LAKELAND — A survey taken at the Dare to Share Jesus 1999 Florida Annual Conference Event showed that music and worship were among the most popular parts of the event for laity and clergy. Another was the sermon preached by Cuban Bishop Ricardo Pereira.

At the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event May 30-June 2 in Lakeland, those two elements are being combined into one event to celebrate the Cuba Florida Covenant.

The Cuba Florida Covenant Celebration Experience June 1 at 7:30 p.m. will feature another sermon by Pereira and music by the Monte de Sión Praise and Worship Band.

Monte de Sión (Mount Zion) is the first praise and worship band founded in the Methodist Church in Cuba. It was started in 1990 at the Methodist Church of Marianao in Havana during the church’s spiritual revival and liturgical renewal.

The members of the band range in age from 16 to 28. They lead worship in their local church each Sunday and are the featured musicians at Cuba’s annual conference event, youth camps, retreats and district conferences. Their purpose is to "usher the people of God into His presence by praising and worshiping Him."

In 1994, the group recorded its first collection of original songs, "Jehová Reina" ("Jehovah Reigns"). Their second recording, 1997’s "Quiero Serte Fiel" ("I Want to be Faithful to You"), features new praise songs with Cuban rhythms.

The annual conference event concert is one of the last dates of the Monte de Sión’s statewide tour that begins May 18. Although the tour is scheduled to end June 4, it may be extended if coordinators receive commitments from areas not already scheduled, said Larry Rankin, director of the Conference Council on Ministries’ Missions ministry office.

Concerts are scheduled for Coral Way United Methodist Church in Miami May 18, Christ Church United Methodist in Fort Lauderdale May 20, Everglades Community Mission in Pembroke Pines and Trinity United Methodist Church in Lighthouse Point May 21, Pine Castle United Methodist Church May 25, Community Hispanic Mission in Casselberry May 26, Christ Hispanic United Methodist Church May 28, and First United Methodist Church, Kissimmee, May 29.

Although most of the tour is in place, Rankin said the band still needs help with transportation and musical equipment. He said the band will be traveling in a 15-passenger van, and a driver has volunteered for most of the tour, but the band will need a driver May 16-20 and again after June 4, if the tour is extended.

The band needs musical instruments and equipment the members can use during the tour. Although Rankin has requested that each individual tour stop provide as much of the equipment as possible, the band prefers using the same equipment for the whole tour.

The band needs a keyboard, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, cymbals, drumsticks, a pair of congas, a cowbell with stand, hi and low timbales, bongos, and a plastic jan-block. They also need a sound system that includes amplifiers, speakers, monitors, a 16-channel mixer, 10 microphones, connectors and cables.