Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Kingdom of God Expands in Haiti


Often the work of the Kingdom of God is difficult.  Sometimes there are many obstacles  to overcome and frequent moments of confusion to work through but in the end God wins and He gets the glory.  James reminds us... “let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  You and I grow through perseverance.
Our recent Haiti team learned this truth well.  As God was refining us He was 
also using us.  We committed to work with Pastor Luma to plant a church in Croix-des-Bouquts.  Pastor Luma had worked to establish six leaders to help start the work.  Our team of ten had the challenge of sharing the gospel in the mile radius that surrounded the beautful shade tree where the new church would meet.  After a few days of sharing our faith and challenging the community to grow in Christ we set our launch service to begin the new church.  This new group of believers would soon be handed over to the care of Pastor Luma and his new leadership.  One by one and two by two they came.  Many carrying their seats and all arriving late.  By the end, over 130, mostly new believers, gathered to launch the work for God’s glory.   Pastor Luma, who was deeply moved and greatly encouraged said, “I would have to work for years to see this kind of results for God’s Kingdom...thank you so much.”  No, thank you pastor for the privilege of partnering for the Great Commission.  



God also allowed us to work in Cannan to advance the Gospel.  We spent a full day with Pastor Genas with three teams canvasing door to door.  Cannan is a new village next to Jerusalem along the hillside outside of Port-au-Prince.  The extreme poverty was difficult for several of our team members.  This area was established as a refuge for those leaving Port-au-Prince after the earthquake.  In all we saw twenty give their lives to Christ.  As a result, the work in Cannan was built up and  the leaders were very encouraged.  That work is currently seeing over a hundred gather for worship now.  We also spent a day working with the mother church at the request of Pastor Reague.  God brought many to the saving knowledge of His Son and we experienced many miracles of God breaking  through the hearts of the obstinant and apathetic.  Every conversion is awesome but watching lives change before your very eyes is one of life’s greatest blessings.



Our last day in Haiti provided an experience our entire team will never forget.  Many of you recall Co:Mission planting a church and building a building for the ministry in La Saline earlier this year.  This area has been very heavy on my heart for months.  I have wanted to help with the overwelming need for food in this very impoverished village.  Many of the children are eating mudd cookies and dying of malnutrtion.  Through a partnership with our friends in California and Hope for Haiti we were able to bring a small amount of relief to that village by making 1400 meals available to moms of starving children.  We were all visibly moved to tears walking away from the distribution.  I can’t remember when I was more overwhelmed with human need than on this visit as we shared meals with these precious people.  Knowing that the distribution will continue through the gifts of Hope for Haiti and the new church leaders in La Saline was comforting. We Praise the Lord for all of you who have sacrificially given to make this happen.

To God be the Glory!  It is a great work that He has done and continues to do.