Lisa Kanai
My name is Lisa Kanai and I am the Minister to KiDS and PreTeens at Indian Springs. I have been in this role for 10 years. My husband and I helped start the KiDS ministry at ISBC. We have been members for 19 years. I grew up in the Missouri Ozarks and it is still my favorite place. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. I get my doggedness from my mom and my desire for solitude from my dad. My mom sacrificed a great deal in her life to keep my brothers and I together, she is my hero. I grew up with a 3 legged dog named Duke and two older brothers - one that could sell ice to Eskimos and one, that if you can replicate the sound that an engine is making, he can tell you what’s wrong and fix it.
Hide and I dated in college and married after we graduated in 1987. We once built a dog house for our dog Obie that was so big that we had to tear the pen apart to get it in and then there was no place for the dog. Hide is the finest man I have ever known. He never draws attention to himself, he is selfless, devoted to his family and his God and provides the steady, quiet strength every family needs.
My favorite book as a kid was Shadow, Come Out Where Ever You Are. My favorite sound is the creaking of a saddle on a horse, rain on a tin roof and the river. My brothers and I were river rats. I have floated the Current River from Baptist Landing to Paint Rock and the Jacks Fork River from Two Rivers to Buck Hollow. I love the smell of fresh grass, summer hay, horse saddles and my kids. My favorite vacation is being at home with a mowed yard, clean house and my family or on the river in a canoe.
Hide and I have 4 children. Hannah Yuriko is 18 and will be a senior this year at Bryant. If I ever had to be in the desert with someone and there was only one drink, I would want to be with her. She has a giving Spirit, and feels a call on her life to go into ministry. Hailey Sayuri is 17 and shares my sense of humor, and has the ability to recall what happen, pretty much like it happened. She is a listener and a thinker. She feels that God is calling her into the ministry as well. She will be a junior at Arkansas Baptist. Haven Elizabeth Yurie is 14 and has the humbleness of her dad and a Spirit of gentleness. She may seem quite, but she is a doer. She will be in the 8th grade at Arkansas Baptist. The namesake of both my family and Hide’s is Harrison Morris Kubota. He is 9 years old and will be in the 3rd grade at Arkansas Baptist. He loves to ride his dirt bike, play air soft and watch Monk with his sisters. He has never met a stranger and will tell anyone he meets about Jesus. I wouldn’t be able to do ministry without the sacrifice of my family. My husband uses his vacation to do camps and mission trips and my kids give up family time and their summers to reach others for Christ. I am blessed.
I once locked Ms Nicky in an outhouse in Perry, OH while I was talking on the phone to Ms Tammy. Ms Sherri is afraid of everything that crawls or slithers and I find it hard to resist putting things in her desk or on her.
The finest group of people I know serve an awesome God at a place called Indian Springs Baptist Church and in their community. I am honored to serve.