ‘declares’ the works of the Lord
#TurksandCaicos, May 11, 2018 – Providenciales – Community Fellowship Centre senior pastor, Rev. Bradley Handfield has seen a fervent interest in a basic standard re-ignited this year, and in addition to establishing a Book Club at his church, he has been making investments into his own personal development.
“This year started out with me reading a lot because we had the hurricane in September and during that time I had a lot of time to think and to read and I started reading and listening to Les Brown on YouTube and on Facebook. I was extremely motivated by what I heard from him through his videos and his presentations and I found out that he was having this training in Deerfield Beach in April and I said to myself, I am not going to let this miss me. Les Brown is the world’s #1 Motivational Speaker and I know that he has a lot of knowledge, wisdom and insight and sheer experience that he can share with those of us who are interesting in speaking to people and speaking into people’s lives and motivating people.”
Reverend Handfield, who is a professional teacher and the 16-year pastor of Community Fellowship Centre, an Assemblies of God church in Providenciales talked about his recent trip to Florida where the focus for him was on becoming a better speaker.
“The conference was a training seminar and it was focused on improving your speaking ability. I speak every week to an audience, but I have this desire to continue learning as long as I am alive and I want to become better at whatever it is that I am doing. And since I do speak to people every week, I want to enhance the way that I speak to people so that I am being most effective at reaching them and touching them and at meeting their needs.”
Rev. Handfield is impressed and inspired by the story of Les Brown. A man born with his twin in a derelict building in Miami, Florida and abandoned by his birth mother. A man who had limited prospects but who at the age of 73-years old, is now ranked in the Top 10, in fact at No. 2 of the Top 10 Global list of Motivational Speakers. Brown is a former disc jockey, a former politician, an author and an Emmy Award winning broadcaster. Les Brown is ultra-effective at encouraging people to pursue and possess their dreams; often using his life as a reference point.
“I know what my purpose is because my purpose was revealed when I was three-years-old, it was said clearly that my life was spared when I was about to die from pneumonia. God miraculously healed me and prophesied over my life before healing me, saying this child would not die but live to declare the works of the Lord. And so I know that speaking is what I live for. God saved my life so that I could declare…”
And declare is what Bradley Handfield of North Caicos does, emphatically. The pastor is known for his frank commentary on issues ranging from politics to education to the Word of God, cultural folklore and personal development on the national and regional level. Rev. Handfield has organized leadership conferences featuring among others, world renowned author and speaker, the late Dr. Myles Munroe.
The Pastor is also an author who recently told a children’s story in a book titled, Auntie Fannie, Mattie and the Talking Potatoes.
“One of the things I walked away from this conference is the understanding of two-dimensional story telling and three-dimensional story telling. When I heard of about three-dimensional story telling, my ears pricked because I wanted to know what do you really mean and how much deeper can you go in story-telling. So I learned that we can tell stories where we share a particular incident that has happened to us or someone else, it could even be a story that we have heard and we can just share it and it enhances our speech because we are able to put into the story telling, the feeling of individual at the time of the incident,” Rev. Bradley continued, “the audience can actually feel as if they are a part of that event that has already happened and actually feel those emotions as you say them and that was demonstrated (at the conference) and that was real, really powerful and really impactful.
So far for 2018, teachers of the Community Christian Academy and others have benefited from a special session to enhance teacher methodology under the guidance of husband and wife team, Murriell and Bob McCulley. Rev. Bradley, as he often called, said “there is more to come.”
In the meantime, Pastor Bradley is hoping that his thirst for self-enhancement will be contagious and admits that while he does not expect everyone to be able to attend conferences abroad, he does pray and hope that residents will make the more financially manageable decision to invest in quality books and read them.
“So whether I am in church speaking on the Gospel of Jesus Christ or I am at some kind of seminar teaching people about leadership or something else that I have learned about in my lifetime, I am still declaring the works of the Lord. Because whatever I am able to learn or impart is all about what God has done and what God is doing for us in the world.”
Almost two million visitors recorded in 2025
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS – The Turks and Caicos Islands saw an increase in stayover arrivals in December, seven percent higher than the corresponding period in 2024.
Preliminary data suggests that stay over arrivals by air for the month of December was 66,427 in comparison to 62,610 in December 2024.
From January to December 2025, preliminary visitor arrival numbers totalled 640,754; on par with the number recorded for the same period of 2024.
Stay Over Arrivals YTD December 2024/2025
The first quarter of the calendar year attracted the largest number of arrivals with visitor arrivals three percent higher than the first quarter of 2024. Reduced airlift from the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably the Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue services, was however felt from the second quarter (April to June). As a result, visitor arrivals dropped three percent in the second quarter.
By the third quarter of this year (July to September), geopolitical and economic conditions in the key source markets, namely the United States, led to further contraction of arrivals. In the last quarter of 2025, arrivals were impacted in October due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa but additional airlift from the USA and Canada resulted in an increase in arrivals in November and December.
Mr. Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, said December’s increase in stayover arrivals is an encouraging indicator of the sustained interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a premier destination.
“While we note and continue to monitor geopolitical shifts that affect us, Experience Turks and Caicos is focused on increasing marketing initiatives in our primary source markets. We have spent the last two years investing in groundwork such as crucial travel advisor training to assist them in selling the destination more effectively. In the next fiscal, we will be building on those initiatives with co-op activities with partners as well as out of home advertising to increase visitation to our destination,” he said.
In Cruise, the preliminary count of passenger arrivals for the month of December 2025 was 129,346, a 22 percent increase over last December. This growth follows the berthing of 11 additional ships in Grand Turk this month.
From January to December, the cruise sector continued to outperform the same period last year, as the 1.3 million total cruise passengers recorded, marks a five percent Year-on-Year increase. 
The cruise sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2025, with passenger arrivals surpassing last quarter by 53 percent. In the second and third quarter however, several cruise lines adjusted their itineraries as vessels were pulled from the fleet or from the Caribbean region, which resulted in fewer passengers.
Arrivals dropped seven percent and 10 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Double digit growth was recorded in the last two months of Quarter 4. This growth however, was not sufficient to outweigh the drop in arrivals experienced in October, following the cancellation of cruise calls due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the late-quarter rebound, arrivals for the final quarter of 2025 closed six percent below the same period in 2024.
News
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Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday, 11 February 2026: The Informal Settlements Unit (ISU) coordinated a multi-agency enforcement operation on Thursday, 29 January 2026, led by the Planning Department, with support from the Crown Land
Unit, the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force, and security provided by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. The operation, carried out at three different locations in Providenciales, formed part of ongoing government efforts to address unauthorised development and illegal occupation of land in accordance with governing legislation.
The operation commenced in Blue Hills, where five Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on unauthorised structures identified on Block and Parcel 60502/48.
Enforcement activity then moved to a second location off the Leeward Highway near Caicos Lodge, where six Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on additional unauthorised structures on Block and Parcel 60802/66.
The final phase of the operation took place in The Bight, where three unauthorised structures were removed, with all debris cleared from the site in keeping with established safety and environmental protocols.
The Informal Settlements Unit remains committed to working alongside its partner agencies to support lawful development, protect public and private land, and ensure that planning regulations are enforced in a coordinated and transparent manner across the Turks and Caicos Islands. Similar joint operations will continue as part of the Government’s wider strategy to address unauthorised development and informal settlement activity.
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