By the time most of you read this article, CPC’s mission team to Haiti will be there . . . si Dye vle (Creole for “if the Lord wills”). As many of you know Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispanola which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is a country of contrasts and contradictions. It is only 750 miles from West Palm Beach, Florida (about the distance from Chattanooga to West Palm), but it is truly a world away. While it was once one of the richest colonies in the world during the eighteenth century, today it is among the five poorest countries in the world — the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The world’s economic downturn and four major hurricanes striking the country this summer has only deepened Haiti’s woes. Haiti is a country of stunning beauty existing side-by-side with abject poverty and depressing conditions. The second oldest “republic” (given Haiti’s on-going political strife and corruption, it’s very generous to characterize it as a “republic”) in the Western hemisphere, Haiti has been described as “American by geography, French by language, and African by tradition.”
Si Dye vle, our team will be in the north central plateau region of the country, in the community of Bohoc, working closely with the mission agency, Haitian American Friendship Foundation (HAFF). HAFF is a supported mission work of CPC.
Bev Fowler, Terri Jackson, Mike Walker, Gerald Schreiner, Leigh Alvarez, Danielle Moss, Dick Fessel, Dawson Gladding, Diana Crawford, my wife, Boo, and son, Kyle, and I will comprise this year’s team.
Some of the ministry opportunities our team plans to be involved in are: operating mobile medical/dental clinics in remote areas of the north central plateau, helping in the medical clinic on the campus at HAFF, teaching some classes and leading chapel programs in the Bohoc school at the HAFF mission, repairing the roof of HAFF’s administration building and the roof of the mission school’s headmaster’s house (both heavily damaged by recent hurricanes), general help and encouragement to missionaries, preaching in Haitian churches, teaching and conducting a pastors/church leadership training conference, and various outreach and evangelistic opportunities in local churches and villages. Please keep us in your prayers.
Speaking of missions. . . November 14 - 16 is our annual missions conference. I greatly anticipate such times of concentrated focus on worldwide missions. Momentum is building for the events of that weekend. John and Kathy Clow and their family will be here. The Clows are MTW missionaries serving in Mexico with I-55 Ministries. Many from our congregation have visited and worked hand-in-hand with the Clows in Mexico. James and Karen Ashley,
longtime friends and CPC-supported missionaries, will be here. The Ashleys serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific. Larry and Jane Neiswender, also serving with Wycliffe in its corporate offices in Orlando, will join us for the weekend. Another conference participant will be Bill Evans. Bill, along with his family, has been serving with MTW in Scotland. “Our” Dr. Dan Steere and wife, Susan, will be here. Dan, who is with Equipping Pastors International, will preach in both Sunday services.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Salvation to the Nations” . . . taken from Psalm 67:2. May God be pleased to use this year’s conference to inform, equip and motivate us all to faithfully declare His great salvation to the nations.
Pastor Mullinax