This episode of Launch is the audio track of a conversation between GCC's Director of International Ministries Corey Schmatjen and GCC pastor and regional network leader, Kenyatta Lewis.

Watch this conversation on Vimeo.

Episode Transcript:

Marty Duren:

Welcome to Launch, the GCC Podcast. I'm your host, Marty Duren, Director of Communications for the Great Commission Collective. We're a global network of churches partnering together to plant churches and strengthen leaders.

Marty Duren:
On today's episode of Launch, you'll hear another conversation with our international ministries director, Corey Schmatjen, this time with Kenyatta Lewis. Kenyatta is the Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Turks and Caicos. That's in the Caribbean, for those of you who are failing geography. He is well known among the GCC family. He's been the lead pastor there for a number of years. You may remember they dealt with a volcanic eruption in the not too distant past, and Kenyatta has dealt with some serious health issues, from which the Lord has brought him healthily through. And we are grateful for that. Think you're going to enjoy this conversation. Now here is Kenyatta and Corey.

Corey:
Well, welcome. My name is Corey Schmatjen. I serve with the Great Commission Collective as a Director of International Ministries. And I'm here today with Kenyatta Lewis. Kenyatta pastors a church in the Turks and Caicos. But even more than that, he provides regional care for our churches in the Caribbean.

Corey:
Well, Kenyatta, it is a joy to have you with us, and it is a big deal that you are here today, which we'll talk about in just a moment. I know it's been a challenging year for really everyone, when it comes to the pandemic, but for you in particular. COVID, a volcano in the Caribbean, St. Vincent, where you're from, as well as cancer. Could you just share a little bit with us what you've gone through this past year?

Kenyatta:
Yeah, yeah. Corey, it is so good to be here. Thank you for having me here. It's such a pleasure to be here, and I made it a plan to come here, and I'm just so thankful that I was able to come and just to share with other persons.

Kenyatta:
Yeah. So my journey over the last year has been a bit rough, to say the least. I went to St. Vincent. So I'm living in Turks and Caicos. And my family was in St. Vincent at the time. And I went to St. Vincent in March of 2021 on my daughter's birthday. And we celebrated that, and we had a great time.

Kenyatta:
And I was about to leave. I was living St. Vincent around April the 16th, and then the volcano, St. Vincent has an active volcano. It was having what was called... I forget the term now. I think it's effusive eruption or whatever, but it was steaming since December of 2020. And while I was there, April the ninth, it exploded. And thankfully, we were living in what was called a Green Zone, safer zone. So we were further south. The volcano was in the north of the island. And it erupted April the ninth. So here I am in St. Vincent, and I'm watching a live volcano erupting. And the ash bloom, and it went, I think what, 50 kilometers in the air and everything. So that happened.

Kenyatta:
But in the midst of that, God's people came together, and I had an opportunity to be in the middle of the relief effort. So we talked, probably a day or two after, and we spoke. And then you were like, "Hey, GCC is fully behind what's happening." Now I pastor in Turks and Caicos, though I'm Vincentian, and [inaudible 00:03:51] who is Vincentian. So we connected with him and started doing some stuff together. And then some relationships that I had with, or rather I have with Samaritan Spurs and Mission of Hope Haiti, and then our church back in Turks and Caicos and individuals, people were just coming together and saying how could we help? So I was in the middle of food and water and bringing relief effort and really enjoying it.

Kenyatta:
Then one day I was getting some knapsacks, 14 knapsacks to give to kids who were in a shelter. And I started feeling sick, really, really, really sick, really bad headache. And I had to be hospitalized. That was around April the 30th. I went to the hospital and they diagnosed me with a brain stroke. They said I had a brain stroke. And that was difficult to hear, of course, because I'm a young guy. I may only looks so right, but I'm still young. And my blood level, my hemoglobin level was extremely low, eight point something. So for the rest of May into June, I was just recovering.

Kenyatta:
And then eventually I went back to Turks and Caicos and my primary general practitioner, I went to him and we did a series of tests. And when he got back one of the results, he prayed with me. He's a Christian. He comes to our church. He got back one of the results and he said, "You're going to have a journey ahead, a very difficult journey." And he prayed with me and I went, "Okay, okay. Cool." And then one day I was home. This is in July, I was home. And the doctor called. I had done a colonoscopy. I don't recommend it. That was my first time. And I hope it would be my last time. And he called me and he said, "You have colon cancer and it's spread to the liver, and you have to go to Jamaica and you have to operate on it right away."

Kenyatta:
And I was like, "I need time." And right after he called, the hospital called. And right after the hospital called, somebody else called to work out me getting on a plane and whatnot. And everything changed in 30 minutes. And it was just difficult at that time. But God opened so many doors. So I'm on a plane, went to Jamaica, went with a friend of mine and they operated August 2nd. The doctor had said it was going to be a four-hour operation. It lasted nine hours. But again, God's grace. And that has been a theme that I got what was considered the A team, the best care possible, probably in the Caribbean, that these guys were all internationally known. They were all well-respected. So one guy worked on my colon and one guy worked on my liver and they were considered the best in their field. And they were so good. They were so encouraging. And they, by God's grace, they got it. They got the section of the colon that was infected out. They took half my liver.

Kenyatta:
And then I realized after that, they had also taken my gallbladder, which they added, "Oh, by the way, you don't have a gallbladder anymore." So recovery was difficult. And I was able to travel back to extent Turks and Caicos around August 27. So I spent a month in Jamaica and then just slowly getting back to normal, slowly getting back to normal. And then I started chemotherapy in October. And as difficult as it has been, because I'm still doing chemo and chemo is another, it's another trip, right? As difficult as it has been, the grace of God, his goodness, his mercy, people like yourself, praying, other church, churches all across the world, literally all across the GCC network in the Caribbean, just coming together and praying. It has been amazing. And I've seen God's grace. I've seen God's hand, I've seen God's provision during the most difficult time of my life I could say. And I've seen God's goodness through.

Kenyatta:
So I'm still in the midst of my treatment. I have eight cycles to do. I'm at number four. I'm praying that I don't have to do all eight because the chemo takes a turn on my body, but I'm so grateful that they were able to get it. It had not progressed as far as it could have been. I think it was stage three, going to stage four and the chemo has been helping. And I have a great oncology team, great support. The church back in Turks has been so wonderful. So I've been blessed. I've been blessed.

Corey:
Well, Kenyatta hearing that story, I would not wish that or desire that for anyone. And at the same time, we know that God uses suffering.

Kenyatta:
Yes.

Corey:
And could you just share with us, I think it was a comment that a local pastor made as he engaged with you and saw not only your suffering, but how you shared and talked about your suffering as well.

Kenyatta:
One of the things that we had prayed was that God would use this as an opportunity to advance his kingdom and his name. So we were very open with what was happening and what I was going through. And my wife Divia was just excellent. She was writing these updates and she was sending it out and people were sharing it. And we felt it was important to share with people. So Turks is a very small community. It's a very close knit community, also less than 50,000 people. And oftentimes people have gone through difficulties, but they keep it to themselves. They don't share, for whatever reason. And I was just the opposite, just sharing. So when I got back to Turks, people were walking up to me and saying, "Hey, Pastor Kenyatta, we are praying for you. Our church prayed for you."

Kenyatta:
And a few pastors said to me, "Thank you so much for being so open because that's not the norm. Thank you so much for being so transparent. Because people get sick, they keep it to themselves. They don't share it with anybody and whether they die or whether they recover or whatnot, it's not of value that people are sharing. And you are doing the opposite. You are actually saying this is my struggle. And this is what God is doing."

Kenyatta:
And I've had people from English-speaking churches, Haitian Creole speaking churches who have said, "We have heard what's going on. And we are praying for you." Members of their churches have said to me, "We have heard what's going on. We are praying for you." Pastors have come and said, "Thank you so much for being vulnerable and being transparent. We are praying for you."` And I think what that has done, it's in a small way, just brought the community of churches, churches that I've worked with in the past, churches that we as a church in Turks and Caicos, we have worked with who have said, "We are praying for you."

Kenyatta:
And I hope that that vulnerability would help other people to realize, hey, pastors are human and we go through struggles and we go through challenges and we need, as much as you do, we need your prayers. We need your support. We need your, "Hey pastor, we are thinking about you. We are praying for you." So it was so good hearing that. It's not always easy being that transparent, but it's something that God has really placed on our heart. So we are very open with these struggles [inaudible 00:12:09] time. So when people ask, "How are you doing?" I say, "Today has been a good day." Or "Today is a good day." And if it's not, I say, "You know what? I was crying and it was probably the medication. Probably I'm getting older, but I'm thankful again for God's grace. He's been so, so good."

Corey:
Well Kenyatta, as a network leader for the Caribbean, obviously this was not part of your grand strategy. And obviously God is using it for much good and to advance his kingdom and testify at the reality of our Lord and savior through you. Speaking of church plant in the Caribbean, to transition here, when people think of the Caribbean, let's be honest. They think of vacation, at least in that sense.

Kenyatta:
Sun.

Corey:
Sun. Yeah.

Kenyatta:
And sea.

Corey:
Especially this time of year, winter.

Kenyatta:
Yes.

Corey:
But there's challenges to church planting in the Caribbean. Why don't you speak to some of those challenges that you face, but also the vision that you have for your people and your region, the Caribbean?

Kenyatta:
Yeah. So the Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean, well, let me backtrack. The Caribbean has four main languages. Spanish is number one. Cuba still in the Caribbean because it's washed by the Caribbean sea. So Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico is American and it's still located. And then we have Haitian Creole. We have Dutch and we have English. So about 5 million people speak English, and that's across a number of countries, about 14 countries. So you have the Jamaica, which is bigger, Trinidad, which is bigger. Then you have small places like St. Kitts, Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda that have less than 100,000 people. So it's very diverse.

Kenyatta:
Now in the English-speaking Caribbean, we share some common things, common history, economic block, political system and structures. But there also some differences. There are racial differences, it's a very multicultural place. The Caribbean is, people think it's only Afro-Caribbeans, but you have in the Caribbean, Asian-Caribbean, so it's very multicultural. And while it's beautiful, there's some challenges, especially challenges to church planting. But you and I know when we say church planting, we are couching it in the idea that we are speaking of a specific type of church planting or a specific church that will be planted.

Kenyatta:
So one of the challenges that we have in the Caribbean is that it's a very churched area. We have a lot of churches and not all these churches are healthy. And some of these churches have hurt people, whether inadvertently or not, it's been, I don't know if you want to call it church abuse, if that's a good term. So some people have been turned off from churches and as such planting a church of the type that we want to plant is difficult because you're now talking to people who have been burnt, people who have been hurt, people who have said, "I've done the church thing and I don't want to do it again."

Kenyatta:
But in addition to that, you also have some church models and some church structures that are not the healthiest, probably skirting the whole idea of what an orthodox church is. So you have the prevalence of these movements and they're growing and they're influencing people and we know they would cause long term damage, because they're not healthy. They're not preaching a clear doctrine. They're not in relationships. And it's just not a good representation of who Jesus Christ is. So you have that to compete against, along with the other difficulties where each island brings its own unique context. So planting in Barbados, high cost of living. Planting in rural Jamaica, planting in Antigua, planting in Turks, while there's some similarities, there are also some challenges.

Kenyatta:
And we don't have a large number of theological institutions in the Caribbean. We have a little bit more now. So even trained pastors, that's another challenge, that a number of persons, I don't have exact figures at this time, but a number of church leaders have not been theologically trained. Or if they have, it's been minimal. So that poses a challenge. And I remember Lausanne Committee, about probably 10 or so years ago, mentioned one of the biggest problems that we face our church is biblically illiteracy.

Kenyatta:
So when you have a church leader who hasn't been exposed to solid grounded theological training, you know what's going to happen in the pulpit and then people are going to grow up in the church, so to speak, with a very limited understanding of who God is, a limited understanding of the gospel, a limited understanding of how the gospel impacts them. So that again is another challenge that some people are coming to the church need to unlearn what they've heard and then you need to reteach them, hey, this is what it is. So that's another challenge as it relates to church planting.

Corey:
So it sounds like the challenges are quite a few, manifest in terms of ethically, linguistically and politically.

Kenyatta:
Yes. Yes.

Corey:
Put all those together.

Kenyatta:
Yes.

Corey:
But that God uses gospel to unite. And I trust to use you, Kenyatta, to help train up theologically sound, gospel-centered church planters that would plant churches that would be healthy and multiplying in the Caribbean.

Kenyatta:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Corey:
And that is a hope, isn't it?

Kenyatta:
And that's something that's on my heart, too. It's something that God has placed on my heart to see spiritual renewal take place in the Caribbean amongst the healthy churches and also to see a spiritual awakening. There have been pockets here and there of where the gospel has been preached and it has borne fruit and churches have been formed. But then again, you have cases where it's not happened and the church has become a byword. The church has become secondary to what's happening. The church is losing relevance amongst young people. So it's my heart to see a renewed church, a strong church. And as you mentioned, a multiplying church. And we use the word healthy a lot in GCC, because it's actually one of the things that we focus on, healthy leaders, healthy churches. But even though we use it a lot, we can't over emphasize the importance of a healthy church and a healthy leader because there's such an increased prevalence of unhealthy churches and unhealthy leaders.

Kenyatta:
And we don't want to be pointing fingers and stuff like that, even though sometimes we may have to, but my hope and my vision for the Caribbean is that we will have healthy churches and strong leaders, people of integrity, people who are being discipled. And as such, God would be pleased to bring a spiritual awakening throughout the Caribbean region, through these churches and through these leaders.

Corey:
Amen.

Kenyatta:
Amen.

Corey:
Well may God get you healthy, Kenyatta to lead the charge there in the Caribbean. And may God continue to show his mercy upon you, his goodness and his power and provision for you. I think there's much work yet to be done in the Caribbean. And we're excited. We're leaning in, we're praying for you.

Kenyatta:
Yes. Thank you.

Corey:
And care for you, Kenyatta.

Kenyatta:
Thank you.

Corey:
Thank you so much for sharing today.

Kenyatta:
Really appreciate that. Thank you for having me, Corey.

Corey:
You're more than welcome. Well, thank you as well. If you'd like to know more about the Great Commission Collective, please see gccollective.org.

Marty Duren:
Thank you for listening to Launch, the GCC podcast. If you haven't subscribed already, why not take a moment to do that in your favorite podcast app. Also, rate and review the podcast when you get a moment. That helps us with search results and recommend us to your friends, maybe other pastors that you know, who'll benefit from the content from this podcast. Also, don't forget to check out our website if you haven't done that already. It's gccollective.org. That's gccollective.org, and there's a lot of helpful information. There's articles. There's how you can join the GCC, whether a church planter or an existing church and plenty of other content that'll help you grow spiritually and encourage you in your leadership journey.