"Dominica," a poem by Pat Butler

On March the second in 2007 a group of singers left for Atlanta.

Our mission was to share the love of Jesus in Dominica.

After a quick night's rest we rushed to the airport for a flight.

Thank the Lord, security, customs, bag weight, and plastic containers were all alright.

A night was spent in Barbados to change to a smaller, less luxurious-size plane,

And we learned that island time is a little more laid back and not always the same.

But arrival in Dominica happened without much alarm.

With a fast trip to Deliverance Church in a setting filled with charm.

The church ladies provided a typical Dominican menu

With chicken, juice, fruit, vegetables, and choices were many, not few.

After eating our fill, preparations were made for the church meeting.

With handchimes ringing, the choir singing, and Steve evangicube leading.

The church had planned for our visit as well

With a skit by the youth on God's way or hell.

The entire service was energizing and a blessing,

With testimonies, rhythmic music and the pastor teaching.

As the week unfolded blessings did abound

As the group sang, witnessed, and walked throughout the town.

Opportunities were abundant through many avenues

With music as the vehicle to open doors to choose.

Faith, salvation and Jesus' love for eternity,

Or rejection, non-belief, and soul poverty.

Singing in markets, radio stations, churches, hospitals-what a joy!

In airports, hotel, in the medical center, and on streets-oh boy!

Using evangicubes to relate God's gift to all,

Lives were changed when many answered God's call,

By praying the sinners' prayer and feeling anew

Many new Christians were added - Hallelu!

Changes happened often as each day progressed,

But joy filled our hearts through the entire process.

Because as the song we sang states loud and clear

We are never alone-so what should we fear?

Whether elevators work or airplanes have seats

Whether luggage is missing or there is no food to eat.

Whether roads are one and half lanes and curved

Whether fishermen listen to hear God's word.

Whether tired or weary after a very long day

Whether eating food fixed in a brand new way.

Whether resting in Olivette before the next event

Whether smelling sulfur or passing cars without a dent.

The one thing remained positive and true

We shared the gospel all day through.

God bound our spirits to one another

To touch the lives of our Dominican brothers.

As another song relates for all to review

God rescued sinners like me and you.

By filling us up with God's spirit and love

To glorify our Father as he watched from above.

To you First Baptist, "Hats off," we say.

Thanks for your prayers and support each day.

Glory be to the Father for all that transpired.

We thank him for using us during those hours.

- by Pat Butler

Great Share Service

Thanks for a great share service tonight. All of the testimonies were so well spoken. I would like to add Pat's poem and Kaye's song to our blog. I would also welcome any other testimonies that anyone would like to submit. In addition to posting them on our blog, I am writing an article for the Sunday Ready Section of the Herald-Citizen. Colleen tells me that we must submit the article by Tuesday afternoon. So please send any stories or comments right away.

The service this evening was a special blessing. How wonderful to celebrate the young lady who made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ tonight. I know that you will also be in prayer for Lincoln and his family. Tonight's sevice was such a great illustration of our Sunday School and morning worship emphasis on witnessing and missions.

Please remember that we will be sharing a few more testimonies and some funny stories with the rest of the choir on Wednesday night. Our mission team will be providing Caribbean snacks. You can contact Tammy for more details on the food.

I would encourage you to bring Dominican crafts to display and be prepared to share a funny story or two. This is our opportunity to share the vision and joy of our Caribbean adventure with others. I know that God can use this to motivate them.

Mike and Martha are enjoying time with their new grandbaby this week, but I think that everyone else will be with us.

Thanks again,

Jonathan

Note from Our Spanish Amigo, Maria

Dear Kassandra,
It is great to have news from you. I am sorry I could not take your call last friday...I did not heard the phone.
For me was an incredible experience to meet you all and thank you for your kindness and support.
I also wish we could meet one day either, in Spain or in Tennesse.Let´s keep in touch.
Best regards to you and all of your friends.
Maria (Conchi, for friends, ok??)

Prayer Requests

In an effort to continue praying for the many lovely people that we met in Barbados and Dominica, I want to offer this posting a way for us to share prayer requests. To do so, simply add a comment to this posting. This will allow others to read your comment and prayer request. Let us give this a try and see if it works.

Thanks for your sensitivity. I want to remind you that this information will be publicly available. So be discreet. I would advise you to avoid using last names. There are many people reading this blog that did not participate in the trip. If successful, this will be a good way for us to bring more folks into our prayer circle. Thanks, Jonathan

Share Service Info

The mission team will be sharing songs and testimonies this Sunday evening, March 18, at 6:00 p.m. Mission team members should wear their green Musicians on Mission T-shirt with khaki pants (skirts are not necessary, you know what I mean). We will set up a table to you to display items of interest from the mission field. I know that children are especially interested in seeing items from other lands. Please meet in the sanctuary at 5:30 p.m. for a soundcheck and warm-up.

We will be meeting tonight following Sanctuary Choir rehearsal for a brief organizational meeting. We will ask several participants to share brief testimonies related to specific experiences on the trip.

I am also compiling digital images from the trip to be used during the share service. Please send any particularly good images to me. We will not be chronicling the entire trip, but I will give a brief overview and then let individuals share about specific events.

We would also like to have a time to share testimonies and humorous events with the entire Sanctuary Choir next Wednesday night, March 21, following rehearsal. We will provide some refreshments. This is also a great time to display any interesting items that you may have brought home.

We have made copies of the Voice of Life radio broadcast for everyone. I plan to distribute these tonight. Also, Carol Rose taped some video on the trip and we may be able to show a few of these clips on Sunday night or next Wednesday. (By the way, Carol's bag did make it home on Monday evening. Hooray!)

I know that Mike and Martha will be out of town this weekend. If anyone else will be gone, please let me know.

Again, I am thankful for a safe and productive trip. You are a blessing.

Thanks,

Jonathan

Friday Update

This has been a very interesting day. We left the hotel at 7:20 am and went to the Goodwill Secondary School. (Goodwill is an area near Roseau.) Goodwill has a student body of 598 youth in grades 8 through 12. All of them assembled in a plaza at 7:45. The Principal Dailey introduced us and we sang a few songs. Jason Gaw shared the gospel and Pastor David Serrant led the students and faculty in prayer. Steve Farris reports that a quick count showed that at least forty students made a profession of faith.

We returned to the hotel and ate breakfast. The hotel served toast and fruit for our continental breakfast each day. They bake their own bread and serve fresh, local fruit.

The team signed a white guitar that was donated for this trip. Glenda has played it at every event. We gave the guitar to Pastor David. We also took up a collection of money to be used for expenses related to planting the new church in Salisbury. And Pat Butler read a lovely poem that she had written for David and the folks at Deliverance.

We loaded our luggage at eleven and drove over the mountains to the Carib Territory. This is the only designated territory of indigenous people in the Caribbiean. We visited a beautiful interpretive area that demonstrated the ways that he Carib people lived many years ago. We could only stay an hour or so, but it was a gorgeous location. It is located high on a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean. Wow! Thank you, God, for such a people place and these beautiful people.

After our little tour, we drove over to the airport. Here we learned that Liat Airline had overbooked our flight. Consequently, ten of us had to fly from Dominica north to Antigua and then back south to Barbados. The rest of the team flew directly to Barbados. Fortunately, all of the flights were very late so we didn't miss the connecting flight in Antigua. I appreciate the patience of all the people that joined me for our detour.

We we finally arrived in Barbados we found Steve searching for our luggage. Thank God, it all showed up. They had loaded most of it on our flight through Antigua. The local church provided a bus and a truck to transport us to the hotel.

We are finally here and enjoying supper and fresh, cold water at eleven. It was been a great day, but a very long one.

Please pray for our rest and our trip home tomorrow. We have to leave for the airport at noon although our flight is not until 5. We will fly Delta to Atlanta and then ride the church bus back to Cookeville.

Thanks for your prayers. We appreciate you.

- Jonathan

Thursday Update

We had a hard time in the Salisbury community last evening. We sang and shared the gospel with many people. Pastor Pat of the First Baptist Church, Salisbury was so grateful for our visit. We had two professions of faith.

From there we went back to Deliverance Baptist Church in Roseau and sang for an organizational rally of churches. They are preparing for a nationwide outreach program.

This morning, Thursday, we walked to the local produce market and sang. We led two people to the Lord there.

We returned to the hotel and sang for a live remote broadcast on the local secular radio station Kari. It was a delightful event.

This afternoon we sang a special program for the hotel staff. As we were singing, many people from a conference being held in the hotel came and listened.

We then drove to the Fond Cole community. This is the location of a new church start. It was a very receptive area. Following our program we led twenty-three people to the Lord. It was a wonderful event.

Later we went to the local hospital and sang for many patients and staff. The hospital administrator attended the program and was very grateful. A local television station with there filming the event. The chime rang as well.

Following this central program we went into two of the large open wards, medical ward for women and the surgical ward for men. It was truly a moving experience to sing and minister to these folks.

Deliverance BC is near the hospital. So we drove to DBC and ate a delicious dinner prepared by the church. We shared testimonies and prayed.

Tomorrow we will be singing a local secondary school at 7: 45 am. We leave for the airport at 11 and plan to visit the Carib Indian territory on our way.

Pray for more lives to be won to the Lord. Pray for our safety. We are praying for you as well.

I have got to go. Love to you all.

- Jonathan