Rev. Carla Dunbar, pastor of the Buff Bay Church of God of Prophecy. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter

"Some husbands complain that they get tired of 'chicken' and would sometimes like to have other 'meat' like 'beef' or 'mutton'. Well, the reason those husbands are complaining is because their wives don't know how to 'cook'."

And if you believe that 'cooking' has anything to do with the kitchen then you have missed the point. That is merely an example of the folksy and yet blunt way in which the Rev. Carla Dunbar talks about love, sex and relationships.

Rev. Dunbar, 40, came to national attention last year following two appearances on Ian Boyne's 'Religious Hardtalk' which is broadcast on both TVJ and Radio Jamaica. When Mr. Boyne was scouting within the Jamaica Theological Seminary community for a person to appear on his programme to talk about the Church, the Bible and sex - he did not have to search for long. Almost everyone pointed him to Rev. Dunbar,whom they'd nicknamed 'Professor Sex'.

Since her appearances on the two shows, her appointments diary has become overloaded. Several schools and churches have invited her to address problems related to love, sex and marriage. It is an area of ministry that she believes churches have been chronically deficient and so persons have been fed a lot of false information from the non-Christian world.

Invited to minister

Even a few couples, after seeing her on television, have invited her to minister to their marriage. One person called her and said: "Pastor, for four years my husband and I have been sleeping in separate bedrooms. But after watching the programme, I stroked my husband's head." She said that husband requested that Dunbar visit their home and offer marriage counselling.

She does not care for the fame that has resulted from her appearances on radio and television, but is thankful to God that such has created opportunities to minister to hurting people. "When it can touch a couple in this way, so that the gentleman can request me coming and speak to the marriage - then God is glorified and I feel enthused and even more zealous to do His work.

Her own life journey has been painful. She does not like to talk about it. But does so anyway as her pain has become a tool to help others who have had similar struggles and experiences.

She is the third of six children and was raised mainly by a surrogate grandmother as her mother went off to the United States to live and support the family. Her father, she did not know. She grew up in Buff Bay in Portland and at 13 she rebelliously left home to live with her 17-year-old boyfriend who today is her husband. One year later, she was pregnant with the first of her three biological children. In due time, she raised not only her biological children, but two of her younger siblings, a stepson, three nieces of her husband, and she adopted two girls.

Pregnant in school

Her formal schooling continued for six months into her pregnancy. She was at the time attending Buff Bay Secondary (which has since become Buff Bay High School). After secondary school, she enrolled in a commercial school and by the time she was 17, her second child was born.

She was a stay-at-home mom with her children for many years. When her children were preparing to sit subjects offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), she started looking at their books and began studying with them. Then she decided to take two subjects - English and social studies. She did this and passed. Then she decided to take two subjects at the General Certificate of Education (GCE) level - namely English and office procedures. She passed.

A series of illnesses began to affect her, a lot of which were mental. Her psychiatrist said she had pushed her troubles into her subconscious. She was undergoing much stress related to her relationship with her husband. She went to England for a while to be treated. On her return, she decided to prepare for GCE biology with her older daughter. She passed.

Her boyfriend became her husband in August 1993. Then on February 20, 1994, there was a watershed experience in her life. She became a born-again Christian.

Urge for church

In early 1994, while pregnant, she felt a sudden urge to go to church. She had not been a church-goer for much of her life. In fact, she was regular party girl and was crowned Dancehall Queen of Portland, having won a competition.

Carla went with a friend to church at a time when she was not feeling well due to complications of being pregnant. Before the preacher was halfway through the sermon, she went forward in tears to th and surrendered her life to Christ. But as she was going forward, she heard a voice saying, "A now Nalo a go give you bun." Nalo was the nickname of her husband, Canute. She started to turn around but then she heard a still small voice that said, "Cast all your cares upon me for I care for you." With that she walked forward, stopped looked up and said: "Lord, you hear. You just told me to cast all my cares upon you because you care for me. You are going to take care of the bun. I am not into it."

Immersed in ministry

She went forward and was counselled for salvation. She went home and told her husband but he was not thrilled.

As a new Christian, she grew quickly in her faith and received rapid promotion within the church. Within two years, she was in charge of all youth ministries in the parish for her denomination, the Church of God of Prophecy. This meant she supervised the youth ministries of 10 churches within Portland. By the time she became a seminarian, she held seven different positions within her church - including evangelism director, care-group leader and church clerk.

As she got increasingly immersed in ministry, she sensed the need to better equip herself, particularly in the field of counselling as people were seeking out her advice.

She enrolled at the Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS) in 2001 and graduated with honours in 2005, having been conferred with a Bachelor of Arts in theology with a minor in guidance and a minor in pastoral studies. Today, she is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology.

In the second term of her first year at JTS, she had a nervous breakdown. She began to doubt herself. She told herself she could not manage the study workload there. She missed out on one term as she was given therapy. Carla, however, was widely respected as leader, and sometime after returning to school, she was elected in a landslide to be president of the Students' Council.

Research paper

While at JTS she did a paper entitled 'Attitudes and Perceptions of Pentecostal Couples Toward Sex as Worship'. Her research revealed a case of a couple married for 22 years, neither of whom had ever seen each other naked with the lights on.

She explained: "My findings were startling. Some don't have sex Saturday night before they go to church on Sunday morning because it is 'sinful'. Some don't have sex Sunday after they come from church because it is 'sinful'. Some don't do some positions because it is 'sinful'."

These and other findings where married Christians seemingly have embraced unbiblical attitudes towards sex inform her approach to bring sexual sanity to the church when she does marriage and family seminars and workshops.

According to Rev. Dunbar, "When we do what God has ordained and we do things in the context that God has established, then God is glorified and that is worship."

All the time that she was studying, she was heavily involved in her local church in Buff Bay. In 2003, she was functionally the pastor of that congregation. In her final year, her denomination sought to ordain her officially to be the pastor of the Buff Bay congregation in which she got saved.

Turned down assignment

Initially, she turned down that assignment. But just about that time, her back gave her serious problems and she could not move for three months. Persons prayed for her and some brought words of prophecy that God wanted her to be a pastor and a leader among the youth. She finally accepted the call and that was when her back pains ended. Doctors said there was a mechanical problem in her back.

Just before she received her healing, she said, "God, I don't understand this pastor thing, I don't look like one, I don't think I talk like one, I don't dress like one and I don't think I am ready for it. But here I am, use me."

Up to this time, she felt her calling was to be a counsellor and evangelist - not a pastor. She was ordained in May 2005.

For much of the years that she was busy doing ministry, her husband, though supportive, was not saved. That changed in October 2004 and she baptised him one month later.

Initially, she faced a huge challenge in being the head of the church while submitting to her husband's headship in the home. But she has made significant strides in that regard, thanks largely to her applying principles she has learnt by constantly reading Christian books on marriage. She is proud of her marriage while acknowledging that it needs to be constantly worked on to yield its best results.

Family today

Her husband, Canute, is today an automotive manager; her elder daughter Shereese, 25, is married and is a teacher; her younger daughter Keniesha, 24, is a loans officer at a financial institution; and her son Brandon-Lee is in grade seven at St. George's College.

With regards to her adopted children: Canute Jr., 16, is a student at Meadowbrook High School; adopted daughter Kayonne, 23, serves as youth director in the Buff Bay church; and Camille, 24, is a student of EXED Community College.

Rev. Dunbar is strong on doing ministry to men. She takes pride in the rapport she has developed with young men in the Buff Bay area. Last year, she took a busload of ganja-smoking guys from Buff Bay to 'Fun in the Son' which was held at Hope Gardens, St. Andrew, where they enjoyed themselves. Some of these guys are now members of her church. In 2005, she had a domino crusade for the guys. She did this in collaboration with other churches in the area. It is now an annual event.

One of her mentors, the late Noel Aiken, an elder of the Gideon Gospel Hall in Buff Bay, said at her ordination words to the effect that, "If Carla gets the support she deserves, she will turn Buff Bay upside down."

Rev. Carla Dunbar may be reached at: Laodicea_2002@yahoo.com. Send feedback on Mind&Spirit to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com.