I was excited and a little anxious as our plane circled the grass airfield in Pignon, Haiti. Excited that we would offer ministry training to church leaders in central Haiti for the first time, and a little anxious because I wondered how MFI’s twin-engine DC-3 could land on such a short, grass runway. “They do this all the time,” I thought. Sure enough, the plane touched down smoothly, turned toward a waiting crowd of Haitians and rolled to a stop.

We exited the plane, helped unload our 900 lbs of Bibles and training materials, then scanned the crowd. Which one is Pastor François, our host pastor, and where’s the van we reserved? Both Isaiah and Jasmin, key members of our Haitian ministry team, were on their phones. They have it under control. Within minutes, an older, distinguished looking man and two younger men walked toward us smiling. The two younger men looked familiar to me. Where had I seen them before?

The older man introduced himself as François Romelus and welcomed us warmly. We introduced ourselves, thanked Pastor François for helping us introduce PPI training in central Haiti and asked about his family (common courtesy in Haiti). Then we talked logistics. We would leave Bibles and training materials for our Pignon training in locked storage at the airfield and would take the rest with us to Hinche. An 1-1/2 hours drive from Pignon, the city of Hinche is the chief (capital) city of the Centre Department, and we planned to train there first.

The two younger men stood by patiently. We had met but hardly spoken to them. As we organized our materials and luggage, they talked more to me. I was sweating. “It feels hotter than usual for December,” I thought. They told me they were pastors in Hinche. “Do you remember us?” they asked me. I told them I remembered their faces and asked if they had taken a PPI course in the past. They had attended PPI training a few years before in northern Haiti. They had another question for me: “Do you remember that we asked you to come to Hinche to train many pastors in our city?”

A lot of pastors who take part in our training ask us to come to their city or villages to train others. We can’t possibly go everywhere, and the Lord has blessed our strategy of offering training in the chief city of each Department and a strategic city within a two-hour drive of the chief city. When church leaders from a chief city invites us to come, we ask them to pray for us and tell them we intend to come to their city. We then take a picture with them and get their name and phone number. We must have responded that way to these brothers because they said, “We have been praying for you to come to Hinche for three years. Now the Lord has answered our prayers, and we wanted to welcome you!”

I stopped in my tracks and wiped the sweat from my face. I was reminded again that our God works through the faithful, fervent prayers of His children. “Thank you for praying for us so faithfully,” I told them. “The Lord is answering your prayers.” And He certainly did! Course 1 in Hinche overflowed with church leaders, eager to learn and grateful for the training. During our recognition time on the last day, pastors expressed how much they needed and appreciated PPI training and the Thompson Bibles. They gave our team a certificate of appreciation (pictured) and asked when we could return to offer our other courses. We plan to return to Hinche and Pignon in late April. 

Christie Gabhart, a long-time missionary in Pignon, sent me a note in late January. She said:

I have heard feedback from pastors from Many Hands [her mission organization] who attended your December training.  It was a huge blessing. The training, the gift of a beautiful Bible at the end. All are ‘pumped’ to take the level 2 training. And we want to take advantage of the May 1-3 level 1 training . . . . 

The Lord’s work in response to the prayers of two young Haitian pastors – and all of you. Thank you!

Happy new year, everyone! We hope you had refreshing times with your family and friends over the holidays.  We also hope you had time in the waning days of 2024 to reflect on God’s grace to you this past year and re-commit to what really matters in this new year. 

Rena and I didn’t make it to the ball drop. We drove home from Rena’s parents’ house in Georgia on New Year’s Eve, arriving home around 7:00pm. After unpacking the car and putting a few things away, we crash-landed on the couch and flipped on the TV. We looked for a “year in review” show and, not finding one, settled on the country version of New Year’s Eve countdown. By 9:30pm, near comatose, we wished each other happy new year and went to bed. A.D. 2025 would have to start without us!

Interestingly, Haitian Christians celebrate New Year’s more than Christmas. Churches in Haiti gather on New Year’s Eve to worship and pray together. They encourage one another with Ecclesiastes 11:8: “So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many.” Haitian pastors say, “We should thank the Lord for each year of life He gives us.” That’s good advice for us personally and for PPI as a mission ministry.

Happy 2024

We thank the Lord for a fruitful 2024! We were privileged to train 826 church leaders in 8 cities in Haiti, despite being required to cancel our March training when the FAA suspended flights to Haiti. In 2024, we awarded 448 Thompson Bibles and distributed over 700 Creole Bibles through our courses.

Last year, we also introduced Dr. Tom Taugher and his medical nonprofit, Project Piti Pami (3P), to Pastor Jasmin and the association of pastors he leads. The Association and 3P now partner together on caring for destitute elderly people in northeast Haiti. Tom traveled to Haiti with us in December, met Jasmin in person and had fruitful conversation about expanding and deepening this effort. We’re very excited about this partnership!

In 2024, I (Ken) also participated in training church leaders in Medellin, Colombia in November and began working on details of introducing PPI training in the Dominican Republic in November 2025. 

Spread the Word 2024

In October, we introduced Spread the Word 2024 and challenged all of you to help us fund the purchase of 2,024 Creole Bibles by the end of the year. Friends of PPI put up $20,000 to match dollar for dollar all donations given in November and December. By God’s grace and. your generosity, we exceeded our $20,000 goal! You all gave a total of $38,340.12 between November 1 and December 31. Including the matching funds, you contributed $58,340.12 the last two months of 2024. Praise our God and thank you to each of you!

A special thanks to all of our committed partners. Most of you gave your “regular” support and then gave an additional gift for Creole Bibles. You have sowed bountifully. May you also reap bountifully. We know that our “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’” (2 Corinthians 9:8-9)

Happy 2025

We put these funds to work quickly! Last week, we purchased 700 Creole Bibles for our February and April training. The Lord enabling us, 2025 will be the best year ever for PPI training! We plan to offer 14 PPI courses in 8 cities in Haiti and, for the first time, 2 cities in the Dominican Republic. (We will focus on Haitian church leaders in the DR.) That means we will train over 1500 church leaders this year, awarding 670 Thompson Bibles and distributing over 2,024 Creole Bibles to Haitian churches. We’re also excited to offer Course 5 (two times) and Course 6 this year, both courses for the first time. This is an important step in fulfilling our vision of “offering six foundational ministry training courses.” May the Lord use all of us to bring these plans to fruition!

How You Can Help

Here are ways you can partner with us to make 2025 our best year ever in encouraging, training and resourcing church leaders in Haiti and other developing countries:

1. Join our support team. If you haven’t already, lock arms with us in this mission in 2025. Become a monthly partner HERE.

2. Continue with us, increasing your support if possible. We can’t express how grateful we are for each of you, our committed partners! The open doors, protection, health, joy and effectiveness of PPI training stands on your encouragement, prayers and financial giving. Know that we thank the Lord for you and are praying for you, your families and your churches.

3. Pray specifically for us.  Pray for all the preparations for our Feb-March training happening right now. Ask the Lord to give us good partners in the Dominican Republic. Pray for us as we finalize Courses 5 and 6 this year. Pray for our Haitian ministry team and their families. Lift up Haitian church leaders and churches. 

“From Him, through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever!” (Romans 11:36)

Rena and I committed to reading through the Chronological Bible this new year. We’re on Day 8 and excited about it! Pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us and that we’ll persevere. What’s your plan for filling your mind and heart with God’s Word this year? If we aim at nothing, we’ll hit it every time. So in 2025 let’s aim at reading, learning and living out what God has said to us.

Don Carson said, “At their best, Christians have saturated themselves in the Bible. They say with Job, ‘I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread’ (Job 21:12).” But it’s a growing challenge to make Bible reading, learning and living a priority in our lives. Not only do we battle the usual obstacles of laziness, lack of self-discipline and pride, but now more than ever our pace of life and constant connection to media pull us away for what’s most important. The Lord Jesus told us (quoting Deuteronomy 8:3), “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

So what’s your plan? Many Bibles have a reading plan printed at the front or back. Your church may have reading plans on a table in the lobby. You could use a book such as Don Carson’s For the Love of God, which provides a reading plan and commentary. I’ve used this book in prior years and highly recommend it and its companion volume. Online resources abound! The Bible and YouVersion apps offer many reading plans as do BibleGateway and other Bible websites. Choose one that works well for you and go for it. Do it with your spouse or a friend to keep yourself encouraged and accountable.

If you haven’t started yet, that’s okay. You’re not far behind. Take some extra time this weekend to catch up!

Rena and I already have a hitch. We both had a full day yesterday, arriving home after 8:00pm, so we’re catching up on two readings today. Mornings during breakfast is our best time to read and pray together, and we have to figure out how we’ll continue reading when I’m in Haiti. Pray for us – and join us in saturating ourselves in God’s mind-renewing, life-changing book this year.

Speaking of Bibles, we will have specifics shortly after we close the books on 2024, but I can tell you that we exceeded our matching gift challenge for 2024 Creole Bibles. Thank the Lord and thank you, too, for your generous gifts! 

We’re putting your investments to work quickly. On Monday, I started orders for 700 Creole Bibles for our February and April trainings (six courses) and also started an order for 504 Thompson Bibles. These two orders of Bibles cost around $25,000, a small investment in 700 Haitian church leaders in the first half of 2025!

 

Think of the best gifts you’ve gotten for Christmas – a special experience, a thoughtful something. We received a lot of special gifts this past week in Haiti.

For starters, we got to go! On November 12, the FAA prohibited U.S. aircraft from landing in Haiti after gangs shot at planes attempting to land in Port au Prince, the capital. (That ban is still in effect.) Missionary Flights International (MFI) received two 1-day waivers to fly people and cargo to and from Cap-Haitien and Pignon. We planned to train pastors in Pignon and nearby Hinche from December 12-19 and had reserved materials shipment and passenger seats with MFI.

The Lord answered our prayers! Unexpectedly, the FAA granted MFI a blanket waiver to resume their flights to Cap and Pignon. Our Haitian team also was able to fly with us from Cap to Pignon – and back after the training. What a gift!

Next, we received a warm welcome in central Haiti and were able to train 225 church leaders last week! We were excited that both sessions of Course 1 were completely full. Many church leaders came from surrounding towns such as San Raphael, San Michel and Mirebalais to take our course, further extending our foundational ministry training in Haiti.

Church leaders expressed their appreciation for the training and worked hard to finish the course successfully, required to receive PPI’s formal certificate of completion and earn a Thompson Bible. They’re excited for us to return in April to offer Course 2, and many plan to bring others to take Course 1 then. Praise God!

Also, Dr. Tom Taugher’s presence on this trip afforded a special blessing. Dr. Tony and I enjoyed conversation and camaraderie with Tom. (Two experienced doctors talking shop is an experience in itself!) Tom works as a ER doctor in our community and also serves on the leadership team of Project Piti Pami (3P), a nonprofit organization committed to community health in Haiti. During our time in central Haiti, Tom was able to spend face-to-face time with Pastor Jasmin Joseph, a key PPI leader with whom 3P recently partnered on an elderly care program in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Tom also had opportunities to re-connect with Haitian friends connected with the Haiti Medical Project, an important objective of his trip. Mission accomplished!

Finally, we get to celebrate Christmas with our families and encourage one another in Christ. For me, after arriving home on Friday evening, Rena and I finished preparations to travel to our youngest son and daughter-in-law’s house in Shelbyville, Tennessee. We are here now and will celebrate Christmas with all our children and grandchildren – an amazing gift from our gracious God. We can never forget that the Lord’s work in our own families and communities is every bit as important as His mission in places like Haiti.

To all of you, have a wonderful Christmas worshipping the One who came to give us eternal, abundant life. Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership with us – such special gifts to us and to so many in Haiti!

To be effective in our work, we all need time to “sharpen the saw.” Conferences, courses, workshops, on-site studies – continuing education comes in many forms. I’ve benefited most over the years from 1) deep dives and 2) kicking the tires. In 2021, for example, I participated in the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) national conference in Fort Worth, Texas, the focus of which was “wealth and poverty.” (I’ve been a member of ETS for many years.) For three days, I soaked in sessions that explored wealth and poverty biblically, theologically, historically, economically and socially. A deep dive!

Deep dives are good, but we have to come up for air and make it practical. Kick-the-tires times (aka ministry visits) help me do that. Some years ago, for example, I arranged visits with three Michigan churches that seemed to be doing missions well. I took our then missions pastor along to kick the tires. We asked questions such as, What is your strategy for global and local missions? How are you working it out? What has been effective for you in getting your congregation involved and committed? These kick-the-tires visits helped us assess and improve our church’s missions vision and strategy.

Last week, I traveled to Medellin, Colombia with Grady Davidson, a regional leader with Timothy Two Project International (TTPI) (www.timothytwo.org), to assist him in leading a training workshop for 12 Colombian church leaders. I planned the trip with two purposes in mind. First, I wanted to “kick the tires” with another international pastors training ministry. This was a continuing education trip for me. Second, I intended to explore a cooperative relationship with that ministry. Like many other ministries to Haiti, TTPI’s efforts there ceased with the onset of COVID-19 and rising gang violence. I have encouraged TTPI leaders over the last two years in ways they can return to Haiti to help encourage and equip church leaders there.

Mission accomplished – and more! I was encouraged by our study of the attributes of God and refreshed by the many conversations with Grady and our host couple. Justin and Jaimie Smith (pictured) are young missionaries with Mesa Global, formerly United World Missions. They’re helping pastors plant churches in communities around Medellin and beyond. What a joy to hear their heart and learn about their work in church planting. 

Before moving to Colombia nearly two years ago, Justin and Jeimmy served in the Dominican Republic for three years. They told me about the sizable groups of Haitians in the DR, the discrimination against them, and their need for encouragement and training. They’re in the process of recommending PPI training to Haitian church leaders they know in two cities in the DR. The Lord is opening the way for our training there. Please pray for our upcoming training in Haiti (update below) and for future training of Haitian pastors in the Dominican Republic.

** UPDATES **

December training

U.S. flights to Haiti are suspended until (at least) December 12 (READ MORE). However, Missionary Flights (MFI) has obtained two 1-day waivers from the FAA, allowing them to fly cargo and passengers to Cap-Haitien and Pignon. Thanks so much for praying! On their latest approved flight on Monday, MFI was able to carry 30 diploma covers to Pastor Jasmin. We purchased these for the ITEPHA Bible College graduation in December. Praise God!

Please pray for additional waivers for MFI that will allow us, at a minimum, to ship Thompson Bibles and all our training materials to our Haitian team no later than December 12. That will enable our team to lead Course 1 in Hinche and Pignon on schedule, which they are more than capable of doing. Ideally, MFI will get a waiver for December 12 allowing me, two other American brothers and our materials to fly to Pignon as originally planned.

Spread the Word 2024

Our Spread the Word 2024 challenge kicked off well! As of Friday, PPI friends and supporters have donated a total of $9,315, which will be matched dollar for dollar. Many thanks to all of you who have given so far! We’ve had a great start!

That means we need $10,685 in contributions between now and December 31 to reach our goal of $20,000 and use all the matching funds. Would you help us fund the purchase of 2,024 Creole Bibles by the end of this year? GIVE HERE