I’m crying, but I bet you don’t know why…

I am here working in my office.  It’s really quiet.  Too quiet…

It’s a day off for our national staff.  It’s a national holiday here in Haiti.  As Americans living here in Haiti, we tend to take the major American Holidays off.

But, today, on their day off, there are 2 ladies working in the kitchen.  They are preparing food for the team that arrives tomorrow from TX.  No break for these ladies.  No rest for the weary as we say.  I have said it so many times already.  There is no way I can describe the appreciation I have for the national staff.  They work hard.  They are dedicated.  They come when they must.  They leave when the job is done.  They don’t complain.  They are servants.  They are a team.

Why am I crying?  Not because I am sad.  Not because I am happy.  It’s because these ladies are cutting onions.  The tears are rolling down my cheeks!



Rob

News Directly Related to Your Partnership in Haiti…

Greetings from RMI in Haiti!

We are about to roll out some things here in Haiti directly related to your C3 Partnership.  Before doing so, we wanted to make sure you understand what we will be doing.  We also want to make sure you, and others like you, have the opportunity to stay "in the loop".

Partnership Updates...
Every month, if not more, a member of the RMI team will be visiting your Haitian church for the purpose of accountability, monitoring, and information gathering.  These visits will prompt "Partnership Update" emails to you with information, letters form your Sister Church, pictures, stories, etc.  Subscribe Here.

Partnership Profiles...
We want you to be informed and have all the info you need at your fingertips to engage, to plan, to pray, to celebrate, to be informed.  Therefore, we are creating dynamic "Partnership Profiles" for each of our C3 Partnerships.  Dynamic - constantly being updated, not static. These profiles will also be available at http://links.rmibridge.org/c3updates.  If there is not a profile available for your partnership now, there will be as soon as it works it way through the process of editing and posting by our Haitian and Missionary staff.

Partnership Pathways...
We believe in planning.  We have been listening to you.  We have been listening to our Haitian churches.  We want to have the greatest impact.  Therefore, we are creating a unique "Partnership Pathway", or plan, for each of our C3 Partnerships.  As your pathway becomes available, you will hear form us, that is IF you are subscribed. (This is the same Partnership Updates subscription listed above.)

An archive of the 3 items above will always be available to you at http://links.rmibridge.org/c3updates.  Maybe you want to Bookmark it.

Happening Right Now in Haiti…

Our Partnership Facilitators (or “Go” team members as Benjamin excitedly calls them), are on the move today in 5 different directions.  The RMI team in Cayes are working on 2 different construction projects.  The rest of the team are continuing the rest of the behind the scenes work. LOTS happening.  Pray for us! 

Here is a picture of one of our team members heading out this morning.

• Perguens is going to Morency
• Manno is going to Corail
• Patrick is going to Abricot
• Frantz is going to Petit Trou
• Pierre Rony is going to Baradere

Building a Team...

We are building a team!  This is exciting to watch.  What a privilege it is for me to see it all coming together.

We believe in training up, empowering and mobilizing people to do more for the kingdom.  Below is a picture from today's training session.  Pray for us.  This isn't always easy.  All of us, from "top" to "bottom", have SO MUCH TO LEARN.  But, we are committed to the process!

By the way, I'm not doing the training, I just stepped in to take a picture.  Awesome!

"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

Rob

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

Meeting Needs...

Just the other day, RMI made a quick delivery of food to one of the satellite churches in one of our partnering districts.  We saw the need, and because people in the US made a donation for food, we were able to tangibly meet the need.  Together, we are the hands and feet of Jesus.

Training: In Session

RMI is helping to encourage and train up local leaders and pastors.

Every December, the Willow Creek Global Leadership Conference is held in Cayes, Haiti.  Many local Haitian leaders, business owners, pastors, missionaries and many others participate.  Many RMI Sister Churches sponsored their Haitian Pastors so that they could attend. As a follow up to that, for the past three years, in partnership with MEBSH (The Evangelical Baptist Mission of Southern Haiti) and the IBL (Lumiere Bible Institute) RMI has sponsored a follow up seminars to expound upon what was presented at the original seminar in December.

This year we invited the Sister Church pastors who participated, some of the RMI staff, MEBSH leadership, several pastors in training and a few other staff members from another local ministries to take part in the training sessions. Yesterday and today, these pastors and leaders have been meeting together to watch select portions from the December sessions, and then to discuss and apply them to their own lives and ministry scenarios.   Pastor Sean Christensen, from the MEBSH Bible School has been facilitating the sessions. 



It’s a great way to encourage, teach and train up local leaders.  We’re excited for the opportunity to give many of our local pastors and some of our staff the chance participate in such valuable training!



Pray for these leaders; pray that what they take away from these training can be useful in growing and fortifying their lives and ministries. 

And for our 500th post, we want to announce…

RMI now have new missionaries on the field!  Greg and Star Harvie flew to Haiti August 16.  Before they flew, they had nice send offs from their hometown friends in Nebraska…

and from the RMI office…

Present were Dan and Debbie Shoemaker, Herb and Shirley Shoemaker, Kim and Barb Rose, Heather Smith (Admin. assistant), John and Linda Garner (Board members) and Jules and Mart Gedna (RMI’s original Haitian Administrator, now living in Boston fighting cancer).

They arrived just in time for supper at Rob and Becky’s house…and still smiling after a long day of travel.

Their container beat them there by a week (which is a big answer to prayer!), so when they arrived it had been unloaded and things were ready for them to unpack.

This week they’ve been unpacking, setting up their household, getting to know their way around, and getting to know their neighbors and fellow missionaries (they’re living on a mission center where their fellow RMI missionaries live, but also many other missionaries).

Settling in means getting their computers running, hooking it up to a satellite system for internet, and making sure everything is working so they can do their ministry.

Greg’s August 27th Facebook post read, “Well we are in our new home. We slept here last night for the first time. The house is coming along, the stove is now working so the ladies can start cooking tomorrow, I can't find hoses for the worshmachine so I guess I will have to make some. Went shopping today, that was interesting. I was surprised how expensive some things are, and you get the brand they have. Hopefully tomorrow we can finish the house so we can start orientation. It looks like language training will start in a week and a half.”

Pray for them as they ---

Adjust to the heat and humidity

Adjust to a new home, new community, and a whole new way of living life

Get to know their new co-workers

Learn Creole – this is their job description the first few weeks – it is one of the keys to their success as missionaries and we do want them to succeed.

You can see other pictures and regular updates on their Facebook pages.

A Time of Renewal in Beaumont

It had been six years since the Hope E Free Church from Springfield, Illinois had been to visit their Sister Church in Beaumont, Haiti.  Both churches were extremely excited to be reunited after so much time apart.  It was exciting for them to see familiar faces and to make new friends.  It was exciting to see how the church body had grown and how committed Pastor Visene was to building up the community in both body and spirit. 

Members of the team were all from the youth group, either members or leaders.  So it was a great to be able to cast the vision of the C3 Partnership Model to a new, fresh set of hearts and minds. 

The team stayed busy!  They visited two satellite churches (one of which was an hour away on foot!) and had a time of worship with them and shared a brief message.  Two afternoons, the team visited widows and shut-ins, and some of the lost in the community.  At each home, they delivered food, shared the gospel to those who weren’t saved, and prayed for each person.  In addition to these visits, the team participated in the Sunday morning service, an open air service, a deacon’s meeting, a youth meeting, and a children’s meeting. 
Sunday morning Pastor Visene challenged the congregation.  He said, RMI Administrator, Benjamin had shared with him about another recent open air service where over three hundred people attended.  He challenged the congregation to come and to invite their friends and neighbors so that next time, Benjamin would share about how amazed he was at how many people had showed up in Beaumont!  While no one did a head count, Sunday night truly was a great turn out and the space where the service was held was full.  The worship was passionate, two team members shared their testimonies and another team member shared a powerful gospel message.  It was a great service indeed!  A great service which was just part of a great week all together. 

Below: Praying with one of the widows that received food during one of the afternoon visits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Team members hand out food at one of the satellite visits.
Below: RMI Staff members Perguens and Manno, Pastor Visene and the team after the deacon’s meeting.  Deacons are all wearing shirts the team gave them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a renewed passion for the ministry, a renewed love for their Sister Church family, and a renewed vision for the future, it was a special week rebuilding and reaffirming their love for one another; a time of renewal in Beaumont.

More pics can be seen here.

Getting things done in Dame Marie

Calvary Baptist came in ready to work! 
In just five days, with a the team of 11, they accomplished:
A Sunday Morning Service, an Open Air Meeting where five people accepted Christ, a Deacon’s Meeting, a Children’s Meeting,  Ladies Tea,  Tuesday Evening Service,  a Deworming Clinic Training for satellite church pastors, Deworming Clinics at 5 satellite churches with 4500 people receiving medicine, 18 goats given to church members, and 32 water filters installed (with 13 more left behind which will be installed)! They were busy!

Part of the team heading out to install water filters

Hope for Kidz Meeting

A church member receiving a goat as a gift.

It was a great week of fellowship, loving on one another as family, and getting things done for the kingdom!
More pics from the week can be seen here.

Time for a change

It is time for a change in perspective.  The media grabs up the bad news, yet ignores the good.  For a dose of the good in Haiti, take a moment to enjoy this video.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=442608885831857

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Vacations have a way of changing your perspective.  We all know it’s good to take a break.  Missionaries need that too.  As we say…if you don’t come apart, you will soon come A PART!  Rob and Becky Thompson are currently on vacation – making time for fun, relaxation, and family.  They’re on a grand adventure exploring the other half of the island (the Dominican Republic) as well as a few Haitian historical sites.  Pray that God will refresh their souls, rejuvenate their hearts and enable them to reconnect with one another.  If you keep an eye on Facebook, you are sure to see updates on how things are going for them.

We went to the tip of the Island…

Last week, Drew and I had the opportunity to go with Harper EFC, of Port Orchard, WA to visit their partnering church in Les Irois, Haiti.  It was a great week!  It is truly at far western tip of Haiti.  On a clear day, you would almost think you could see Cuba from there.

Right away, I could see that the team from Harper LOVED the people of Les Irois, but especially the children of Les Irois.  They have for many years been largely invested in RMI’s Hope for Kidz program.  It was evident.  They came prepared to love on those kids like I have not seen before.

While there, I watched as a long term partnership between these 2 churches further blossom and deepen.  It was a joy to listen to their prayers, to watch the way they did life together, to see the constant fellowship filled with laughter and sharing, to see the reunions upon their arrival, and even the moment of separation upon their departure.

While out there, we visited 3 satellite churches in the Les Irois district.  We visited Mandou, Carcasse, and Merise.  At each place, the team took careful time to encourage and be encouraged by the ministry of presence.  At Mandou, it was a joy for the team to see progress on the parsonage that Harper church has invested heavily in.  Soon there will be a roof so the pastor and his wife can move in.

There was a gathering for the ladies, a gathering for the youth, a gathering for the Hope for Kidz children. There were worship services.  There was an evangelistic service.  Each of these gatherings went so well.  All were encouraged in the faith.

This is only the second time I had the opportunity to take Drew with me on a partnership team visit.  Each time he goes, he gets better at figuring out how to do life in a village in the presence of a team.  To be honest, he struggles with so many eyes and so much attention on him.  He battles his desire to help translate and be involved, along with his fears and spirit of timidity.  With age and maturity, I totally expect him to grow into a strong leader.  He and I talk all the time about leadership.  My job is to be gentle, to remember he is only 8, and to not put too much pressure on him!  It’s fun to watch.  His latest 3 leadership lessons are that a leader must  (1.) know where they are going, (2.) know how to get there, and (3.) look back and make sure others are following.

Many more pictures can be seen here.

Rob

An AWESOME Visit to a very REMOTE Church…

We were really “out there” in Chardonette, Haiti.  Crossroads Community Church, of Doylestown, OH, came for their very first C3 Partnership visit a few weeks back.  I had the privilege of going with them.  We changed lives.  We were changed.

From the moment we arrived, the marriage between Crossroads Community Church, Chardonette Church, and RMI was real.  It is hard to put my finger on it, but there was something different, something special in the air.  There was such warmth and joy.  There was a true collaborative humble spirit.  There was an immediate mutual desire to reach out to the community with the Gospel.  There was a quick bond, only possible by the mutual love of Christ, and therefore a love of one another.  It was truly special to have experienced it.

Chardonette is a church that is stuck.  To be honest, they are on the bottom rung of the development ladder.  Injustices were everywhere.  Clean water is an issue.  There is no school building.  The parsonage walls are mud and the roof is rusted and full of holes.  The one room church is crumbling.  There is no electricity.  They are off the beaten path and therefore have little hope of external support.  They are full of the Spirit, but empty of resources. To be honest, they were only considered as a next Sister Church since RMI saw their situation, stepped in and added them.  This church is pretty much forgotten. No special treatment for them. We roughed it a bit.  But the people of Chardonette who hosted us, the 15 US team members, and the 8 RMI staff members all took it in stride since it was all for Jesus.

What did we do?  As we say so often, our partnership visits are much about presence.  When a friend or family member is sick in the hospital, what do you do?  You go and stand by their side.  Surely, you look for opportunities to do something tangible as those opportunities arise, but the visit is most about presence.  It is about standing together, encouraging and praying with one another.  Even being silent…. simply being present.  This was realized.

Having said that, Crossroads Community Church did some very tangible things that clearly made a difference.  Together, we walked far and visited homes of believers and unbelievers alike.  We visited the homes (each strategically chosen by the local church) of widows, of the desperately poor, the blind and broken, of the unsaved.  Each received a bucket of food, prayer, and the Gospel.  Out of about 25 homes that we visited, we saw about 5 people submit to the Lordship of Christ and pray to receive Him as their savior. We traveled to another even more remote church to encourage and bless them with some food, 1 hour UP a hand-made mountain road that was only accessible by low 4 wheel drive.  Truly, this is what God called us to do as believers.

We played games with kids and adults like I have never seen before.  We worshipped.  We prayed.  We ate.  We talked.  We dreamed.  We hiked.  We shared.  We cried.  We sweated. We laughed.  We lived the life that Jesus called us to.

Many more pictures are available here.

Rob

Greg and Star Have Their Tickets!

It’s final, August 19 Greg and Star Harvie will be flying to Haiti!

They have worked hard, visiting churches, traveling and meeting with people and God has answered and provided their funds in amazing, sometimes unexpected and exciting way.  He has used many people to make it possible for them to set their date and buy those tickets.

They attended 4 weeks of missionary training school in Colorado.  This training was designed to help them develop the practical skills and attitudes that will successfully take them through the challenging and rewarding process of being interwoven with another culture.  They learned a lot, made life-long friends and had fun doing it too. 

In June Greg and Star were busy with the business of packing and moving.  They sorted through their belongings, packed what they wanted to keep and held an auction for the things they needed to get rid of.  They sold their house – in record time, especially for a small town.  The container was packed June 22 with the help of friends.  (And in the allotted tiny window of 2 hours.)  It was an adventure – the first of many!  Not many people move internationally when they move.  There was extra room, so they were able to take down equipment and supplies for RMI’s ministry. 

The container traveled by truck to a rail yard that transported it to a New York ship yard.  It was loaded on a ship and set sail July 11.  Pray for it’s safe arrival, a speedy pathway through customs and all of that red tape then safe travels as it is trucked to Cayes.  This is usually a 2-3 month process.

Since then they’ve made their last visits with their 2 girls as well as other family and their many friends.  They stopped by Camp Joy, where they’d been the Camp Director before coming with RMI.  They were blessed to have the camp say a prayer of dedication over them.

Greg will be wearing several hats: Project supervisor, garage supervisor and maintenance supervisor.  He’ll be a very busy man and his many talents will be well used.

Star will be working with the RMI Field Director and RMI’s national Director in the office.  She’ll help in many other ways in the RMI Cayes office.  Her many talents are badly needed and she’ll be kept very busy too.

God’s provision of Greg and Star for RMI’s ministry in Haiti is very timely.  When Gary and Marilyn McLaughlin left in May, they left a very big hole.  Greg and Star aren’t taking over everything that the McLaughlin’s were doing, but they’ll help fill that hole.  They actually will be living in the McLaughlin’s house, though!  It’s been painted, repaired and is ready for them to move in.

We are looking forward to having them in the RMI Office for a couple of days before they have a day or two of R & R before they board the plane.

Pray for them in these final days.  There’s always a lot of details to take care of, more family and friends to visit – one always wishes there were just a few more days to get things done. 

Thanks to everyone who has had a part of praying for and giving to the Harpies' ministry.  You can keep up to date with them on Facebook and their blog HERE.

Video communicates it better

It’s difficult to communicate what being on a team to Haiti is like, what kinds of things you see and experience as well as how it affects your life.  It’s hard to show all of that in pictures because you can’t capture the sounds and “feel” of the moment. 
Video is much more effective.  Recently Kristopher King of E Video Productions went with a group from Calvary Baptist Church (Pemberton, NJ) when they visited their Sister Church in Dame Marie.  He spent the week documenting the trip.   Upon returning home he faced the challenge of editing 25 hours of footage and 600 photos. 
Kris has done a great job putting these videos together.  They are broken down into 6 parts, 1 for each day.  Be warned, though…they are not short, but they are worthwhile to watch.  If you want to know what a trip with RMI to Haiti is like, if you want to know what you’ll see, hear and experience or if you have gone on a trip and want to be reminded of the things you went through and what God taught you while you were there – then set aside some time and watch as this team from New Jersey goes to their Sister Church to transform lives ---- and finds themselves transformed in the process.
This is part 1 (10 minutes).

Credit: Kristopher King, E Video Productions

Part 2 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6o6Hd4gPHg.  21 minutes
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVOQrflp2ts.  15 minutes
Part 4:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BYVUzCTWfg.  9 minutes
Part 5:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGKt1K8G5KU.  19 minutes
Part 6:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHI6USC7oL0.  10 minutes
Thank Kris, for this labor of love and your willingness to be used of God.
(We’re going to be featuring this again so those who miss it can have a chance to see it.)

Pastors Meeting 2013

For several weeks now, the Florida office has been unveiling the new RMI strategic plan and marketing materials to the public in order to communicate more effectively who we are and what we are working towards in Haiti. 
Last week here on the field in Haiti, we met with the pastors of our Sister Churches, a couple of the pastors wives, and even pastors from some of the satellite churches in order to do the same unveiling for them.  Forty-five people crowded under our back porch to hear about all the new and exciting ways RMI is growing and the strategic plan we have to lead us into the future. 
It was a great time of sharing with them ; the new plan and strategies were received with much excitement. 
Pastors were introduced to our new staff, Mannou, Frantz, Pierre Rony and Patrick (a former Hope for Kidz staff). These men are being trained as team facilitators and will eventually be leading teams on their own, just as Benjamin, Benson and Perguens do now.  Rob shared a devotion with the group.  He also revealed the new strategic plan to them.  Benjamin talked to the pastors about sister church visits, the good job they’ve been doing, as well as ways they can improve for the future as we work together as a team.  Benson shared with them about the Hope for Kidz program.  Pastors were given a chance to share, ask questions and give feedback.  It was a great time of collaboration as we talked about RMI’s vision for the future and about all God is doing in and through our C3 Partnerships. 

The meeting was closed with a great meal prepared by the Guest House Staff, Madame Ti Jean, Didine, and contract staff Emilye.  (There are no pictures of the meal- we were all too busy eating!)
it was a great day of sharing, listening, and uniting our hearts and minds together, motivating one another towards the future; a future with more partnerships, more kids in school, more hungry folks fed, more houses built, more people serving their community, giving sacrificially, and living out the gospel in tangible and practical ways and most importantly more lives transformed by the power of Christ. 
More pictures from the meeting can be seen here (Do you see your Sister Church Pastor in the crowd?!)

Discipling the Nations

A few months back, the young adults at Crossroad studied the habits of a disciple of Christ.  When they begin planning for the trip to Tiburon, Haiti and for the Youth Conference that would take place, they decided on the same theme; Habits (Abitid in Creole). 
 Monday morning before the team could even finish breakfast youth were already lining up outside the church!  Excitement was in the air.  The team put last minute details in place and opened the doors to the waiting youth; and in they flooded!  Upon registering each attendee was presented a bible.  Over the two days, close to 300 bibles were given out! 
Participants came mostly from the area, including youth from the local Church of God.  When given their bible, they were given the choice of a French or Creole Bible and through out the conference, anytime a scripture was read, volunteers were asked to stand and read out loud, reading from both the French and Creole Bibles.  It was all about getting them into the habit of using the word of God as a tool.  The young folks loved the chance to participate and sometimes raced to be first to the mic.

The youth from TIbruon lead the worship and got the crowd motivated everyday and then the team members led the sessions, each leading one; each talking about how to grow as a Christian and the different aspects of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. 
During the two day conference, the youth were taught six ways to grow as a Christian: Hear God, Read the Bible, Fast and Abstain, Meet with Other Believers, Tithe, and Serve One Another.  They were also given some practical applications for each of the six habits. 

As part of the conference, Crossroad Church provided lunch to every participant so that all three hundred (plus) young folks had a good meal to keep them strong and energized.

Before the conference started on Monday, the team spent the weekend hanging out with their Sister Church Family, meeting with the Pastor, visiting some of the kids they sponsor in the area, and visiting a satellite church not far from the church itself.  For Pastor Lance, Crossroad’s Pursue/Go {Missions} Pastor, as well as some of the other team members who had never been to Haiti with RMI, it was a chance to better understand the partnership, to see the ministry in action, and to fall in love with their Haitian brothers and sisters in Tiburon. 

The rest of the pictures from the week can be seen here.

RMI 2.0, part 3

Like the boy throwing starfish back into the ocean, we know we can't help all of Haiti, but we can make a difference in a specific church and community.  However, to be effective, there has to be a plan set forth - a strategy.  RMI's Starfish Strategy is that strategic, long range plan. 

The Starfish Strategy provides a structure for long term planning and evaluation.  In it's entirety it is a comprehensive strategy to make maximum impact on a church and community.  This  strategy comes in 3 parts.

Part 1 -  The Process

Connect - Connect with your Sister Church and the community it is in.
Assess - Together with RMI, the Haitian church’s needs are assessed through the grid of five Strategic Impact Points.
Equip - Together with RMI, your church or team is equipped with all that is needed for the assessed project or ministry.
Implement - Together with your Sister Church, the ministry or  project is implemented either through a team activity or facilitated directly via RMI.
Transform - The desired end result of the ministry or project is to see lives transformed spiritually, physically, socially,  and/or economically.

Part 2 - Strategic Impact Point Grid

The Strategic Impact Point Grid is the foundation of the Starfish Strategy.  Everything revolves around these points. Our Process assesses the needs in each point.  And our phases make sure we are engaged in each point in a progressing manner.  We want to make sure that a C3 Partnership is engaged in all 5 of these areas:
Evangelism
Discipleship
Social Compassion
Education
Community Development
It is through this they are able to preach “the whole Gospel”.  They are impacting not just the spiritual but also the emotional, physical, social, and economic needs of those in the church and community.  All the while preaching Christ by being the voice, hands, and feet of Jesus through every aspect of their partnership together.

Part 3 - Implementation Pathway

There are 5 phases in the Implementation Pathway. 

Encourage

Enable

Engage

Envision

Empower

Each of these phases build on the one before.  A significant new emphasis is on reaching out into the community.  The first 2 1/2 phases are aimed at strengthening the church itself.  The last 2 1/2 are aimed at reaching out as the hands and feet of Jesus into the community.

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As you can see, RMI’s Starfish strategy will become the driving force for our C3 Partnerships.  This will enable our partnerships to have measureable and effective goals and strategies to enable them to have long-term strategic impact in their churches and communities.

Do you know of a church that is looking for this type of strategic impact in their missions program?  We would be glad to contact them to share how a C3 Partnership along with the Starfish Strategy could energize their missions impact.  Contact RMI at 239-368-8390, or via email at rmioffice.florida@rminet.org. 

RMI 2.0, part 2

Connected Church to Church Partnerships
RMI is Connecting Churches Cross-culturally

The Sister Church Program has a new name!  Another sign of growth and a result of the re-branding process is the changing of the Sister Church Program name to C3 Partnerships.  The name change will enable us to better connect with today's church leaders.  It also aptly describes what our anchor program does: it connects church to church partnerships.  We enable churches from different cultures to connect with one another in a long-term strategic partnership.  A church becomes a "C3 partner" with a Sister Church in Haiti.  Once a church becomes a C3 Partner, then we begin to refer to their relationship using our normal "Sister Church" terminology.  It'll take some conscious re-training of our minds to make this change, especially for all of you who have been with RMI for a while.

Believe it or not, this is the first time our foundational program actually has it's own logo.  We are very happy to introduce it to you here.  We would be glad for you to use the new logo in your church, for publicizing your Sister Church, in your videos or other presentations.  Please email Debbie Shoemaker at debbie.shoemaker@rminet.org to ask for the appropriate format file for your purposes.

This change and the Starfish Strategy are meant to grow, enhance, strengthen and mature the C3 Partnerships.  We want to drive the relationships with a solid direction and purpose so they will have strategic and maximum impact on their Sister Churches.  This is why we've developed and defined the Starfish Strategy.  It will take a while to change our mindsets, and educate everyone familiar with the "old" Sister Church Program, but hopefully when all is said and done, the words "oh dear, our dates to go to Haiti are coming up -- what on earth are we going to do this time when we're there?" will not have to be uttered again.  RMI is working with our staff in Haiti to educate and shepherd our Haitian Sister Church Partners in this long term strategic planning for their churches as well.

Next week we will introduce you to the Starfish Strategy and it's 3 part logo.  Developing this has really added solid meat onto the "bones" of the  "old" Sister Church Program.  It has already been shared with several new and established Partnership churches.  It's been received with overwhelming enthusiasm.  One statement we heard from a new church prospect was that this was something the church could really "sink their teeth into". 

2013 Ladies’ Missionary Retreat

Last weekend we held the annual Ladies’ Missionary Retreat at RMI’s Retreat Center in Zanglais, Haiti.  This is the third year that Amy and I have organized this event, and RMI has been planning/sponsoring it for many, many years.  This is a weekend the missionary ladies look forward to every year, and it seems the excitement has grown each year since I have been here.  This year we had 40 missionary ladies in attendance: a record number for Amy and me!

Our theme was “Learning to Listen: An Invitation to Sacred Stillness.”  Our speakers, Pauline McLemore, MS, EdS and Jama White, PsyD, came from the Chattanooga, TN area.  The theme verse was Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”  Throughout the weekend we were challenged to cease striving and be still before God, were given tools to aid us in listening to God during our quiet times, looked at Jesus’ example of engaging in ministry and relationships and then retreating for rest, and discussed the story of Mary and Martha.  These are just a few examples of the Biblical “meat” we had the opportunity to feast on during the weekend.  Just living life in Haiti is tiring and it’s easy to get caught up in ministry and doing.  A weekend to refresh and bask in God’s Word was just what we all needed. The worship times were very meaningful.  It is very enjoyable and refreshing to be able to worship and be taught from God’s Word in my heart language (English.)
Of course we all look forward to the fellowship!  We had a good amount of down time worked into the weekend.  We were able to spend that time with the Lord, relaxing alone or having fun with each other.  We watched a movie on the big screen, played a massive game of Catch Phrase as well as numerous other group games, enjoyed the beach and the amazing view of the Caribbean, and just had a great time together.  We had a planned craft time and decoupaged candle holders. 
As much as we like Haitian food, this was a weekend free of Haitian food!  Amy worked hard to create a special menu for us.  We enjoyed a more “American” fare and definitely ate well!  Amy also did a great job decorating for the retreat, making it feel like a very special event.

It’s weekends like this that make me thankful for this amazing community we have here in Haiti.  I so appreciate these relationships and the opportunity to strengthen them.
Overall, it was a great weekend to refresh and rest our souls, to be still with God and have a good time with each other!
~Becky