FBC Haiti Disaster Relief

Dear brethren,

Please find attached a document with the latest prayer requests of Iglesias Bautistas Sirviendo Haiti (Baptist Churches Serving Haiti).  We need your urgent prayers in particular for a Pastor’s Conference in Port-au-Prince about biblical counseling to be delivered on next Friday and Saturday by pastor Eduardo Saladin.  We’re also sending a group of ten volunteers on August 2 to serve children at an orphanage for five days.  Please pray for the Lord’s blessing upon their work and for their protection.

Thank you for your kind support and intercession on our behalf.

In Christ,

Iglesias Bautistas Sirviendo Haiti (IBSH)

Iglesia Bautista del Nuevo Pacto: Pastor Hector Santana
Iglesia Biblica de la Trinidad: Pastors Francisco Guzman and Rafael Paz
Iglesia Biblica del Señor Jesucristo: Pastors Sugel Michelen, Eduardo Saladin, Lester Flaquer, Salvador Gomez, Marcos Peña, and Leopoldo Espaillat
Iglesia Fundamento Biblico: Pastors Angel Castillo and Huascar De Salas

Attached PDF Report & Prayer Request details

(please forgive the tardiness of this post; I’ve been traveling away from computers.  D)

It’s been quite a while since we last reported on our blog. However, there has been plenty of ongoing activity. First, we are thrilled to report that God has provided funds for purchase of two vehicles designated for our Haiti Relief Project to be acquired in the DR. We have a couple of policy & responsibility issues to sort out properly. But, Lord willing, the vehicles will be purchased and in use on or about the end of this month (July). We are grateful to God for this essential equipment.

Great progress has been made in selection and identification of our target communities for ongoing training. Initial housing has been built in La Plein for transfer and reorganization of an orphanage destroyed in the earthquake. We thank God for a receptive and responsible receiving community there.

A couple of North American churches have stepped up to “take responsibility” for one of the target community’s ongoing training and rehabilitation. We need more churches like them to take on the remaining target areas. Doing so involves: ongoing commitment to staff and fund training and development efforts in conjunction with our DR brethren over the course of the next couple of years. It will be transformational ministry to the glory of God!

As written somewhere else recently:

The Lord has had His good hand of blessing on the joint efforts of like-minded churches and individuals in this Project. We are thankful for God’s guidance and direction in establishing what we feel to be solid principles and goals for long-term community change which exalts the Savior through the proclamation and application of the Gospel to needy Haitians. Our focus is on six receptive communities for teaching and training in Gospel-saturated practical values and skills development. Lord willing, our efforts will engender lasting community rehabilitation and change from the corruption and entitlement mentality which has prevailed for generations.

Thanks for your prayers and involvement!

Dear Brethren,

May the grace and love of God be with you all!

We are writing to request your prayers for our trip to Haiti on Monday May 3rd. We will also fully equip 10 new homes for a group of orphan children, and conduct several medical operatives and fumigation in different communities. The rains have brought a plague of mosquitoes to Haiti.

Also, we will bring refrigerators, fans, medicine, milk, cereal, shoes and many other useful items to help in the many needs the orphanages are facing with the children.

Please pray for:

1. The construction team that is already in Haiti.
2. The customs officers, that God may touch their hearts and allow us to pass all the things we are bringing.
3. The volunteers who are coming from the United States; that they may have a safe trip and arrive well.
4. The security of the Dominican brothers and sisters who will be traveling on Monday.
5. The cooperation of the Haitian authorities.
6. That our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified with this work, and that many would come to know Him as their Lord and Savior.

In the love of Christ,

Your servant,

Miguel Angel Castillo

Pastor, Bible Foundation Church

These thoughts will be primarily a bullet-point list of observations and decisions related to our corporate ministry efforts in Haiti stemming from my recent leadership coordination and planning trip April 5-10.

Re:  general impressions of present conditions

• Haiti is now beyond the immediate urgency of saving lives.  There is and will continue to be need for qualified medical workers to come alongside.  Our group has formed an ongoing relationship with “Viscaya” as the centralized dispatching service for medical workers through us.  Any medical personnel, particularly those experienced in wound treatment, orthopedic rehabilitation, prosthetics, etc. would be welcomed.  They/We have first option to accept or decline dispatch requests based on our ministry purposes; i.e. – if we are not allowed to share the Gospel in a particular place, we can decline and ask for a different posting for the day/week.
• The base house in Port-au-Prince is a great blessing.  Praise God for this provision.  It provides a safe center of operations for all our people.
• The principles of When Helping Hurts (Corbett & Fickett; Moody, 2009) are very helpful at this point.  Haiti has survived the relief crisis and now must move to rehabilitation and development.  The key to rehabilitation and development is a change of attitude, mindset, and heart, leading to participative solutions.  Anything less would be enabling deeply engrained negative and even sinful behavior.  We know that such a transformation from a stereotypical welfare-entitlement-corruption culture to one of responsibility and positive change can really only come through the transforming power of Christ through the Gospel.
• It is my perspective, that our North American churches should NOT gear up to do scores of work-project short-term missions to build buildings for Haitians.  No project should be undertaken without assuring the cooperation and co-laboring of Haitian recipients.  It may be best, in most cases, to send funds to be administering through our reliable DR brothers and trusted like-minded residents in Haiti to pay Haitians to do the hard work of demolition, debris removal, and rebuilding.  That accomplishes two things:  one/ it provides meaningful work (we were told that unemployment is presently 85-90%); two/ it instills a responsible ownership of the task and the results.  Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are idly living in tent cities covering most parks and open public areas waiting for the next food distribution, while pancaked shells of buildings remain untouched.
• There is a place, though, for very specific and useful projects when the above criteria are met.  These can be coordinated through Josue, Angelita, and the consortium work of IBSH and IBG.

Re:  finances and financial needs

• Please see the link (on the right sidebar in this blog, or on the left sidebar on the Faith Bible Church Haiti Relief web page) for the most up-to-date posted status.  To date we have received approx. $75,000 and dispersed half of that to Haiti Relief.  We continue to have utmost confidence in the people and ministries stewarding those funds on the ground in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
• After the initial wave of donations, the flow of funds has dwindled.  We still need two reliable 4WD vehicles for the work.  The road conditions are abhorrent.  Traffic makes travel in and around Port-au-Prince a time-consuming trial.
• We praise the Lord that several larger external relief agencies, through the advocacy of several key people working with us, have deemed our group worthy of receiving and reliably dispersing whole container loads of goods and materiel in those communities to which God has led us to be committed.  Recall, in the early weeks after the earthquake, the U.N. provided armed escort fore and aft of “our” supply convoy to communities to insure that relief foodstuffs, etc., arrived safely at their intended destination.  We pray that such good relationships and favor would provide for efforts in those communities we have selected for longer term partnership and training.

Re:  Key decisions

• It is notable that a number of our dear, like-minded Dominican brethren had already established long-term ministry relationships across Haiti for years prior to the earthquake.  These relationships and connections form a continuing channel for ongoing ministry post-earthquake.  The Gospel-saturated nature of the teaching and proclamation ministries continues as well.    There are many testimonies of God grace through the Gospel have already accomplished amazing things.  We are grateful to God for both the men, the principles, and the connectedness of this legacy.
• Iglesia Bautista de la Gracia (in Santiago) and the IBSH consortium (in Santo Domingo) continue in sacrificial ministry to Haiti, often with other sympathetic ministries and NGOs providing resources far beyond the capacity of our corporate efforts through this fund.  A number of North American churches related more directly to those DR ministers have entered the arena as special partners in the work.  Notably the tireless labors of Jean-Pierre Cawas and connections through Childrens Hunger Fund and Esperanza have been a blessing to many.
• We clearly decided that we want to have large, longer-term impact on a handful of communities receptive to our teaching/discipleship ministry in, to, and through willing Haitian pastors.  The training will include both practical life skills (personal & community health & hygiene [e.g. latrines], literacy [for Bible reading], “up-to-code” building practices) and pastoral training (using a modified “Bible Training Centre for Pastors” curriculum) over the next couple of years.  This is an area in which adoptive churches in our FIRE Fellowship might take partnership responsibility and even aid in the teaching, training, translation of materials, etc.
• While larger “pastors conferences” may continue at a rate of 3-4 per year, these are acknowledged to be a shotgun approach and should be viewed as a screening event to determine who among those that come for free training and a free lunch are really serious about studying the Word, leading their people, and growing in the doctrines we hold dear.
• The key activists we are partnering with continue to be Josue Raimundo and Angelito Castillo, and those fellowships of churches and church leaders with whom they work and lead in this Haiti ministry.
• 

Greetings from Haiti and the Dominican Republic

God is doing great things here. In very different ways than we expected, but amazing things non-the-less. We just got back into the Dominican Republic this afternoon.  We drove out 3:00 am Tuesday [6 Apr] and went to bed after midnight. It felt like 2 days in one. We visited downtown [Port-au-Prince] Haiti and it was everything and more than the news had said. In some ways we only got a taste. But, the devastation is like nothing we have ever seen, nor likely will. The presidential palace was being demolished and some clean up efforts have begun. But at the same time the relief stage is passing and daily life is the new normal. Things may not actually change much now for many years. Markets are up and running. The tent cities are huge. Some over 10,000. and many may live this way from now on. Haiti is a strange place. I have never seen more scripture and Christian references on buses and businesses anywhere in the world. But, it seems like it is just “good luck charms” for protection.
The people are quick to speak of Jesus, but the corruption is so deep that it is difficult to know who to trust. There is a Mercy Industry here. There are hundreds and hundreds of orphanages and they all seem to be vying for resources. There is much to be said about it. It doesn’t seem like people caring for orphans are bad people, but it is clearly a business.  People go around and recruit for orphans. There are thousands that are not really orphans.
But the poverty is so great people would send kids there for an education and regular food.
But the thing we are so encouraged by is the Dominicans who are coming to serve and organize aid distribution. This group has such a solid gospel and heart for hurting people that we are a bit blown away. We are very like minded with Josue Raimundo who serves the DR churches and the Haitian churches. We came back early because we feel like key connections here are more important than seeing sites there in Haiti. We had a great contact with a missionary named Tony Jones who can help us set up pastor training.  We had a great visit to one place with a place for a potential orphanage work. Tomorrow we will meet with Angel Castillo.
We need discernment more than ever and are confident that he is putting some key pieces together.
Our hearts are all good. God is growing us in ways we didn’t expect and we are really enjoying each other.
More later,
For Christ’s Praise
Dan [Faith Bible Church, Spokane WA]
For the Team

Didn’t we say that this was going to be a long-term project? I just got off the phone with Josue. He expressed the need for a pair of vehicles to be dependable transportation to and from Santo Domingo and interior Haiti for personnel and supplies. Having these designated Haiti Relief project vehicles will be a cost savings and a blessing to whatever project teams will use them for the foreseeable future. So, we’re praying specifically that God would supply:

– 2 vehicles with the following characteristics:

• four wheel drive, obviously in good running condition
• operating air conditioning
• five passenger (or more) SUV or dual-cab pickup
• 2005 or later model (DR does not allow importing older vehicles)

The designated vehicles would be taken to Miami for shipment to Santo Domingo, DR. Title, as needed, would be in the hands of IBSJ or the consortium of our partner churches.

The Lord has already provided for the costs of shipping and customs-duty requirements. And, there is a donor offering to help with other costs or purchase, if necessary and assuming a really good deal for the project.

Domestically, Faith Bible Church will issue a tax-deductible receipt for “in kind” donations. If we’re overwhelmed with a fleet of donated vehicles beyond the two vehicles, FBC will use the sale the vehicles for the Haiti Relief project and/or FBC missions, at the direction of the FBC Elders.

Josue Raimundo writes, after his trip, fighting illness himself brought on by exhaustion.  If you want to contact Josue directly by email, here is his info:  Josue Raimundo <jtraimundo@mac.com>

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Haiti Relief Update

I traveled to Haiti from February 9th to February 24th. I already have chronicled my trip, but I would like to update you as to where we are now, what we are thinking and ask you to join us in this endeavor.

After our second trip, and in consultation with those with whom we are working in the Dominican Republic, we have been able to determine a course to take in the way we provide aid and seek to give the Haitian people a taste of the Gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The best way is to exalt Him in all we do there.

The distribution of food, water and other supplies continue. We still have several teams willing to go to do medical work and aid distribution. If any of you would like to go, please, let me know. We see the need to have teams going there way into next year.

Our short term plan is as follow:

1. Medical Attention: There are still a lot of people who need care after the amputations and other operations performed. Some of this injuries will take some months to heal.

2. Food, Water: We have been blessed with the provision of food and water by people like you, in the US, and through donations we have used to buy medicine, food (rice, beans, canned fish, sausages, etc.). While I was there, we were able to distribute three containers of water, food, tents, etc. More aid is coming.

3. We continue to enjoy a closer relationship with several groups. A group of them we knew from before, which is great. We also have been able to weed out some groups that are just fraud. We thank the Lord for discernment and wisdom.

4. We are paying about $95.00 a day per vehicle we rent (we usually need to rent two or three vehicles, depending on the amount of people that come). In my second trip, we were 26 people. We have calculated that it would be better to get a couple of used SUV’s (4×4 if possible), in good condition. We have gotten the customs fee waived and we could get the shipping at almost cost. This would allow the teams to have a couple of vehicles for the next 2 years at our disposal. Anybody going there, just needs to cover the cost of gas, oil changes, etc. In six months we may have recovered the money and still have good vehicles. The vehicles will remain in the Dominican Republic. The people who have come consider this to be a good idea. A lot of times, the vehicles we rent are not in the best of conditions.

5. We are planning on getting big tents for church meetings. This would give us a place in different communities to have our clinics, food distribution, and education campaign in one place. It will be years before a lot of those churches are rebuilt. With these tents, they can make it the center of the community.

Long-term Goals:

1. Even though we have been working with many Haitian pastors (I was going to preach at a pastors’ conference on February 22 before all this happened), we see that we have a golden opportunity to train pastors and work through them in the process of transforming the mind of many Haitians in their communities. In other words, we are trying to focus on several communities with pastors whom we trust in order to bring a presentation of the Gospel that transforms the mentality of the people. There is a group of Haitian pastors who hold to the doctrines of grace and understand the process (after almost 12 years of work). We want to be on their side and bring a Reformation to Haiti.

2. We would concentrate efforts in those communities, even though we would also get involved in other communities on a temporary basis. Our focus would be in the communities that we can help with education, latrines, tents, rebuilding of churches and some homes. Besides that, we could provide them with some means of producing meat and milk (goats, sheep), which is a long term goal. We would have them to team with us in the rebuilding of their communities. I have talked to some churches that are interested in getting involved with a community.

Because of this, I am returning back on April 5, with a pastor from Spokane, Wash., and I hope that others would join in this trip. We already have a headquarter there for the rest of the year. It has living quarters, a warehouse, it is walled and it is not too far from the center of Port-au-Prince.

3. We are also developing educational material. Hygiene must be taught and shown to these people on a continual basis. Many of those who were treated, came back with their wounds filled with maggots and infection. They also live in a way that does not promote basic cleanliness. I already have someone who will prepare material without words. We will train the pastors and allow them to train the people. We want the Haitian church to shine.

Our vision is to see, in three or four years, five or six communities transformed by the power of the Gospel and be the start of a change of worldview. We cannot continue to pump money into a black hole. Haiti has been ruined by an entitlement mentality. All able bodies in the community must get involved in order to partake of the food and supplies. They can do it and we should help them.

If there are things that you would like to modify in this plan, please, let me know. All of this plan comes from the debriefing, discussions, brainstorming sessions we have had in the last month.

Please, pray with us and for us to see the Gospel of Christ transforming a ruined nation.

In His Love,

Josue Raimundo for the Haiti Relief Team

As the ministry of relief moves to a rehabilitation phase, please pray NOW for the Pastors’ Conference planned in Haiti for this weekend (see below)
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March 8, 2010
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

- TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN -

As communicated in our previous report, we are a group of Baptist churches in the Dominican Republic that have decided to join forces with Esperanza International to provide spiritual and material support to the Republic of Haiti, following the earthquake on January 12.
In this context we wish to confirm that this week, during the 12th and 13th of March, we will hold a conference for pastors, to help the servants of God to comfort and encourage the sheep under their care. By the mercy of the Lord, there are 280 pastors who have confirmed their attendance.<br>

The topics to be addressed are:

• A Christian perspective of natural disasters (Pastor Sugel Michelen).
• Biblical counseling in times of crisis (Pastor Eduardo Saladin).
• The doctrine of hope (Pastor Francisco Guzman).

Our desire is to minister to the heart of the participants with great sensitivity, with the expectation that the Spirit of God will impart blessings to each one according to his need. We also wish to establish new cooperation ties with pastors from Port au Prince, to continue supporting the advancement of the Gospel in that city.

We beg you to pray for this conference, that God grants us the fulfillment of its objectives, and that He be glorified in the fruit harvested in the years ahead. Please plead for divine unction for the preachers and for the translator. And finally we humbly ask you to intercede for the protection of the brothers who will be traveling to Haiti to make this event possible.<br>

In the love of Christ,

• Iglesia Bautista del Nuevo Pacto
• Iglesia Bíblica de la Trinidad
• Iglesia Bíblica del Señor Jesucristo
• Iglesia Fundamento Bíblico

Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010

Dear Pastors and Brethren,

May the grace and mercy of God our Lord be with you and your family.

We have not been able to send you a report on our work in Haiti for a couple of reasons:

1) During the past two weeks we have only been returning from Haiti to Santo Domingo on the weekends to be with the family and the church, and

2) As you well know, these trips can wear you our physically and emotionally.

But, what have we done in the past two weeks?

1) Delivered a great amount of food rations to very needy people.

2) Performed several medical clinics in which more than 1,200 persons were attended, and delivered all the medicines to cover their needs.

3) Brought enough food for a month to the two orphanages, where 58 children have been living in very precarious conditions. We also provided them with mattresses, sheets and mosquito nets.

4) Delivered medicine, sheets and food to several hospitals.

5) In other places, we delivered water and sun resistant canvasses to substitute the old rags under which many people were living, as well as a great quantity of bottled water with evangelistic Bible verses; and many other things the Lord has allowed us to do to help these people in need.

What are our immediate plans? Lord willing…

1) Next week we will return with members of other Dominican and American churches to perform medical clinics and help all we can in this situation.

2) We will bring food, medicine, bottled water in great supply, and 50 canvasses where 14 persons can be comfortably sheltered in each; in other words, about 700 persons will be able to protect themselves from the sun and rain. Unfortunately the rainy season started and this has aggravated the problems for those who live under old rags.

3) We plan to bring about 30,000 children’s catechisms in Creole. These have been insistently requested by the churches where we have visited.

Please pray for the groups that will be traveling next week to Port-Au-Prince and other places that have great needs and have suffered so much because of this tragedy. Pray that in this trip we may not only bring material help, but that we may glorify the Name of the Lord by preaching His Word and doing the work He has called us to, in the love of Christ. The most important thing is that the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be glorified in the midst of all this tragedy and that many may come to a saving knowledge of the truth.

Your servants,

Miguel Angel Castillo, and Huáscar de Salas
Pastors, Bible Foundation Church
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

In a phone call this morning, Josue explained that there is urgent need for skilled medical workers in “our” ministry in Haiti.  While the initial trauma and orthopedic medical needs have been met, as well as resources have allowed, many with open wounds and orthopedic pins, etc., need continuing medical supervision and care.  Such care takes longer term coordination than short term workers can handle in a 7, 10, or 14 day intensive trip.  So, a rotation of volunteer “tag teams” of medical workers are needed for follow-up care.

Do we have folks like that?