Thirty salvations and 100 total decisions marked the latest mission trip to Jamaica for a team of 15 volunteers from Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. “Every night, there were decisions,” said team leader Claude Mathis.
The team flew into Kingston and traveled about 80 minutes north to serve a four-church circuit that includes Bethel Baptist Church, Springvale Baptist Church, West Prospect Baptist Church and Giblatore Baptist Church.
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Mathis, who serves as interim pastor of Mineral Bluff Baptist Church in Mineral Bluff, Georgia, and previously served as a missionary with the Morganton and Mountaintown Baptist Association, said the team worked during the day at Springvale Church and a local school before holding revival services each night.
Five preachers shared messages throughout the week.
“You have a great freedom there to preach,” Mathis said.
Worship in Jamaica, he explained, carries a different tone than many American services.
“At Bethel, they will sing for an hour and a half, then have a testimony time, an altar prayer, a special music time and eventually get to the preacher,” Mathis said. “It’s much more spiritual than what we have here in America. They are more at liberty in praising the Lord. If you say, ‘Praise the Lord’ once, you will say it 20 times. If you say, ‘Give the Lord the highest praise, which is hallelujah,’ you will say that 20 times.”
Even the invitation looks different.
“Here, people come forward and they kneel at the altar. We get down and pray with them. In Jamaica, people come forward and stand. We have a general prayer for whatever their need is,” Mathis said.
The ministry has deep roots.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jason Queen and originally published by the Christian Index.
