Haiti Response

Louisiana Baptists Helping the World

Travel Tip Sheet - July 19

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For anyone traveling to Haiti, a new travel tip sheet was issued July 19, 2010.  Download the Travel Tip Sheet 7-19 for the most recent travel information.  This tip sheet supersedes previous sheets.

Travel Tip Sheet - July 5

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For anyone traveling to Haiti, a new travel tip sheet was issued July 5, 2010.  Download the Travel Tip Sheet 7-5 for the most recent travel information.  This tip sheet supersedes previous sheets.

Travel Tip Sheet - June 21

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For anyone traveling to Haiti, a new travel tip sheet was issued June 14, 2010.  Download the Travel Tip Sheet 6-21 for the most recent travel information.  This tip sheet supersedes previous sheets.

Travel Tip Sheet - June 14

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For anyone traveling to Haiti, a new travel tip sheet was issued June 14, 2010.  Download the Travel TipSheet 6-14 for the most recent travel information.  This tip sheet supersedes previous sheets.

Travel Tip Sheet for June 7

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For anyone traveling to Haiti, a new travel tip sheet was issued June 7, 2010.  Download the Travel TipSheet 6-7 for the most recent travel information.  This tip sheet supersedes previous sheets.

New Travel Tip Sheet

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For anyone traveling to Haiti, a new travel tip sheet was issued May 24, 2010.  Download the Travel TipSheet 5-24 for the most recent travel information.

Haiti Update from Jay Johnston

(Haiti, Earthquakes) Permanent link

LBC Construction/Demo, Medical and Media Team May 12, 2010

 

SunsetinNippesHait_ResizedFrom the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same the Lord’s Name is to be praised! Psalm   I rejoice to share with you this photo of today’s sunset from the Southern Peninsula of Nippes, Haiti! As I was shooting photos of the sunset I continued to pray through this verse of scripture with thanksgiving to the Lord for His love and affection for me. WOW! The Lord’s love is amazing, His grace is sufficient and His mercy is new every morning! Praise the Lord! On the other side of the street from where these photos were taken the people who left Port-Au-Prince live in huts, tents or under a tarp. Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti.

 

I am overwhelmed by His love for me. I am thankful for His plan for me and for inviting me to join Him in His work. What a joy and a privilege to be one of God’s servants!

 

I want to encourage you today to invite God into your world today and allow Him to use you up for His glory and honor.

 

The Construction/Demo Team worked today where they are putting up a pole barn to be used as a church.  The team started putting the post up in some hoes that were prepared for them using concrete blocks, poles, sand and gravel inside the concrete block to hold up the pole. While it appeared to be a good plan the team quickly realized that the foundation structure was not strong enough to support the tent. The team regrouped with a new design and secure cement to use in postholes that they dug into the ground and then poured concrete in the holes after placing the poles in them. The team leader Chuck Gilpin described it as their modern day parable that nothing built upon sand will stand up. Chuck went on to tell me about a devotion a fellow team member Charles Vandercook did with the school children and he said it was great to see all the people singing and responding to the message Charles shared with the school children. I am grateful for this construction team and for the work that God is doing in and through them.

 

The Medical Team saw three hundred patients today that come out to the three medics seeing one hundred patients each today. That is an amazing number of patients for these three medics to see but the amazing fact is how these three medics work together to share the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to everyone one of the patients. They have two nurses that are working with them and together it is obvious to see the Lord’s hand on this team.

 

The Media Team had a great day traveling to Nippes in order to catch up with the Medical team. The media team shot some great footage of the clinic process, along with capturing interviews with the patients and medical personnel. As I already mentioned the medical team saw three hundred people today.  While some of the interviews were being shot I had the opportunity to visit and share the Gospel with a group of children who gathered in the church to observe what was taking place in the clinic. They were a wonderful group of grade school children who spontaneously give me a Creole language lesson and then we sang together. I love singing with the Haitian people.

 

Lessons and Blessing from today: Build your house upon a solid foundation: Build your relationships on a solid foundation by trusting in Jesus Christ. The difference between a medical team, construction team or media team taking time to share Christ or not sharing is summed up by where will the patient, home owner or person being interviewed spend all of eternity.  While the medical team, media team or the construction team is not responsible for the final decision of a person accepting Jesus Christ we are all commission to tell the story of Jesus.

Matthew 7:24-27;

 

Lord Jesus, I praise you for commissioning me to be in your army. I pray that I will never be AWOL and that I will be found faithful everyday to the leadership of the Holy Spirit to tell the story of Jesus. Lord Jesus I asked that you continue to work among the Haitian people and that you will raise up a government that loves you and will reestablish a relationship between you and the people and leaders of Haiti.

 

 

With a Grateful heart,

 

Jay Johnston

Haiti Medical and Media Team Update

(Haiti, Earthquakes) Permanent link

Haiti Update from Jay Johnston

LBC Construction/Demo, Medical and Media Team May 11, 2010

 

Our first full day of service in Haiti begin on Monday Morning May 10, 2010. We have three teams on the ground in Haiti. The Construction/Demolition Team, Medical Team and Media Team.

 

On May 10 the Construction/Demo Team and Media Team are both in Port-au-Prince while the Medical Team is several hours away in the town of Nippes, which is located on the Southern Peninsula of Haiti.

 

The Construction/Demo Team took off first from the Florida House to begin the work day breaking up concrete and removing the rubble from a the site of a church which also has a school on the site.

 

The Media Team (which is the team I am working with this week) took off shortly after the Construction Team. The media team was going into downtown Port-au-Prince to capture some video footage of the area. The Interpreter traveling with us is Pastor Menand and while our media personnel were shooting video footage he and I were able to share Christ with several by-standers. We moved from one location to another near the Presidential Palace and we were able to get some video footage before our security guard ushered us out because a demonstration was about to begin near the Presidential Palace. So, we left the downtown area and went to the location of our Construction/Demo Team. Upon arrival several team members came to me and said they were working one area because they understood at least six bodies of children remain under the rubble. One of the team ministers then introduced me to Pastor Joel of the church and through our interpreter learned that six children had died inside the school but their bodies had been pulled out and buried following the January 12 earthquake. We were all glad to learn that the children were no longer under the rubble. While on at this the media team was able to conduct many interviews of locals and members of the Construction/Demo Team. While interviews were taking place I had the opportunity to listen to many stories of the people from Haiti with regard to where they are with life today. Many care living out their faith in Jesus Christ and express that this is the very best days for them and the people of Haiti. In listening to others you quickly learn that many continue to grieve over the loss of relatives and friends from the January 12 earthquake. I found from others that they look for work with the hope of making money to purchase the bear necessities for their family. I also encountered those who simply move through the street begging for food and water.

 

The two teams took a lunch break and after the break the work continued and it was during the first hour following lunch that I met the mom of two children who died inside the school On January 12 she loss both a daughter and a son. She has two boys that survived the earthquake. She spoke for sometime and then I encouraged her to now focus on the two boys who are alive. She expressed that it was hard for her to focus on them because she misses her other two children. We continued the conversation for a few more minutes before I gathered up some team members who would join me in praying for her and her family.  Shortly after this conversation was over I was approached by a young man name Jean who was looking for work. I told him I was not the person hiring help in the area and then he begins telling me his story and the need for food and water for his wife and young children. We did what we could for Jean and prayed with him that he would find work. I can tell you that one thing the Haitian people are not afraid of is work.

 

Well the media team moved on to conduct additional interviews of other people throughout the rest of the afternoon. One of the interviews involved a driver who was with the medical team. You see we received a call that the medical team was in need of more goods like bandages, splints, crèmes and several other medical supplies because of the nature of the needs in patients they were seeing on Monday. The amazing thing about this interview is that we left our location to drive for almost ninety plus minutes to meet the driver who was coming from more than four hours away.

 

I was able to speak with the medical team later in the evening and learned that they saw over two hundred and fifty people on Monday. The needs of the people are many and they are finding that many of the people they are seeing left Port-au-Prince after January 12 and have old wounds that have not been treated since immediately after the January 12 earthquake. I look forward to meeting up with them on Wednesday as this team conducts not only their work but they take time to share Christ with the people.

 

The blessings our team members received today included when instructed to move out of danger you must move quickly, along with learning to seek clarity in all things and to pray without ceasing.  John 6:45, 46; I Thessalonians 5:17,

 

Lord Jesus, as I live out my life I praise you for the gift of life and eternal life. Thank you for coming into my life as Lord and Savior of my Life. I thank you for the blood that You shed to cover my sins. I ask that You forgive me of my sins and trespasses and as I live out my life today I desire to take the blessings that we learned from yesterday and live them out today. I ask that you protect the teams from the heat today and that we will all be to share the story of Jesus today. I also ask that you protect our families and give them your peace today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

 

 

Jay Johnston, D.Min.

Associate Pastor

FBC Covington

Travel Tip Sheet 5-10-2010

(Haiti, Earthquakes) Permanent link

A new travel tip sheet has been released as of May 10.  This tip sheet gives you information about travel into and out of Haiti and supersedes previous tip sheets. Download Travel Tipsheet 5-10.

New Teams Needed

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The Haiti Incident Command has determined that it is time to add to the ministry in Haiti.  Below is the new ministry.  Please note that we still need Medical teams and Demo teams.

NEW TEAM
 
MINISTRY TEAM     
Team Size: 8 (can be fewer but no more)
Team Schedule: arrive on Saturday and depart on Friday
In the Mornings the team will be doing Adult Discipleship/Leadership with the focus on moving beyond the earthquake which would include facing/overcoming fears and children's evangelism, helping children to overcome fear through Christ utilizing Bible-storing of narratives where God helped individuals to overcome their giants, T-Fam, E-cube, singing, playing games (similar to backyard Bible club).  The afternoon will be spent in personal evangelism, sharing the hope of Christ with the lost.  During the evening, voluenteers will participate in a crusade/revival where they will preach and share testimonies.  (Sunday: they will participate in the morning worship service and crusade/revival begins in the evening)

 

Please note that at the beginning we will send one team per week
At the time of this post the following weeks have been taken and all other weeks are open, July 3-9 and Aug 10-14.

 

If you are interested in being a part of a Ministry team, please contact Gibbie.McMillan@LBC.org or 318.448.3402.

Haiti Cross Cultural Training

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Charles Rogers, M.Div, M.D and pastor of Highland Baptist Church has just recorded a 7 part video training to help prepare people for ministry in Haiti.  The training includes many aspects including travel, lifestyle, culture, and history.  The training can be found at www.LBC.org/HaitiTraining.

Travel Tip Sheet 4-19

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A new travel tip sheet has been released as of April 19.  This tip sheet gives you information about travel into and out of Haiti.  Download Tip Sheet.