Forever Changed

By Andrew Holt

In December and March I had the opportunity to go and serve the people of Haiti.  For almost a year I had heard of the devastation from the earthquake, but it was so much different when I was standing in the middle of the devastation.   Driving through the streets and seeing not only destroyed homes but realizing that each home represented a family who no longer had a home, and probably had little hope of getting a new one.  However when you look in the eyes of the people there is hope, believers in Haiti believe that revival is coming to their nation as do I.  The entire time I was in Haiti I could sense the LORD saying that HE wanted HIS people to return to HIS arms.  While playing with children and walking through orphanages I could feel the LORD’s hand on them.  These children are the future of Haiti, and I believe they will be an army that brings revival to their country.  My life was forever changed by this trip, and I believe GOD has put Haiti on my heart for a reason.  I pray that by reading this you begin to ask the LORD what HE would have you do for the people of Haiti.

(TSC supports our work in Haiti through the GOCTW offering and also by supporting MMDR. Find out more about how to help at http://www.mmdr.org/)

I Saw Hope in Haiti

Thousands of tents lined the countryside… Millions of souls searching for clean water… devastation and despair was all around me… but there was also hope in the midst of this destruction.

…Our interpreter Ron was one of the hardest working men of God I have ever seen. Ron believes in ‘putting feet to his prayer’. He not only works for World Orphans, Haiti Customs, and Sweet Sleep, but he also devotes his free time to working with orphanages through all of Haiti-not just in Port-Au-Prince. He gives 10% to his church, 9% to an orphanage in poverty, and many other venues that have slipped my mind. This man away basically all that he receives, and finds joy in doing so! I will never forget Ron…

…Our first orphanage we visited was in the hills of Port Au Prince, and a palace compared to those we saw later. Nearly 35 children found shelter here from the leadership of another godly man. Through the eyes of a comfortable American, this would seem life threatening, but through the eyes of a little Haitian boy-this was a safe haven… this was his ‘promised land’. Ouid Va was his name, and he was 7 years old…

…During one of the days Ron was able to give us a tour of the land of Providence. Through the rain forests, mountains, and thin and muddy back roads, we discovered an extremely poverished orphanage that held nearly 30 children. As we arrived, their voices started singing praises to our Creator! Tear’s started flowing as their voices became louder!

…Pastor Emmanuel was his name, and he had been praying for God to send someone his way. Pastor Emanuel has been working in the ministry for over 35 years. He has an old three room rock hut with one light bulb powered by a battery. 15 children live with him in two of the rooms while he and his wife sleep on the rugged cobblestone dirt floor in the third. When asked what his calling was, he replied: “The LORD has commanded me to suffer for the children,” and that “in his suffering, he finds the joy of the LORD.” He works as much as he can to help feed these children and keep them healthy.

I saw HOPE in spiritual leaders… I saw HOPE in the eyes and voices of little Haitian children… I saw HOPE in the midst of poverty… I saw HOPE in Haiti.

(TSC took its first vision team to Haiti over New Year’s. Jon was on this first team. TSC also partners with Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (www.mmdr.org ) and Baptist Global Response (www.baptistglobalresponse.org) in Haiti.)

Haiti Update... How TSC Can Help...

(click on the underlined links for more information)

Haiti Update
Video message from IMB missionary in Haiti

Watch a video message from Mark Rutledge, IMB missionary to the Haitians, who traveled with a media team into Haiti following last week’s quake.

News
IMB missionaries, Dominican Baptists provide aid, counseling to quake survivors

As Southern Baptist disaster relief officials were heading to Haiti Jan. 19 to assess needs, IMB missionaries in neighboring Dominican Republic were providing immediate relief supplies, medical aid and spiritual counseling to survivors of the earthquake that rocked Haiti the week before. “We have asked almost all of our IMB missionaries in the Dominican Republic to set the majority of their other work aside and focus on the Haiti response,” said Adam Hammond, the IMB’s strategy leader for Central America and the Caribbean.

Haitian congregation perseveres after loss of four church leaders

A few dozen families from Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, are living under a tarp attached to what’s left of their church building. They lost their pastor and three other leaders in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Out of 2,000 members, they can account for only about 100 so far. “We don’t know where our future leaders will come from,” said one member. But those gathered under the tarp are holding services every day.

Read more on the death of a leading Haitian Baptist pastor in Port-au-Prince.

How TSC Can Help

Give
Give to Haiti relief

Financial contributions for the Haiti relief efforts should be sent through the IMB’s Haiti Response Fund or through gobgr.org.

Contributions will go 100 percent toward relief efforts. Baptist Global Response (BGR) is a Southern Baptist relief and development organization working with other Southern Baptist entities to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

Those interested in helping also should contact their state convention disaster relief office for more opportunities.

Go
Vast need for short-term volunteers helping Haiti

Southern Baptists interested in volunteering in the Haiti relief effort — in medical care or other ways — are urged to send an e-mail to haitiresponse@imb.org. Indicate your name and contact information, what skills you have and when you are available. Southern Baptists interested in donating supplies or offering other assistance also can send an e-mail to this address.

Pray
CompassionNet: Watch for daily prayer updates.
Twitter: To watch for latest updates from Haiti follow @IMBconnecting.Use #haitiprayer for your updates and prayers.
Blog: Join those adding their prayers to the IMB Prayer Director blog.

Helping Haiti...

the people of Haiti were hit with a magnitude 7.0 earthquake this week. Our TSC relief efforts will be to give to Baptist Global Response. The money given there will be used to aid Haiti through Florida Baptists who are receiving the assignment to go. Once it is clear what Haiti will need, Southern Baptists will be as always one of the first groups in. If you would like to help, go to either gobgr.org (Baptist Global Response) or to www.imb.org/main (International Mission Board).

The article below from the IMB website explains who is going, and the latest on how the funded relief efforts will occur:

Southern Baptists are mobilizing to assess disaster relief needs after the largest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti the evening of Jan. 12. The initial Southern Baptist disaster relief effort will be led by Florida Baptists, who have had ministry relationships in Haiti for more than 20 years and currently have six staff members who live and work in the country, said Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development organization. The International Mission Board does not have long-term personnel stationed in the country.

Initial funding for the relief effort will be provided by the IMB’s disaster relief fund. You can contribute to the relief effort at gobgr.org. The North American Mission Board’s disaster relief office is organizing an emergency consultation with state disaster relief directors to coordinate response to the catastrophe, Brown said.

Disaster relief teams in Mississippi and Kentucky are on standby for immediate response. An assessment team is being organized by Baptist Global Response, IMB, NAMB and state convention disaster relief directors to enter the country as soon as possible, Brown said. They will work with Haitian Baptists to identify immediate needs that must be addressed and will draft mid- and long-term plans for an ongoing relief effort.