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FISHERMAN JANUARY-MARCH 2006

This is the normally dry harvest season in the Caribbean and in Barbados the sugar canes are being harvested. It is also the time when many visitors come down from the cold in the northern climates in England, the USA and Canada and enjoy the warmth of the Caribbean so hotel rates are usually up for the peak tourist season. The weather here is beautiful and sunny. Here is how the first part of the year went for us.

FIRST MEETING OF NEW LCBC TRUSTEES…

In September last year as the college celebrated its 25 year it decided that it was time to do a thorough self-study and as a result decided to reconstitute its Board of Trustees. In the early years college graduates and people with experience in Bible college education were very limited on the island and at first we even had some from the U.S. on the board. However, with registration as a charitable body we had to form a completely Barbadian Board of Trustees but many who were on the board were teachers or administrators of the college.

After the self study we decided to separate the legislative and executive arms of the college and hence we chose a new board. The only remaining members on the Board was Sis. Maxine Williams and myself as President being an ex-officio member. The Trustees were introduced to the brethren and installed in our Service of Thanksgiving on August 31, 2005. We had our first formal meeting on January 13, which happened to be my birthday. Items on the table were the restarting of the short term courses with Ozark Christian College professors and also the acquiring of a home for the college.

The LCBC Trustees met and surprised Dale with a cake for his birthday

SABBATICAL BEGINS…

On January 14 I started my sabbatical to work on gathering information for a history of the Churches of Christ/Christian Churches in the Caribbean. Technically it is supposed to run from January to June but practically it will end in May. My project will involve going to 13 of the Caribbean islands/countries meeting with leaders and getting as much historical information as I can, visiting as many churches as I can, interviewing prominent people in the work in that particular country and getting some general information on the country so that people will have an idea about the country before we give the history of the work. One other thing I will be doing is holding a seminar on the Restoration Movement in all the countries that allow me to do it. In this seminar I will talk about the New Testament church and its characteristics and the need for us to restore that church, the attempts to restore the church over history and then I will look at the history of their country and then share some of my findings on the history of the Caribbean churches with them. This seminar will last for 3-5 sessions.

JANUARY – FEBRUARY

The first country that opened their doors to me was Antigua. So on January 14-21 I traveled to that country and started my research. I stayed for a couple of days at the Preacher – Eldon Shaw and his wife Gayneita. Then I stayed at an apartment in the nearby Hero House. While there I was able to visit all three of the congregations on the island and also hold the seminar for 5 days at the Bendals Church of Christ. The seminar was well received and attended and the history of the work in the country was a fascinating one of a female pediatrician from Prince Edward Island who came to Antigua on a holiday and met an Antiguan and after a short courtship got married and returned to the island. They were able with assistance from missionaries from Puerto Rico to start a small Bible study in their home and after a while send out a request for help and was able to get a church going on the island. Truly a story of "bloom where you are planted". I was also able to establish contact with Bro. Oscar Cottam who was called by the congregations there to work with them but was relieved of his duties after only two years. Yet he stayed in the country and was able to start another congregation on the island.

After a short return to Barbados I took off for Tallapoosa, Georgia on February 2. The purpose of that trip was to talk with James Redmon who was veteran missionary of some 42 years to the Bahamas. He retired from the work only a couple of years ago. So I thought that it would be very important that I talk with him and get his perspective on the work in the Bahamas. We had an enjoyable visit for a couple of days and then I spent the weekend in Atlanta and was able to visit the Central Christian Church in Atlanta. This church is ministered to by Dr. Denzel Holness, a Jamaican by birth. I also met with Leviticus Laing also a minister in Atlanta who originated from the Bahamas. After a few days in Fort Lauderdale Wendy joined me and we went to visit the churches in the Bahamas. The shortness of our trip only allowed us to visit three of the four churches in the Bahamas. The fourth was on the neighboring island of Andros and we could not get connections to get there. I preached at the Golden Gates church on the Sunday morning of Feb.12 and then there was a joint meeting that evening at the Coconut Grove church. That Sunday was cold and wet but we had a wonderful time. The Churches in the Bahamas have been isolated from the churches in the rest of the Caribbean over the years and it was good to establish contact with the churches there. The churches on the island have not been dependent on US support for over 12 years and all the congregations are led by Bahamians even though all of them are holding full-time jobs in the secular world.

Leacocks & Bahamian leaders - (l.tor.) Russells, Leacocks, Dorsettes, Lisa Horton-Strachan, James Sweeting

MARCH – JAMAICA/CAYMAN/PUERTO RICO…

After a couple of weeks back in Barbados, during which I took the chance to visit some of the other congregations on the island whom I scarcely get a chance to see because of my responsibilities, I took off again. On March 11 I took off for Jamaica. Jamaica has the richest history of all the Caribbean countries being the first Caribbean country where missionaries were sent by the brotherhood. I spent almost two weeks there. I just took off two days to go over to Grand Cayman to visit the island and check for churches there.

On March 11 I spoke at the Meadowbrook congregation in Kingston, the capital. We had a wonderful service and response to the message. Then in the afternoon we visited the Penwood Road church for their Harvest Program. The building was completely full and there were performances by groups from various churches in the area. I had a good time and got opportunity to meet many of the leaders on the island at the harvest. From Monday to Wednesday I conducted the seminar on the "Restoration Movement" at the Meadowbrook church. We had a very interested group that attended every night. I thought we would have had more people coming from the surrounding churches in the capital but that was not to be. However, those who attended indicated that they were blessed by learning about the church and what it stands for.

On Thursday 16 I took off for Grand Cayman which is over a hundred miles to the north and west of Jamaica. I was aware that there was once a strong church in the island and I stayed with a lady from Jamaica who has been living on the island for quite a while. The church that she attends was the remnants of the old church which was established first in the Hospital Road area of George Town, the capital. However, since the 1970’s the church has moved in greater measure towards Pentecostalism and now even though they recognize the Christian Church as being a part of their history they no longer consider themselves as being part of the Churches of Christ/Christian church. There was another church that was established by the Wilson family on the island but no one was able to tell me while there if there was anything left of that congregation. I have recently heard that there still is a small church on the island.

On my return to Jamaica I was just in time to attend the funeral of Bro. Leslie Mitchell at the Scott’s Pass Church of Christ. Bro. Mitchell was one of the stalwarts over the years in the Jamaica Christian Mission. There was a massive crowd who attended the service - almost one thousand. And we had a full service lasting over 4 ˝ hours. It however, was an opportunity to meet a lot of the brothers, especially those from the Jamaica Christian Mission congregations and also an opportunity to meet Adele Hill who had served with her husband Harold Hill for many years on the island.

After the funeral service I went with Bro. Carlton Mullings to the Ocho Rios area in northern Jamaica. I also spent almost a week there. I spoke for the morning service at the Ocho Rios Church of Christ and then in the afternoon Bro. Mullings and myself attended the Ewarton Church of Christ Harvest Program. I didn’t know that I had to speak but I did, and on such occasions you should always be prepared. I also held the seminar from Monday to Thursday and it was fairly well attended and people were very animated and interested in the history of the Church. Others also came from surrounding congregations and took part in the seminar.

One thing that we were also able to do while there was to purchase some windows for our camp kitchen/dining hall. I realized that the manufacturer of a high quality wooden louvre window was right there in Jamaica and after I checked out the price I realized that we could save over $1500 by getting them there so we left early the Friday morning and went to the company and purchased the windows and left them to be shipped to Barbados.

Our next trip was on March 26 and after a quick turnaround I had to be on the plane early in the morning to Puerto Rico. Even though Puerto Rico is a lot nearer to Jamaica than we are in Barbados there are no direct links between the two islands. I would have had to travel to Miami and come back down to Puerto Rico which was much more expensive so I made to trip home and then out the next morning.

Our Puerto Rico trip was organized by Bro. Jaffet Perez who went out of his way to make sure that we go the information and saw the places we needed to see. There are 9 churches on the island and three schools. I first visited the Puerto Rico Christian School at Levittown and then worshipped at the church there the first Sunday morning then I went to another congregation called Parkville and held the first part of my seminar on the Sunday Evening. They were so interested that they asked me back on the Wednesday to do a second session. I then went to Aquadilla where I stayed with Johnathan and Mary Reece and got some information on the work there. While there we also journeyed to nearby Mayaguez were John Gidley works in the Hormigueros area. He ministers to the church there and also runs an Accelerated Christian Education school where children can move at their own pace in learning. On the Wednesday afternoon Wendy was able to come up for a few days and was present for the second seminar at Parkville. Then on the Thursday we were able to visit the school and church at Caparra Terrace and in the afternoon we went to Fajardo and met with the leaders of the small church there on the north eastern corner of the island.

Classroom at the Caparra Terrace Christian School

THANKS…

For your support of the work and for making this possible to travel throughout the Caribbean and research the history of our churches here. For almost a hundred and fifty years no one has been able to do this and take stock of where we are as churches and what we will need to do to be effective in the region for Jesus Christ. I hope that I will be able to continue and to put my discoveries on paper and in a form that many people will be able to read and understand what God has been doing through our churches on these islands over the years. Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Sincerely in Christ,