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Archives For November 30, 1999

Going where the Gospel hasn’t been

Meredith Flynn —  January 17, 2014
IBSA's Mark Emerson (left) and Harold Booze from Woodland Baptist in Peoria (right) stand with a village chief in West Africa.

IBSA’s Mark Emerson (left) and Harold Booze from Woodland Baptist in Peoria (right), with a village chief in West Africa.

COMMENTARY | Mark Emerson

My wife recently downloaded and played for me Scott Wesley Brown’s classic song “Please Don’t Send Me To Africa.” It brought back memories of college chapel services and the annual mission challenge to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Tammie played the song for me because as I write this, I’m getting ready to join four Illinois Baptist pastors on a mission trip to the very continent Scott Wesley Brown was praying God wouldn’t send him.

Among missiologists there is a growing debate on the effectiveness of such short-term trips. Should we really go to Africa? Here are a few insights God has laid on my heart.

First, I’m going to Africa because God commanded me to go. Some would say there really doesn’t need to be another point. God has said it and that settles it. When the Lord shared that we should “go into all the world and take the Gospel to every creature,” He wasn’t directing the challenge only to a small group of disciples at that particular time. He was including you and me. God was declaring that we are the instruments He has chosen to take the Gospel to the world.

The second reason I’m going is because there are people who need the Gospel. In Africa our team will visit UUPG’s – “Unreached, Unengaged People Groups.” These groups are less than 2% Christian and do not have an indigenous church planting strategy. Simply put, there are few believers and no churches. I have never been to a place where the Gospel hasn’t been. The privilege of being able to share the story of Jesus around the village fire to those who will hear it for the first time has captured my heart.

And finally, I’m going to Africa because it may help others to go! Many groups are unreached in our world because it is hard to get the Gospel to them. I have led numerous groups to fairly easy locations, many have gone, but we followed multitudes that had already been there.

Going to West Africa is hard. Inoculations are expensive; airfare is expensive, travel conditions are difficult, living conditions are outside our comfort zones. But millions are dying without Christ. If I go, maybe someone would be willing to go with me, or better yet, see going as not so difficult. Pastor Kevin Carrothers from Rochester First Baptist Church is going with me in hopes of helping volunteers in Capital City Association engage an unreached people group. He is going so others can go.

I may have returned by the time you read this article. If so, I would love to share with you how God opened doors and used our team to share the Gospel. I would also love to share with you how your gifts through the Cooperative Program have provided full-time IMB missionaries who are working on your behalf to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I will get to work alongside several of our missionaries during this trip. They are anxiously awaiting the opportunity of working alongside you in Africa and all over the world. Consider going!

Mark Emerson is IBSA’s associate executive director of missions.

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Trafficking victim’s testimony calls teens to action

Meredith Flynn —  January 7, 2014

Tuesday_BriefingTHE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

“The reason I am here is because I don’t want to have to rescue you.” 

Tajuan McCarty stood in front of more than 100 teenage girls and their leaders in November, pulling no punches as she told her story. Speaking in short, unflinching sentences, she explained how she was pushed into prostitution at age 15, and trafficked into every state except Hawaii and Alaska over the next 11 years.

“I am a survivor of trafficking.”

McCarty is founder and director of The Wellhouse, a ministry that rescues women trapped in the same kind of life that once enslaved her. Headquartered in Birmingham, The Wellhouse is in a prime location to fight trafficking along I-20, known as the sex trafficking superhighway. She also helps raise awareness about the global problem that is deeply entrenched in the United States.

McCarty has been a Christian for four years, so her message begins with this: All women are beautiful, because they’re made in God’s image.

“If you walk away from here thinking prostitution is a choice and/or she’s doing it because she’s on drugs, I have not done my job,” McCarty told a captivated audience at AWSOM, an annual missions event for young women in Illinois. Drugs are only a symptom of the problem, she added.

“At The Wellhouse, what we try to do is reach the core of the problem. And yes, we introduce them to Jesus because that is the only way to heal people.”

Read more in the new Illinois Baptist, online at http://ibonline.IBSA.org.

Other news:

New missions housing opens in Chicagoland
The new home of the Chicago Metro Baptist Association also has room for volunteers serving in the city. The Rockwell Street building’s 9,000 square feet on three floors have been remodeled into several large spaces for mission teams to stay, plus a chapel/meeting space, and in the basement a large dining hall and full commercial kitchen. And nine showers. At $15 per mission tripper per night, “it’s a clean, affordable, functional place,” said Jay Noh, “and I am prayerfully optimistic that many more churches will be able to bring groups to minister in the city.” Read more here, and check out page 6 of the newest Illinois Baptist for information about another mission housing opportunity in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield.

Rainer blogs 14 trends for 2014
LifeWay President Thom Rainer’s predictions for 2014 include more megachurches, downsized denominations, smaller worship centers and a stronger focus on small groups. Read more of his 14 predictions for churches at ThomRainer.com. (Note: Predictions are split into two posts.)

Creation Museum president vs. Science Guy in evolution debate
The president of a museum dedicated to creationism will soon debate Bill “the Science Guy” Nye on evolution. Ken Ham, president of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., and Nye will engage in a sold-out public debate at the museum on Feb. 4. “It is an important debate to have as we deal with the question, ‘Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?'” Ham posted on his blog.

Nye, host of TV’s “Bill Nye the Science Guy” in the mid-1990s, made headlines last year with a YouTube video calling creationism inappropriate for kids. A recent study by Pew Research found 60% of Americans believe in evolution. Read more about the survey here, and go to anwersingenesis.org for more about the debate, which also will be live streamed.

Most popular Scripture passages of 2013
According to analysis shared on ChristianityToday.com, Philippians 4:13 was the most popular verse on the YouVersion Bible app last year, followed by Isaiah 40:31, Matthew 6:13, Joshua 1:9, and Philippians 4:6. Read YouVersion’s top 10 shared verses of 2013 at ChristianityToday.com.

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One year after Hurricane Sandy, the relief effort continues

Meredith Flynn —  October 29, 2013

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

The North American Mission Board has coordinated a clean-up effort in the Northeast for almost one full year, since the super storm swept through New Jersey and New York. Watch the video below for how Southern Baptist volunteers have helped in the region, and click here for more information about how to help, including Christmas and Spring Break opportunities for college students.

Mohler bridges divide at BYU
Christians and Mormons “inhabit separate and irreconcilable theological worlds,” Al Mohler told an audience at Brigham Young University. But the Southern Seminary president added the two groups should work together to address threats to religious liberty, Baptist Press reports.

“I do not mean to exaggerate, but we are living in the shadow of a great moral revolution that we commonly believe will have grave and devastating human consequences,” Mohler said in his lecture, part of the Mormon university’s “Faith, Family and Society” series. Christians and Mormons must together “push back against this age as hard as it is pressing against us,” Mohler said. “We had better press hard, for this age is pressing ever harder against us.” Read the full story at BPNews.net.

Life is complicated, most say
Two-thirds of all adults say life is getting more complicated, and 71% of evangelicals agree. The findings by Barna may indicate evangelicals and Catholics – 71% of whom also agreed – are recognizing “a growing disparity between the rhythms and values of their faith and the demands of a rapidly changing culture,” the researchers analyzed. Read more about Barna’s “three trends redefining the information age” here.

Conference examines C.S. Lewis’ popularity in America
Author C.S. Lewis was more celebrated here than in his own country, say the organizers of a one-day conference at Wheaton College. To mark the 50th anniversary of Lewis’ death, the college is hosting “C.S. Lewis and American Culture,” a one-day seminar featuring speakers on a variety of Lewis-related topics. For more information about the conference, click here. And ChristianityToday.com recently published a really interesting profile of Lewis’ wife marriage to Joy Davidman. Read it here.

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Happy 100th Birthday, GA’s

Meredith Flynn —  October 10, 2013

COMMENTARY | Meredith Flynn

On some Wednesday evenings, if I listen really hard, I can still hear it:

Girls in action, girls in action, missions growing and mission action. Praying, giving money, so the world may know that Jesus loves…

The jaunty chorus bounced out of a third floor classroom at our church every Wednesday at 6:45 p.m., heralding the beginning of our weekly GA meeting. It was in GA’s – the aforementioned Girls in Action – that I first learned most of what I still understand about missions.

This year, as the organization created by Southern Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union celebrates its 100th birthday, I’ve been remembering the most important piece of information I received from GA’s: I could do missions.

Every week our teacher, Mrs. Briggs, led us through 45 minutes of good things: international snacks, missionary stories, and the occasional letter from an overseas pen pal. As we prayed and ate and learned and gave, missionaries became more real to us. They were our heroes, yes, but they were also normal people who even wrote us letters sometimes. So, as I grew up and became a normal person, I never questioned that if God so purposed, he could use me as a missionary.

That’s why missions education is still important, because we are far more likely to try the things we think we can do. We GA’s (and the RA’s in the boys’ class next door) heard week after week that there is always something we can do to support the advance of the Gospel. We lost the excuses of “I can’t,” or “The task is too big,” or “I’m just one person.” The ways Southern Baptists cooperate to reach the world are compelling, even to a third grader. And when we saw that we had a place within that cooperative system, the missions potential felt limitless.

Every Wednesday night now as I sit in my community group (where, sadly, we have not once had egg rolls or baklava), I’m reminded of the lessons I learned more than 20 years ago. Mrs. Briggs and her volunteers played a part in my decision to go on my first international mission trip this summer. And their counsel back then reminds me that I’m called and equipped to be on mission, here and now.

Meredith Flynn is managing editor of the Illinois Baptist newspaper.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 2

Meredith Flynn —  September 16, 2013

MIO_blogDAY 2: Watch “Share Christ”

Gosen Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is a large building with silk flowers hanging from the ceiling. Illinois volunteers helped build this church over three weeks last November. Cinderblocks with artful designs cut out of them make up the windows, and the doors are always open.

When Meredith and her team went there to work in July, they met at the church building to sing and pray together. Then they went to work building houses in a community hard-hit by Haiti’s earthquake in 2010.

This team was one of many from Illinois serving on international mission trips, creating long-term relationships and sharing Christ with people around the world. In fact, more than 25,000 Baptists from Illinois are engaged in missions and mission trips each year.

Read: Jonah 1:10-16; Habakkuk 2:14

Think: How does God use catastrophic events, such as storms and earthquakes, to reveal Himself and His plans?

Pray for IBSA’s Bob Elmore, who helps arrange mission trips, including several each year to Haiti. Pray for your church’s next mission trip.

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Mission Illinois Week of Prayer: Day 1

Meredith Flynn —  September 15, 2013

MIO_blogHEARTLAND | More and more, churches in Illinois are responsible for missions in Illinois. This is where we live, work, shop, and go to school. This is where our families, friends, and neighbors live – 13 million of them. And at least 8 million don’t yet know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

In the face of such great spiritual need, some of our denominational partners are focusing on church planting as their main method of evangelism. That is a worthy tactic. But it means that Illinois Baptists must make up the difference in other areas that are still fertile for advancing the Gospel. We must focus on missions that remain vital to us here in Illinois, including compassion and crisis ministries, outreach on college campuses and in inner cities, and the education and mobilization of church members for missions. Children, students, and families in Illinois need the life-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Illinois churches need help in dozens of ways that are funded only by Illinois Baptists.

Many of these ministries and missions efforts would not be possible if not for the Week of Prayer and Offering for state missions each September.

DAY 1: Watch “Partner to Plant”

Pastor Peters is passionate about winning lost people. Perhaps it’s because as a kid growing up in Chicago, he never heard the Gospel. Or because so many family and friends still living there do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. “We have to win the cities, because that’s where the people are,” Peters says of the teeming metro areas. Pastoring a church near St. Louis, Peters has led his congregation to engage in ministries nearby. And he has led them to partner with several churches in metro Chicago.

Read: Jonah 1:1-9; Isaiah 62:6-7

Think: Is our reaction to big cities and people we don’t know more like Jonah’s opinion of Nineveh, or Pastor Peters’ feelings about Chicago?

Pray for the 200 places in Illinois already identified as needing an evangelical church. Pray for IBSA churches to pray, partner with existing churches, and plant new churches.

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Young author donates book proceeds to Haiti relief

Meredith Flynn —  August 26, 2013
“Leila’s Big Difference” is 7-year-old Mackenzie Howell’s latest project to help Haiti. Photo by Kristi Burden

“Leila’s Big Difference” is 7-year-old Mackenzie Howell’s latest project to help Haiti. Photo by Kristi Burden

NEWS | August 26, 2013

On the first page of “Leila’s Big Difference” by Mackenzie Howell, a little girl stands with her arms crossed as the words “Too Little” float around her.

As the baby of her Haitian family, Leila sometimes feels held back by her youth. But when a teacher tells her class the story of a young shepherd who kills a giant that’s been menacing his community, it inspires Leila and her schoolmates to band together to make a difference.

First-time author Mackenzie likely can empathize with her main character. The 7-year-old Texan started trying to make a difference in Haiti when she was just five years old. The book is her latest project to raise money for relief efforts in the country where hundreds of thousands were displaced after a massive earthquake three years ago.

The first 400 copies of “Leila’s Big Difference” are nearly sold out, and Mackenzie has spoken at two local churches about the project. Her story was also featured in the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper. She has already sent $1,565 in book sales to the Illinois Baptist State Association for continued work in Haiti.

“When you hear about missions in action, Mackenzie is a true example,” said Bob Elmore, IBSA’s short-term missions coordinator, who has led several mission teams from Illinois to Haiti since the quake. “Her heart was touched by a need, she determined what she could do and didn’t limit herself. Her efforts are truly making a difference.

“This is commendable for anyone, but astounding for a 7-year-old.”

It started two years ago, when Mackenzie saw a TV show about the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and told her mom she wanted to do something to help. The Howells organized a coin drive at her preschool and a bake sale at their church. They raised more than $1,400 and sent the money to International Mission Board missionaries Jo and David Brown, who were instrumental in the re-building process.

The missionaries then connected Mackenzie with Elmore and IBSA’s continued work in Haiti through short-term mission trips. She sent IBSA the proceeds from her next project – selling homemade sidewalk chalk, playdoh, crayons and finger paints through a local mall’s program for enterprising kids. Her donation helped build a church in Port-au-Prince that doubles as a school.

This summer, with a 15-month-old brother in the house, Mackenzie decided she needed a project he couldn’t get in the middle of. “So we decided to do a book,” she said.

She enlisted the help of Jace Theriot, a 9-year-old in the Sunday School class her mom teaches at their church, Hillcrest Baptist in Nederland, Texas. Jace illustrated Mackenzie’s story, giving life to Leila, her kind-hearted teacher Mr. Bertin, and her lush homeland.

The two recently had a signing party where they autographed 150 copies of their book. And ate pizza and cookies, Mackenzie added.

Watching her daughter “gives me such an appreciation of the Lord being willing to use us,” Alison Howell said. “Because for her, the calling is so clear, and we could see how genuine it was, that it reminded me that the Lord really wants to use us.”

Mackenzie corresponded with Elmore as she created the story, e-mailing him questions about Haiti. Alison said he asked the questions of a young boy and girl in Haiti, so Mackenzie could use their input too. The young writer also researched the country online.

“She was so adamant,” Alison said about her daughter’s will to write the book. “And that’s been the really neat thing in this process, that she has wanted to do this. She has had the passion. Not one time has she said, ‘Mom, this is getting old,’ or ‘I don’t want to work on this story.’”

And while the book has made Mackenzie a bit of a local celebrity, her parents are careful to remind her of the spiritual lessons she’s learning.

“One of the things we’ve learned…is how blessed we are to live in America, and how much we have,” Alison said. “And so we’ve tried to teach her that when much is given to you, much is expected from you.”

“Leila’s Big Difference” by Mackenzie Howell is available for order here.

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Coming home

Meredith Flynn —  August 26, 2013
Kids in Haiti crowd around to see themselves in a camera’s tiny screen.

Kids in Haiti crowd around to see themselves in a camera’s tiny screen.

HEARTLAND | Meredith Flynn

Re-entering my everyday life American life after a week in Haiti, I was reminded of

something Mark Emerson said: “We’re pretty good at going away on mission. We may not do as well with coming home.”

Emerson, who leads IBSA’s missions team, said we need a how-to about coming back from a short-term mission trip. Because the emotions run so high during a week in Haiti or inner city Chicago or Bulgaria or East St. Louis, it’s inevitably an adjustment to come back to our normal houses, routines and lives.

It’s not just mission trip participants that are prone to a letdown. Any spiritual mountaintop experience is wonderful when you’re in the middle of it, but it’s hard to come back down to earth. On our last night in Haiti, our team leader Bob Elmore talked about how to come home well. He and others who had been on previous international mission trips cautioned us newbies about the challenges we might run into, and how to counteract a bumpy re-entry. Their counsel focused mostly on how we should interact with people who weren’t on the trip.

One volunteer laughingly told the team about a message she’d received from her parents, gently reminding her that they were going on family vacation the day after she returned to the States and that they would like her to be in a better frame of mind than last year – when she got back, walked into the house, and promptly burst into tears.

The lesson is that others who weren’t on your particular mountaintop may not full grasp the emotional connections you formed with a place and a people in just a week or two. We ought to be patient, speak well, and remember God gives us unique experiences so that we can magnify how great and creative He is.

When we come down from the mountaintop, we also have to be responsible in the stories we tell. It’s tempting to focus on the spider you saw, or how hot it was, or how delicious soda is when it’s made with cane sugar. Say those things – details help people remember and pray – but say them quickly. Get them out of the way so you can talk more about how God worked to transform you and your team, and how He’s at work in parts of the world you rarely or never thought about before.

Make Him the main character in your stories – after all, He’s the one who took you to the mountaintop.

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Haiti: One last photo slideshow

Meredith Flynn —  July 30, 2013

Port-au-Prince | The Illinois volunteers are back home, but still thinking about their experiences in Haiti. Check out the images below, and pray with us for people who heard the Gospel last week, for Haitian pastors and leaders, and for Christians in the country who are reaching their families and friends with the truth of Jesus Christ. And read more about the trip in the August 12 issue of the Illinois Baptist, online at http://ibonline.IBSA.org.

We spent our first night away from home in the Miami airport, waiting to catch an early Sunday morning flight to Port-au-Prince.

We spent our first night away from home in the Miami airport, waiting to catch an early Sunday morning flight to Port-au-Prince.

New Life Children's Home, our oasis and home away from home for the week.

New Life Children’s Home, our oasis and home away from home for the week.

New Life's guest house coordinator, Lisa, shares the rules with the team. (The bus behind her was our transportation from the airport to the children's home.)

New Life’s guest house coordinator, Lisa, shares the rules with the team. (The bus behind her was our transportation from the airport to the children’s home.)

Moses, our first new friend at New Life. The kids there loved to interact with the team, despite our language barrier.

Moses, our first new friend at New Life. The kids there loved to interact with the team, despite our language barrier.

Abby Fleischer speaks a universal language - funny faces - with a child at New Life.

Abby Fleischer speaks a universal language – funny faces – with a child at New Life.

"Jesus Loves Me" in English and Creole painted on an open-air classroom at the children's home.

“Jesus Loves Me” in English and Creole painted on an open-air classroom at the children’s home.

Autumn Wetzler from Waterloo makes a new friend. (This photo was taken right before he colored her face with a blue crayon.)

Autumn Wetzler from Waterloo makes a new friend. (This photo was taken right before he colored her face with a blue crayon.)

New Life takes care of several kids with special needs, including Christine, pictured here with Illinois volunteer Chris Flynn.

New Life takes care of several kids with special needs, including Christine, pictured here with Illinois volunteer Chris Flynn.

Our first day at our work sites: Kids were waiting at the church in Bigarade when we arrived.

Our first day at our work sites: Kids were waiting at the church in Bigarade when we arrived.
Last November, volunteers from Illinois helped build this church.

Pastor

Pastor Estaphat, who leads Gosen Church, led us in a few songs before we walked to our construction sites.

Pastor Estaphat, who leads Gosen Church, led us in a few songs before we walked to our construction sites.

singing_church

Bob Elmore, our leader.

Bob Elmore, our leader.

Many of the houses in Bigarade were built by Baptist Global Response after the January 2010 earthquake.

Many of the houses in Bigarade were built by Baptist Global Response after the January 2010 earthquake.

Late last year, Hurricane Sandy caused this river to flood, damaging homes in Bigarade and sweeping away some of the land built up around the river.

Late last year, Hurricane Sandy caused this river to flood, damaging homes in Bigarade and sweeping away some of the land built up around the river.

damage

To make mortar, we sifted soil to get rid of the largest rocks and mixed the remaining material with concrete and water.

To make mortar, we sifted soil to get rid of the largest rocks and mixed the remaining material with concrete and water.

Our Haitian bosses and their helpers ran the construction sites during the week.

Our Haitian bosses and their helpers ran the construction sites during the week.

Thomas Ogens, who helped coordinate the building projects and deliver supplies, with Pastor Estephat's daughter.

Thomas Ogens, who helped coordinate the building projects and deliver supplies, with Pastor Estephat’s daughter.

The kids loved to fix the volunteers' hair...

The kids loved to fix the volunteers’ hair…

...and play clapping games.

…and play clapping games.

And look at pictures of themselves.

And look at pictures of themselves.

The team also had the opportunity to read the Bible and a discipleship book with our Haitian friends.

The team also had the opportunity to read the Bible and a discipleship book with our Haitian friends.

reading_2

One day after lunch, Sarah Harriss led worship songs with her guitar.

One day after lunch, Sarah Harriss led worship songs with her guitar.

And the team walked through Bigarade singing praise choruses and hymns.

And the team walked through Bigarade singing praise choruses and hymns.

Riley_walking

Some of the great faces we met in Haiti.

Some of the great faces we met in Haiti.

Preparing to put a roof on one of the new houses.

Preparing to put a roof on one of the new houses.

roof

One of the homeowners standing in his new doorway.

One of the homeowners standing in his new doorway.

Bob Elmore leads "Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty" during worship and prayer time on our last morning at the job sites.

Bob Elmore leads “Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty” during worship and prayer time on our last morning at the job sites.

Each morning, we had one prayer in English and one in Creole.

Each morning, we had one prayer in English and one in Creole.

On our last full day in Haiti, we visited Pastor Evens and his church in the rural mountain community of Blanquette.

On our last full day in Haiti, we visited Pastor Evens and his church in the rural mountain community of Blanquette.

Blanquette_2Blanquette

 

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Haiti, Day 7: Final impressions

Meredith Flynn —  July 28, 2013

On our last day in Haiti, the team shares their most memorable moments:

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Autumn Wetzler, Waterloo, first trip to Haiti: It’s hard to pick one. Probably whenever I was out evangelizing and asked an elderly man about what God was doing in his life. He said he accepted Christ in 1981 and that his children were healthy and he was healthy. It was just neat to see how faithful he was throughout his life and how God was faithful to him. Or when we went to the orphanage and were rocking all the kids and they all feel asleep in our arms.

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Courtney Fallon, Columbia, first trip to Haiti: I found it just really beautiful how everyone lives their lives every day, and how they support each other and love each other. It amazed me how happy the children were, because in our American minds, we think you have to have stuff to be happy. But it’s not true. Sometimes I think they’re happier here than we are. It was also awesome to see the team interact with everyone the kids, even though we’re different from one another.

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Harli Tracy, Robinson, third trip to Haiti: I think on this trip, I’ve gotten closer to the people on my team and the people in Bigarade (where we worked) than I have before, and I’ve built more relationships this time. All the trips were really special in their own way- every time I’ve thought this one was the best. I don’t know, I think they’re all equal.

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Tad Arndt, Columbia, first trip to Haiti: The most memorable thing was probably the fan club of kids that followed me around. Even though language was a little barrier for us for a little while, we still connected. And it was really neat to see that you don’t need language to connect with people- God can connect us.

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Bob Elmore (left), Springfield, has led multiple trips to Haiti: Watching Americans and Haitians share the Gospel. Not us presenting the Gospel and the Haitians translating, but together sharing Christ.

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Emily Ebert, Carlinville, second trip to Haiti: I found myself overwhelmed by the amount of love and trust I was given on this trip by the people of Haiti. Within the first three minutes of meeting a child, I have completely exhausted my conversational Creole, yet the children stay around all day, just to be with me. At the end of the day when I get on the tap-tap, I know that tomorrow their smiling faces will greet me, ready to spend another day playing clapping games. And that is when it hits me: I love these people. I love every hot and smelly, wonderful and beautiful part of this country, this culture and these people. And even on Sunday when I leave Haiti, I know I will see them again, because eternity starts now.

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Lynzie Emerson (left), Springfield, second trip to Haiti: This year I just felt like the team got along like one big group. I think I built more relationships with the kids this year. I love the fact that they’re so content with just the littlest things we give them, like dolls. And even though they’ve gone through a lot of hard times, thy just smile at us, and just appreciate any type of love that we show them. They don’t know us, but they just come to us and cling to us like they’ve know us their whole lives.
Lindsay Wasson (right), Harrisburg, second trip to Haiti: It’s waking up every morning with the feeling that I’m doing exactly what I was created to do. It’s the look in a lost soul’s eyes when you tell them of the hope found in Christ. It’s when a handicapped orphan says, “I love you too Lindsay.” It’s the love shared between believers in Christ that goes beyond all words. But best of all, it’s tearfully saying, “I’ll see you soon,” upon departure.

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Chris Flynn (right), Springfield, first trip to Haiti: Our first ride through Port-au-Prince may have been what I expected, but it was still astonishing to see. Desperately poor quality of roads, trash and traffic control, infrastructure in general. Yet the people I met this week remained kind and patient, willing to both learn and teach. For me, Haiti exposed the gifts I keep for myself and still take for granted. And the relationships developed this week, and the truths shared, proved once again that real joy comes not from the gifts, but the Giver.

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Cara Atienza, Robinson, first trip to Haiti: What I’ll remember the most is the amount of trust that they put in us even thought they don’t know us. Having children fall asleep on your lap that have never met you and that you’ve never talked to, means a lot. It’s an irreplaceable experience.

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Sara Harris’s, Columbia, second trip to Haiti: Getting close to them is harder because it hurts to leave, but it’s more fruitful, because you know you’ll come back to friends you’ve made here. My dad had been here in November and shown some of the kids a picture of me. One of the little girls ran up to me this time and said Sarah, Sarah! I couldn’t believe she remembered my name.

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Brian Harriss (second from right), Columbia, third trip to Haiti: Reading the Bible with guys at the work site. We started with a Christian book in Creole, and I had an English copy of the same book. There was Scripture in it, which gave me an opportunity to get out my Bble. Not only was I learning Creole, but they were learning English. It never hit me before: what a way to learn a new language…reading God’s Word.

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Jacob Mays, Herrick, first trip to Haiti: Awesome. It was an amazing experience to see things that not many people get to see, and witness to people and share the Gospel. It was just a really great opportunity, and I had a lot of great moments. I’m going to miss the team.

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Alex Hancock, Bethalto, first trip to Haiti: The most memorable thing for me is how humbled I was by this trip, and how different things around here are compared to America. It really makes a difference in how you think about the things you have at home.

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Levi Doty, Benton, first trip to Haiti: My favorite part of Haiti would have to be that even though these people have next to nothing, they seem to be happy. Even though they don’t have a clue who some of us are, they are willing to let us come to their home and talk to us. One day, some of the group went around and sang, but Brian and I went with an interpreter under our tarp on the work site, and they started to read Scripture in English and then Creole. By the time they were done, there had to be at least 20 Haitians and Americans under the tent. It was awesome.

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Matt Kountz (right), Belleville, first trip to Haiti: The regenerating and transforming power of the Gospel in the lives of the Haitians and Americans was what I have been blessed to see every day. I was able to see God work in faithful men to preach the Word in the face of death threats from voodoo practitioners and priests. I was able to see the light of Jesus cut through darkness and the Word of God transform hearts. There is nothing more beautiful then seeing the work of God’s grace on man and I was blessed to be able to witness God working mightily in Haiti.

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Riley Tullis, Columbia, first trip to Haiti: Probably my most memorable moment was when we went to one of the houses in Bigarade. I went through the Gospel with three kids about my age. They seemed like church kids. I shared my testimony with them, which was about me coming to Christ as a church kid. It really touched them, and I could see God working. It was like staring the Holy Spirit in the face. We prayed with them and they accepted Christ; I really hope they find a church and grow in Christ.

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Abby Fleischer, Carlinville, third trip to Haiti: A common misconception about mission trips is that they are solely about meeting physical needs; however, truthfully and biblically, there is much more to it. In Romans 12:12-13, we get a glimpse of biblical love, something which is clearly demonstrated on a daily basis here. The Haitians and the Americans learn more from each other daily how to love genuinely and sacrificially. We also experience 1 Corinthians 4:20, which states that the Kingdom of God is not of talk, but of power. Language barriers can prove to be a benefit when they show both parties that God often shows His love through other forms that we often fail to recognize.

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Meredith Flynn, Springfield, first trip to Haiti: Leading up to our week in Haiti, I was completely focused on how uncomfortable I might be. And even on our first day here, a week seemed like a long time to be this hot, this dusty, this out of my element. But at some point during the week, it became less important for me to feel comfortable. And I know without a doubt I didn’t muster that on my own. It could only be the Lord who helped me get over my American ideals of cleanliness and comfort, and to be patient when a thousand little hands are grasping at my camera for the rare opportunity to see their reflections. Can’t wait to be here again soon.

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