Have you experienced times when the Holy Spirit directed you to help certain people? Looking back on your life, do you see how the Lord guided you to a specific job or neighborhood or church so you could be a blessing to others? God has prepared in advance how He intends for us to take part in His mission! (Ephesians 2:10)
Philip experienced the Holy Spirit’s specific guidance. We know that Philip, a recognized servant (deacon) in the Jerusalem church, had a good reputation and was filled with wisdom and the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:1-6). The Lord also gave him the desire and gifts to share the good news of Jesus with lost people beyond Jerusalem. Disregarding racial and social barriers, Philip traveled to Samaria to proclaim the gospel with amazing results. People turned to Christ, many were healed, others freed of demon oppression! (Acts 8:4-25)
Then what? The Lord directed Philip south. “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he rose and went” (Acts 8:26-27). After his fruitful ministry north of Jerusalem, God told Philip to take the road south. Philip obeyed, led an Ethiopian man to Christ (a court official to the queen, no less) and, through that encounter, planted an influential gospel witness in Africa. Ethiopia became an important center of Christianity, complete with an Ethiopic translation of the Bible.
Last year, the Lord directed US to take the road south, that is, to train pastors in southern Haiti.
Our team prayed, talked about, and worked on practical logistics of this step for over a year. We knew it would be difficult and expensive – a big step of faith! The capital city, Port-au-Prince, forms a narrow waistband between northern Haiti and the southern peninsula. Gang control of Port-au-Prince and areas around it have stopped travel and commerce between the north and south, isolating over 2 million people who live in south Haiti.
Until now.
In May, we led PPI Course 1 in two key cities in south Haiti. Our courses were full, church leaders were excited to learn, and the Lord blessed the training beyond our expectations! We intend to continue training in south Haiti, offering all six PPI courses, and strengthening the church there. We’re convinced now more than ever that the Lord has directed us to take the road south.
But we need your help!
Travel to south Haiti adds another $4000-$5000 in flight/shipping expense to the usual cost of each training trip (around $12,000). To get to south Haiti, we have to fly our team and training materials from Cap-Haitien, a city on the north coast of Haiti, to a city in south Haiti. Since it’s too dangerous right now to travel overland through or around Port-au-Prince, we charter a small plane (a Cessna 207) to and from south Haiti. DONATE HERE
The first leg of the trip involves two back-to-back flights to carry 600-900 lbs of training materials and our ministry team. After investing all the Bibles and materials in pastors in our courses, our team can return to north Haiti on one HFAM flight. I recently booked our HFAM flights to south Haiti for our next training in south Haiti in February 2027. The three flights cost us $4424.00.
Would you consider a special, over-and-above gift to help us train church leaders in south Haiti?
Your donations will be matched dollar for dollar up to $25,000 by PPI friends. Our Take the Road South goal is $50,000, and the giving challenge ends on December 31. Will you pray about and invest in PPI’s frontier step to encourage, train and resource church leaders in south Haiti?
Thanks so much for helping us take the road south!
Leave a Reply