A Baptism at Casa Cenote

— submitted by Shirley

Since it is the season of Easter, I thought the  baptism I witnessed at Casa Cenote would be apropos for AkumalNow readers.

Scott Ghan  was singing with the two jazz musicians when I got to Casa Cenote one fine Sunday.  I asked some friends who was the great singer and a woman popped up and said, that’s my husband! I soon learned a baptism was going to take place, with Scott doing the baptizing,  so out came my phone for photos.  Scott is a minister presently serving the Lighthouse Church.

The family I saw being baptized were from a small town called Hozonot about 90 minutes away.  A husband and wife and their daughter were baptized by Scott in the pool next to the restaurant.  The initial plan was to be baptized in the ocean; however, that day, the surf was too rough.  Gary, owner of Casa Cenote, was gracious in allowing the baptism to take place in the pool.  It was wonderful to see this family  so excited to be baptized.

This past summer Scott had taken their band to various small towns with no Christian presence. They set up on the cancha, connected raw wire to live electrical boxes, played and preached in Spanish and Maya.  As a result, eight people in Hozonot accepted Christ. These people make it to Tulum most Sundays.   Scott and Annette are trying to find a way to establish a Church there in Hozonot.

Lighthouse Church is English-speaking, casual and contemporary. They have a very good band led by Annette Ghan. The congregation meets at 10:00 am Sunday mornings.  They are currently working to start a new church in Dos Ojos which will be Spanish-speaking.

Scott Ghan was born in Fresno, California. He believes he was  called into ministry when he was 14 and has been a full-time minister since 1986.  He met wife Annette while touring with a Contemporary Christian Band in 1982. She has been his partner in ministry since they married in 1984. During the 1990’s they worked in music ministry. They were singers, song writers, and recording artists for Millennium Records.  Several of their songs were played in heavy rotation on the radio.

Scott was a United Methodist Minister for 15 years. He resigned in 1999 and started his third church, a nondenominational, soon after in Greenville SC.  In 2015 he took a Mexico cave diving sabbatical, and preached at Lighthouse Tulum during the month of August while the Pastor was on vacation.  He returned to the USA in September of that year.   January 1 of 2016 Scott had his truck loaded ready to return to Mexico to cave dive for a couple of months when he received word that the Pastor of Lighthouse had resigned.  The congregation wanted to know if Scott were coming back any time soon.  Scott was in Tulum the next Sunday and has been there every Sunday since.

Because Scott feels that  his Spanish is not good enough to speak in public, Francisco Ramírez is the Spanish preacher. Annette and Scott sing in Spanish with their band when it is called for.