Some goals for my Haiti trip this week

Tomorrow morning at 4:30 AM - Dan Palmer and I will arrive at the Ft Lauderdale aiport to prepare for departure on a small charter plan into Cap-Haitien, Haiti. It is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti. Grace church has been involved with this city for the last 10 years sending over 100 short-term missionaries and also sending several full-time missionaries who still reside there.  We will be visiting Haiti this week with some very specific objectives.

1. Interview Pastor Miguelson and Pastor James and allow them to interview us in order to explore a church to church partnership with their church in Cap-Haitien. They pastor a church that is respected in the region and has influence on many other churches and pastors.  We would love to pool influence, resources, and expertise in order to continue to  bring the gospel to Haiti. 


2. If it appears to be a good fit for partnership, our next step will be to explore exactly what that partnership would look like and how it would impact the lives of individuals in each of our congregations.  This can't just be a leadership partnership, but one that is felt and experienced deep into the seats in our churches.  If it doesn't seem like a good fit - we will begin to investigate other partnership options.

3. Encourage the missionaries. There are full time missionaries from Grace Church stationed there including Bud and Jane Dennington and Kate Zlotnicki. We also have a relationship with many of the missionaries stationed on the OMS compound as well as the Ayers who serve as leaders of the local seminary.  I'll be sharing with the seminary students as well as on the local radio station. We hope to be an encouragement to the local missionaries who have given their lives to serve in a very difficult situation.

I'm also planning to visit the child that my family sponsors here through Starfish Kids. It's going to be a blast to meet him and his family in person.  My kids have drawn pictures and sent along gifts for he and his brothers and sisters. I can't wait.