Partnership of Pastors International

Encouraging, training and resourcing church leaders

Where Is Pastor Isaiah? #2

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Hint: The area of Ken’s first church after graduation from seminary. If that didn’t help you, these clues will: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps. I’m sure you have it now! We’re in the NYC metro area – visiting present and potential partners of PPI.

On Sunday we updated and preached for Fardale Trinity Church in Mahwah, New Jersey, one of our supporting churches. Pastor Lee and Colleen went out of their way to welcome us to the church and into their home. We enjoyed our time with these committed servants of God and with the Fardale mission team and congregation. Thank you all!

With Fardale as home base, we visited visited five more potential partner churches and met with pastors/members of three of these churches to share PPI’s vision and ministry. The Lord gave us wonderful connection with brothers and sisters in Christ. We were excited to learn more about their ministries, and we sensed kindred hearts for the need to encourage and train church leaders in Haiti and other developing nations. We’re grateful for the Lord’s work among us and look forward to partnership in the gospel going forward!

First Baptist Church of Peekskill, New York, was the fifth church we visited in the NYC area. The Lord planted this active congregation in the picturesque Hudson River valley. (Rena and I have wonderful memories of boating with friends in this area.) Pastor Mike Brubaker serves as the interim pastor, guiding the church through the transition from a long-time pastor to their next season of Kingdom ministry. FBC Peekskill is strongly committed to missions and encouraged us greatly after our presentation on Wednesday evening. God has His people everywhere!

We couldn’t leave the area without taking Isaiah into New York City. We rode the subway, visited the Statue of Liberty, the 911 Memorial and walked among the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan. These were “firsts” for Isaiah – a Haitian pastor experiences NYC!

Now it’s time to leave the Big Apple and head to Philadelphia. Thank you for your prayers for us! The Lord is giving us good connections with believers and churches as well as safety and health as we travel.

Enjoy the pics below.

Where Is Pastor Isaiah? #1

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Where is Pastor Isaiah? Hint: It’s the first stop on our travels to the East Coast. (Feel free to Google!) We took this photo in Victor, New York, a quaint town in the Finger Lakes region of the empire state. Lynsey and Anthony Mandela, my niece and nephew, and their two children hosted us in Victor and commended PPI to their church. We enjoyed our time with the Mandela’s, their friends, the Tuttles, and the Lifespring Church Mission team. We sang happy birthday to Kayleigh (her 6th) and did our best to keep Isaiah warm! 🙂

In a Word: Opportunity

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Rena and I just returned from some vacation time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (Michiganians call it “the U.P.”  and its hardy inhabitants “Yoopers.”) We started our sabbath with a Michigan history conference in Iron Mountain. After that, we moved up to the town of Calumet and dove deep in the copper mining story of the the Keweenaw Peninsula. Of course, that included coffee shops, restaurants, and some hiking and biking and sunsets on Lake Superior! [If you prefer, you can watch a video of this post HERE.]

Michigan’s copper mining history fascinated us – the geology, technology, economics and, especially, the people. Between 1850 and 1950, thousands of people emigrated to the U.P. from northern and eastern Europe to work in the mines. In the early 1900s, you could have walked down Main Street in Calumet and heard a dozen distinct languages. Different as they were, all these people were seeking one thing – opportunity. Instead, most experienced back-breaking, soul-wearying, dangerous work for subsistence wages.

It really hit home for us when we toured the Quincy mine. Our tour guide told us that, for 10 hours a day and six days a week, men worked a mile underground in near-total darkness. Without safety gear, they teetered on angled ledges of the mine to hammer, drill and gather mineral-laden rock. In most years, 1 in 3 workers died or were injured. The tour guide ribbed us, “Once you go down in the mine, you’ll never complain about your job again.”

I’m so thankful that we live now. Most jobs in our country are easier (at least physically) and safer than they were a century ago. We have more opportunity for education, training and resources in our lifetime than people who lived 100 years ago even dreamed of. We Americans, that is.

As we toured typical miners’ homes, I said several times, “They use that in Haiti.” Charcoal for cooking, simple tools for sewing or baking, one light-bulb for the home (usually solar-powered in Haiti) – so many people in poor countries live now like people did in the United States a century ago. And like the Michigan miners, these people are hard-working and creative. They enjoy their friends, love their families and want their children to have a better life. Each person displays the creative work of a loving God, just as we Americans do.

But they lack, in a word, opportunity. Opportunity to be educated, trained and resourced. Opportunity to connect their work with the formal economy in order to improve their incomes. Opportunity to participate meaningfully in choosing (and dismissing) governmental leaders. Opportunity to provide a better life for their children and community.

In a word, Partnership of Pastors International gives opportunity to front-line church leaders in Haiti and, Lord willing soon, additional developing nations. This is why we offer foundational training in locations accessible to the greatest number of church leaders. This is why we keep going to Haiti despite the problems and danger. People created in God’s image and loved by Him should be loved and honored by us. They should enjoy the same essential opportunities that we do to better their calling and lives. How can we keep to ourselves all the opportunities and resources we have here? How can we go our merry way knowing that people like us eek out back-breaking, soul-wearying, dangerous lives on subsistence wages? This week. Today.

I thank God that so many of us can’t! Thank the Lord, we have opportunities to work together to provide essential opportunities and resources to church leaders, their families and congregations. I’m convinced this is one of the most significant opportunities we will have in this lifetime to make a difference for eternity. Let’s make the most of it for the glory of our Savior and the good of people precious to Him!

Picnic and Presentations

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What a weekend – and there’s more to come! Pastor Isaiah arrived from Haiti last Friday, visited his cousin in Fort Wayne for a week, then traveled to Michigan to be with us. We hit the ground running!

On Saturday we prepared and set up the PPI Summer Picnic. Isaiah helped us mow, vac and put up a tent, tables and chairs. We had a full day of work but still had time to catch up and take a swim along the way.

On Sunday morning we shared PPI’s vision with New Life Christian Fellowship in Saginaw (watch HERE). New Life recently joined our support team, which we’re very excited about! Pastor Ken and Joan Cline, the GO Team and congregation have encouraged and blessed us so much. We look forward to partnering together in training pastors in Haiti and other developing nations.

Later that afternoon we welcomed many PPI friends and supporters to the PPI Summer Picnic. We enjoyed a game (“What Do You Know about Haiti and PPI?”), complete with prizes, tasty picnic foods, conversation and fellowship. After dinner Isaiah and I updated everyone on PPI and answered questions. Isaiah shared insights from James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. What a wonderful summer afternoon and evening! Time with friends ranks high on the list of God’s greatest gifts. Time together enjoying our friendship and sharpening our focus on what matters for eternity ranks even higher. Thank you, friends, for engaging in the many ways we can do that together!

On Thursday morning, Pastor Isaiah and I depart for two weeks of travel on the East Coast. We will visit with present PPI friends and also with potential supporters in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and North Carolina. Please pray for our travels and look for our updates in Where’s Pastor Isaiah? emails.

Christ’s love and blessings to you all. Enjoy the pics below.

SAS and BBQ

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Hi, Everyone. We hope you’re having a wonderful summer so far! We want to update you on the Shop and Share project and invite you to PPI’s Summer BBQ.

SAS – Thanks!

Thank you for participating recently in our Shop and Share (SAS) project. You “shopped” and gave toward Bibles (especially!), course workbooks, team T-shirts, a communion set, and more. Thank you! We have purchased or are in process of purchasing each of these items for our next training courses or for our Haitian team members. (They’re excited!)

BBQ – You’re invited!

You’re invited to PPI’s Summer BBQ on Sunday, August 13, from 5:00-7:30pm. We’ll gather at Ken and Rena’s house (465 Mayflower Drive, Saginaw, MI) for good food and conversation, a PPI update, and QA time with Ken and Pastor Isaiah. (Isaiah will be with us from Haiti.) We will provide meat, drinks, condiments and all paper products. Please bring a dish to pass and RSVP here with the number coming. If you’re not able to bring a dish, come anyway. We will have plenty of food. Come and enjoy!

* If you live outside Michigan, we still may get to see one another in August. Isaiah and I plan to visit supporting churches and friends on the East Coast from August 17-30. Dates and details to come.

Meet Our Team

Esau Paulema, Co-Founder and Haiti Liaison We consider Pastor Esau the founder of Thompson Bible pastoral training in Haiti. In 2010, he asked us to return to Haiti to train pastors. Since then Esau has prayed and worked tirelessly to make every conference happen. He is a humble, … Read More

ABOUT KEN

“In so many ways the Lord has prepared me all my life for this season of Kingdom work . . .”  Read More »

About Us

Partnership of Pastors International​, a nonprofit organization  to dedicated to encouraging, equipping, and resourcing pastors and churches in developing countries.

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