Help Us Fight the Epidemic in Haiti!!

Friends,

As we prepare for Advent, the celebration of God's incarnation in our midst, we remember that He was and is and will continue to be a great light to those who sit in darkness.

As I type these words and as you are reading them there are many who sit in darkness and death. They need our material help and a tangible expression of the love and care God has willingly provided to each of us by spending himself utterly on our behalf.

As I write and as you read and as our culture runs from "deal" to "deal" in half-crazed consumer madness wasting resources on junk that we don't actually need other human beings are literally vomiting and defecating themselves to death. Biosurveillance believes that Cholera cases in Haiti are under-reported by as much as 400% and believe that as many as one million have been infected. This population is an hour and 1/2 away from the United States by air.

They need inexpensive (to us) antibiotics, IV bags and clean water. G.O. is partnering with other ministries on the ground responding to this crisis right now, again, as you are reading this. Please, SHARE THIS POST, Text to give $10 (GOHAITI to 85944). Write a check. Give online. Spread the word.

This year for Christmas you could give someone their life!

Praying Gratitude Compels Us... Thanksgiving 2010

Batey 9 is a sugar cane cutting community in the southwest portion of the Dominican Republic. It’s a place where the poverty is not circumstantial. It is the fruit of intentional exploitation based on racism, nationalism and classism. While sugar comes to us inexpensively and is available for free at coffee shops and restaurants it is provided at a high cost, severe exploitation with poor housing and no healthcare. These communities are hungry and many children die from and suffer the negative effects of malnutrition.

So as many of us celebrate Thanksgiving today, It’s good to know that some of these kids in Batey 9 are getting a meal today too, modest, though it may be. Praying today that we will allow our gratitude to compel us to do justice, have mercy and compassion, moving us towards sincere, creative and radical generosity towards others who suffer needlessly.

Batey 9 Nutrition Center from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

Praying for Haiti in the Face of Disease and Storms...

On October 21st fear emerged that Cholera had hit Haiti. It was not long before the threat was confirmed. I contacted John Martinez on the morning of the 22nd to confirm that he had already made contact with the 7 Haitian pastors we work with in central and north eastern Haiti. He had called them on the afternoon of the 21st. None of the Haitian pastors knew anything about it. Imagine living in a place with such poor infrastructure that you have to receive life saving information from a citizen of another country. Thankfully, one of the pastors we work with in Haiti has a radio ministry whose broadcast is capable of reaching about one million listeners. We were able to raise the alarm early last week in response to the spread of the disease, instructing communities to wash hands well, boil water and spread the word. Today, in addition to praying that the spread of Cholera be stayed, we pray that the path of the looming hurricane passes by Haiti or breaks up all together rather than passing over it. The most recent reports suggest that this is in fact happening. Please join us in praying that it continues to weaken.

The 14th Most Dangerous Neighborhood...

I spoke to my mother tonight. It turns out that we live right next door to the 14th most dangerous neighborhood in the United States. My sister alerted me to this when the info came out. The plan was to keep this from the folks to prevent unnecessary worry on our behalf. I hadn’t mentioned it on the blog before for that reason but we’ve been outed now so here it is. Turns out that (this year at least) we live adjacent to the 14th most dangerous neighborhood in the United States. Now in mother reckoning this is the same as living inside the neighborhood. To Mom’s credit we are less than ½ a block away from one of the bordering streets. And also to her credit is the fact that I can immediately think of at least two murders that have happened in our neighborhood this year. One of them was two weeks ago over $60 which I mentioned in Paying a Dealer’s Debt: Part II.


What Vic and I have witnessed from the violence in these neighborhoods is that they are almost always related to the drug culture prevalent here. If you participate in the culture you dabble in the danger. If you keep your nose clean, treat everyone with respect and compassion and watch your back you’re mostly fine. The 1 in 9 chance of being a victim of a violent crime in the neighborhood next door may be statistically accurate but the reality is that the crimes that are taking place are mostly between those involved in criminal activities on both sides.


But the reality is that these are desperately broken communities. Poverty, addiction and poor education have a choke hold on these inner city neighborhoods. In our neighborhood the first 30% of the population have a middle school education, the next 30% have a high school education but no diploma, the next 30% graduated high school with no college. That leaves 10% for some college experience but few graduates. .02% of that 10 have a master’s degree. That means that the choices available to many in our neighborhood are limited without the service of others who might open up new possibilities.


If we stay away because of fear those new possibilities are left unrealized. I believe that Christianity gives us powerful resources for dealing with fear. What are we the most afraid of? Stanley Hauerwas, a favorite theologian of mine (he’s the professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University) says that hospitals are the new cathedrals of our age in Western civilization. What he means is that our greatest fear is death and that we are willing to do anything to put it off. However, Christian discipleship, he suggests, is the art of learning to die young (not kill) for Christ and his Kingdom. The ability to do so well is rooted in how well we actually believe in Christ’s work on the cross and the promise of resurrection and the renewal of all things. If death does not have the final word what is there to fear? If God is for us who can be against us? Paul courageously mocked death proclaiming, “Oh death, where is your sting?” If death still has a sting for us as Christ followers then there is a very difficult question we have before us. But if death has no sting then where can’t we go and where shouldn’t we go as Christians? If the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Church then why not plant one right in between them? I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen it happen in the bateys of the Dominican, in La Mosca, in the Hole and elsewhere. It opens up radically different possibilities. They’re opening in our neighborhood too.


The new possibilities start with courage, hope and faith. The courage is two sided, those with resources to offer hope and help need courage to do so. Those stuck in difficult life circumstances need courage to imagine a life that might be different from the only one they’ve ever known. I know this is true of “Al” who just recently made the first steps to turn his life around, imagining a life not driven by addiction. Al came to our community group the other night, not as one requesting aid but as a participant. As we read through a section of Hebrews he commented that he needed to read more of this and asked if Hebrews was in every Bible. I don’t know where this will go with Al. I do know that it is a beautiful picture of the beginnings of redemption and renewal, a picture that we would not have if it were not for other fellow Christians willing to choose to live in neighborhoods like the ones we’re in, living hopefully and faithfully, choosing to look upon tragedy through redemptive lenses and looking for opportunities to bring life and light to dead and dark places. The top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the United States should be the kind of communities Christians in North America should be looking to for spiritual and material investment. Paul said to live is Christ to die is gain. What do we really have to fear, what do we really have to lose?

Paying a Dealer's Debt: Part II

Several weeks ago we shared about the opportunity we had to help pay off a local user/dealer’s $50 drug debt. The guy he owed money shot his dog as a warning. Some guys from our community group took Jonesy and his dog to the vet that night. A $650 vet bill and 18 hours later the dog died. One of our community group members fronted the money. As a group we’ve helped him cover the costs.

One of our friends read the update we posted and was encouraged by it. He confessed to me later that he was tempted to be a little bit cynical. “Would that expense and effort really amount to anything?” Honestly, that’s a question we’ve asked ourselves regarding more than one relationship that we’ve had. But our responsibility is to be faithful to what God put’s in front of us, not guarantee outcomes to ourselves or anyone else. The Christian community is to serve in faith with unconditional love, putting off cynicism for hope even in the face of the stark realities of inner-city brokenness. We know that hope that is seen is no hope at all (Romans 8:24).

We did not know if or how Jonesy would respond to our redemptive help. Our own experiences in the neighborhood and with Jonesy left us with our own doubts. One thing was certain, though, that we had removed an immediate threat to his life. This was confirmed a few weeks later when a woman in her forties was shot to death over $60 about 4 blocks away from where we were that night. You better believe that collection threats are real in a drug culture.

So what of Jonesy? Any updates? Yes! Two weeks ago one of our community group members reported that he had accompanied Jonesy to a local church on two different Sundays. This is uncharted territory for Jonesy and us! Last week, he enrolled into a residential recovery program at the Jefferson Street Baptist Homeless Shelter where one of our community group members serves in leadership. As a community group we are sharing the cost for him to stay in the program for the next two months with the hope and expectation that he will get a job and pay his part for the following months. God has extended our opportunity to directly care for Jonesy as he struggles at this possible point of transition and transformation pointing him to Jesus.

Jonesy is by no means out of the woods. But he’s made steps that none of us have ever seen him take before. That’s encouraging. In fact, as a symbolic gesture, I suppose, he’s asked that no one call him Jonesy anymore but to call him Al, his middle name. Jonesy wants a new name. It’s a good start. Please pray for “Al” and his recovery, for his friendships in the shelter, for those from the community group that will be going to visit him on a regular basis. Pray that “Al” finds a job and sticks with it. Pray that through all of the efforts to serve him and love him that he encounters Jesus and falls in love with him.

Thanks for your prayers on behalf of our family and our work at G.O. and in the city. For those of you that partner with us financially, your helping us help give Al a new chance in Jesus’ name. Thank you! If you don’t partner with us financially and would like to Jeff would be glad to discuss it with you. Email him at or click here for more info.

Part I: Gratitude is not Enough

This entry is Part I of the Pieces of Cane series we recently introduced where we share what we have learned and are learning from our experiences serving in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and inner city of Louisville, Ky.

Serving with Christian brothers and sisters living in a 3rd world context as a North American Christian can really awaken you to perspectives and realities that may otherwise be unavailable. That’s certainly true of mine and Vicki’s experience. The discrepancy between the two cultures in terms of available resources is the most obvious reality because at first, it’s the most tangible. Water from the utilities is not safe to drink due to no back flow prevention and poor treatment. Safe drinking water is an added cost and less convenient because you have to bring it back to your home 5 gallons at a time. Electricity is unreliable. It makes tasks as simple as doing laundry difficult to complete because it requires having electricity, water in the neighborhood and sun light to dry your laundry all three available at the same time. Add to it the harsher realities of malnourished children both in city slums and rural communities; add to it again the reality of dirt cookies in Haiti. The differences in available resources are stark.

So the first response to the developing world, at least ours was, was to just be grateful. To simply just be thankful for all of the basic things that we learned by exposure were things that we had taken completely for granted. We have shelter. It has running water and a sanitation system. We can drink the water and it doesn’t make us sick. We flush the toilet and the waste is removed from our home, not staying next door in an out-house potentially making us sick. We wear shoes as do our children. We don’t worry about parasites being contracted by walking around bare foot. We have actual food to give to our children. Sometimes… far too often in fact, food gets thrown away and wasted.

And so, in response to all of the needs that we observed that weren’t being met we were faced with the reality that all of our needs had been and continued to be. This experience almost force feeds you a sense of gratitude. Regardless of whether or not we actually did, we realized that we really have nothing at all to complain about in our lives back home. Our first acknowledgement was of how truly blessed we were to have all of our basic needs met.

That is a typical acknowledgement of many that come down and serve in a short-term capacity. We're grateful now to know that camping out on gratitude is not enough if we are Christians. Non-believers easily have the same kind of experience, “We just don’t realize how good we have it back home in the …” We realized that we could be very grateful and still be selfish. We could be very grateful about what “We have” and still make darn sure that we got to keep whatever it was we had and add to it daily. To be a Christ-follower and serve in a context like the Dominican Republic or Haiti or somewhere else and go back home and only be grateful is an unfaithful response to what God has exposed us to. We’ve missed the point. We are not blessed so that we can gorge ourselves on it. We are blessed to be a blessing.

The gratitude needs to take us somewhere. It needs to get us to the place where we ask, “What do we do with all of this blessing? How do we move forward as responsible stewards of it?” For us it started with reflecting on the many ways in which we were blessed. Not surprisingly, that first round of responses recounted many, many material blessings and comforts that we enjoyed, that took up our time and our resources. We live in a culture that is drunk with the accumulation of stuff. We finally came to the place where we were able to ask the following: If all of our basic needs are met and most of our wants are attainable (within reason) where then is the line between blessing and gluttony when I know that there are people in the world living without basic needs being met? How do we know if we’ve crossed over? If our basic needs are met and there’s much left over where is the line between blessedness and wastefulness? When does using the resources available to us to obtain our wants rather than meet someone else’s need become failing to do the good that we know we ought do (James 4:17)? Where is the line? We must confess that we’ve been at this work for 9 years and we still don’t know the answer.

We do know this. Tim Keller is a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. We heard a sermon he preached once where he asked this simple question: There are only two Kingdoms, God’s and yours. One is coming to fulfillment and the other is going away forever so which Kingdom are you going to use your resources, privilege and power to build? Yours which is fleeting or God’s which is coming?

So one answer to the questions above is rooted in recognizing that nothing is really our own, that we are only stewards and that we must simply put ourselves and everything God has given us at his feet and ask his spirit to lead us. The other answer to the questions above, we believe is simply being committed to the practice of asking them of ourselves on a regular basis and being willing to live in a healthy tension that realizes this an area that we will be growing in for a long, long time. We invite you embrace the same tension.

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Partnering with the Church in Phaeton, what's to come...

G.O.'s Partnership wit the Church in Phaeton, Haiti from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

In July Jeff had the opportunity to visit Phaeton, Haiti with Tim Krauss. We're excited at G.O. to be at a place where we can focus more resources on this community. You'll hear more about our work in this community in the near future. As of September 19th Tim helped nearly complete the project for the temporary structure for the church and nutrition center. At the moment it's about 10 boards shy of completion. There will be photos to come. We're finalizing details with the Haitian government regarding the cost of land we would like to purchase on behalf of the ministry there to facilitate soccer outreach, the drilling of a much needed fresh water well, sustainable agricultural projects and contextually appropriate micro-businesses.

Pieces of Cane: An Introduction to Lessons Learned on the Field

When Vicki and I aren’t working from the G.O. office state-side or doing life in the inner city of Louisville, Kentucky we’re enjoying our time serving on the field in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. That time spent on the field amounts to over 3 of the last 9 years. Our roles with the ministry allow us to be hybrids in a lot of different and exciting ways. One of our roles on the field is to help facilitate short-term teams and to introduce North American Christians to an experience in Christian service that has deep implications for their lives once they return back home. The experience of serving on the ministry field in the developing world alongside local brothers and sisters in the faith can radically deepen discipleship, broaden one’s vision of God’s Kingdom and the implications of its global nature, cultivate a life of worshipful self-sacrifice in the service of others for the sake of the Kingdom and simply encourage one to become radically generous with all of their resources. In short, a short-term service experience can be utterly transformative for those that come down and serve. That’s mine and Vicki’s story.

We want to introduce a series of entries that we will be offering from time to time called “Pieces of Cane.” The sugar industry in the Dominican Republic can easily be characterized as unjust. We’ve written about it before and highlighted some of our work there with G.O. One night we were with a team on their way out of the country the next day. We were helping them debrief regarding their week with us. I noticed a glowing in the distance, right off of the coast. There was a field ablaze. Sugar cane was being prepped for harvest. Cane fields are thick and the cane can grow as high as 15 feet. The thick leaves form sharp blades that can easily cut you if you try to move through them. In order to harvest the cane many workers will light a field on fire so that it quickly burns off the leaves. The fire burns so quickly that it only consumes the leaves. What remains is what’s valuable, the cane itself. Now harvesting with the machete is much “easier” than it would have been before.

Serving on a short-term trip can be like lighting your spiritual field on fire. When you dedicate a week of your life to silence everything but how you feel God is calling you to serve all of the junk that has accumulated in your life that has made a claim on you and has made navigating your own heart cumbersome burns up like the grass blades of the sugar cane almost overnight. What is left as the smoke clears is that thing in the field that is the most valuable: the cane itself, ready to be harvested, refined and put to use.

That piece of cane discovered on the trip can look different for every team member coming down to serve. Some of us have entire fields that are revealed to us that we can spend the rest of our lives working out what it means to harvest, refine and make useful. There are common themes, basic lessons that are the same across the board, but there are also things revealed and discovered that God leads us to that are only our own, specific to the story God is telling in us for his Glory. To experience this kind of fire together makes us a stronger, deeper community of God’s people. Harvesting our cane together allows us to be sharpened by each other’s stories, embodying more faithfully that grace called the Church.

So we want to begin sharing with you some of our own “Pieces of Cane.” We’ve learned many lessons from the field that have very much shaped who we are, how we understand the Gospel and how we desire to live faithfully towards the Kingdom based on what we’ve learned. We’ve also learned that there’s much that we still haven’t learned though we’ve had the same lesson over and over again. Essentially, that means that we’re still learning, that the smoke is still clearing for us. And we share so that you may be encouraged, that we can all be challenged and that we can celebrate God’s story being told in us.

Peace be with you,

The Rogers

Phaeton, Haiti...

Rogers' Work with G.O. in Phaeton, Haiti from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

We are fortunate to be involved in great work all over the island of Hispaniola. Here's a glimpse of one of those works that we're getting ready to ramp up in Phaeton, Haiti.

Paying a Dealer's Debt...

Last night we gathered with other Christians in our neighborhood to discuss the Gospel, what it means to us and to our neighborhood, an under-resourced community struggling with (or spiraling into) urban blight, drug addiction, prostitution and poverty. We gather weekly to fellowship, reflect and pray. Some who live on the other side of the neighborhood from us have befriended a bottom rung (i.e. not well off) drug dealer. We’ll call him Jonesy.

Last night, after we had prayed for God to make use of us in the neighborhood, to make our lives a lifestyle of worship evident by our loving service to each other and our neighbors there was a knock at our host’s door. It was Jonesy. He had an emergency. He owed someone $50 bucks. They broke into his house and shot his dog to remind him that payment was due or else…

The gunshot wound wasn’t fatal. Brooks, our host, informed us as to what was going on. We passed the hat and quickly came up with the $50 to pay the debt and dispel the threat that was hovering over Jonesy. Last year a 20 year-old got shot and killed just a few blocks away over a debt of $100. Brooks, a Christian that lives across the street from Jonesy, gave him the money stating that this is from the Church and is God’s grace to you. We got the dog in Brook’s car and off they went to the vet.

Those who partner with us in our ministry to the Dominican Republic and Haiti also partner with us in the inner-city as well. Last night I reached into my wallet and pulled out our money, our ministry partner’s, mine, Vic’s and God’s, to help pay a life threatening debt on behalf of a local drug dealer in Jesus’ name.

I can’t help but think that the Adversary really gets pleasure out of such acts of wickedness… from a dog being shot as a threat, to the meaninglessness of being a drug dealer in a community that has nothing, generating more nothingness, to the desperation of a mother in Haiti feeding her child a cookie made of dirt to stave off hunger pangs a few thousand miles away, and the dulling reality of that desperation becoming a normal means of coping with hunger. I can’t help but think of the sickening smile on his face.

But you know what makes me smile? What gives me pleasure? Everything from leading a small delegation of North American Christians on a day trip into Phaeton, Haiti with the intent of establishing a daily nutrition center through the local church and working on a plan to bring sustainable agriculture and micro-economic growth there in Jesus’ name to knowing that last night when I took our cash out of my wallet the laughing mockery stopped because suddenly Hope was injected into a scenario that was supposed to be hopeless. I thank God for the opportunity to pay a life threatening debt on behalf of the local drug dealer.

You know why? Because I have a debt that was paid for me by God, himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. And last night, because of many Partnerships in the Gospel with us, we could help communicate that truth to Jonesy in way that could actually make sense to him one day. Please pray that it does.

So today we want to remind you to smile too. From the brokenness of the inner-city of Louisville, Kentucky to the interior of Haiti and the Dominican Republic the mocking of our Adversary is silenced with the coming of God’s Kingdom as it blossoms from seed and takes root, returning the dead to life. Hopelessness cannot remain where there is Love (I Cor 13:7).

If you follow our work and ministry and feel the urge to partner with us financially as well know that it is welcome and needed. Find out how here or contact us directly.

You can also connect us with your church, small group or Bible study. We'd be glad to come and share.

Thank you and Peace be with you today!

Jeff & Vic

April thru June: A Brief Review

Our third addition to the family has really had us hopping as we're trying to figure out what our new rhythm looks and sounds like. Between that and our work with G.O. its like we've blinked and 3 months went by! That being said, here's a brief update on what we've been up to.

Ella’s first two and a half months with us were a little daunting as the poor little girl was suffering from reflux. This meant that every waking hour we experienced of her was crying. With some prayer and some good reflux meds we are happy to report that at 14 weeks our little lady is mostly free of that discomfort and has settled comfortably into her sweet self. She is a pure joy!

In late April Jeff represented G.O. Ministries at the Exponential Church Planting Conference in Orlando, Florida. He encouraged new church planters to include international ministry in the DNA of their church plants. Partnering with indigenous Christian leaders and serving along-side of them via short-term mission’s trips grows the Kingdom abroad and deepens the Kingdom at home. If teams are lead well through their experience they can come back home more committed Christ followers, more willing to serve radically in other areas inside and outside of their own communities, as well as become more radically generous with all of their resources for the sake of Kingdom work locally and globally.

While in Orlando Jeff was able to report on G.O.’s Haiti relief effort to First Presbyterian of Haines City, FL, a new partnering church with the Rogers family. Much thanks to Pastor Tom and whole crew there for such awesome hospitality.

The G.O. Derby fundraiser at the first of May brought in $49,500 for G.O. Ministries which was a tremendous blessing!

Immediately after the Derby event we coordinated and lead a 4 day All Staff Meeting state-side, training and encouraging the G.O. Staff in ministry and fundraising. It was a sweet time to reconnect, fellowship, worship and celebrate how God used each of us in the Haiti Relief effort.

June 13th we reported on Haiti Relief to supporting church, Southside Christian in Versailles, Ky and met some new friends there. Afterwards we met with the mission’s committee of Christ Church United Methodist in Lexington. They have decided to partner with our ministry! It’s been a great year of God introducing us to new friends in ministry.

June 28th Jeff met with the mission’s committee of First Capital Christian Church in Corydon, IN to discuss G.O. and what a more intentional partnership might look like with a church in one of the sugar cane cutting villages we work with. We’re hopeful about the future of this Partnership.

Currently, we are getting geared up to represent G.O. at the North American Christian Convention. Please pray for good connections to be made for the sake of the ministry and our own support as well.

July 12th we leave for our family trip to serve in the Dominican Republic. Please pray for safe travels and service. This will be Ella’s first trip to the DR. We return August 13th.

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Haiti Relief Recap...

It's our hope that if you've been checking in here that you've also been checking in at G.O. Help Haiti.org but just in case you haven't we wanted to be sure you saw this News package done by Wave 3 in Louisville, Ky. Please take 5 minutes to watch it as it gives a holistic account of our relief response in Haiti. Watch it here.

Here's the breakdown of all of the supplies that were sent into Haiti by air the first month and a half after the earthquake by G.O.

Total Pounds Flown Into Haiti 653,911

Sub-Total Food 550,799
Sub-Total Supplies 61,543
Sub-Total Medical 41,569

Total Planes Volunteered 66

Total flights 447

Number of locations
Cap Haitien 8
Grand Goave 3
Hinche 1
Jacmel 163
Jeremie 36
Leogane 48
Les Cayes 50
Pignon 29
Port au Prince 20
Port de Paix 57

Total People Flown In 361

This does not include the poundage of supplies sent by truck, boat and shipping container. It's been an amazing blessing to respond in the manner in which we did. Much thanks to those of you who have continually prayed and given to help us do the work that we do.

The next steps in Haiti for G.O. are to come more intentionally around the 7 Haitian pastors that we work with there. Our plan is to build a multipurpose building in each of these 7 communities that would serve as the church, nutrition center, school, medical clinic and dormatory. The second phase of this effort will involve partnering with other organizations in Haiti to help with contextually appropriate economic development through various cottage industries and sustainable agricultural projects, all in Jesus' name. From these infrastructural centers we will further come alongside the work of the indigenous pastors as they lift up the communities they serve spiritually and materially. That's the long-term vision.

Ella Jayde...

Introducing Ella... from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

Today has been full of blessing. Though we're already the parents of two 4 year-old girls, this experience of delivery and our first day with our 3rd daughter has been grand and brand new. Due to complications (as many of you know) our twins were delivered in 2005 at 29 weeks of gestation (you can see their journey below if you haven't already). That amounted to an 8 week tour of the Valley of the Shadow of Death for the girls and Mom and Dad. Thankfully it remained just a tour. But what that experience has done is filled every moment with this third, lovely little girl with a deep gratitude that is difficult to put into words. There is nothing here to take for granted. As I write this, little Ella sleeps in her hospital crib in front of me in our room. It is a gift. It makes me realize how much that we may consider mundane that we take absolutely for granted. How many precious gifts do I scoff at on a daily basis because of some broken sense of entitlement? All of my daughters have taught me something profound about the importance of adopting a posture of thanksgiving no matter what the context or circumstance. There is much in this life that God has given us that should arouse our thanks. We can grow blind to that reality. Suffering, if we allow it, can heal our vision. I wouldn't be so bold as to pretend that my vision was healed but I can see clearer now than before.

And because of their story Ella will have some pretty awesome big sisters to learn from, love, serve and play with. We are deeply blessed in ways we know we can not recount.

Thank you for you love and support.

Buy Music. Help Haiti

Click the Pic and Buy the Album


On January 23rd Joel Gerdis and John Congleton, members of the Rogers’ Louisville based fundraising events team helped put on the first Breachbent Benefit Show to help diversify support of our work with G.O. Ministries. They collaborated with Sojourn Community Church, The 930, Kevin Janes, Michael Winters and Drake Hatfield. Kevin helped secure the following musicians for the show: Jamie Barnes, The Parade Schedule, Dave Moisan, Brooks Ritter and Luke Asher. We’re grateful to all involved for their contributions both to our support and the Haiti Relief Fund through G.O. Ministries. Between the ticket sales, concessions, one time gifts and the silent auction just over $8000 was raised. But the Haiti Relief fundraising continues.

The above artists have each donated live songs from that show to make up a compilation put together by Drake Hatfield. This is the first release on his record label, Hatfield Media. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this $10 album will go to G.O. Ministries to help with Haiti relief efforts. Please consider purchasing this download in support of G.O., Hatfield Media and each of the above artists.

G.O. Haiti Relief Blitz!

One of our fellow staffers here at G.O. put this map together for us to share with you so that you could get a better sense of where all the relief has gone through our efforts in Haiti. Again, we’re humbled by the ways in which God has equipped us to respond to this disaster.

The entire southern coast of Haiti has suffered much of the same destruction as Port au Prince. The organizations we’ve sent aid to in the North have been receiving and caring for refugees since the days after the quake.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti. The rainy season is almost upon them. G.O. currently has 1000 or so tents on their way. We’ve also sent down three 48ft by 16ft mobile greenhouses to be used as temporary shelters and hospitals. There’s an inflatable tent hospital purchased by G.O. that just reached Santiago and will be in route to Jacmel, Haiti very soon.

I was in our Louisville warehouse today, Saturday, February 27 receiving the last of some relief supplies from our local relief drive. The huge warehouse is about full and we will be emptying it out on Monday as trucks will be hauling it away to be loaded onto a boat and floated down to the island where it will be distributed. Much thanks to Eric Leach (fellow G.O. Staffer) who has organized and managed the warehouse effort since day one of getting the space. He really has done a fantastic job!

As always, thanks for your prayers and your financial support of Vicki and myself. By helping us you are helping Haiti.

Check out a more detailed account of what has gone where in Haiti here.

Pictures and a 1000 Words...

Last Friday Vicki was visiting the girls’ school. On her way out she stopped to visit with their art teacher, Jill. Our girls are prolific artists. We have countless pictures, paintings and sculptures thanks in no small part to their art teacher. Jill commented on how much she enjoyed teaching them. She asked Vic if she had seen Sophi’s picture of the earthquake and then Jill got choked up. We hadn’t seen it. It was buried in a stack of pictures that come home on almost a daily basis. Jill said that she’d never seen anything like it from a 4 year old, that our girls were extraordinarily connected with a more global perspective. We weren’t sure what to make of it but anxiously searched for this piece of art once we got home. We found it. We’ll let Sophi explain it to you in her own words in just a minute.

Just a little more first by way of introduction… Our daughters are very aware of what’s going on in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They’ve been to the DR with us at least 6 times. They have a sense that their mom and dad work to try and be a help to those that need it. Before the quake in Haiti they were already familiar with the reality of hunger there and the unfortunate novelty of dirt cookies. They thought about it; they prayed about it.

When the quake hit while I was in the DR Vicki was glued to the TV. Not because she was concerned about me, she knew I was ok. She, like me, understood the enormous tragedy that this was. The girls saw the footage as she watched. Vic told them that I was in the DR helping the people in Haiti. When I came home the relief efforts state side were in full swing. We worked around the clock in the office and at home. The poor little ladies were almost neglected. Friends from our community group prepared us meals for about a week so that we could devote some time to the girls without the distraction of having to prepare and clean up a meal. Soph and Rae knew we were up to something and that it had to do with Haiti. From this the following was born.


Just so you know, Tio Mano is our friend Romano, a dear Haitian brother. Tio is Spanish for “uncle” which is what our daughters call him. It will make sense in a minute. The girls have known him their entire life.


I'll post Romano's story after this:

I was fortunate enough to shoot this quick video of Romano before he left for Port-au-Prince.

Responding to Haiti, a Gift, an Act of Faith...

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind. God has been very gracious to G.O. Ministries in the face of such an overwhelming crisis in Haiti. We have been steadily responding to the urgent needs that have come from this event. Our years on the ground on the island of Hispaniola, our familiarity with the place and our Partnerships and relationships with people all over the island have served to uniquely position us to respond. We never could have imagined that God would use these relationships in the way in which he has. It is as though a door materialized before our eyes in a concrete wall and so we were compelled to walk through. God has completely surrounded us with the resources and the new relationships to respond to Haiti’s deep need. Our capacity to be good neighbors to our Haitian friends has been multiplied a hundredfold and continues to grow. This ability to respond in a manner that immediately meets desperate needs, in a way that has been saving and continues to save lives is itself a gift. Vicki and I are blessed to be a part of it and to have a role to play in it. It is startling; it is humbling; it is a labor of love.

3 weeks after the fact we who are on the leadership team are beginning to process and consider what G.O.’s long-term response to the new reality facing Haiti will be. We cannot imagine that the island will ever be the same on account of the magnitude of this disaster. We know that we will continue in the rescue phase for at least another 2-4 weeks as larger organizations responding to the crisis will have time to get to the areas we are currently serving. We know that we will be committed to doing our part towards restoration in Haiti. We were working towards it already. To be about the Gospel and the Kingdom of God is to be about restoration. It is not work born of duty but of faith, motivated by Love. Given the enormity of what our Haitian neighbors now face, faith seems a better resource than duty. Duty draws on our own strength and will quickly prove to be lacking. Faith draws on God’s own strength and reveals to us what God will do with a little trust and obedience.

I’m convinced that God hates what has happened to Haiti. I’m convinced that years of injustice and exploitation at the hands of others inside and outside of Haiti have not escaped his notice. I’m convinced that the brokenness of Haiti is not the final word. The final word will be his Shalom which will also be the very first word of the Age to come. It is that Age that we now work towards even more fervently than before in Haiti not because we are the saviors of the world but because Jesus was and is. And at the dawn of the renewal of all things he expects to catch us working to meet him from our side of history, not out of duty but out of faith, motivated by love and compassion rooted in the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. If we have counted ourselves among the People of God and yet have had idle hands the time for that to cease is now. There are many who suffer in the world in and beyond Haiti that are in need of our faithful love and service. Let’s give it to them.

Here’s a story published today in the New York Times about our relief effort in Haiti. Read the article here. Please watch the video report “Haiti, Help from Above.” We’re grateful for the Times coverage of what G.O. is doing in Haiti. We have lots of information on http://www.gohelphaiti.org/ highlighting different aspects of our response over the last few weeks. Please check it out and direct your friends, families and church leaders there. God has graced us with the ability to do some very important work on the island. Again, it’s been a gift to share in it and now we share that gift with you too.

Grace and Peace,

The Rogers