Well, I finally got to go to the “Harvest Christian Center” here in Corozal.  They are a daughter of a church in Belmopan (the Capital of Belize) and sponsored by a Mother church in Ohio.  It rained, and the crowd was small – about 20. 

The pastor is Lisa Quan.  I would guess that Lisa is about 30.  My bias is against women preachers but she pretty much demolished that!   She is about 5’6”, trim, and just simply gorgeous.  She’s a Creole/Mesteza mix, like most of the Corozal natives, and that makes her a very light brown color.  She speaks very good English with the Creole accent that the radio announcers here have.  (It sounds a lot like that Jamaican guy who used to do the Un-Cola and Lymon commercials, if you remember him.)  For her size, she has large hands, which helps her to play the 12-string guitar.

After an opening prayer, she invited an older lady (“Mrs. Quan” – perhaps a relative) to come up and say a few words based on 2 Corr. 8, “Generosity Encouraged.”  She was a little hard to understand but I gathered that the Center had about a $300 shortfall in February.  I was generous with my offering, but probably would have been more generous after the sermon. 

Lisa was the song leader, singing songs which they projected on a screen with an overhead projector.  She did four or five songs, accompanying us on an acoustic 12-string guitar, which she played with great animation.  While they were changing slides she would exhort us.  Then we did four or five more with her accompanying us on a Roland keyboard.  She is more gifted on the guitar (she had the volume too high on the keyboard – which is the Belizean style!!!) but I was just amazed by the whole performance.  Since I didn’t know exactly who Lisa Quan was, I figured the slender girl was just the song leader, and the older lady would be Lisa.  Wrong.  After another prayer, she launched into the sermon, which ran about 45 minutes.  It was very Bible-centered.  She started by chatting about people who quote the Bible as tho it were just words, rather than communicating their beliefs as convictions which some from within. Her message “Pass the passion!”  Her texts:  (Please note that today is April 18, i.e. 4/18.)

Luke 4:18ff  The Lord had anointed Jesus to spread the word.

Mathew 4:18ff  Jesus calls the fishermen to follow him and become fishers of men.

She described the constant trouble that Peter had understanding the mission that Jesus had in mind for him; citing his mistaken zeal when he tried to walk on the water, when Jesus wanted to wash his feet, when the solders came to arrest him and Peter cut one of them.  Jesus wanted none of these things from Peter. 

Then reading from John 21, she showed how discouraged Peter had become, going back to fishing (his origins) until Jesus came, miraculously led them to catch so many fish that the nets might have broken, and then fed them in a scene reminiscent of the last supper.  “Follow me,” Jesus said to Peter, in order to get him back on track.

“Jesus was leaving them a legacy,” said Lisa, “and so he has left it to us, as well.”  I was so reminded of the Promise Keepers theme this past year; I was literally in tears.  (How embarrassing, this old gringo, sitting there in the middle of the congregation with tears streaming down his face.) 

Then she did an altar call, and _mirabile dictu_, five people came up.  I think that some of them just needed help & encouragement, but at least two gave themselves to Christ.  Wow!    I didn’t go up, but who knows what might happen next?

Charlotte wasn’t there.  We will probably go back next week and take somebody else with us. 

Sr. ric 

PS:  Darrell McKay went to the missions board, and got me the names of three Presbyterians here in Corozal.  I will work on tracking them down, but right now, I’m (obviously) pretty impressed with the work that Lisa Chan is doing.