Tag Archive - Haiti

The Continuing Work in Haiti

June 1, 2010 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 1 Comment

This last February I had the opportunity to travel to Haiti with Adventures in Missions and some really amazing people. You can read some of the posts that I wrote about that experience here. I was hoping to get back to Haiti by this point, but I had to decline a chance to head back there this last week…but some great people did get to go, and I want you to get a glimpse of what they have been up to.

I received this note from Mark Oestreicher:

we’re launching the church to church partnership program. it’s an opportunity for american churches to have a 1:1 partnership with a haitian church for prayer, encouragement, assistance and trips (to bring people to haiti to help in rebuilding). we have about 1000 haitian pastors in a database now, and will be working to pair up those who show a great desire to serve their communities. part of this effort (and what would be wonderful if you could mention) is that we’re trying to raise $35,000 to fund the salaries of 3 haitian church leaders who will run this program from the haitian side (bringing oversight, administration, communication and accountability).

Here are some links to see what they are up to/and what they have been up to and how you can help out.

The Giving Project
Facebook Group
Twitter Feed

Haiti: 4 Ways to Help Now & 6 Stories of Hope and Connection

March 26, 2010 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 2 Comments

Wednesday night I had the awesome opportunity to share about my trip to Haiti with a couple of hundred students at Epic Student Ministries of Hope Fellowship. It was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to share about the hope that I witnessed in Haiti, I got to witness students perform 7 original songs that they wrote. Each of the songs was inspired by a photo they looked at from the Haiti earthquake. It was an amazing night.

Four Unique Ways You Can Support the Work in Haiti
I want to recommend 4 ways that you can support the work in Haiti:

  1. You can go to Epic Songs for Haiti by the Epic Songwriters Guild and download the 7 songs for free at Noise Trade. But as you download this original work of art for free…why not donate some money to their cause at the same time. Every dollar will go to various organizations that the church, and the youth ministry has decided to support to continue the good work in Haiti.


  2. You can go to Adventures in Missions and give to their work in Haiti; or sign up for a trip so that you can personally go down and serve in Haiti.  This is the organization that I went down with in February as a part of the YMATH Team.  I like the work they are doing.


  3. You can go to A Home in Haiti and immediately provide a tent shelter for those in Haiti.  This is urgent as the rainy season is upon them.  Shaun King and this organization is doing great work.


  4. You can go to Water Missions and donate to help support the work they are doing in Haiti.



These are four ways that you can easily do…and you can do it right now while sitting down at the computer.  They are organizations that I trust, and I have either been a part of, or witnessed the work they have been doing in Haiti.

Connect With A Story
Some of you may have already seen some of these six videos. If you haven’t, then you need to check them out. Each tells an unique story of what is going on in Haiti, from the perspective of those who experienced the tragedy and are sharing their stories of hope.

Connect with the wonderful people of Haiti and then get involved in some creative way.

YMATH: The Displaced

YMATH: Prayer Meetings

YMATH: Meeting Michelle

Connecting Haitian Churches and American Churches

Drive Through Port-au-Prince

Redemption Song

Some Simple, Easy Steps, For You To Partner With a Haitian Church

March 9, 2010 in Ministry-Theology with 0 Comments

Haiti was, and more importantly, IS, a life-transforming experience for me. I’ve been back for a couple of weeks now and trying my best to figure out how I can best be involved. I was scheduled to be back in Haiti this week as well, but for various reasons I could not make it and that trip has been rescheduled. I hope to be back in Haiti soon, but there is plenty of work I can do from where I’m currently living…and so can you.

Lots of people have been asking me about Haiti and how they can get involved. There are lots of great organizations that are serving over there, and I’m super excited to see what AIM is working on. They are the organization that I went over there with, and I fully trust and support the work that they are about.

There vision is bold. And it’s big. And they are rolling it out in some simple, easy to access ways for you to get involved.

Seth Barnes, who is the executive director for AIM posted on his blog over the weekend, Please pray for a church in Haiti. In it, Seth lays out some very simple steps:

Please look at this video below and consider joining with us. It’s not complicated and doesn’t require much. We want to make it easy for you to try it out. Here’s what you do:

  1. Put your name and relevant info in the comment section below or email me at this link to sign up.
  2. We’ll send you the name of a pastor and some info about his church and community. They may write back.
  3. You don’t have to do anything more than pray initially. Ask God, “How shall I respond over the next 3 weeks?”
  4. Let us know what he says and how you’re responding and we’ll communicate that to the pastor in Haiti.

An AIM rep will call or email you after a month. If you’d like to continue the relationship, we’ll talk about where it can go after that.

That’s it! All you need to simply do is inquire, hear about a church and its needs, and pray about a potential partnership.

Look for more details as they come at AIM’s website and continue to check Seth’s blog.

Social Media in Haiti: Seeing Beyond the Messengers to the Message

February 24, 2010 in Technology-Social Media with 1 Comment


[image by Adam McLane]

When I was called and asked to be a part of the Adventures in Missions YMATH Team, I was told that one of the reasons I was being asked to go was to communicate through my blog, Twitter and Facebook during my time there. In an earlier post Why Haiti? And What You Can Do I talked more at length of the purposes for us being there.

This topic was something I wrestled with greatly as I was making my decision, and during my whole time in Haiti. And I know our team wrestled with this issue as well. Every place we visited we talked about whether or not to take photos, shoot video, tweet, etc. It filled a lot of our discussion time.

I think if I had gone to Haiti and had blogged, tweeted and Facebooked (is that a word) about the trip…and didn’t see any fruit from the social media push…then I may have come back feeling less sure about that decision.

We didn’t want to exploit anyone.

We didn’t want to stroke our own egos, or pat ourselves on the back.

We wanted to tell the stories of the Haitian people.

We wanted to encourage people back at home through the Haitian stories.

We wanted to encourage others to come to Haiti and serve or give.

We wanted to use social media to help resource the Haitian people and all the future teams.

And whatever the impression was of our team back at home I can say this confidently. The Haitian people were so glad that we had come to listen to their stories. They were thankful that they could look into a camera and share their plight with others around the world.  Aid and relief often can provide for one’s basic needs which are foremost, but it doesn’t often allow you to speak, to share of yourself, your stories and what you have been through.  People were ready to share.

The rest of the team has stories similar to mine, but personally I can say that I have been greatly encouraged by the connections that the use of social media in Haiti has brought forth here at home and around the world. I have had meetings with other pastors who are wanting to take teams to serve in Haiti. I have received messages from individuals who feel God is calling them to quit their jobs so that they can move to Haiti full-time and serve. I have had people donate money to Haiti because of some story I shared. I have had people express that they felt like they were actually there on the trip…that social media helped connect their head to their heart and have compassion in a way that they couldn’t have previously experienced unless they had gone in person. The whole outpouring of others is quite remarkable and beyond anything we could have done on our own.

Using social media helped connect various parts of the body of Christ, and though God was clearly in command, I believed he used technology to bring various organizations, ministries and people together.

One of the really amazing things about using social media in Haiti, is that Jeremy Zach and I were able to shoot a thank you video of all the water that our team was able to buy for one village because of the money given to Jeremy and I from some friends as we headed out to Haiti. They gave us cash. We bought water. And we showed them in real time (sending out tweets and FB messages of the video) how their money was being used. Wow! The people who donated were moved. A connection was made and Haiti was no longer a country on the news that had faced destruction. Instead it was a country, filled with real people, who were now drinking water that our friends had played a part in helping provide. Real flesh and bones.

Thank You from Adventures In Missions on Vimeo.

And maybe one of the best examples of the good social media did was this tweet by Anne Jackson:

RT @flowerdust PLS RT: Pls @andersoncooper Meet us 9a @tentcity http://flic.kr/p/7CYFZe 5k+ ppl w/o food/meds HELP THEM http://bit.ly/clQkFP

You all retweeted that message thousands of times. So maybe Anderson Cooper didn’t show up. But many of you did. Not in person, but through your generous financial contributions. Through your connections. People gave money. People made calls. And because of you…because of a story and a people you connected with through the use of social media…these people dwelling in tents were able to receive food and water. When all the NGO’s were unable to provide for these people because of red tape and politics, you were able to step in and help. And that was only the beginning of the story. People are continuing to give to these people dwelling in tents. People are continuing to advocate for them in Haiti from 1000′s of miles away.

The story continues to be told over and over again through the use of social media.

As messengers we may get in the way of the message. But the beautiful thing about God is that he can take our messages in whatever shape we deliver them…and he can redeem them and bring good out of it.

So is it possible that we as the storytellers can cloud the story?

YES.

Is it possible that our egos and agendas may get in the way?

YES.

I hope that we can tell better stories one day where people can see beyond the messenger or the distorted means by which we deliver them. That as messengers of God we act more in humility than we often do or come across. But until then, continue to tell stories. And use whatever means you have available. And in this process I know that God is continuing to transform our lives and the lives of those we come into contact with. I know that he uses us even though we are broken and cracked vessels.

God does and can use social media for the greater good.

The Cycle of Destruction, Praise and Redemption

February 20, 2010 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

I experienced lots of emotions during our time in Haiti. It felt like a roller coaster ride, and at one moment I was on the mountain top experiencing wonderful feelings of joy, and the next moment I was plummeted to the valley and felt despair.

It was up and down the entire time, and it has felt much that way since I have been home. This trip will take a lifetime to process, and I hope that it will continue to transform me. I hope that I continue to wrestle with what I experienced.

Destruction. Praise. Redemption.

Those are just three adjectives that I have been swirling around in my mind the entire time. Though you could not be physically present with us on the trip, I know many of you were there in spirit, and through your prayers.

I want to leave you with three videos that have resonated with me the most and I hope that they can move you to action.

Destruction

(The Drive through Port au Prince video by Adam McLane)

Praise

(Haitian worship service video by Lars Rood)

Redemption

(Redemption video by Ian Robertson)

Why Haiti? And What You Can Do

February 18, 2010 in Uncategorized with 3 Comments

This last week of my life has been an unbelievable whirlwind of emotions and it’s going to take a long time for me to process everything that I have witnessed.

It was only two and half weeks ago that I received a phone call giving me 12 hours to see if I would be interested in joining an Adventures in Missions team going to Haiti from Februarly 11th—17th. So with the encouragement of my wife, family and friends, I have come full-circle.  And what began as as a time filled with anxiety and worry was transformed into a time of God’s presence to help see me (see us) through what was an exhausting, but life changing experience – and we hope a transformation that will continue to guide our lives.

I will continue to blog about this trip for a great time to come, but I want to leave you with a few key things.

Why did we come?
In hindsight I really look at our trip as fulfilling four basic purposes.

1.  To go out as a scout team and lay out the logistics for what we hope are lots and lots of youth ministry teams that will be heading this direction over the next year and for many years to come.

2.  To use social media to tell stories that could be communicated in real time to people back home — and through the stories hopefully help others to not only give of their financial resources, but to make a heart connection with the people of Haiti.

3.  To serve the people in Haiti, as we had great opportunity to do in tent camps, destroyed homes and crumbled churches.

4.  To be a resource and encourage others to come to Haiti to be God’s hands and feet, both spiritually and physically.

I can look at those four things and say that we were able to accomplish them, but our journey is only the beginning of the many journies we hope you and others take to Haiti.

The Team
I’m so thankful to have been part of an amazing team of servants, and I know that we will all continue to tell our stories, encourage you to come, and we all hope to return here soon as well.

Thanks to….
Anne Jackson, Lars Rood, Adam McLane, Ian Robertson, Jeremy Zach, Tim Schmoyer, Mark Oestreicher, Seth Barnes and Clint Bokelman.

You all were a great source of strength of encouragement, not only to me, but to the people you served in Haiti.  And it was beautiful to watch God work through you and touch so many live.

What You Can Do
If you have connected with the plight of the Haitian people, and you feel that God may be leading you to serve, then I want to encourage you to take action in one of many ways.

There are many things you can do (be creative), but here are a few that come to mind.

1.  You can pray.  Not just every once in a while but unceasingly.  The people of Haiti, and those down there helping need your prayers.

2.  You can support the work of organizations (prayerfully, financially, etc.) there on the ground who are making a difference.  A group like Adventures in Mission who we came down with.  Or people like Water Missions who we had the opportunity of connecting with.  Or YWAM has been serving the Haitian people since.  Or check out the work of Shaun King’s, A Home in Haiti.  Shaun was a great resource while we were in Haiti.  There are many good organizations, but make sure that the resources you provide are getting to the people.

3.  You can encourage someone you may know to come down here and serve by providing a scholarship for them.  What more amazing gift than to send someone down who can act as a servant of Christ, and as an advocate for the people — and return to share the stories and encourage you.

4.  You could come down and serve.  You could be that advocate.

We have been told time and time again by people living in Haiti that what we are witnessing is of huge historical scale – like nothing ever seen before in their country.  Never has there been this much devastation, followed by such a hopeful revival of faith in God.  Haitians who had never stepped foot in church before are now coming in by the 1000′s and there are amazing things happening that could forever change the foundation of Haiti.

You can be a part of that.

Whatever you do…do something.

For stories of our experiences you can continue to check out our blogs and our YMATH Facebook Page.

And if you have any questions or would like to talk to me personally about my experience and about what it would look like for you go down there, please contact me via this post and we can chat.

Haiti Day #4: Displaced People-Displaced God-Displaced Disciples

February 15, 2010 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

[image by Anne Jackson of tent city of 5000 in Marassa]

Displaced People
About one month ago one of the most horrific disasters in human history struck the small island of Haiti. In the wake of that destruction thousands upon thousands of lives were lost, and thousands upon thousands of people were displaced. We have had the unbelievable opportunity to walk among and pray and worship with these people who were displaced and have now found themselves sleeping in dirt fields, under tarps, in the rubble of former homes, and in open ravines that will be washed away during the rainy season starting next month. Piled into these tents are entire families ranging from five to twenty-five.

Displaced lives.

Displaced families.

In a displaced community.

Displaced God
One of the questions that has been going round and round in my mind is “How can these people who have suffered so greatly, worship and praise God in the midst of picking up the pieces? Because I’m not sure if I could do it. I’m not so sure that if such a tragedy came upon me that I would have even half of the hopeful spirit that the Haitians have displayed to us over and over again during our time here.

This spirit of hope and faith and love is not something that I saw on the news at night. It’s not a story you will read in the papers or online. While the rest of the mainstream media is talking about all of the destruction and mourning, they have failed to see the whole story. There has been no coverage of all the people pouring into churches by the thousands all over the city. Instead of a day of mourning, it has been days and days of hope and praise. A country in transition. In search of change.

How can the Haitians praise God when many of their lives have been destroyed, and they are deprived of basic needs like food, water, shelter, medical care and security?

I believe it’s because they, like us, worship a displaced God.

Immanuel.

God is with us.

God who took on flesh.

God who has experienced our pains.

“The Lord, whose compassion we want to manifest in time and place, is indeed the displaced Lord. Paul describes Jesus as the one who voluntarily displaced himself. ‘His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as we are’ (Phil. 2:6-7). A greater displacement cannot be conceived. The mystery of the incarnation is that God did not remain in the place that was proper for him but moved to the condition of a suffering human being. God gave up his heavenly place and took a humble place among mortal men and women. God displaced himself so that nothing human would be alien to him and he could experience fully the brokenness of our human condition….In the life of Jesus, we see how this divine displacement becomes visible in a human story….Jesus Christ is the displaced Lord in whom God’s compassion becomes flesh. In him, we see a life of displacement lived to the fullest. It is in following our displaced Lord that the Christian community is formed. (Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life by Nouwen, McNeill & Morrison, pp. 64-66)

Displaced Disciples
Displaced lives…who worship a displaced God…become a displaced community full of hope and joy.

That is what I believe. Because nothing else, beyond something supernatural can describe what I have seen and experienced these last few days.

This morning we walked into a tent city of approximately 5000 people who were living in a ravine that will be washed out in the next month. We were invited in this morning to pray for healing for these people. It was a humbling experience. We found ourselves walking down a windy dirt trail through tents (which are really torn tarps tied together), while smiling faces peeked out from them. The farther and farther I walked the louder and louder the music became, until finally I came to a make shift house of worship. They had brought in drums, and a keyboard and microphone (which ran on a gasoline powered generator).

In the midst of their displacement, they formed a house of worship in a sea of tents, spread out as far as the eye could see.

For a moment I had a glimpse of what it must have looked like for the LORD to lead the displaced Israelites through the desert.

As the music got louder and louder, more and more people began streaming through the aisles of tents and made their way into their house of worship. It was at that time that our team leader Seth Barnes tapped me and my friend Jeremy Zach on the shoulders and said we were going to be the pastors for the service.

As we made our way to the front I tried to figure out what I was going to say, but again, words were sparse. I simply told them that I was humbled to be in their midst. And though I have been a Christian my whole life, I have never experienced such an amazing time of worship. Moving out of the tent people streamed to us to pray for their healing and for an hour and half our entire team prayed non-stop for any individual or family that wanted prayer. It was non-stop.

There was tears.

There was laughter.

There was praise.

We — in our weak and vulnerable state, were simply able to be present with a displaced and hurting people. And in that community we came in

[video by Anne Jackson of people worshipping God in Marassa]

Haiti Day #3: Stripped of Everything But God

February 14, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I have always been pretty good about being self-reliant. It’s an inheritenly deep American, Westernized trait that we forge our own paths, and pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps. And if you don’t, then often you are left behind, or looked down upon as if you have some sort of deficiency. And so that’s what I do…I rely on my skills and my gift sets. I use those things to help people. And to a degree, those are the tools that I brought to Haiti with me.

But what does one do when those things are stripped away?

When your ability to continually depend on you…yourself…are stripped away?

You break down and cry.

Okay, maybe not you, but that’s what I found myself doing today in front of a couple hundred Haitians underneath a dirty, makeshift church that was protected by the scorching sun by torn tarps.

It took me about a minute or so to gather myself on stage before I was able to bring forth the words that they had invited me to speak to them. And what’s a minute anyways when I had been asked to speak in the prior thirty seconds. That minute or so seemed uncomfortably long for my translator who was encouragining me to go on. If it was uncomfortable for him (as was the slow painful march to the front of the church) it felt both humiliating and freeing for me. And when I looked in the faces of the Haitians staring up at me, I knew we had connected on a much deeper and personal level than any of the words I could have spoken to them anyway.

In the quiet silence of the church, where only my sobbing could be heard, I was able to identify with their pain in a way that I didn’t think possible…and I believe they were thankful that I could mourn the loss of life with them…and then celebrate the living of life with them.

And now that all my self-reliant gifts and skills had instantly crumbled in front of me, there was only one thing that I could be dependent upon. And that one thing was the person who has always been there, and who I could always depend upon…if I only took the time to lay down my stuff and realize that the things he had given me (the gifts and skills) were to be subservient to him…not to be used in place of him. That one person is…

GOD.

He’s all I had left when I was standing there, when I had nothing to say to a people who have been devastated by one of the worst human tragedies in history.

I have preached in Brazil, India, Mexico, and several other countries. But I have never preached in the midst of such destruction. Never been in a situation where there is almost nothing to say. Up to this point everything I have preached almost seems like lip service (I know it’s not, but that’s how it felt). All one can do is pray, and hope, and love, and be a presence in the midst of people’s pain.

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.”

Those are the words I spoke when they finally broke free from my mouth. Except it was more of a rambling mess…but they must have gotten the idea because they were cheering and clapping and uttering all kinds of praises. These things were not directed at me of course, but to the reality that layed beyond…that I(we), and the Haitians are only parts of the larger body of Christ. And that when we as the members of the body, work together, it is God who brings about the restoration. Not me. Not we. Not us. GOD.

As I walked back to my chair after I finished speaking I sat there looking at all the hopeful Haitian faces in the audience, and I realized that it was THEY who had taught me an important lesson.

That it is GOD who we are dependent upon, and not ourselves. Their jubliant praying and worshipping in churches and streets all over Haiti the last three days taught me that.

And for them I am thankful.

I only hope that in my short time with them, I have been able to transform their lives as much as they have mine. And that GOD will continue to transform us both.

Thank you to my preaching partnersLars Rood, Anne Jackson and Jeremy Zach. Thank you for adding to the work of the body of Christ.

(Re)Birth in the Chaos of Haiti

February 13, 2010 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments






Today has been almost indescribable. After each experience I found myself trying to process what was taking place, and just when I thought I had a good enough grasp on how to try and convey it into words — the scene switched and a completely new experience — a completely new paradigm had been opened up to me. And then words failed.

As we were driving into Port au Prince, our ten passenger van, which was in a three car caravan felt like a slow moving tank into a war zone. Because that’s what it looked like. If you sometimes wonder what you see on the news is as bad as it looks — it is. But it’s even worse in person, because at home I’m without the context, but today I was in the midst of it. I saw the look of despair in their eyes, heard the songs of hope in worship, shook hands, played with kids and even held a baby born five days after the earthquake. As we slowly wound through the streets of Port au Prince, the thought that kept coming to my mind was the way the character in Joseph Conrad’s novel the Heart of Darkness slowly winded his way down the river, edging ever and ever closer to the darkness and despair that laid before him. But instead of finding darkness, we ran into hope. Thousands and thousands of people gathered all over the city in one group after another crying out to God in prayer, worshipping in song and dancing in the streets.

I stood on top of one house, watching a group of about ten-thousand Haitians worshipping anywhere they could in close proximity to the church. I almost expected some people to lower a friend through the roof of the church so that they could be healed. I saw a man standing in a tall tree, just hoping that he could get a glimpse of the prayer service. And I was mobbed by tons of people in a refugee camp, as they frantically asked the translator if I could take their names, write down their needs and bring them help.

I think if I could sum up the day, I don’t think I could adequately do it in my own words, but I think that I can’t do it with an expression of an image that I experienced today. When words fail, sometimes we have to point to symbols, or images, something to express that which transcends our speech. Our churches are full of symbols to help point us to something beyond ourselves –things we can’t get a handle on with our finite minds. Things like communion, baptism, crucifixion and resurrection.

In our very last stop I came across a 40 year old man who was very friendly, and ultimately asked us if he could take us to show us where he lived. As he got out of his chair and began to walk with us I heard a cry from a little girl. It was his little one year old daughter who was worried that her father was going to leave her sitting there with her grandma. So he picked her up to go with us and it very much reminded me of my little daughter at home who is always so eager to go places with me. As we (Anne Jackson, our translator Augustave and myself) walked with them he commented how thankful he was that we were there and that we were always welcome. We turned down a side street full or rubble and walked up to his house that had pretty much collapsed in the earthquake. And it was there in the rubble he told us that the baby his wife was holding was born. Five days after the earthquake a new life was born in the midst of chaos and destruction. Five days after the earthquake, a new life brought hope to a family that was in despair. And now this little baby, barely a month old, for me was a symbol of life resurrected in the middle of all the death.

That’s what I will remember about today.

Even though it was a hard day.

Even though there was crumbled buildings.

I will remember the life and hope that was present in the people we came across.

When I asked the father if he was scared, or if he was overwhelmed by the experience of having a baby in the aftermath of a national and personal tragedy — he looked at me and said that it was in God’s timing. God brought his baby into this world at the right time.

“One of the most powerful experiences in a life of compassion is the expansion of our hearts into a world-embracing space of healing from which no one is excluded. When, through discipline, we have overcome the power of our impatient impulses to flee or to fight, to become fearful or angry, we discover a limitless space into which we can welcome all the people of the world.” (Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life: Nouwen, McNeill & Morrsion, pp. 109)

Redemption in Haiti

February 12, 2010 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

Rudy was a Haitian man that we met today in a field hospital in Jiminia, Dominican Republic. He was recovering from injuries he sustained in Port-au-prince, Haiti during the January 12th earthquake. Sitting next to him is his girlfriend.

Just blew my mind…there wasn’t a dry eye around.
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