Cletis and Tammy Titus started life as MKs—Cletis in North America and Tammy in the Caribbean. With ministry in their blood, they served most of their adult life in pastorates in North Carolina, and Cletis was a member of BMM’s General Council. God brought them back into missions in 2007, and they now serve in Jamaica with missionaries Ken and Cléa Rathbun.
By Cletis and Tammy Titus
We began a journey three years ago that ultimately landed us in a country not of our birth, living in a house not our own, and being completely and utterly “family-less.” (We left behind our grown kids and grandchildren in the US.) When we started out, it seemed like a piece of cake. Aside from traveling all the time and ministering in churches across the eastern United States, life was basically normal. But … once we disembarked that airplane in Jamaica on August 20, 2009, life was forever changed. We exchanged safety, security, and family for robbery, crime, and separation. Through it all, God’s sustaining grace has proven more than sufficient.
SHOUT TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH LET US SING: POWER AND MAJESTY, PRAISE TO THE KING!! These are the words we heard resounding from our congregation of 91 at our launch service for Bay Life Baptist Church, Bogue Village, Montego Bay. Apart from the laughter of our grandchildren, it might possibly have been the sweetest sound we ever heard. After years of planning, months of canvassing, and hours of prayer, our new baby church was born. We were packed out in our little rented room and simultaneously overwhelmed with God’s incredible goodness!
Bay Life was conceived in our hearts back in 2007 when we first felt God calling us into full-time missions. Little did we know then, but God had already burdened one of our soon-to-be supporting churches, Harvest Baptist in Burlington, North Carolina, 12 years earlier with the need to plant a church in Montego Bay. The week before our launch, 14 of their membership arrived here to help us do one last blitz in the Bogue Village before our launch. As a result of their work in canvassing and a blood pressure clinic, eight souls were won to Christ before the service. God is good!
In typical Jamaican fashion, when 10:00 a.m. rolled around Sunday morning, we had a handful of people at church. As the service began with Jamaican choruses, a steady stream of people began filing in. By the time our praise and worship portion was over, the place was packed! We had to move the visiting team from Harvest Baptist and some of our core group out into the hallway. When we dismissed for children’s church, 13 children followed our workers out. Cletis preached from John chapter one “Turn on the Light,” and there was full attention and interaction from the congregation. The invitation was given, and a stream of people filed out into the hall to be counseled by our leadership. A final tally showed six decisions for salvation and an equal amount for rededication. Our hearts were overflowing.
Pray for our core group of leaders from Hillview Baptist, an established church in Montego Bay, who have embarked on this adventure with us. Pray for God to protect and keep them strong in their Christian walk. Pray for our community, Bogue Village. It is a middle class community with large numbers of single mothers and couples who live together. Some of them came to Christ! Pray that the Holy Spirit will mature them and they will be obedient to follow what Christ has called them to do. We will give a series of messages from John followed by Romans. Sound doctrine is so necessary here. Pray that God will sustain us in this mission … this is definitely a stretch for us. We are going to need a building and maybe sooner than we think. Please make this a matter of fervent prayer. We are seeing Him do great things here … and we know that nothing is impossible with God.
[Photo above: Cletis (at right) with a friend from the US in front of Bay Life Baptist Church]