Haiti Relief
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Haiti Donations can be made at Sarasota Baptist Church by marking it on the offering envelope or the memo line of the check or via www.flbaptist.org
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Every Baptist can have a hands-on, life changing affect upon the people of Haiti by participating in a Southern Baptists “Buckets of Hope” ministry. |
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Our Commitment to Haiti
Haiti Update from Dr. John Sullivan--February 24, 2010
Port-au-Prince--A reported 40,127 Haitians have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ since the Jan. 12 earthquake hit the impoverished nation, according to pastors and director of missions of the Confraternite Missionaire Baptiste d'Haiti (CMBH).
"Haiti is ripe for a spiritual movement from God," said Craig Culbreth, director of the Florida Baptist Convention Partnership Missions Department, which coordinates the work of the CMBH, upon his Feb. 22 return from Port-au-Prince.
During a Feb. 16-17 city-wide holiday observance in Cap Haitien, Haiti's second largest city, Culbreth saw, "thousands upon thousands filling the streets where people are seeking God and asking Him to spare them from what happened in Port-au-Prince. For me it was a New Testament expression of what it looks like when the Spirit of God shows up. I have never seen anything like it."
The reported conversions are not expected to translate into baptisms for several months. The practice among Haitian Baptist churches is to require new converts to undergo several months of discipleship training to ensure the person understands their spiritual decision and the Biblical mandates for leading a Christian life.
Since the earthquake, the CMBH pastors have distributed 51 tons of rice which provided 437,750 servings to Haitians in both Port-au-Prince and outlying areas where refugees have fled. Additional feedings are expected.
The CMBH is the Florida Baptist Convention-funded partnership of nearly 900 Haitian Baptist churches serving across Haiti. Through this partnership the Florida Convention employs seven indigenous missionaries in six regions in the nation.
During the week of Feb. 16-22, Culbreth was on his third trip to Haiti since the earthquake to determine how Florida and Southern Baptists could reach beyond the capital city of Port-au-Prince and meet needs of refugees who left the capital city.
Together, he and Dennis Wilbanks, associate in the Partnership Missions, have visited five of the six associations, conferring and praying with the directors of missions and Haitian pastors in the associations.
He compared this "window of opportunity where the people are hungry for the gospel to the U.S. after 9/11 when hundreds flocked to the churches."
Culbreth cited recent events in many of the 110 churches in the Port-au-Prince area where throngs of people have been seeking spiritual guidance in the church meetings, which have been held outdoors because the Haitians feared to enter buildings. Church leaders have reported 28,000 salvations in this Ouest (Port-au-Prince) association.
Many conversions took place during the three days of prayer and fasting called by the Haitian government, Feb. 12-14, reported Culbreth.
"People were in the streets, literally begging God for forgiveness and mercy," said Wilbanks, who was in Port-au-Prince at the time.
Professions of faith have been reported by Florida and Southern Baptist medical and disaster relief teams as these volunteers shared the gospel.
The upsurge in the reported conversions appears to fulfill a pre-earthquake vision by Louis LaBranche, CMBH director of ministry. "Pastor LaBranche said he had a vision of God telling him that 1.5 million Haitian will be saved in the next five years. He believes it and so do I," Culbreth said.
Culbreth traveled to Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake which is located 18 miles west of the Haitian capital. "Reports said that 90 percent of the buildings have been destroyed, but I did not see a house that was not damaged. The roads are buckled and people are pouring out in the streets."
Culbreth was in Port-au-Price during the 4.7 magnitude aftershock Feb. 22, asserting that the Haitians continue to live in fear of their lives.
The next three months will be crucial to "reaping the harvest in Haiti," Culbreth said. CMBH leaders are planning 14 area-wide crusades-two in each of five association and four in Port-au-Prince-during the next months. The Florida Baptist Convention has authorized $53,000 to purchase Bibles and tracts, and rent sound equipment for the Haitian leaders.
"This is their dream and vision," said Culbreth. "They are making the plans. We are only providing funding to make it happen."
