I was in Dallas/Fort Worth last week and ran into a long-time friend and missions colleague. What a joy! Andrew Spurgeon and I found each other at the Evangelical Theological Society conference in Fort Worth. I’ve been a member of ETS since my student days at Dallas Seminary and have been fed and challenged through the years by the Society’s commitment to Scripture and serious biblical/theological study. This year’s theme “Wealth and Poverty” particularly got my attention in light of our work in Haiti. 

Andrew and Lori and Rena and I met at seminary many moons ago (we looked a little different then!) and quickly realized we were part of the same church in Mesquite. Not long after, we started a home group together and grew together in the Lord as good friends in Christ.

Andrew and Lori are special servants of God. After graduating from DTS, they taught for many years at a Bible college in India and now serve in Singapore. Andrew has written and edited a number of books and commentaries from an Asian Christian perspective. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. 

I also spent time with our daughter Katie, another special friend in Christ! Many of you know that Katie is in her second year of study at Dallas Theological Seminary, pursuing a master’s degree in evangelism and apologetics. She worked out a part-time remote position with her company in Ann Arbor. The Lord is providing for her and leading her in her next steps in Jesus’ mission. Katie loves God with all her heart, mind and strength and desires to be used by Him. We are so proud of her! 

I’ll always be “Dad” to Katie and our boys, but as they grow as young adults, we also have become friends, peers and increasingly colleagues in Christ. Katie and I had a lot of conversation about Scripture, theology, life and church as we enjoyed a day in Fort Worth. She’s a BFF and definitely my favorite daughter (you’ll get that later).  Rena and I have no greater joy than to see our children – and now our two grandchildren – walk in Truth (3 John 1:4).

I’m so thankful for good friends in Christ, including all of you! What are you especially thankful for this Thanksgiving season?

No doubt you’ve the heard bad news from Haiti. President Jovenal’s assassination in July. The earthquake in Les Ceyes in August. To top it off, on October 16, an armed gang kidnapped 17 American and Canadian believers traveling with Christian Aid Ministries near Port au Prince. The gang, 400 Mawozo, has demanded a ransom of $1 million for each person. Ugly events. Bad news. And we’re right to pray faithfully for believers, churches and political leaders in Haiti. We’re right to do whatever we can to alleviate the largely unnecessary suffering of people precious to our God.

But I want you to hear some GOOD NEWS from Haiti. I don’t want God’s powerful, gracious work to get lost in all the bad press on Haiti right now. 

Les Ceyes – After the earthquake, PPI Board member, Tony deBari, traveled to Les Ceyes to serve on a medical team. Pastor Jasmin Joseph, one of our key partners in Haiti, rallied evangelical churches in three departments of Haiti to raise funds for food, water and shelter in Les Ceyes. We put the word out about Jasmin’s work, and many of you responded with a special gift. One supporting church especially responded to this need. Thank you, friends!

Ouanaminthe – Pastor Esau Paulema told me earlier this week that Christians in his city joined together for three days of fasting and prayer for Haiti and especially for Port au Prince, the capital city. A group of our partner pastors there founded a Bible college last year and continue to offer classes each Saturday to around 50 pastors. They told us they were inspired to build upon the training they received from PPI.

Cap Haitien – This week, believers representing over 200 evangelical churches walked peacefully through Cap Haitien. They prayed for their nation, worshipped and heard from Scripture through their pastors. God is stirring His people to prayer, love and good deeds! This is good pastoral leadership that results from solid pastoral training like that offered by PPI.

PPI pastors training – We will offer two pastors training conferences in Haiti in February/March. On the advice of many friends in Haiti, we will postpone our training in Port au Prince until the city is more secure. We plan instead to offer training in Cap Haitien and Gonaives. Please pray for us as we work out all the details of these next two conferences. As the Lord wills, we will lead three (3) more training conferences in Haiti in 2022 after that. We’re excited, thankful and depending on the Lord to continue to make us part of His mission of Good News in Haiti.

Thank you for partnering with us to make that happen! ***DONATE HERE***

 

We returned to Michigan from Haiti on July 30, and our next conferences there will be Feb 20-March 5, 2022. What’s happening in the mean time? What do we do between training conferences? A lot! Here are some examples of what we’re working on right now:

• Purchasing Bibles – In the past two weeks, we purchased 336 Thompson Bibles and 500 Creole Bibles for our upcoming training conferences. This requires phone conversations with people in France and Haiti, verification of invoices and shipping details, and payment. Pastor Esau received the shipment of Creole Bibles today (pictured) and will store them in his home until we use them at our Feb/March conferences. 
• Replenishing conference materials – Rena created an inventory of conference materials several months ago. (If you know Rena, you know that she is super organized and administrative.) This is a brilliant tool! We’ll re-count all conference supplies, update our online inventory, shop for best prices, then order needed materials for our next training conferences.
• Planning our next training conferences – Lord willing, we plan to offer PPI training in two new cities in Feb/March – Port au Prince and Gonaives. I am working on all the details right now – dates, specific locations, coordination team members, transportation, lodging, shipping, etc. That involves a lot of prayer, conversations and coordination!
• Revising course materials – Pastor Esau and I are improving the Creole translation of Course 1 and our resource book God-Pleasing Worship. That‘s taking some time, but will make these tools more effective with Haitian church leaders. (One of 29 revised pages of Course 1 pictured.)
• Communicating with PPI friends and supporters – We call, email, text or meet in person with PPI friends and supporters every week. We update all of you through our newsletters and online posts like this one. That’s so important for this “Ministry Team” of workers and supporters – all of us! – that God is putting together to encourage, train and resource church leaders in Haiti and other developing countries. 
• Contacting and meeting with potential supporters – We continue to contact and meet with potential supporters. I returned from a trip to New Jersey a few weeks ago, where I met with pastors representing five different churches. I also met with a number of individuals. I leave for Kentucky on Monday, where I will present PPI to 150 pastors at the annual meeting of the Liberty Baptist Association. Most Sundays these days Rena and I present PPI in potential supporting churches. We have met so many wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ!
• Preaching, teaching, speaking – Besides presenting PPI, I have the privilege of preaching, teaching or speaking at supporting churches and other ministries. I’ll speak (via pre-recorded video and live Zoom) at a men’s breakfast of a potential supporting church in New Jersey in early November. The Sunday after that, I’ll preach (in person) at a supporting church in mid-Michigan. I’ve been invited to take part in Dallas Seminary’s missions conference in March. Since we have lived and ministered in our community for over 17 years, Rena and I continue to meet with and encourage others in Christ in our local area. I’ll lead a funeral in Saginaw on Thursday.
• Praying, reading, studying and writing – I’m reading/listening through the Bible right now and soaking in Galatians, Paul’s defense and application of the one true gospel. I’ll preach a message from Galatians in early November. Besides my go-to news source (The Economist magazine), I’m also finishing a book on developing a new ministry. I’m also working on a couple writing projects related to our work in Haiti (stay tuned).
• Special projects – We put together two special Haiti Missions Projects for next week’s pastors meeting in Kentucky – and for all PPI friends and partners. This involved planning, writing, revising (many times), and coordinating graphics work (see picture) and printing. We’re really excited about these projects! More info to come in early November.
• Spending time with family and friends – All this keeps me hopping for 40-50 hours each week on average. Rena invests around 12 hours each week in administering PPI’s finances and office needs – in addition to her part-time job at United Financial Credit Union. But over our years of ministry, we have learned the huge importance of initiating and protecting time with God and time with family and friends. That includes project time and down time together. That also includes calls, texts, video time and visits with our kids and grandkids. It includes holiday and vacation times. These are gifts from God that we don’t want to miss or minimize!

So that gives you a snapshot of what we do between training conferences. Check out COMING UP on the PPI website for more specific dates and details.

Thank you all for your part in the Ministry Team that enables us to lead the charge in encouraging, training and resourcing Haitian church leaders. We couldn’t do it without your faithful prayers, encouragement and financial investments. Together God can use all of us to make an eternal difference in Haiti for Christ!