September 1999: Corozal, Honduras – Prayer led the pastor to sing a new song.

     A Garifuna man, pastoring a Garifuna church, Pastor Bernardino arrived in 1989 to pastor a church of just seven members.

     Soon, he realized his people had been using foreign forms of worship and preaching.

     Among the Garifuna people a rich cultural and musical heritage remains. Originally from Africa, the Garifuna’s continue to use their language, which is distinct from Spanish. In music, the Garifuna people are masters of rhythm, creatively employing things found in nature as instruments.

     “After a while, we realized that the church had been working as a Spanish-speaking church and not as a Garifuna church, which it was in reality,” Pastor Bernardino said.

     Instead of singing Garifuna-style, the people used adopted Mexican forms of worship, such as ranchera.

     “The rhythms that they used to worship God weren’t our style of music but a style foreign to us,” Pastor Bernardino said. “I’m not against ranchera music style or any other style, but I just had the feeling that to reach the Garifunas as Garifunas, we should sing in Garifuna, and not only that but use Garifuna rhythms to worship God.”

     From then on, the church began to acquire tamborines, chinchines, maracas, tortoise shells and other kinds of Garifuna instruments for worship.

     Once the church began to worship God in more of the Garifuna style, it touched more from the heart of the Garifuna people, it began to have greater impact.

     Soon, the church grew to become one of the largest congregations among the Garifuna people, who live throughout Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua.