Talk is cheap. Blogging is even cheaper.After talking with my wife and the folks at the Haiti Orphan Project, I have decided to accompany their team to Haiti in January right around the anniversary of the devastating earthquake that left an already troubled nation utterly devastated. Time to get off the bench and get into Kingdom work.
I can't really explain why Haiti of all places really calls to me. There is plenty of need around the world and right here where we live. There is just something that draws me about Haiti and has been doing so for some time. I hesitate using the word "called" because I think that word is so misused but I am not sure I can describe it any other way. In speaking with my family, I see this as something that we as a family are looking at being involved in. Dave Black has said before that he regrets waiting so long to get into Kingdom work and I am taking his admonition to heart for me and for my family.
My hope is that along with ministering to these children in I can bring back the needs of Haiti to the states and get in front of local (Michigan and Ohio) church groups to try to help raise awareness and support for the work going on down there. My mind is awash with things I need to figure out. I have never travelled outside of the country before (other than Canada which isn't a real country), so I have no idea what to expect. Luckily I can rely on Les and the people from the Haiti Orphan Project to help guide me. So I would appreciate prayer for this endeavour as well as for those working in Haiti and elsewhere, right around the corner or around the world, to spread the Gospel of Christ and show mercy to those in need.
11 comments:
Awesome! I'm so looking forward to continuing to follow this decision.
-Alan
Excellent!
"other than Canada which isn't a real country" ?
Excuse me!?!?!
... a proud Canadian :-)
Can't wait to have you along for the trip. I'll be posting in a day or so about the recent trip.
Great, Arthur. I went to Haiti back in the late 90's, and my wife and I have an interest in that country. It was an eye opening experience, to be sure.
First of all, extremely happy for you. Wow. That is awesome and crazy and all that.
Second, the world wide web is an amazing thing. Get this...
1. You reviewed the book, Radical, by David Platt.
2. I bought the book, read it, and recommended that my small group read it as well. That's coming in the months ahead.
3. Doing due dilligence, I looked for reviews critical of the book, so I could get some balance and perspective.
4. I'm reading the review by Kevin Deyong (http://tgcreviews.com/reviews/radical-taking-back-your-faith-from-the-american-dream/) A great review, by the way, and I come across a comment in the LONG list of comments, by a woman who, after reading the book and listening to the sermon series by Platt, moved with her whole family to Haiti!
(Her blog is here ... http://www.allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/)
It's all connected!
I am very much looking forward to tagging along, virtually anyway, on your trip. God Bless!
Yes, be a witness of what you have seen and heard. But please don't try to sign up lots of people to go and see for themselves so their faith can grow. This kind of thinking is one of the greatest thieves of God's resources for helping those in need. Our previous church would raise 80,000 for Haiti, but not for the money to go to Haiti. It's so believers could go and "see the needs" and "be willing to give more." It rarely works that way. It's just one more way Americans consume their own giving. It's all normal. They think they are giving. What a hoax.
We are told to walk by faith not by sight. Faith is not seeing and yet believing and acting. It's receiving a simple testimony and responding with giving. Faith will not be built by sight. Sight may produce warm emotions and talk of change and a sense of God's presence or talk of conviction, but it will not be transforming, diligent faith that reproduces into others. They need the resources much more than for them to see our white faces. They don't need us to pound nails, touch skin, sing songs, and then leave. They need real gifts.
Canada isn't a real country?!?!?
Arthur,
I am excited about your upcoming trip, and it has sparked a question that relates to something that has been brewing inside me for several months.
Will your work in Haiti be any more the work of the kingdom than what the Lord has you doing in the States already?
I ask this question because I have begun to believe that finding "organic church", or whatever you want to call it, is a good start in the direction the Lord wants us to move, but is not the end of the road. I believe there is much more specific "kingdom work" that he calls us to in our daily lives, but am just now beginning to understand the fullness of this.
I was just curious as to your thoughts.
Mark
Tim A, you said, "Our previous church would raise 80,000 for Haiti, but not for the money to go to Haiti. It's so believers could go and "see the needs" and "be willing to give more.""
That is one of the sad states of affairs in the US all too often.
In our case, however, 100% of the monies we raise go to care for the orphans in Haiti. We don't use any of it to finance trips or to cover overhead, salaries or the like.
I don't know if I'm disagreeing with you or not, but I do think it is important to go there and experience what is happening. One of the things happening to the 25 or so of us who have been over the last few months is a re-evaluation of our consumption activities and spending patterns. Each of us is looking deeply inside to see how God might rearrange our priorities here so as to help make a difference there.
And I can tell you from experience in Haiti, they DO want to see us. These children want to be held by us and they want to touch our faces and hold our hands. They want us to sing about Jezi with them and worship with them. The pastors are eager to spend time with us. It encourages them.
But a funny thing happens along the way. WE are the ones encouraged and built up in the faith and blessed beyond description.
So we come back and tell of our experiences and God moves on individuals as He sees fit to support our efforts there.
So we see ourselves as helping provide for these most vulnerable ones, little children who have no parents, a place to live, loving care, food and the gospel. And touching them is a very important of that as well.
I’m reminded of the many times Jesus touched the sick and the down and outers and the children.
Amen.
Mark,
I think we can spend lots of time doing Kingdom work right here and that there is nothing particularly more noble about doing His work in one zip code as opposed to another. I certainly don't think that every Christian must go to a foreign land and I have never had the slightest inclination to go so. My hope is that this trip is the start of many similar trips to Haiti but also that it impacts me, my family and those around us to greater service in His name right where we live.
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