Building a Church, Building a Bridge...

In mid March we had the opportunity to go down to the Dominican with Crosspoint Community Church. We worked alongside them in constructing a church that will serve as a tool for Moise Jean and his congregation. It is exciting work for Vicki and I because this church supports us too and this Partnership with Moise is one we were blessed to help develop with the leadership at Crosspoint. Overall they have committed around $100,000 for this project even before they had secured a more permanent location for their own building (they are a recent church plant within the last 4 years or so).

Moise Jean and Ryan Bult from Crosspoint

As we worked on pouring the floor of this building I reflected on the potential of this place we were making for Moise and his congregation. This is more than just a building. It is a potential bridge between cultural enemies.

You see, Moise is Haitian and he serves a Haitian migrant working community that has come to be somewhat established in Santiago, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. Moise would willingly serve Dominicans in his church as well but they wont have much to do with him. There is a deeply entrenched racist ideology in Dominican culture. Haitians will often respond to racism with racism which is typical of the unredeemed human condition. However, this is not the case with Moise. He knows both the implications of fallenness and redemption. The Kingdom of God means more to him then national or racial ties, then the implications of a volatile political history between two countries bound together by the same geographic space. He knows that nationalism, hatred, prejudice, and pride are rooted in sin and that apart from Christ’s healing they remain unchallenged, unaltered, and unrepented of. He is aware of why his enemies are his enemies and he forgives and loves them just the same.

Moise’s understanding of the Gospel is why this building is both a Church and a Bridge. As teams come to serve Moise they are also serving the broader Dominican community that surrounds his Church. This building will ultimately serve them too because Crosspoint intends to help finance a nutrition center there that will serve both Haitian and Dominican children under Moise’s direction and leadership. Once the building is complete, we will be able to host medical clinics in that community that will serve Haitians and Dominicans alike. Our hope and our prayer is that the Dominicans will begin to understand that the goodness that has come into their community would not be there if it was not for the existence of the Haitian Church. We hope that the testimony of service growing out of Moise’s Church will soften hearts and transform minds as they are confronted with tangible expressions of God’s love through people they would typically be at odds with.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
2 Corinthians 5:16-19

Moise understands what it means to forsake a human point of view in light of the Gospel. He knows he has been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation and accepts it with all of its hardships. Please join us in praying for his protection, his wisdom, and his impact in Brisa Del Campo (the community where we are building the church). Moise and his congregation have difficult, but blessed work ahead of them.

A new border...

In November 2005, my life changed forever. My heart was pierced, my perspective enlightened, and my faith challenged. When a doctor told me my daughters were profoundly deaf time stood still. I have crossed many borders, explored many cultures, and learned new languages in love and commitment to serve God's people in the world. On that day, I crossed a new border, into the Deaf culture, into a beautiful visual language spoken with the hands. I knew in my heart that God had an incredible purpose with Sophia and Raena.

In that moment, I knew that we, as a family, would cross the border and find a way to help our Deaf brothers and sisters in other countries. However, I had and still have no idea how that will happen. While we are stateside, we've been commited to sign language courses and learning more about the Deaf culture. We've been networking with people in the Deaf community to find resources available to those in the Dominican and Haiti.

On our most recent trip to Haiti, I met Judeline. She lives in an orphanage that one our pastors runs. They think she is 17-years-old. She usually has a smile on her face as she helps make and serve food to the children in the Nutrition center. She has a friend who is mute and they have created their own sign language. While they have no formal training, I could understand their signs because they are so close to ASL. To talk with her I had to speak Spanish to the pastor, he translated into Creole to the girl who is mute who would then make some signs for Judeline to understand.

I stood in amazement at her courage and strength and walked away with incredible heartache. How could she be 17 and only be able to truly communicate with only one other person? As I write this I just watched my 20 month old sign to her sister to put her cochlear implant coil back on her head before she gets in trouble for playing with it. I'm not sure at this point that I can even put in words the incredible pain I feel for the Deaf in the third world who are many times without resources and advocates. I can only commit that we will do the best we can to make sure that they don't go unnoticed or unheard.

This young lady (above) is a child in Arcenio's orphanage in Haiti

This little girl helps earn money for her family by begging at the border crossing. She is plagued by a skin disorder as well as skeletal issues. Such suffering, unfortunately, is common place in Haiti. A team member from Nashville prayed for her healing. Please join him and us in that prayer for this little girl for God's glory.



One of the children in our nutrition center in Haiti.

The Nashville team prays over a Haitian Pastor.

The team from Cross Point Community Church.

We're Returning...

Vicki, the girls, and myself leave Saturday the 10th for the Dominican. We will be helping Crosspoint from Nashville continue building a church for their partner Moise Jean. Please pray for smooth travel there and back. We will be returning on the 23rd if there are no kinks in the travel plan. We are excited to be going back. This will be the girls' first time back with cochlear implants. We're curious to see how they do. The Dominican is a very loud place but it also has lots of new, cool sounds for the girls. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers while we are away.

Grace and Peace,

Jeff

Dave Calhoun's Celebration of Recovery

Wednesday February 7th I had the opportunity to meet with Pastor Dave Calhoun of Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, KY (http://www.hopespringschurch.com). Dave has been to the Dominican Republic at least 3 times and now his church comes down on short-term trips on a regular basis. While they were on the field they had the opportunity to get to know Eduard Gabriel and his ministry. Eduard pastors a church, oversees a vibrant Christian radio ministry (listen live by following the link under media), and is the spiritual advisor for a local government sponsored rehab facility called Hogar de Crea. Dave and Eduard struck a common chord through their mutual interests in recovery ministry. This has led to a partnership in ministry between them.

Dave for sometime now has been utilizing the recovery tools developed by Sattleback Church in Washington State. The program is called Celebrate Recovery. Its approach articulates Christ as our higher power and blends the 12 step program (developed through AA) with 8 principles drawn from the Beatitudes (find more info here: http://www.celebraterecovery.com/8principles.shtml ).

This past year Dave did a short seminar with our pastors on recovery ministry. This short time together generated much interest among the national pastors. Dave and I met on Wednesday to discuss the likelihood of a more intentional, intense training on recovery ministry this summer. I expressed to Dave that the need for such training was great. Many of the children in our feeding centers (which are located in the actual church buildings) are there in part because their parent(s) are afflicted with addiction. Drug use aside, Dominicans consume about 90% of the rum produced on the island. Alcoholism is rampant, especially in the most impoverished areas like the Hole and La Mosca. There are many communities that could benefit from such a ministry; we need only help equip the pastors and their leadership to respond to these needs.

Dave Calhoun will be with us on the field July 31st through August 7th. We will likely have an intensive seminar for 3 or 4 days to help train the pastors in using the Celebrate Recovery tools. Each start up kit is about $100. Dave already has 10 in Spanish that he intends to use in the Dominican. If you would like to fund additional kits for this training please follow the “Contact” link to the right and call or email me. I’d be glad to help you set that up. Please be in prayer for Dave Calhoun, that he will be able to make this trip and continue to influence the world for Christ through his efforts locally and globally in recovery ministry.

Deportation and Prematurity: Ascension's Situation

A dear friend of ours knows that Vicki and I have a soft spot in our hearts for the local Latin American community, particularly those who have come up against difficult circumstances while trying to make a living here in the U.S. Because of her work, she sometimes works with Latin American children here locally that have special needs. Very often the families she serves are poor, at least by American standards.

She told us of Ascension and her family. Her husband was recently captured in South Dakota in a factory during an INS raid. The authorities told him that his papers were not in order and that he would have a few days to come up with $5000 to pay a fine and cover the expense of a new worker’s Visa (This family had already been in the states for 10 years). His family and friends pulled together the necessary funds in Louisville and began the trip to South Dakota to have him released from the custody of INS. They arrived only to discover that he had already been deported to Mexico. It turned out that though he was told he had a few days to get the money together they deported him the next day, anyway.

Since her husband’s recent deportation Ascension has given birth to their fourth child, a little boy who arrived prematurely and is estimated to need to be in the NICU for at least four weeks. Being a parent of premature twins, I myself, can not imagine what it might be like to have a child in a place like the NICU and not know the language well (she does know enough English to get around). Believe me; it is difficult to make sense of what you’re being told by the doctors and nurses in your native tongue. I can not imagine what she may be misunderstanding. I can not imagine the anxiety she has to endure with her child in this place, especially without the added comfort of her husband. And for him, how helpless he must feel having been deported in the midst of this whole turn of events. He has three daughters and this is his first son, that he is not there to see him and to hold him must be especially difficult. He has been the main source of provision for his family for 10 years but now what he can provide will pale in comparison to what he was able to do. So many frustrations in their story are coming together at once. What a terrible burden.

And so, Ascension is left with her children without a primary source of income for the time being. She is fortunate in that her sister and brother-in-law live close by. Latin American communities are very good about taking care of extended family for the most part. She was lacking some very basic needs for her little boy who will be home soon. She did not have a crib or a car seat to bring him home in, no clothes for him as his other siblings are all girls.

Our friend alerted us to these needs and we were able to call on a handful of other friends connected with our ministry to help. Before long I was on my way out to Prospect, KY in my pick-up truck to pick up a crib and car seat. They were both very nice and in excellent condition. The next day I acquired a mattress. Other friends contributed shoes, clothes, and toys. One woman is making Ascension a fleece sling to carry her son in.

So Saturday, January 27th Vicki, the girls, myself and our friend who discovered this situation met up and headed for South Louisville. We arrived at Ascension’s modest two bedroom apartment. They had a couch and a television. There were no lamps, only the ceiling fixtures, nothing on the walls, no trinkets, no end tables, no curio cabinets, etc. Both bedrooms were sparse and had no light fixtures. As the afternoon went on the rooms got darker except for the one closest to the hallway light. In the master bedroom there was a bed, probably a full sized with sheets, etc. There was a bare twin mattress lying against the wall. I assume this was where the daughters slept. Likely at night they would just throw it on the floor, covering up with blankets. There were several toys around the room. This seemed to be the most luxurious detail in the apartment. I could see directly in the closet while I was assembling the crib. For so many children to be in this household there were very few clothes; it was more empty than full. This was a family whose economic life was closely oriented around their basic needs, probably out of necessity, possibly out of the deeper wisdom of simplicity. There was nothing extravagant, nothing impractical, only things that were useful.

While I unloaded my truck and moved things in Vicki and our friend were hanging out with Ascension and her daughters. Our daughters loved the attention they were getting from Ascension’s daughters who were about 11 months, 2 and 4. As I moved to and fro the flow of spoken Spanish back and forth served as a soundtrack of sorts as I labored. I sat there on the floor of the bedroom getting all of the pieces together and reading the instructions. As I began to put the crib together the middle daughter would come in and address me as “Senor, Senor, is this my baby’s bed?” to which I would respond, “Yes, sweetheart, this is for your little brother.” What a precious little girl.

I was beginning to feel like I was back in the Dominican. Oddly enough this feeling intensified when I asked to use their bathroom. While I was in there I noticed that they failed to flush their toilet paper, having thrown it into the trash can beside the toilet. Latin American plumbing does not handle toilet paper very well. I suppose that even after 10 years living in the States that old habits die hard. Strange as it may seem, that little detail made me smile. I was struck by a little bit of nostalgia. Strange, I know.

So this particular Saturday proved to be a little mission trip of its own. I finished putting the crib together; we gave Ascension the items we had collected and before we left presented her with a brand new Bible in Spanish for her and her family. Vicki plans to go back in a few weeks, once the boy has come home from the NICU, and take pictures both of him and the family so that Ascension will have them and be able to send some photos to her husband who will likely be in Mexico for some time.

Vicki and I ask that you pray for this family. Pray for this little premature boy. Pray for his health, especially as he comes home in the midst of RSV season which can be deadly for premature babies. Having older siblings that are still children will increase his health risks at home. Pray for the financial provision of this family. Pray that Ascension’s husband is able to return to Kentucky to his family. It will be a miracle if this can be done legally having already been deported but certainly a legal re-entry would be the most secure situation for his family and the least problematic, particularly since immigration is such a hot political issue these days.

In All Things Peace...

Gehenna: La Mosca

The Valley of Hinnom was a ravine south of Jerusalem where fires were kept burning to consume the dead bodies of animals, criminals, and refuse. Its proper name in Greek is Gehenna. We translate it into English as hell. This place, the Valley of Hinnom, is what Jesus pointed to in order to communicate to his disciples the reality of suffering of those forever alienated from God.

In the North Western corner of Santiago, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic exists the desperately impoverished community of Santa Lucia (St. Luke) popularly known as La Mosca, The Fly, on account of the enormous number of flies that thrive from the environment there. La Mosca is nestled at the base of a perpetually burning mountain of trash. When Jesus communicated the reality of hell, he would have pointed to a place just like this.

The scenic overlook of La Mosca. On top of the trash in the background there are garbage trucks with people and children lined up behind them waiting for them to drop their loads so that they can go through it looking for food, materials they can use, and items they might be able to repair. Dozers go back and forth spreading out the refuse. Hots spots fire up, burn themselves out, smoulder, and then fire again. Some days, when there has been no rain for a while, the smoke gets very heavy and saturates the entire barrio like a fog.

The people that make up the community here are among the poorest of the poor in the Dominican Republic. The perpetually burning heap serves not only as a source of income and of food for this scavenger community but also as a playground for their children. They race up and down the hillsides, often bare foot. They ride the bulldozers as they push the trash over the edges, maintaining the dump. Sometimes unsuspecting scavengers are injured and even killed by the cascading trash pushed over the hillside’s edge and sometimes even children fall prey to such accidents.

This mother and her children descended the hill side to cross the foul water in order to return to their home to sift through their findings in the trash. If you look closely you will see that the mother is wearing flip flops and the children have no shoes.

The mountain of trash is surrounded by a moat of sorts. The water at the base of the trash heap is a fermented toxic mixture of broken down trash and raw sewage. It is a poisonness brew that also allows for the breeding of the worst kinds of mosquitoes, carriers of dengue fever and likely malaria. Next to it are homes with children who play in the water as if it were a stream like one that might flow in your own back yard. Smoke often hangs in the air, leading to asthma and a variety of other respiratory illnesses. It is a place of profound suffering and despair. Disease, addiction, crime, illiteracy, and malnutrition reign supreme. La Mosca is a torment for those that live there. It is truly a place characterized by hopelessness.

Well, it was characterized by hopelessness but that character is changing little by little thanks to the efforts of a pastor courageous enough to look through the darkness of that place through the flies and the smoke with the foolishness of the Gospel in his heart envisioning the seeds of hope that might be planted and nurtured there. Thanks to the faithfulness of a supporting church in Kentucky willing to partner with his passion, Jonas de Leon has been further equipped to share the Gospel in deed as well as in word. The deed manifests itself through the provision of a fully functional feeding center able to reach out to 120 of the children in the worst need in this community, giving them six hot meals a week, education that was previously unavailable, and the hope and power of the Gospel to transform their lives and the lives of their families. Thanks to the faithfulness of Jonas, the partnership of Crestwood Baptist and the members of their congregation with his ministry the presence and influence of the ministry there is growing.

Now that we have a secure facilities to work from we are able to send more and more teams into La Mosca for medical clinics, sports and childrens' ministry, all under the auspices of Jonas' ministry. His credability is growing as is the respect and attention he receives in the community. Before the feeding center he would often have doors shut in his face. Now, on account of his care for the communitiy's children he is often received with open arms and gratitude. Suspicions are being laid aside, the Gospel is moving forward, and the Kingdom is finding expression even in the most dire circumstances. Hope has come to knock on the doors of hell, demanding to be let in. And now hope is there.

Get a Glimpse of La Mosca Here:

While in Haiti: Part II

Baptismal Procession

Saturday evening we were supposed to have baptisms but the scheduled activities went a little longer than anticipated. It was decided that we ought to wait until the next morning. Sunday we awoke and gathered outside of the Church. About 30 or so headed out as a group towards the Massacre River (the natural border between the Dominican and Haiti). We walked through the town passing houses on the left and right. The group sang hymns in Creole as we walked. Those we passed would stop and observe us on our way. A man heckled us from his house; everyone else just looked on. Some smiled at us.

What stood out to me the most as we made our 20 minute trip to the river were some of the people that passed through our cloud of witnesses as we went along. The streets were busy with activity and people were coming and going on their way to trade or hauling water, tending to the basic needs of the day. Occasionally a man or woman would pass by or fall in line with the group because we were, for that stretch of the road, headed in the same direction. Some of them would just walk silently. Others, though, would join in the song, praising along with us. So every so often a stranger would pass through revealing themselves to be brothers or sisters in Christ, offering their blessings on the occasion that brought us briefly together and offering their thanks to the Lord on account of it.

Jerry, John, and Jean Baptiste wade into the river

We arrived at the river and my dear friend and co-worker, John Martinez, waded into the water with Jean Baptiste (the associate pastor at the church) and Jerry Woodcox, a fellow Louisvillian checking out the ministry. Gathered at the waters edge, the crowd continued to sing and pray as those who were being baptized were led into the water one at a time. The first baptism went as expected. The next young lady was being baptized. Her head was about to go under when her body first went rigid and then threw itself into a violent convulsions. Jean Baptiste told John firmly to baptize her. They took her down and brought her back up as she twisted, turned, and screamed out. John and Jerry managed to hold her steady while Jean Baptiste, with one hand firmly on her shoulder and one hand raised in the air began to pray fervently over her. This went on for about a minute and a half. Suddenly, the young lady became calm and came to her senses. The spirit that oppressed her was expelled. I glanced around at my Haitian peers at the rivers’ edge while all of this went on and no one looked surprised or amazed. They went on singing and praying as if nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. Of course much of their prayer and singing were on account of and in response to what was taking place. Another victim of the spiritual oppression that grips much of Haiti was released in our presence and was now free to worship God.

A young woman desiring to be baptized resists out of spiritual oppression and influence

Jean Baptiste (John the Baptist) prays over the young woman and against the spirit that burdens her

That baptism was followed by another young lady, who when she was submerged, went totally limp like a corpse. It took all three men to get her up on her feet. She stood upright in their arms like a dead person being held up. Again, Jean Baptiste assumed his previous posture and began to call out to the Lord to free this woman of her oppressor. Moments went by; again, the songs and prayers continued without a pause; she came to. Jean Baptiste shouted praises and exaltations and the young lady returned to the riverbank, cleansed anew.

Another young woman is oppressed by a spirt at the moment of her baptism

Jean Baptiste prays over her as well until the spirit leaves

The other baptisms took place without incident, as we would expect here in the West. Each of the newly baptized Christians was offered new clothes, dresses for the women, shirts and slacks for the men. A make shift changing room was made there on the bank with a few people of their respective genders holding up sheets as curtains for each of new brothers and sisters.

Christians pray on the river's edge during the baptisms

We walked back in song and prepared for church.

I had the opportunity to speak with Jean Baptiste later that day. I asked if this head ever happened to him before. For him, it had been the first time and it had taken him a little bit by surprise. When he discovered what was happening, however, he knew just what to do. He told me that this sort of thing happened all of the time in the communities in the interior of Haiti, especially the rural areas, but this was the first time it happened in his presence in Quanamenthe. He thought that the spirit is the first woman was so strong due to her grandfather being a Voodoo priest. He said that it was not uncommon for families so closely related to servants of Voodoo to have similar experiences when they attempt to forsake the gods of their fathers.

Young observers watch us pass by

Again, we bump up against a culture and an understanding of the world that is far different from our own. Those in Haiti caught up in the powers of spirituality characterized by Voodoo know about spiritual power. They attempt to manipulate it; they fear it; they recognize it when they see it. When they encounter Christians who know the True Spirit, who know the One in whom true power resides they come to recognize a Power that they can not manipulate, a Power that frustrates their own fallen intentions, a Power that seeks them out. Haitians know and believe in the spiritual world; it’s just that many of them are unfamiliar with Jesus. But when they are confronted by him they discover that even the spirits they serve bow before him, as ultimately we all must, and they begin to pay closer attention to this Jesus often surrendering their lives to him. They discover that his yoke easy and his burden light, a stark contrast from their former spiritual masters.