Fulfilling a 4000-Year-Old Promise

The Apostle Paul shares an amazing insight in Galatians 3:8 (quoting Genesis 12:3):

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

”Nations” certainly refers to nationalities, or ethnic groups. Some translations read, “In you, all families on earth will be blessed.” But this promise also extends to nations as political entities. Through the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ, nations will be blessed from their bureaucracies to their back streets. As Paul says in Colossians 1:20 (my summary), “Jesus died to fix everything !” And God had planned it all along, preaching the gospel to Abraham.

That’s the promise we stand on as we train church leaders in Haiti. The Lord Jesus, through the power of the gospel proclaimed and lived out by His church, can change this broken nation. Humanly speaking, it seems impossible. The history is too distorted, habits of life too ingrained, corruption too deep. But we belong to a Savior who defeated the grave and crushed the head of the Serpent. Nothing is too hard for Him! So we serve with all the energy, diligence and joy He gives.

July/August Training

Thank you for praying for our latest training in northeast Haiti. From July 31-August 8, we offered Courses 1, 2 and 5 in two cities, Course 5 for the first time. It was well received by 105 church leaders! This course is our second of two courses on church leadership, titled (in English) Leading Jesus’ Church (Leaders and Organization). In Part 1 of the course, we study leadership roles and titles in the New Testament church, leader qualifications and the biblical process of appointing church leaders. In Part 2, we focus on organizing all aspects of a local church around the Lord’s mission of making disciples, meetings and mentoring, financial management and church discipline – all through the lens of Scripture and aimed practically at making local churches effective for Christ.

Haitian church leaders searched the Scriptures, discussed the issues even during their breaks and lunch time, and had a LOT of questions. On the last day of the course, they didn’t want to stop! They asked if we could continue the course. Our team praised the Lord that He encouraged, instructed and challenged church leaders through this new course. May He use this course – and all PPI courses – to strengthen His church and bless the nation of Haiti.

Closed Door, Open Window

Speaking of nations, we need to postpone PPI training in the Dominican Republic (DR) because of travel restrictions on Haitian nationals. Our plan was to introduce PPI courses to Haitian church leaders in two cities in the DR in November. Our core Haitian team (Jasmin, Isaiah and Hebert) would travel with me to the DR to assist me in launching PPI training there with excellence.

Unfortunately, the DR government – like the United States – now prohibits Haitian nationals from entering the DR for any reason, unless they have a current visa to the U.S., Canada or EU, which none of our guys now possess. (Isaiah’s U.S. tourist visa expired last year, and we have found it impossible to renew right now.) We worked hard on all the possibilities, but concluded that for now the door to the DR is closed to us.

But God had plans! On my way to and from Haiti in July-August, I talked with several people about options for travel to southern Haiti. They came out of the woodwork. Clearly, the Lord was opening a window! I talked and prayed with our team about the situation in DR and about training in southern Haiti for the first time in mid-2026. They’re hugely excited! We all sense the Lord’s leading in this step.

Please pray for us as we work out the details. Safe travel there will be more expensive, and we need to figure out the best shipping option. Carrying 600-800 lbs of Bibles and training materials to southern Haiti will be tricky to say the least! Yet we sense the Lord’s leading and know that He will make a way for us – in order to bless this nation of people that He loves.