You know those times when you’re puzzling and praying over the best way to do something – and then the light goes on? That happened to me in Gonaives, Haiti, a few weeks ago, and I’m excited to tell you about it! But first an update on our latest training conferences.
Conferences
From February 21-March 4, a total of 223 pastors in two northern cities in Haiti completed PPI’s Course 1. Pastors were excited to be part of the training and were specially attentive and hard-working. Many spoke about the value of this training to their ministries. They also asked me to thank all PPI supporters for providing Thompson Bibles, Creole Bibles and other ministry tools. So on behalf of Haiti’s pastors: Mèsi anpil anpil! (Thank you so very much!)
They further implored us to come back soon (one pastor asked about next month!) to offer our next training courses. By God’s grace, we will return to Haiti in July and in December 2022 to train around 600 church leaders.
Clarity
What became clear on this trip is the best way to achieve our goal of training church leaders in all ten Departments of Haiti. (A “Department” in Haiti is like a large county or a small state.) Here it is: We will lead our six courses in succession in two key cities at a time over three years. We will offer PPI training in the “chief cities” of each of Haiti’s ten Departments. Six courses in two cities at a time over three years.
This strategy allows us to train pastors in each key city twice a year. That frequency maximizes pastors’ learning and ministry skills, deepens our relationship with them for more heart impact, and enables us to better mentor our Haitian ministry teams to lead PPI courses themselves. And three years is the amount of time Jesus took to train His disciples! Six courses in two cities at a time over three years – That’s our strategy.
So beginning in February 2023, as the Lord provides, we will travel to Haiti four times each year to offer 11-12 training courses. That schedule works best for our Haitian ministry teams and allows us to train over 1200 church leaders every year in Haiti. It also enables us to expand our training beyond Haiti, as the Lord leads us.
For more info, join us at our PPI update (Rasanble) on Tuesday, May 3, at 6:00-8:00pm. We plan to livestream this even for those of you who live outside this area – technology permitting. CLICK HERE for more details.
Commitment
We’re ready to go! Will you help us do it? Here are ways to partner with us in training over 1200 church leaders each year in Haiti:
- PRAY FOR US as we continue living out God’s calling to give back to church leaders who lack access to ministry training and resources. The Lord opens doors through the faithful prayers of His people.
- CONTINUE TO SUPPORT US. We thank the Lord for so many of you who “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10) by investing faithfully and generously in training church leaders in Haiti and other developing countries.
- JOIN OUR SUPPORT TEAM. If you have not yet committed to regularly supporting PPI, please consider it! This is a step of stewardship and partnership in Jesus’ mission. Get more info on partnering with PPI HERE.
I heard a Christian leader say, “If God’s vision for your ministry doesn’t give you butterflies, it’s not yet God’s vision.” Our vision and strategy for training pastors in Haiti and other developing countries give me butterflies. By God’s grace and with your help, we’re ready to go!
Hebert Elien Johnson is a young pastor, just getting started in ministry. He knows English quite well and has served as one of our translators for 3-4 years. Hebert loves the Lord and is in love with Nandjie (pronounced 
And we discussed the Bible, church concerns and life. Haitian pastors read the Bible a lot, and they know the content of Scripture well, including chapter and verse. God has blessed believers in Haiti with more freedom from distractions like TV, internet and stuff – thorns that, if we’re not careful, can choke out good fruit in our lives as American believers (Luke 8:14). 
Near the end of our conversation, Pastor Ulrick looked across the room at me and said, “Pastor Ken, I have a question for you?” The other pastors stopped talking as Esau translated. 
Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students captures his weekly lectures to young men training for ministry at his Bible college. His talks are personal, practical and often witty. Every church leader – and most Christians – would benefit from reading (or in my case, listening) to this classic. Although Spurgeon pastored in London in the mid-1800s, he still speaks clearly to church life today. To sharpen my tools for encouraging and training church leaders in Haiti, I wanted to refresh my memory of Spurgeon’s biblical and practical advice to young pastors. I wasn’t disappointed.
What a gem! Dr. Nevius speaks biblically and practically to church life and leadership today in the United States and in countries like Haiti. His main point in the book is that Christians like us from wealthy nations should be super-careful in how we use mission money in poor countries. Specifically, he’s convinced by long experience that our paying or “sponsoring” pastors and other church workers in poor nations makes a mess. It creates dependency, expectations, laziness, disrespect, and jealousy among other negative results for gospel work. We end up with “mercenary pastors and Christians.” And, man, have I seen this in Haiti – and heard and read about it in countries around the world. With the best of intentions, we can do more harm than good for the progress of the gospel, discipling of believers, and training of church leaders. We need to give generously but invest wisely in training and resourcing – precisely what PPI is committed to in Haiti and other developing nations.
While in Haiti, I used the little free time we had to focus on learning more Creole – speaking with our team, looking up words in my travel-sized Haitian dictionary and writing notes. Being immersed in the language with our Haitian team moved me forward piti piti (“little by little”)!
Diana mentioned that our former neighbor was coming into town that evening and would love to see us. This neighbor and friend is Jewish. We had a good connection when we lived here and had opportunities to share gospel truth with her and her husband as we spent time together. So later that evening we met with her and two other friends to catch up on life, listen, love and encourage. We talked until after midnight. Unexpected and sweet gifts from the Lord!
