Two Stories of God at Work in Haiti

RMI’s ministry is labor intensive.  Quite a bit goes into working in the field for the Lord.  The seed is planted.  It is faithfully watered.  And then comes the harvest.  [See the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.]  This principle was clearly seen and experienced by 2 different teams and one C3 partner church as God used each one of them in a different part of the process.  Early last year a team from Walloon Lake, MI went to visit their C3 partner church but were unable to reach the church due to political issues in the area.  So the RMI team took them to the Cote de Fer area.  While there, they delivered food to needy families, sharing the gospel at each home. 

On one particular visit they shared the food aid and the message of salvation with a young man who had just lost his leg as a result of being shot by the police.  [First picture]  This young gangster and his family listened as the seed was planted.  Afterwards, he and his friends were quick to say that they weren’t interested in accepting Christ.  After the team left, the pastor and the congregation ministered to him, and faithfully watered the seed.  In October, the Cote de Fer church received the first visit from their new official US C3 partner church from Ft. Myers, FL.  This Florida team spent time in yard to yard evangelism. The national pastor took them to see this same young man and his family.   [Second picture]  After sharing the gospel, he made the decision to accept the Lord!  Pray for Markenson as he cuts ties with the gang and grows in his faith in the Lord.  There’s no question that it is worth the effort!

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In January 2017, a team from Lifehouse Church (Delaware) wanted to come to Haiti and simply serve God in whatever way they could.  RMI missionary, Lee Nunemaker was with them during their week in-country.  He shared that they visited the home of a young man, who was faithful in his service to God, and his family.  They gave them a box of food.  After talking with him for a while they realized that his father, Saint Clair (nicknamed “Ti Mayi” - little corn), in the green shirt,  was not a believer.  In fact, he was very involved in practicing voodoo.  He told them that he feels it is his responsibility to pay back his debts to the evil spirits on behalf of his family.  They shared the Truth with him, prayed for him, and left.  It broke his son’s heart that he knew his father would not spend eternity with him, if something would happen to his dad. 

Then in May or June of 2017, Lee had some vegetable seeds donated in his name that he needed to distribute. Perguens and Lee felt the need to take the seeds to this family.  They showed up, unannounced with a bag of seeds in hand.  Once again, they shared the message of the Gospel with him.  Then they went to see his fields where the seeds would be planted.  This is where God comes in. . . They noticed the field was already plowed.  When they inquired as to why, they said they plowed the fields, but didn’t have money to plant them.  When asked how much of the field the seeds would plant, they opened the bag, and after consideration, they said it would be perfect to do the entire field.  The other amazing thing is that when the guys were loading the seeds, they felt they should give him all the same seed instead of mixing it up.  And they felt like they should add an extra scoop.  God was working. . . .   They reminded them that this is the God that his son serves.  He knows your needs and provides for those needs in advance!  Again, they prayed for him.  But this time, he said he felt God tugging at his heart. 

This January, the team that came down to serve God in 2017, Lifehouse Church, who had become an official C3 Partner church was at their Sister Church for their first official team visit.  While they were there Perguens informed them that Ti Mayi, in the orange shirt,  willingly went to the special services the church had over the Christmas season.   As of today. . . we are told that he has been attending the church regularly for the last month or so!  Still not a believer, still has not accepted Christ, but God is at work!!  Please pray with us for his salvation.

An Update from RMI's Facebook...

Today we had the pleasure of delivering a new generator to Policard church from the Nebraska churches. It was a pleasure to be a part of this delivery!

from http://ift.tt/1WIQcGm in Reciprocal Ministries International

An Update from RMI's Facebook Page...

Will you pray for the RMI Haiti Team today? See our latest team photos here... http://ift.tt/1WGxwXK in Reciprocal Ministries International

Happy Birthday Benjamin…

Today is the birthday of our very own Benjamin Altema.  Benjamin is RMI’s Field Administrator.  He is a constant servant.  He is a wise leader.  He loves Jesus. He loves his family.  He loves RMI. He is called by God to change the world for the sake of the Christ. He is on mission.  He is our friend. 

It is our honor today to wish you… Bonn Fèt and Happy Birthday!

It’s Full Throttle at RMI…

Some of you might think I am talking about driving on Haitian roads…  I am not.  We are fully engaged in “the work”.  Will you please pray for us in all these activities.  It isn’t about being busy, but it is about intentionally working hard, consistently, in the work that God has called us to.  The work of changing lives for Him.

• Today starts the 2 day Willow Creek Global Leadership Conference here in Cayes.  Together, we are sending 64 leaders from all over Southern Haiti.  We are “short handed” today at the office since a good number of our staff are there.  Pray for God to move in hearts.  Pray for leaders to be challenged and encouraged.  Pray for the development of vision.
• We have a church on the ground right now.  Last night was their debriefing. Tomorrow the bus is headed into Port au Prince again so this team can go back home.
• Today, we have vehicles going in to Port au Prince becuase we have another team arriving this evening for their next visit with their Sister Church.  4th team of the year already.
• Tomorrow, I (Rob) am leaving for a week of mission conference and meetings in RMI’s US Office.
• Today we have our own maintenance team, led by Joel, out making a repair to one of our Home for Haiti home builds.
• Today we have a truck going to pick up a motorcycle at one of our Sister Churches that is in desperate need of work.  Our other trucks are being prepped, washed, checked and fueled up for another team trip out on Saturday.

There is much other work happening too.  Kids are being taught, office administration is in full swing, reports are being developed and updates are being written, bags are being packed, decisions are being made, pastors and school directors are visiting the office, etc.

The team is working hard.  There are a lot of moving parts, in many different directions.  Please pray.

We Pray…

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  Ephesians 6:12

We pray at the start every day.  We pray before we go somewhere.  We pray when we arrive.  We pray for one another.  We pray for those we love.  We pray for those we have just met and will meet.  We pray because we believe that God is listening.  We pray because Jesus taught/told us to pray.

There is no great divide between the natural and supernatural.  God is very much active in our daily life, whether we live like it, believe it, think about it, or not.

Here are a few recent moments of prayer…

In a World SO DIVIDED, How Good and Pleasant It Is...

In a world SO DIVIDED, it’s a distinct privilege to facilitate and watch walls crumble. The Lord made us to be in fellowship.  He called us to be ONE body. 

It’s hard to explain. It’s difficult to understand. It’s impossible to truly capture.  Yet, it’s amazing to experience. 

Unity. Fellowship. Love.

I have heard Psalm 133 read SO. MANY. TIMES. here in Haiti. Why? Because it is true. I can hear it now coming from the breath of God himself.. 

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity!”

Developing Schools of Excellence…

You might be aware of Hope for Kidz, our child sponsorship program.  Just the highlights…  We have over 2000 children sponsored and receiving an education (Tuition, books, shoes, uniform, etc), over 5000 children eating a Hot Lunch every school day and next week we will be providing health education and deworming to over 17,000 children!  We couldn’t be more excited!

One could say that helping a child get to school is only half of the battle.  The other half is making sure they receive a Christ centered quality education.  We are focusing more and more on making sure this happens.  Here are just a few things we are doing toward this end…

Teacher Training – We want our teachers trained.  It’s a desperate need.  We have partnered with an organization who specializes in training Haitian teachers.  Our desire is for all of the teachers and school directors form our partner schools to get advanced training.  Right now, as I write, we have 75 teachers who are sitting in training.  By the end of tomorrow, they will have finished modules #1 through #8 out of 12.  These 75 teachers are now into their second year of the 2 year program.  It’s exciting to watch!  We can’t wait to roll out this same training to many more teachers starting fall 2016.  More to come…

Monthly School Visits – Once a month, a member of our Partnership Facilitation team visits each school.  While there, they observe, create reports, provide oversight and accountability.  These observations and reports are a significant step in helping us understand the issues at hand.

NEW Hope for Kidz Monitor – We have recently added a position to our HFK team to help us gain deeper insight and to respond more quickly to observed needs in the lives of each of our sponsored children and partner schools.  There is a story behind every child and every school.  We want to know these stories so we can address child and school/educational development needs more quickly and effectively.  This position exists to supervise, monitor, develop, and hold accountable all Hope for Kidz children, schools, teachers and school directors.  In response to observations made, recommendations will be made, and quickly addressed.  We are immediately addressing specialized teacher training needs with seminars.  We will be watching and making recommendations on changing systems, schedule, curriculum, discipline, etc.  We will be noting the absence of supplies, facilities and teaching aides and looking for ways to address these deficiencies.

Resourcing Schools – Because our Hope for Kidz program is done within the context of our Church Partnerships, we are able to collaborate with our US Partners to bring much needed resources to our Haitian schools. Did you know that we are actively building 2 schools right now?  Did you know that we just provided 6 blackboards and 6 teacher’s desks to another school? Did you know that we just built a bathroom facility for another school?  We love being able to partner with local churches and schools to provide the resources they need to provide a quality education.

We are incredibly excited about our initiatives to develop Schools of Excellence.  Please pray and join us.

Our Haitian Team - the Gold Standard?

Our visiting short term teams are led by our Haitian team members with excellence.  As Field Director, will you allow me the opportunity to give a shout out to our Haitian staff?  I hope so, so here it goes…

We ask all of our visiting team members from the US to complete a survey once they return home.  On one of those surveys, a recent US team member, speaking specifically about our Haitian Team Leader and Partnership Facilitators that went with them to visit their Sister Church, wrote, “I would say this is the standard others should strive for. I couldn’t imagine anything better”.  Love it!

We like to say we are a “teaching mission”.  We want to raise up, empower and release our Haitian Team to lead and do big things for Christ.  I can say with all assurance, it’s happening and I couldn’t be more pleased.  But my opinion doesn’t matter.  I think God is pleased.

This post is a simple shout out to the deep integrity, commitment, hard work and leadership of our Haitian staff who are here on the ground making it happen. 

Thank you for what you do, for Jesus and the furthering of His kingdom.

Did We Get (or Give) Your Goat?

Over the last few years, we have had quite a few people donate to provide a goat to a family here in Haiti.  We LOVE doing this and we do it very carefully.  Here are a few things that we think you might not know, but we think that you might be interested to know…

1. We give the goat to a family, but put it in the hands of a child.  We ask that child to take responsibility to care for the goat.
2. We only give female goats since it is gift that will keep on giving (offspring).
3. Each recipient is instructed that there are some requirements if they choose to accept the donation.  They must know that the first baby is to be given away to another family in need, and if that baby is a female, then that family must also give the first offspring away, and so on.  As an example, in Sainte Helaine Church we gave 10 goats.  In less than 2 years, 10 more kids received a goat from the original recipients.  Once the first baby is given away, all future offspring are for the benefit of the family.
4. We provide veterinary care (4 checkups for the first year of the goat’s life, including necessary vaccinations and vitamins) for the goats we give away to keep them healthy and productive.  Our team of agronomists visit our partnering churches and we invite all recipients to bring their goats so that we can give counsel and medications.
5. One of our pastor recently shared with us that receiving a goat is like the promise of receiving a monthly pay check.  A goat is like a checking account that will just keep on giving.  For example, the sale of a future goat can provide for school tuition and supplies, medical care, food, or any other family needs.  Each goat we give provides a little business to the family.

You can donate $90 now to give a goat!

Here are some recent pictures taken during a recent veterinary care session…

GLFS Complete…

Leadership Development in Action:  The Global Leadership Follow-up Seminar (GLFS) here in Cayes, Haiti, is complete.  We do this in coordination with our local MEBSH Bible School.  We really appreciate the work of World Team missionary Sean Christenson and Bible School Director Pastor Jean Admettre.

We are grateful for the opportunity we have to invest in these men and women leaders.  We pray God multiplies our investment to bring sustained change in the lives of those they lead.  They are world changers!

Behind the Scenes…

Greetings from Haiti!  Wow, what a summer!  Our staff has been working hard.  Not only have we received several teams, but we have been working hard here in our office to support all of our programs.

Among other things, we have spent significant time processing and receiving several containers, maintaining vehicles and other equipment, facilitating active projects (construction and spiritual), receiving new missionaries, visiting all of our Haitian partner churches and schools, preparing for a new HFK school year, providing updates to our US Partners, and planning for the future.  We love what we get to do.

If you could be a fly on the wall of the RMI Haiti Office, you would likely be amazed to watch the amount of behind the scenes activity that happens here on a daily basis.  It’s extraordinary.  We are grateful for the faithfulness and hard work of the whole team…

Will you Pray?

Haiti is in the midst of a multi year drought.  The people are suffering.  Crops are dying.  Rivers are dry.  Wells are dry.  Rain is rare. It’s bad.

For RMI, it is also proving difficult.  This week, our cisterns at our Zanglais Retreat and Training Center ran dry.  Again.  We use this facility for all of our teams, leadership seminars, and outside groups. It’s VERY dry.  Our well has been dry for a number of years. 

A year of so ago we did some work to more efficiently collect rain water.  It helped.  Even though it seldom rains, we need to do all we can to collect it when it does.  Building additional water storage capacity may be the only solution, but it will cost us approximately $25,000 to do so.  This is about $24,999 more than we have.

We’ve talked to the experts.  They tell us drilling a another well in the area would be a gamble at best.  The coastal area there is known to be exceptionally dry.  The $5000 that it would cost to drill a well, would more than likely end up a total loss because the potential for finding water is very low.  Although it’s a chore, when our cisterns run low, we send our trucks and pumps to a nearby source.  Today I was told that that source has now run dry.  Wow.

We are really in a difficult situation.

As I shared with the team this morning.  I am tired of hearing about the problem.  I need to hear solutions.  The team member looked at me and said the only solution we can think of is prayer.  Period. 

Would you please pray for rain?  Pray for creative solutions.  Certainly not just for RMI.  Pray for Haiti.  Pray.

Here we are running some technical tests on our well.  It’s dusty dry. It’s dead.

The Nunemakers Have Been Cleared to Go

Lee and Tina Nunemaker and their 4 sons, Daniel, 18, Josiah, 16, Nathan 11, and Isaac, 6, from Greencastle, PA have been raising their support for more than 2 years and have now been cleared to go to Haiti!    They have raised enough funds for RMI to authorize them to go, but are not 100% funded yet.  Would you consider helping them meet their goal?  They all are anxious to get to Haiti and start their lives and ministry there.  

Lee will be the C3 Partnership Coordinator.  He was recently in the RMI International Office to receive training in the inner workings and many details involved in coordinating the 30+ relationships that we have now.  He is badly needed on the field to relieve some of Rob Thompson's load. 

They are busy drawing their lives to a close there in the Greencastle area including sorting and packing their belongings.  Currently their plan is to drive their packed household goods down to the RMI International Office in Ft. Myers, FL, arriving on May 26.  There they’ll load a 40 ft. sea container with their things along with various things that RMI needs on the field.

 Their departure date is mid-July!

Pray for them as they go through the departure process of packing, having final doctor and family visits, say their farewells and continue to raise the last portion of their monthly needs.  You can see their latest prayer letter HERE.  It contains more details about their leaving, including specific items that they still need.  Make sure you look for the hidden tarantula in the letter.  You can find their blog HERE.

Can you be a part of their support team?  You can donate online HERE. 

RMI's Field Missionaries

We have begun calling our entire staff "missionaries", both foreign and domestic.   Why? We want to emphasize that we are all here as ONE TEAM, with ONE CALLING, for ONE MISSION, no matter the color of our skin or the location of our original zip code.

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV

"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Acts 20:24 ESV

All of RMI's Field Missionaries

Ask Yourself This Question...

Will you eat today?  That's a real question that many people ask every day in the majority world.  America is the minority, it's not even close.

Here in Haiti, TODAY, 5075 children will eat because they are in our Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch program.  "For more than half it will be their ONLY meal."  We are privileged to be able to be the hands who are able to get this food to them.

It takes a lot of work... many partners working together, believing in one another, and a great deal of logistics, trust and team work to make it all happen.  Not just happen, but happen with excellence.  We are grateful for Feed My Starving Children who donates the food itself to us and the many volunteers who we don't even know who pack this food.  We are grateful for Food for the Poor - Haiti who provides reduced shipping costs and provides expert expedited shipping logistics.  We are grateful for our donors who make this all possible, including covering our shipping, distribution, management and oversight costs.  We are grateful for the RMI national staff who are doing the work of getting this food into the hands of so many.  We are grateful for our school cooks who take great care in cooking and distributing this food everyday.

We invest a lot of time in seeking to do things right.  We unload and load, store and deliver the food, provide accountability, track stock, produce reports, procure and manage funding, oversee food storage depots in 20+ locations, plus much more.  All in the name of, and to lift up the name of Christ.

Last year, we provided a total of 865,296 meals just in our Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch program alone.  Through our total Food for Health program, the number jumps to 1,206,576 meals!  Frankly, these numbers are hard to even comprehend.  Just think... there were 1,206,576 times people put nutritious food into their mouths in the last year.  That's just awesome!

Help us Help more...  there are 2 ways to financially help provide more meals.  For every $25 donation to RMI's "Food for Health" program, a family of 6 will eat one nutritious meal a day for a month.  For $10/month, you can feed 2 children a day for an entire school year through our "Feeding Two" initiative. Please DONATE here.

Announcing a MIRACLE, the NEW RMI OFFICE in Haiti!

Tessa at work at the NEW OFFICE!
You can see more pictures here.

We believe we have experienced a miracle.  We aren't joking or exaggerating.

Background:  For the last several years, we have known that we have an issue of limited office space and not enough missionary housing.  The needs for housing and office space were coming at us like a freight train, and we had no viable options. We have been actively looking for opportunities.  But, every opportunity that WE came up was going to cost way more money than we could dream of, and that God seemed to be providing.  We looked at buying land.  We put a lot of thought into building an office on MEBSH land, but an adequate office to facilitate all that we do was going to cost way more than you would realize.  Although it was WAY WAY outside of reality, we even looked at a facility that was on the market for a million $!  Well, our plans didn't happen, because it wasn't God's plan!

"The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.  The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward." Exodus 14:14-15

The Miracle:  God's Plan.  About 1 month ago, a home that is actually within the boundaries of the MEBSH Mission Center where we live here in Cayes, which has LONG been totally unavailable to MEBSH or it's ministries and missionaries, seemed to become slightly more available.  I say slightly, because when I first heard about it, I thought there was NO WAY it would actually happen and NO WAY we could afford to rent that place. To be honest, I actually drug my feet a little, stewing over things.  But, God placed within me vision and a desire to aggressively pursue.  Well, after many conversations, a little help from some other local missionaries, understanding on behalf of all the other missionaries here on our mission center, and a little careful negotiating, it is official.  We were able to make it happen! Can you believe it is right next to our RMI Depot?  So now, we basically have 2 properties, right next to one another, creating one large facility, that will together house all of our offices, 2 guest rooms, warehouse, mechanic's garage, container storage, truck parking, etc.  I can't go into the details of the contract, but it's a GREAT DEAL that only God could have made happen.

This now means we have rented 3 privately owned facilities,

1. This one is within the Mission Center boundaries (the new Office)
2. This one is right next to the Mission Center (our current office but future missionary housing), 
3. This one is a 5 minute walk (missionary housing for 2 families).  

These 3 homes will provide us complete homes for 3 families, plus additional housing for short-termers and interns, a small guest facility for visitors, and office space for up to 20 desks (we have space for 15 in our current office, but only using 12 currently).

One of our highest values is GOOD STEWARDSHIP, otherwise known as extremely careful and efficient spending and use of resources.  We truly stretch each and every donated dollar way beyond what you would imagine.  I believe God is honored by this fierce commitment and has blessed us accordingly.

These homes and office are going to cost some money to equip, but FAR FAR FAR less than our other plans would have cost.  God is Good.  VERY GOOD.  We are praising Him.

Below is the floor plan of the new office as we currently see it, after a few minor changes that we have made to increase it's function.  It needs a LOT of clean up as it has sat basically unused for 5 years.  It has no furniture.  It has no kitchen.  It needs new doors and windows, it has no fans, few lights, and it needs A LOT of paint.  But, God provided the home, and we believe he will provide a way to equip it for the ministry.

Rob

The Ladies Win With a 100% Perfect A+!

Way to go Becky and Star.  The Ladies win!  They got 100% on their "Vision Test".

RMI has developed our Mission, our Motivations, our Model, and our Measures (See it here).  It keeps us pointed in ONE direction.  As a staff we want to live and breath these foundations.  So, I gave a test!

Today, the Leadership Team (Benjamin, Benson, Greg, Star, Becky and Myself) took some time, to test ourselves in completing a totally blank sheet with all of this information from memory.  We have been studying for weeks, and let's just say that a few of us missed a few words.  But, Becky and Star both got a 100% perfect A+!  Well done.

We will test again, until the rest of us "slower" team members can match Becky and Star...
Rob

1st ARP Church/ Source Baptiste Medical Team

Every once in a while, a US church will decide to send a medical team out to their Haitian sister church.  This is a wonderful opportunity for a US church to care for the members of their sister church community in a physical and tangible way.  Many of these people have very little access to health care and lack of means to pay.
The First Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, NC had a number of clinicians  interested in coming to Haiti to serve their sister church community in Source Baptiste.  After a year of planning, and a little input on my part, they arrived in Haiti on March 28th.  Their purpose was to visit with and minister together with their sister church.  They planned two days of medical clinics during their time in the village. They also planned a program for the school kids, an open air evangelistic service, met with the Pastor and Deacons, and visited and prayed for many of the church shut-ins. It was a very full week.  I was privileged to join them for this trip!
Here is the team before church Sunday morning.  Monday and Tuesday the church was turned into the medical clinic.

The team consisted of a doctor, a PA, a pharmacist, 3 nurses, 2 dentists, a pastor and a prayer warrior.  I don’t want to diminish the role of the pastor and Annabelle, the team’s prayer warrior!  After each person was seen in the clinic, they were prayed for and loved on by these two.  Their care and love for each person who came thru the clinic was evident.

The team saw about 270 patients over those two days of clinics.  I had so much fun in the pharmacy, where we filled over 300 Rx’s each day (we lost count!).  It was refreshing to get back to my educational “roots.” It was really enjoyable to work with the team’s Pharmacist, Sabrina, and watch her joyfully using her training in this environment.  For me personally, it was a stretching and growing week as I served in the pharmacy mostly by counseling all the patients that came through the clinic on their prescriptions.  What a confidence booster to see that my Creole was understood!  I even had a few old people sitting around the pharmacy waiting area after they were done, just giggling, getting a kick out of listening to the blan explain everyone’s Rx’s in Creole.  I still have a long way to go in my language development, but time out with the team always gives me the opportunity to learn more and improve.
Sabrina and I in the “pharmacy”:

Seeing patients in the clinic:

 
We finished off our time in Source Baptiste by splitting into two teams and visiting and praying with the needy and shut-ins of the church.  This is always a humbling experience; a time I look forward to with every sister church visit.  Each home we visited, each person we prayed for, will be in my heart and mind for a long time to come. 

Giving up my Pharmacy career to come serve the Lord in Haiti was a very difficult decision in 2009.  Yet I’ll never doubt it was the right decision.  I am so thankful that God called us here to serve in Haiti with RMI.  It makes me extra appreciative of the moments like these where I get to do both. 
~Becky

We will not fear. We will charge ahead. It’s Go Time.

I couldn’t be more excited.  This picture is our team of 5 Partnership Facilitators (Perguens, Pierre Rony, Frantz, Manno and Parick), plus 2, their direct supervisor (Benjamin – Field Administrator), and his right hand man (Benson – Project Supervisor).   Although we are all learning, the 5 facilitators have been in boot camp style training (they still are, but they can’t stay).  We are calling this team our “1:12 Partnership Facilitators” (some other day I will explain the 1:12 bit). It’s going to take many more servants behind the scenes, but these are at the core.  

We believe in our Haitian staff and we are committed to empowering them and releasing them to change the world. Now, it is time for the next step.  It’s “Go Time”!

We’ve been preparing.  We’ve been dreaming.  We’ve been calculating.  We’ve been praying.  We can’t wait any longer.  What do I mean by “Go Time”?  The 5 Partnership Facilitators will be visiting every one of our Haitian C3 Partnership churches and communities throughout all of Southern Haiti over the next 3 weeks for face to face, on site, exploratory meetings with Pastor’s, Deacon’s and School leaders.  After these visits, there will be much evaluation, assessment and planning for each unique partnership.  It’s going to be a ton of work.  But, it’s worth it. 

Why are we doing this? 

We will establish Dynamic Partnership Profiles – It’s dynamic, because these profiles will always be changing (not static) as progress and development happens.  This profile will include Pastor’s info, Deacon’s names, how many are in the ladies group, how many in the youth group, how many in…  well, you get the idea, all the data.  Each C3 Partnership Profile will also have a Timeline where each event, US Team Visit, RMI Accountability Visit, projects finished, pictures taken, etc., will be recorded.  Each of our US Churches will be able to visit their profile at any time to get the latest info, story, link, report, etc.

We will assess each Partnership’s Position within our Starfish Strategy – We must establish a baseline so we can celebrate the past, plan for the future and measure our effectiveness.  How can we plan for tomorrow if we don’t understand yesterday (What has already been accomplished) and today (the current state of being)?  We will be evaluating each partnership within the framework of our 5 Points of Impact: Evangelism, Discipleship, Social Compassion, Education, and Community Development.

We will Create a Pathway – When our teams come, we talk A LOT about being present.  I can’t tell you how important it is to simply be present with one another. It changes lives.  We will NOT forget this.   But, would Jesus want us to only be present with one who is desperately thirsty?  No, he would want us to give the thirsty a drink (of course you won’t know if they are thirsty if you aren’t present).  So, we want to collaboratively create a pathway, a map, or a plan, for each of our C3 Partnerships for what we want to DO together, shoulder to shoulder (RMI, Haitian Church, US Church).  Once a plan is established, the Haitian Church and the US Church can prayerfully plan and proceed accordingly.  We will start mapping out a pathway between RMI and the Haitian Church, and then we will finalize the pathway by working directly with each of our US C3 Partnering churches.

Paul challenged Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-7… “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

This is BIG.  We will not fear.  We will charge ahead.  It’s Go Time.

Rob