We leave next Thursday for Cap Haitien, Haiti, where we’ll train 105 church leaders. Though we’ve offered pastors conferences in Haiti for 10 years, this conference has a couple “firsts.” For starters, this is our first conference in a new city. We have offered conferences only in the city of Ouanaminthe in the past. And this is our first conference using our newly minted foundational training course. This first of six courses is titled The Message and the Messenger (or Le message et le messager in French). I’m VERY excited about this course! It aims at the heart, beliefs and ministry skills of church leaders. We’re looking forward to working through this course with our Haitian brothers and sisters at our conference in Cap Haitien.

Our U.S. mission team met yesterday (my son, Ken III, via FaceTime) to address last questions, pack and pray together. We have three young engineers on our team this time – Jubal Handrich, Ken MacGillivray III and David Schluckebier. They’re enthusiastic, hard-working and have a heart for God and others. Jerry Schuitman and I are looking forward to serving with these young men.

How can you pray for us right now?

• Pastors Esau and Jasmin will pick up our Thompson Bibles from the Cap Haitien airport this Thursday. Pray for the Lord to give them favor with the customs officials as they negotiate custom fees. This often is a frustrating and arbitrary process.
• Pray for 250 Creole Bibles to be delivered safely and on time to our conference site. The Bibles come from Port-au-Prince, where unrest is still present, and shipping is tricky.
• Pray for our Haitian coordination team as they work on final details before our arrival. We have a full conference already – 105 church leaders – and others on a waiting list. These details need to be sorted through accurately to prevent confusion and unnecessary disappointment.
• Ask the Lord to prepare all our hearts for our time together and time in His Word. Pray that God will fill us with His Spirit and use us to encourage and equip each of these men and women for their ministry roles. Pray for their joy and progress in leading their churches well for Christ – all for gospel impact and to God’s glory!

Watch the PPI Facebook page for updates.

What’s next?

It struck me today that our NEXT conference is just five (5) months away – July 11-18 in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Our mission team for that conference will begin meeting in April! Would you consider giving toward Thompson Bibles and other training materials for our next conference? CLICK HERE to see how you can help.

On Friday, 16 men and women met at our house for three hours. These PPI friends talked, laughed and worked hard! This was our first-ever volunteer workday, and we accomplished a lot. As a warm-up, we put together and labeled 912 packages of over-the-counter medicines for our trip in February. (I had estimated 600!) Read more about Haitians’ need for basic meds <<HERE>>.

When our hard-working crew had wrapped up that task, they affixed return labels and nonprofit “stamps” on 3000 envelopes. A huge help to us since we mail just under 300 newsletters every 6-8 weeks.

Thank you, friends, for your generous and enthusiastic help not only to us but more importantly to church leaders in Haiti – our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Look for more opportunities to invest in church leaders this spring!

A Quick Sketch

Some years stand out in all our lives. This year – 2019 – is definitely one of those years for us! Here’s a quick sketch:

• April 15 – Ken’s last day as Associate Senior Pastor at Hopevale Church after 15 years of ministry there.
• May 15 – After prayer and counsel, we make the decision to “take a big swing” at developing Partnership of Pastors International.
• June 16 – We begin an interim pastorate at First Baptist Church in Bad Axe.
• September 15 – We officially launch Partnership of Pastors International!
• October 12-20 – Ken participates in a church leaders training conference in Africa with friend and mentor Chuck Ballard.
• December 26 – With PPI development gaining momentum, we are working toward our next 2-3 pastors training conferences in 2020!

THANK YOU for praying for us! THANK YOU for encouraging us! THANK YOU for partnering with us in encouraging, training and resourcing church leaders in Haiti and other developing countries.

WHAT’S AHEAD in 2020?

So what’s ahead for us in 2020? A lot!

• First official meeting of the PPI Board of Directors
• Offer 2 (possibly 3) pastors training conferences
• Write, translate and print at least 2 pastors training courses
• Share PPI’s vision and strategy with many more individuals and churches!
• Continue shepherding the wonderful congregation of First Baptist, assisting in search for their next pastor
• Celebrate Ken’s grandmother’s 100th birthday in June!
• A special week in August together with our kids and extended family
• Devote full-time for 3-4 months to developing church and individual partnerships
• Participate in a Sonscape ministry couples retreat in Colorado in early October

YOUR TOP 5 FAQs

1. Are you developing Partnership of Pastors OR pastoring a church in Bad Axe?

Both for now! I committed to 26-28 hours a week at First Baptist Church to allow me definite work days to develop Partnership of Pastors International (PPI). I am the interim (“in between”) pastor at First Baptist and anticipate serving there for 6-9 months more as we work together toward onboarding FBC’s next permanent pastor.

2. What will you do when your interim pastorate at First Baptist ends?

After saying some hard good-byes (we love our congregation in Bad Axe!), we anticipate devoting 3-4 months to full-time partner development with churches and individuals. That will involve a lot of travel, conversations and presentations of Partnership of Pastors vision and strategy.

After those 3-4 months, we’ll likely need to secure another interim pastor position at another church in our area.

3. Are you being paid by Partnership of Pastors?

No, not yet. That’s one of the reasons we accepted an interim pastor position. In fact, we’re one of the regular contributors to PPI! As we develop financial partnerships, we will begin to draw an appropriate salary from the ministry as decided by the PPI Board of Directors.

4. Do you plan to pastor a church once PPI is fully funded?

Probably not. To develop and lead pastoral training the way I’m convinced it’s needed in countries like Haiti, I won’t have time to shepherd a church well. But we’re not making a final decision on that right now. For now, we don’t want to limit the Kingdom potential of PPI by committing to a full-time pastoral position before taking our best swing at developing PPI. That will be our focus for the next 2-3 years.

5. What’s the best way to give to PPI?

You can give a number of ways to PPI, but the BEST way may be to set up a monthly donation in your credit union or bank’s online Bill Pay. It’s easy to do, and it’s free to you and free to us! Mailing a check cost you a 55 cent stamp, and donating through our website costs us about 2.5% of your gift. Bill Pay is best. And please pray for us!

Do you have a question about PPI or about us that we didn’t answer? Ask it HERE. We’d love to hear from you!

Happy New Year!