OUR JOURNEY TO HAITI AND BACK AGAIN?

The Christian life is a journey … each day is a new adventure. Your journey may be different from mine, but those of us that know Christ will ultimately end up at the same destination.

I praise God that as a teenager, I had a youth pastor and mentor who helped me to see the importance of yielding my life to Christ. When I was 13 years old, I chose 1 Timothy 4:7-8 to be my life verse: “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

My journey took from there took me through college at Liberty University and then into full-time ministry working with youth and in Christian school teaching.

However, in 2001 my journey took a turn that I never expected. In 2001, I had been an assistant principal in a school for 10 years and was comfortable; but through a series of circumstances… God began closing the door where I had served and my family found ourselves seeking His direction.

We sent out our resumes and had 10 responses in a very short time. One by one we went through the interviews and crossed options off our list. We were down to two ministries. In my mind, the decision was made, because I was offered a position in a very well established school as principal and everything looked perfect. Then came a phone call from the tenth school, which we thought was in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The lady who called told me how very interested they were in both me and my wife and that we were an answer to their prayers. I was kind of honored and then she said, it is not often that we have people seeking to come to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to teach. I laughed … and told her that it was a mistake and then when talking to my wife, she said “I was missions minor in school, maybe this is what God was preparing me for.” That night I could not sleep. I called the school back the next day and told them that we would be praying … to make a long story short. In three short months, we sold everything we had and ended up in Haiti on a one year commitment.

I arrived thinking I would be teaching history, but ended up teaching computers, being the IT Director, and also serving as an interim principal for the school.
That year changed our lives! During the course of the year, we prayed and sought God’s face wanting to stay, but His direction was clear and we returned to the U.S.

In 2004, we again applied to the mission board striving to return to Haiti, but due to political conditions they were not allowing any more missionaries into the country.

I believe you serve where you are … missions is where God has you at that time … and we have done just that for the past 9 years.

Last year, I was introduced to a mission in Haiti that is truly making a difference. It is the Mission of Hope. The morning before the earthquake, I received permission from our church staff to take a group to serve at the mission … which we did this past summer. I immediately saw what God was doing and wanted to do everything I could to be part of what is happening in this country that captured my heart 10 years ago! In fact, in the past 8 months, I have made three trips to the mission and have been assisting with curriculum project via internet!

After my last trip to Haiti, God led me to 1 Peter 4:7-11: 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

The end is near and time is short. We need to be about the Father’s business. God is now opening the door for the possibility of my family returning to Haiti in a full-time capacity. I would ask you to pray with us and with leadership of the mission, that God would make His plan perfectly clear.

Enough of my journey, let me tell you a little bit about the Mission of Hope!

Mission of Hope was founded 12 years ago. To me their purpose statement and resolutions state clearly not only what they desire, but who they are: As an organization following Jesus Christ, we exist to bring life transformation to every man, woman, and child in Haiti.

Resolutions

1. Relational Proclamation: Intentionally modeling Christ’s love through relationships. The center of everything at the Mission of Hope is the Church of Hope.

2. Evangelistic Saturation: Repeatedly sharing the Gospel message in targeted geographies.

3. Indigenous Mobilization: Strategically developing national leaders to carry the vision to the nation. Mission of Hope is continually turning over areas of ministry to Haitian leadership. All North American missionaries have a Haitian counterpart, who is being trained to take the leadership role!

4. Holistic Transformation: Continuously pursuing God’s physical, mental, social and spiritual destiny for every man, woman and child. Example: Last month 1.5 million meals were distributed from the Mission of Hope, each one accompanied by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. Excellent Implementation: Responsibly utilizing all resources and talents to their fullest potential for God’s glory.