MTinHaiti

Yesterday after church a woman, Saint-Fonie Petit-frere,  decided to be a follower of Christ.  But what makes this even more amazing is that Saint-Fonie is a Mambo (a female Voodoo Priest).  We left after church services with  most of the church congregation and walked to her house singing hymns the entire time.  When we got to her house she wanted Mike and the leaders to pray for her.
They wanted me to go in and take some pictures.  As I stepped into the small room in her house the smell of liqour was very strong.  I felt strange coming in and taking pictures of the things that she used in her voodoo ceremonies.  There were things hanging from the wooden rafters, and there were books, cards, dolls, knives, liqour bottles, drum, a skull (and things that I have no idea what they really represented) but after that they prayed again for this house to become a house of God instead of a house of Satan.
They placed everything outside the room and then began to sweep it clean.  They made sure to get every piece of paper that had writing on it, …

As the season of Fall is celebrated and looked forward to we to are looking forward to changes as well.  Here on the Beauchamp campus we are again seeing changes.  Construction is continuing for the parsonage of  Pastor Luke’s new house.  Thanks to Community Christian Church in Fairfield Township, Ohio for providing Pastor Luke and his family with this new home.   They are also sending in a team this month to help in the finishing work on the outside of the church building.  We again welcome Community Christian’s group to Beauchamp to continue the ministry started here 3-1/2 years ago.
The construction of a pharmacy is also underway.  This was started in August with the First Christian Church of Orlando, Florida and Capital Area Christian Church from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.  Both of these construction projects should be done by the end of this month.
We will also be welcoming a group from Emanuel Christian Church from Stoneboro, Pennsylvania as they go to Nan Chapelle to begin a Neighbor’s Project there.  They will be doing a survey of the community and begin the construction of the Pastor’s house there.  We will also celebrate …

Blogging is not my thing but I know it is important. I have two great stories to blog about and they both have to do with what I love and feel is the most important work in the world — evangelism. Preaching and teaching others about Christ—sowing the seed—letting God give the increase— saving souls is our number 1 priority. There is nothing more important in this world than preparing people for eternity. Satan sure likes us to focus on other things, some are even good things, but may we always remember Jesus’ last words before He departed. — Matt. 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matt. 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Now that my mini sermon is thru on with the two great stories. Last Wenesday we started with our crusade in Mare Rouge. Mare Rouge is out toward the west end of the  northern penisula part of the island. The city …

As I write this post this morning I am trying to think of some clever thing to say — we’ll it’s just not there so we’ll just talk about the things God puts before us and the work we are really called to do.

Friday morning we are heading out to Mare Rouge — a new church plant.  The crusade starts Wednesday night and will continue through Sunday.  That is the way we do the crusades here in Haiti.  These remind of the days when our Restoration Heritage was started long ago in the United States.  People come to see and hear what is going on and with that the Word of God is preached for many to hear.  These crusades are well received here in Haiti and usually many people are won to Christ during this time.  This is also the way that we begin our new church plants.  We have several of our pastors go to the new area and talk to the people of that community, talk to the leaders of the community and scope out the best place to hold the conference and also look for a …

Wow, how important it is to do just that. Since January everything about and around us has been a whirlwind.  So much has happened and is still happening that I feel like I haven’t even been able to come up for air.  I have felt so far behind — behind in blogging, emails, pictures, and everything that we are “required” to do.  But ministry doesn’t wait for those tasks — when it is put right before you you just do it.  God has given us a ministry here in Haiti and it is not for the faint of heart.  As we have said before, Haiti is the hardest ministry both physically and spiritually that we have ever done but it has definitely been some of the most rewarding.
Over the past 4 months so many things have happened — the earthquake, changes in physical and spiritual needs, a new grandbaby to help with, shipping of needed supplies via the shrimp boat, speaking engagements in Nebraska, groups and more groups, medical groups, completion of a new children’s church building, completion of the sewing room, almost completion of a new campus house, start …

Trading shrimp for relief supplies.  This has been 45 days in the making.  David Bates, owner of Capt. Scott B, said to Danny Jordan (Teresa’s brother) that he really wanted to be a part of the earthquake relief by bringing supplies into Haiti using his shrimp boats.  With that the wheels began to turn.  My son-in-law (John “Phatrok” Lancaster) then called Janeil and thus was the beginning of this adventure.  When the plea for supplies was put out after the earthquake, the churches and people responded.  They began to pour in and there was no quick way to get them to Haiti.  But God does provide and now we have a shrimp boat converted to haul these supplies.
With the generosity of the people at Port Canaveral a warehouse space was donated to house the tons of supplies pouring in from all over the country.   It is amazing as you watch what people and organizations have donated to help the people of Haiti.  Orlando Drum donated 340 plastic barrels to be used to haul donations and protect them from the weather.  On this shipment alone there is 80,000 pounds of meals …

When disaster strikes – the human spirit responds. It jumps in to high gear to help those who have been affected. People line up to give blood. Millions of dollars are given and relief supplies roll in. Rescue teams go to ground zero and see things that people never want to see. They put in endless hours and for all of theses things we – “Praise the Lord!” — Faith must have works and good intentions must have hands and feet.
But there are another set heroes we never hear about in the news or over the Internet. They are the Unsung Heroes. They are the Key to the whole operation. We may not know all of there names but heaven does. — Who are these unsung heroes? — They are the first responders –they are Fearless Prayer Warriors. These warriors guard and gird up the world with prayer. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some old — some young. They are located all around the world and make no mistake they keep “the watch fires of heaven burning.”
These warriors pray and Jesus and heaven stop to listen. When they …

I cannot believe that so much has happened in the 2 weeks since the Bethel Church of Christ and Outlook Christian Church left out campus.  This was supposed to be the first post after they left and then the earthquake hit and everything has been centered around that.
These two groups came to NWHCM and out to Beauchamp to help with the Sewing Room.  We were beginning to wonder if they were going to get to come at all.  January is the rainy season and 2 years ago the rain stopped them from coming then.  We thought that it was going to be a repeat but then the sun came out and the river went down.  It was a long trip to Beauchamp in a very jam-tight Deuce-and-a-half on very muddy roads.  Again, travel is never easy in Haiti.  They arrived with weary bodies but with big smiles on their faces and a desire to get right to work — and work they did.
They were only on our campus for 2-1/2 days but they accomplished so much in that time.  They made shutters for the windows in the sewing room and …

You know it is hard to imagine that we are only 150 miles from Port au Prince, in a world that is not governed by the TV, mass media, Face Book, and every other technical gizmo that you can imagine.  You would hardly know that your country had changed,  that hundreds of thousands were dying, hurt, homeless or that an economic earthquake was headed your way.  There is the mouth-to-mouth accounts of the events in Port au Prince but it is not in our faces like it is in the states.  But make no mistake we are very aware of the seriousness of this situation and of many difficult days to come.
In the past few days instead of Mike and Vogly going to Port au Prince we have been able to send people from our area who wanted to go and look for lost loved ones and to bring hurting family members back to the Northwest.  Elisnel, one of our church members, was able to get 10 of his family members back to the NW.  His brother had died but his sisters were alive.  Pastor Irenel found his brother and …

The rippling effects of the quake are already beginning to be felt.  Today as we sent some of our staff in to Port de Paix to buy supplies to sustain us for a little bit — prices are already escalating.  Odines got the last 100 of 120 bags of concrete at the depot in Port de Paix.  He was told not to buy gas if it was above $60.00 a gallon and it was — it was $80.00 a gallon.  It has doubled in price in two days.  He said that tap-tap after tap-tap was full of people coming to the north from Port au Prince.  We have had several of our staff needing to bring their families that survived the quake in PAP to Beauchamp and the surrounding areas.  They escaped with their lives but everything else is gone.
This is just the beginning of what is to come.  There will be a need for medical attention outside of PAP, for food for the starving who have left with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.  The need is going to be overwhelming.  The toll it takes on you …