FBC Haiti Disaster Relief

Dear Pastors and Brethren,
May the grace and mercy of God be with you!
Today (12 Jan) marks the first anniversary of the Haitian earthquake, a phenomenon which caused such a great tragedy the Haitian people have not been able to recover from, nor can they by themselves. But as you all know, in addition to this tragedy came the cholera epidemic which broke out a couple of months ago.
This epidemic, according to official reports, has killed more than 4,000 persons; but we know that the death count is much higher. The Lord has used this tragedy to test the love He has poured in our hearts, so we can in turn demonstrate this love by serving in Haiti. It has also served to move many hearts to serve, showing by their good works that God has a people willing to sacrifice. Thank you brethren for having helped, in this time of sadness, many more people than you can imagine. Thank you for your prayers and your gifts to help alleviate the pain and need of so many disadvantaged persons.
Please continue praying for our work in Haiti which we will take up again next week; for our physical safety, because every day it is more dangerous to circulate in many communities; for the children we are helping in the Shekina Orphanage and other places; for the pastors and their churches with whom we are working with in different regions of central Haiti.
Our prayer to God for you is that He would recompense you according to His mercies, and that your work will continue shining before men. (Psalm 41:1-3; Isaiah 58:10-12).
In the love of Christ,
Miguel Angel Castillo
Pastor, Bible Foundation Church (Iglesia Fundamento Bíblico), Santo Domingo

It has been one year since the initial earthquake hitting Port Au Prince, Jan. 12, 2010.

The following is a report, slightly edited from it’s longer form, of our dear brother, Josue Raimundo. Josue has been our point man from the US in carrying out the goals and physical presence of our consortium for Haiti Relief and Development ministry. This report is Josue’s perspective; there is MUCH for which we can praise the Lord. Thank you, Josue, for your hard work and sacrificial travel.  Thank you all for making it possible through your generous prayers and donations. p.s. – There is still much ministry to do.
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Josue Raimundo’s Report on the Ministry in the Hispaniola

I have been involved in Haiti relief efforts since February 9th, 2010. I have been working in conjunction to IBSH (Baptist Churches in Service to Haiti), an organization formed with trusted sister churches in the Dominican Republic, and with Faith Bible Church of Sharpsburg in Georgia. Faith Bible Church and our sister churches in FIRE (Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals) have been instrumental in distribution of aid and Gospel ministry in Haiti.
After a trip to Haiti and Dominican Republic, David Meade (Faith Bible Church), Dan Jarms and Jack Hancock (Faith Bible Church of Spokane, WA., — the two FBCs are not related to each other), evaluated the relief and ministry opportunities in Haiti in order to determine the course to follow. Let me give the conclusions and what we have been doing since then.

Conclusion # 1 – Haiti is a bottomless pit for material aid. Just giving aid to meet a need here and there is not going to bring the transformation of the Gospel to this dark nation. Corruption is all over the place. We thank God that we have avoided some crooks that have appealed to us for help. God has graciously allowed me enough prior experience living there to understand the language and culture. The money entrusted to us has not been wasted in corruption.

Conclusion # 2 – Our efforts must be focused on training a group of men who are not seeking personal gain, but want to see the kingdom of Christ extended in Haiti (and the DR). We cannot see training in Haiti separated from training in the Dominican Republic. There is so much interconnectedness, we should see the island of the Hispaniola as one unit.

Conclusion # 3 – We set out to identify a group of men that would be trained and equipped to begin a strongly biblical missionary push in the island.

What has happened since those meetings took place?

First: In our FIRE conference, David Meade gave a report of all the money we have received and how it has been spent. It was a clean report and shows that we have been very efficient in the distribution of aid and in seeking those men to be trained. The donations have been used according to plan. I have, personally, verified that. I have traveled to Haiti-DR 8 times since February.

Second: We have started, in conjunction to Carey University Outreach, formal training of 35 men in the Dominican Republic. A person who loves the Lord and the vision we have, has supplied my personal travel expenses back and forth, US-Haiti. This individual has also supplied to help buy computer equipment for us to have an international, live, virtual classroom. This class has been in session since June. Because of this, I have been able to cover from Genesis to the major prophets with them. We meet every Monday night from 7:30 to 9:30pm by Skype. I also meet with them on all of my trips. We have seen growth in these men. Some of the pastors tell me of the changes taking place in the individuals, their homes and their local churches.

Third: We have been looking into a few Haitians living in the Dominican Republic to be able to train them for discipleship extension training in Haiti. We just had a conference with Pastors of the Caribbean in which most of the attendants were Haitians living in the DR. One of the men that I am now discipling is going to meet with them and teach what he is learning from me. These men come from three different places in the northern part of the Dominican Republic. If you have a map, check out Puerto Plata and surrounding area.  Pastors Dan Jarms, Florent Varak and our brother in Christ Thomas Herrera (from Pastors of the Caribbean) also had a terrific opportunity in Cap Haitienne. There is a group of men who want to be trained there as well. For those getting training in Haiti, we will need to do it on a conference basis rather than on a weekly basis via virtual classroom. I believe that, as we train Haitian men in the DR, we may form a small band of missionaries to go to those selectred strategic places in Haiti to train others there. The environment of Haiti includes a lot of challenges to the work there.

Fourth: A good man, pastor in Santiago, has asked for training. I will meet once a week with him and pastors from San Francisco and Cotui through Skype. The pastors from San Fran and Cotui will travel to Santiago to meet with us in order to be formally trained. We pray that the Lord will provide a computer for them. One huge advantage in the Dominican Republic is fast Internet. This gives us a more consistent training than the conferences in Haiti. Where there is fast Internet, we can meet with several groups of people in different places, even at the same time, if necessary.

Fifth: I am able to work with a full seminary program operating through Carey University. Besides me, we also have an adjunct professor, Dan Jarms, who can teach from Spokane, as well as Florent Varak, from France. We are also finalizing the accreditation of one other teacher from the Dominican Republic to be part of the “Virtual Faculty.” In other words, the Lord is opening a huge door for training men both in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Sixth: My initial vision was for ten faithful men(2 Tim. 2:2). Dan Jarms and I talked about that the first time we went together to Haiti-DR. But God has blessed us with four churches sending 35 men every Monday. The additional prospects in Santiago and Puerto Plata are that we may start with 10 more meeting with us through the Internet. In addition, one from the group of Haitians already being trained will be overseeing the Haitian pastors’ training.

Seventh: We have received official requests to do the same in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. I have a lot on my lap, and pending full-time support for our family, I am evaluating what to do in with all these open doors.

Eighth: We have been provided with a vehicle that we can use for our travels in Dominican Republic and Haiti. It was donated and will save us a lot of money and time.

As a principle, 2 Timothy 2:2 is central in the training process. As a matter of fact, each person involved in training, at this point, needs to find another person or a small group of people to whom they will teach what they are learning. Right now, almost 80% of the students in the DR are teaching others. Multiplication is taking place.

In conclusion: After the evaluation David Meade, Jack Hancock, Dan Jarms and I had, and after consulting with some of the trusted pastors in the DR, we concluded that the best use of our resources to help Haiti (and the DR) was to invest in training men. Since then, we have done that and we see the Lord answering our prayers by giving us the grace to fulfill the goals we set out in those meetings. All involved see that this is the way to go.

In His Service,

Josue Raimundo

Click here to see the original unedited report and request for support (project proposal) from Josue.  We encourage you to open it, save  it, prayerfully consider it, and get behind Josue in supporting it.

[editorial note:  This blog entry is a condensed version of the report.  We've placed a link so that you can retrieve the complete, unabridged report in PDF format, if you wish, at the bottom of this blog entry.]

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[written from] San Juan, PR   September 1, 2010

To brothers in Christ and friends interested in the ministry in Haiti.

Again, please receive our greetings, sent to you by the mercy and grace of the Lord.  [Please] join with us in giving thanks to the Lord for answered prayer [for] our mission in Haiti, August 25-29.

About 175 pastors and another 40 leaders attended…. Two young “beefs” were killed, one on Wednesday and the other on Friday, so there could be fresh meat (remember there is no refrigeration) to go along with the rice and beans.  …  We were able to carry out the ministry as planned:

• pastor Guzman teaching from 1 Timothy 4:16 (Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine) with 2 messages directed to taking heed to ourselves and a 3rd session on being the pastor one should be. An illustration at the beginning of his teaching and one toward the end caused some to call this conference the conference of “the mirror and the grenade”. The mirror: some pastors hold up the mirror of the Word to their flock but they only look at the black back side of the mirror and don’t see themselves. The grenade: when a pastor falls into scandalous sin it is like dropping a grenade into the congregation.
• Pastor Carlson had four sessions to deal with the Gospel and preaching it, especially opening up 2 Timothy 4:1ff.
• I (pastor Vater) also had four to deal with “Providence”, using material from chapter 5 of the 1689 confession. This also has the effect of showing the men how they can use the confession as a guide in studying and preaching, which quite a few have done and are doing.
• Jean Pierre Kawas worked very hard as our main translator. How we continue to praise the Lord for him, for his dedication and example. He and pastor Guzmán listened to many men who needed counsel in regard to many different matters.
• Francisco (Paco) Ramos … worked too, sitting beside pastors Guzmán and Carlson, translating from English to Spanish or Spanish to English as the case required, while Jan Pierre Kawas was translating into Creole for the whole gathering. It was a delight for me to see him interacting with the children on the Lord’s Day after worship, while we waited to be picked up.

Haiti is suffering in many ways. No one can trust those in charge. Little has been done since the earth quake. Now elections are coming up in November. The next administration is to begin in February. Only the Omniscient Ruler of heaven and earth knows when some positive steps may be taken. For example, right now there is a whole trailer full of food stuck at the border which the government wants to profit from while Haitians suffer. Apparently the only person who can negotiate the release is an important person from Red Cross who is out of the country and will not be back until about mid-September. So things go. The study of “Providence” is good and necessary.

Furthermore, there is crime, kidnappings and other stuff (though it is not as bad in the area where we work as in other areas). The Lord kept us from harm and from sickness and refreshed our souls in different ways. …

On the Lord’s Day, pastor Carlson preached and/or taught 3 times in 3 different places; pastor Guzmán preached to a large congregation in the a.m. at the church whose building we use for the seminars and I preached there in the p.m. In the morning I was out in the country at a very poor community where there is a church with which we have had close ties from the very first. I have been going to Haiti since around March of 1999. On one of the first trips, we stopped at that community, surrounded by fields, without electricity of course. … I preached in a building that had no walls, just poles supporting the beams and rafters of the roof, which was made either of metal or maybe just plain palm leaves at that time. … They now have a concrete building with a good metal roof and seating for 100 or more, I would guess. I reckon there were around 60 present, and the attention was good as I preached from John 10:27-30 … Pastor Temacul, who almost always has been my translator on the Lord’s Day ministries in Haiti, again helped out in that way. If I start to describe him, this letter will be a lot longer. I am thankful for the ties that bind us.

…

Please praise the Lord for His manifold goodness to us which has been demonstrated in so many, many different ways. Please pray for lasting effects from the ministry and that we can continue on serving the Lord in that place.

Yours by the goodness of the Lord,

Noble Vater

Pastor, Iglesia Bautista Bereana (Berean Baptist Church), San Juan, PR.

Complete, unabridged report in PDF format

To brothers in Christ and friends that may be interested in the upcoming ministry in Haiti.

We send greetings to you by the mercy and grace of the Lord.  This is being sent, asking you all to pray for our ministry in Haiti on Thursday through the Lord’s Day, August 25-29.  There are 3 days of seminars scheduled and apparently more men are interested than we can comfortably accommodate. We have had more than 200 pastors and leaders lately, quite a few of whom have attended for more than 10 years.

The speakers include Pastor Francisco Guzman of the Trinity Bible Church (Reformed Baptist) of Santo Domingo. He was the Lord’s instrument in beginning this ministry and is in charge of getting everything organized through the many helpers the Lord has given him. He will teach on themes having to do with pastoral theology. Pastor Bart Carlson one of the elders of Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ is supposed to address matters dealing with the Gospel and why PREACH it. I have been asked to deal with the providence of God which will use material from chapter 5 of the 1689 confession. Jean Pierre Kawas is scheduled to be our main translator. This man is a greatly beloved and highly esteemed brother with whom we are comfortable, confident that the teaching is faithfully transmitted to the hearer. We praise the Lord for him and for the great blessing and honor of being able to serve our Lord all of us together in this ministry.

Pastor Carlson and I are scheduled to arrive in Santo Domingo tomorrow the 24th, he from NJ and I from PR. A brother in Christ who has been gathering with us has made arrangements to accompany us on this trip. His name is Francisco (Paco) Ramos and we have asked our God to bless this trip for the mutual benefit of all. We have tickets on the same flight going and coming.

Once in Santo Domingo we are to spend the night there and then early Wednesday cross the Dominican Republic (DR) by road to get to the northeast part of Haiti and enter there in order to begin serving on Thursday. On the Lord’s Day we expect to preach in various churches, the return to the DR on Monday. I plan on being on Jet Blue’s first flight to PR on Tuesday.

Please pray for this ministry and for our physical and spiritual safekeeping and well-being. Pray for our wives and families that remain behind and for our churches, especially the one here in PR, and I usually do most of the teaching and preaching on the Lord’s Day.

Pray also for the visit of a family from Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Mebane, NC, who will be observing and helping here in the church from September 11-25, also hoping to get some vacation time. Their names are Brad and Jillian Hicks with daughter, Brianna.

I will try to send out a letter upon returning.

Yours by the goodness of the Lord,

Noble Vater

Pastor, Iglesia Bautista Bereana (Berean Baptist Church), San Juan, PR.

Please click to open this PDF report.

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.
•