DownshoreDrift

Miracles in Haiti: Multiplying Food and Supplies Among Baptist Medical Teams

The following story from Baptist Press perfectly illustrates the point that I was making in my post earlier today. If we follow the Lord into hard places and show up, we can trust Him to multiply our provision and do miracles that astound us. If we try to work everything out in our own strength ahead of time, then we only have our own strength to depend on. We need to depend on God way more in the area of disaster relief. There is a way of Jesus here. Read my post from this morning and then read this report of God's miracle working power among a Baptist medical team that arrived a week after the earthquake:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--Six state Southern Baptist Disaster Relief medical teams are among the first Baptists to minister in Haiti since the deadly 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.

SBDR medical volunteers from Arkansas and North Carolina have already come and gone, and Kentucky and Mississippi teams arrived on Monday, Feb. 1. Florida and South Carolina medical volunteers are due to arrive in Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

The Mississippi and Kentucky teams wasted no time after arriving on Monday, turning a small library into a pharmacy and treating 550 patients. The Mississippi team is operating a small hospital out of a Haitian Baptist church located on the edge of one of Port-Au-Prince's larger tent cities directly across from the national capitol building. The Kentucky team is working at a clinic near the presidential palace.

North American Mission Board disaster relief consultant Terry Henderson and a team of six will leave Atlanta on Thursday, Feb. 4, to serve as an incident command team in Haiti. They will link up with Fritz Wilson and Dennis Wilbanks of the Florida Baptist Convention, who are on the ground in Haiti for the second time since the earthquake.

Henderson and his team will be busy planning logistics, lodging, transportation, feeding and communications for SBDR's eventual "D Day" -- the day dozens of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from the state conventions begin to be deployed to Haiti, a process that will extend over many months.

The Arkansas medical team was the first to land in Point-Au-Prince, ministering from Jan. 19-22.

Veteran disaster relief workers Tamara Gore and Jerry Gay were two of the 10 members of the Arkansas unit. Nothing prepared them for their first drive through downtown Port-Au-Prince, they reported. The unmistakable smell of death was pungent and everywhere.

Haiti was in only its seventh day following the devastating earthquake. More than 100,000 bodies had already been recovered, and most had been buried in mass graves to stave off disease. The temperature was in the mid-80s.

"I was in the first car," said Gore, a law enforcement chaplain from Benton, Ark. "You could see the bodies. We would pass a collapsed building and you would smell the bodies. Everybody knew what it was without talking about it."

Gay, associate missionary for the North Pulaski Baptist Association in Sherwood, Ark., thought he had seen it all after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"I've never seen anything even close to this disaster, even Katrina," Gay said. "My wife and I both worked after Katrina. It was bad but this was a different kind of bad. This was sudden with no warning. At least there was some warning for Katrina."

Gay said his worst memory came while riding in downtown Port-Au-Prince one afternoon. Spotting the rubble of a flattened building and trying to stomach the accompanying stench, Gay asked his driver what the structure had been. The driver told him the building had been a school.

"Immediately, I thought of my little granddaughter back in Arkansas," Gay recounted. "I thought I was ready for what I would see, but my mind raced to my granddaughter.... That's the kind of thing people who come down here need to be prepared for."

As the additional SBDR teams arrive in the Haitian capital in the days and weeks to come, Gay advises them to know why they're going before they get there.

"The mission ought to be clear," Gay said. "Folks need to be mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepared."

Gore said it another way: "I would tell disaster relief people that they need to be prayed up before they get there, because they don't know what they're going into and what they're going to be dealing with," said the 51-year-old chaplain with 28 years of experience.

Gore said the Arkansas medical team -- two medical doctors, four nurses, a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist, an emergency medical technician, a crisis counselor and Gay, the unit's communications expert -- flew directly into Port-Au-Prince via Mission Flights International (MFI) on Jan. 19. They set up a clinic at El Shaddai Baptist Church on the northern outskirts of Port-Au-Prince, near the airport and across from the U.N. compound.

During their four-day stint, the team saw around 70 patients a day at the makeshift clinic, including children from the El Shaddai Orphanage where they stayed at night.

The two physicians -- one a pediatrician, the other a surgeon and pediatric urologist –- treated patients for broken bones, cuts, abrasions, depression and stress-induced gastro-intestinal problems. They also saw patients who had to be transported to other medical sites because of the more serious nature of their injuries.

The clinic had no electricity. Team members slept on air mattresses on the floor. Gore said sleep was difficult at best because of the tropical heat and the nightly crowing roosters and bleating goats and sheep. Gay had the only cell phone that worked. Otherwise, communications was possible only by satellite phones.

Until the Arkansas team departed Haiti on Jan. 23, its biggest concern was running out of the precious antibiotics, pain medicines, bandages, snacks and other supplies they needed to treat the Haitians. Because of weight restrictions on the MFI plane, the team had brought only two large black bags of medical supplies.

But here's where both Gore and Gay tell a remarkably consistent story -- the story of just one of the miracles in Haiti so far.

"The first night there, we were afraid of running out of supplies," Gore recounted. "So when I gave the devotional that night, I talked about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and fishes. I talked about how we needed to pray for God to bless what we had, show us how to distribute what we had, and that God would give us what we needed."

Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, the two physicians and the physical therapist circled the two medical bags of supplies that same night and also prayed that the supplies would be sufficient, Gay said.

After two days and seeing 180 Haitian patients, Gore and Gay both insist that the two bags -- neither of them cram-packed even upon arrival -– were still full at the end of the second day. They said the same was true of a large sack of peanuts, cheese snacks and pretzels donated to the team by Southwest Airlines. Two days later, the bag had more snacks than they started with.

"People can draw their own conclusions," Gay said. "We're not crazy people, we're professional people. We carried in two bags of supplies. The bags were full but not bulging. When we got ready to leave, it was all a couple of us men could do to zip up the bags. Nobody came in and gave us any additional supplies or snacks. We left two full bags for the next medical team coming in.

"All we could do is look at each other and laugh -- knowing that it had to have been God who had multiplied that stuff," Gay said.

Gay and Gore both said they are already making plans to return to Haiti. In addition to the two men, the other eight members of the Arkansas medical team were Deborah Quade, Angela Titus, Emily Magnusson, Rebecca Brown, Carl Garvin, Larry Gore, John Redman and Katherine Durham.
--30--
Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.

What if we had had 60 teams in Haiti within the first 3 weeks instead of 6? What if we were feeding people who are starving?  Could God protect and supply those teams as well? I don't want to presume upon God or tempt Him. We need to make sure that we are being led by the Holy Spirit. But, sometimes I think that we don't hear from God because we think that we already know what we can and can't do and we make decisions based off of our ability instead of God's supernatural power. I am so thankful for the team from Arkansas and I praise God for the miracle of multiplication that He provided.

Haiti Reflections: Why the Agonizingly Slow Response From Christians?

It has been over 3 weeks since the earthquake in Haiti. Hundreds of thousands are homeless - millions are affected. Up to 200,000 lost their lives. People all over Haiti are incredibly open to the gospel. It is not just food and medicine that they want. They did not just lose homes and loved ones. They want hope. They want to believe that there is a God who loves them and has not forgotten them. Christian ministries are still just barely trickling in. We have been intimidated by the size of the disaster and are obsessing over security concerns and logistical problems. Meanwhile, Haitians continue to suffer while we take our cues from the UN and State Department. I know that things need to be coordinated and organized. I know that certain rules need to he followed. The mistakes of the Baptists from Idaho should be lessons for all of us. You have to have your act together. I am also not suggesting that we go over there handing out tracts and doing Back Yard Bible Clubs. The Haitians need food, water, medicine, doctors, and shelter. But, over three weeks after a massive disaster like this and we are still trying to figure things out? Have we lost our nerve? Do we want everything to be guaranteed and secure? We try to arrange things so that we can go and come back with little cost to ourselves, it seems. Or, we take a long-term view on everything before we even show up to give a cup of cold water. I don't know how to solve all of Haiti's problems. It is a desperately poor country that has had massive problems for a long time. But, I do know that right now, there are people in need who are crying out to Jesus for help. What is taking us so long? What took so long?

I think that Christians might be thinking about disaster relief the wrong way. We are taking our cues from the large disaster relief organizations and NGO's and we are trying to replicate what they are doing through sending massive amounts of supplies and aid. We also try to raise lots of money. That is great and we should do that, if possible, in the long-term. But, that should not be the first step. As Christians, the ministry of presence and the Spirit of God is what we have to offer. We are salt - we preserve and season - we are not the meat. We are light - we illuminate and give vision. We are yeast, not the dough. We make the whole thing rise. We are a small seed, dying and then growing. When we try to be the meat and the dough and the forest of trees, we end up grinding to a halt and paralyze ourselves with inactivity, trying to figure out the whole before we even engage a part. We leave little room for God's Spirit to guide us.

The Church is Different From the UN

On Thursday, January 28, I stood next to the capitol in a small, mobile medical clinic that was run by our team in Port-au-Prince. We saw a couple of hundred patients that day. We shared the gospel and prayed with a couple of hundred more. Everything ran smoothly and was in order. We conversed with and cared for the people. Around 3PM or so, a half block from where we were, the UN showed up and started distributing food. It was without warning. There was no humanity to it. People came running from all directions, fearful that the truck would leave and they would miss out. A crowd of 3,000 gathered and quickly got out of control. They came running back down the street with food in their hands. They also came back with information that 3 people had died in the melee. This event made the news, by the way. We were a half block away and were experiencing total peace while chaos erupted right down the street. I am fully confident that we could have distributed food with the same measure of peace as we distributed medical care. God was working there and it was not just us. Christians often forget the power of God.

The difference between the UN operation and what we were doing was night and day. Yet, it seems that the Christian community often takes their cues from the UN instead of just showing up and being salt, light, yeast, and seeds. We are raising lots of money but we are paralyzed in distributing it. We need to go, put people on the ground who are wise and self-sufficient, and administer grace and help in a time of need. No, we cannot feed 500,000. But, we can feed 500 and trust God to multiply that as large as He wants. Didn't Jesus show us how to do this with loaves and fishes, a little boy's lunch that God multiplied?

There is a way of Jesus, even in disaster relief. Salt, light, yeast, seed, loaves and fish. Trust God to multiply and do miracles. Do not be afraid of losing your life. Yes, be wise and work with others. Yeast has to work with the dough, remember? But, none of this can happen if we show up late or don't show up at all.

Finally, let me just say that I praise God for every ministry and Christian that is trying to help, even if they are moving slowly. This is not meant as criticism. I am not calling out anyone in particular here. My point is that I think that we are looking at a lot of this wrong, at least in the initial stages. I think that we have unknowingly adopted the world's methods for some of what we do and we are forgetting our mandate and the power of God. I am not throwing stones. But, I would not be faithful to what I have seen and the enormous need there if I did not say that I think that in the Kingdom of God, there is a better way, perhaps a way not traveled as much as it should be. I think that there is a way of Jesus, even in disaster relief, and it is imperative that we find it.



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The Saints and the Soul of New Orleans

As a New Orleans native, the Saints have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. The first football game I ever attended was against the Detroit Lions in a preseason game in the Superdome. I was 6 or 7 years old. My Dad and uncle were in the old Tulane Stadium in 1967 for the first Saints game when John Gilliam ran back the opening kick-off for a touchdown. I remember Archie Manning, the paper bags, the Aints, and all of the losing. I remember Bobby Hebert, Dalton Hilliard, Eric Martin, and the Dome Patrol. As a kid, I remember having my heart broken over and over again. I remember saying that I was done with them, and then they would always draw me back in, sometimes against my will. I remember my Papaw yelling at the TV and Sunday afternoons in the fall filled with misery as yet another season went down in flames. My Dad and I could always talk about the Saints no matter what else was going on. From time to time, the Saints would make the playoffs, only to be destroyed by the Vikings or the Eagles or Falcons, erasing all of the hope that had built up over the year. Through it all, the city of New Orleans has been in love with their football team since its inception and now that the Saints are going to the Super Bowl, the Who Dat Nation is in delirium.

I think that New Orleans bonded so closely with the Saints, in part, because they were losers. The losing and the loyalty and the promise of "Wait 'till next year," seems to embody the spirit of the New Orleans in some strange way. After Katrina, when there was so much devastation and death and the Superdome was turned into a refuge of last resort, a lot of people lost hope that the city would ever return. But, the Saints did return. A little over a year later when the Saints played their first home game against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night and that punt was blocked for a touchdown two minutes into the game, the rebuilt Superdome, the city, and everyone associated with New Orleans erupted in emotion. I watched on TV and I cried. I knew what it meant. The announcers were quiet for 37 seconds while the fans in Superdome screamed away the pain, the loss, the anger, and the frustration that had gripped their lives over the past year. The cheers of the people of New Orleans carried that team all the way to the NFC Championship Game. 3 years later, the Saints are in the Super Bowl.

It has been said that the Saints are a comfort for a city and a people that have lost so much. No, that is not true. They are a sign of how far the city and the people have come. New Orleans is rebuilding house by house, block by block, business by business. The New Orleans Saints reflect that and the people of South Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have seen their team as reflective not of what was lost, but of what has been gained. Next year has come, and with it the promise of something better for a people who havve suffered so much.

I know that it is just a game. It is just football, not anything eternal, and whether the Saints beat the Colts on Sunday in Miami or not, people will get up the next day and go to work and keep rebuilding and keep looking forward to better days. They will celebrate a great season and how it pulled a city and a region together and they will look forward to next year. I know, it's just a game. But, if a game and a team can embody what it means to be from and miss a place, then this team has done it. When you think about human culture and what it means to be alive and have relationships and shared experiences and memories, then what is happening with the Saints right now, in a sense, does make it more than just a game.

I wish my Papaw could see this.

The Saints and the Soul of New Orleans

As a New Orleans native, the Saints have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. The first football game I ever attended was against the Detroit Lions in a preseason game in the Superdome. I was 6 or 7 years old. My Dad and uncle were in the old Tulane Stadium in 1967 for the first Saints game when John Gilliam ran back the opening kick-off for a touchdown. I remember Archie Manning, the paper bags, the Aints, and all of the losing. I remember Bobby Hebert, Dalton Hilliard, Eric Martin, and the Dome Patrol. As a kid, I remember having my heart broken over and over again. I remember saying that I was done with them, and then they would always draw me back in, sometimes against my will. I remember my Papaw yelling at the TV and Sunday afternoons in the fall filled with misery as yet another season went down in flames. My Dad and I could always talk about the Saints no matter what else was going on. From time to time, the Saints would make the playoffs, only to be destroyed by the Vikings or the Eagles or Falcons, erasing all of the hope that had built up over the year. Through it all, the city of New Orleans has been in love with their football team since its inception and now that the Saints are going to the Super Bowl, the Who Dat Nation is in delirium.

I think that New Orleans bonded so closely with the Saints, in part, because they were losers. The losing and the loyalty and the promise of "Wait 'till next year," seems to embody the spirit of the New Orleans in some strange way. After Katrina, when there was so much devastation and death and the Superdome was turned into a refuge of last resort, a lot of people lost hope that the city would ever return. But, the Saints did return. A little over a year later when the Saints played their first home game against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night and that punt was blocked for a touchdown two minutes into the game, the rebuilt Superdome, the city, and everyone associated with New Orleans erupted in emotion. I watched on TV and I cried. I knew what it meant. The announcers were quiet for 37 seconds while the fans in the Superdome screamed away the pain, the loss, the anger, and the frustration that had gripped their lives over the past year. The cheers of the people of New Orleans carried that team all the way to the NFC Championship Game. 3 years later, the Saints are in the Super Bowl.

It has been said that the Saints are a comfort for a city and a people that have lost so much. No, that is not true. They are a sign of how far the city and the people have come. New Orleans is rebuilding house by house, block by block, business by business. The New Orleans Saints reflect that and the people of South Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have seen their team as reflective not of what was lost, but of what has been gained. Next year has come, and with it the promise of something better for a people who have suffered so much.

I know that it is just a game. It is just football, not anything eternal, and whether the Saints beat the Colts on Sunday in Miami or not, people will get up the next day and go to work and keep rebuilding and keep looking forward to better days. They will celebrate a great season and how it pulled a city and a region together and they will look forward to next year. I know, it's just a game. But, if a game and a team can embody what it means to be from and miss a place, then this team has done it. When you think about human culture and what it means to be alive and have relationships and shared experiences and memories, then what is happening with the Saints right now, in a sense, does make it more than just a game.

I wish my Papaw could see this.

Haitian Orphans and UNICEF's War Against International Adoption

On Wednesday of last week, I found myself traveling through the rubble strewn streets of Port-au-Prince on my way to the US Embassy. We went there to inquire about bringing 50 Haitian orphans to the United States. A ministry that I am familiar with called Bridges of Faith in Alabama has the facilities and the desire to take care of up to 50 Haitian orphans on something that the State Department calls a Humanitarian Waiver. When we got to the embassy we were told that the Haitian government was allowing orphans to leave the country last week. But, then things changed. Inexplicably, they changed direction and now no orphans were leaving Haiti. The 10 Americans who are now being detained in Haiti got caught up in this confusion, it appears. Some reports state that they had permission but they needed one more piece of paperwork to leave the country. What they did was not wise, but the rules have kept changing in Haiti regarding the orphan situation. Apparently, UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is playing a huge role here.

According to reports, UNICEF has a standing policy against international adoption (see HERE).  According to missionaries in Haiti and other reports from those trying to adopt, UNICEF has pressured the Haitian government to adhere to their policies on international adoption and cease releasing children to adoptive parents that have already been approved. The U.S. government is trying to get the children released and a stalemate has ensued. This is what we were caught up in at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and it is why the policies changed. The UNICEF perspective is that children in poverty-stricken condiitions are better off if they stay in orphanages in their native culture than if they leave their native culture and go to families in other countries. You can debate this all you want, but that is what is behind the fact that Haitan orphans are not being allowed to leave right now. UNICEF saw an opportunity to spread their philosophy to Haiti and they have a lot of money that the Haitian government needs. At least that is the story that is being reported by people in Haiti who are in the know.

As for the 10 missionaries from Idaho, the media is presenting this like they are bunch of sex traffickers that got caught. Did they make a mistake? Yes. Were they foolish and ill-informed? It appears that they were. However, it is easy to speculate that an example is being made of them to send a message that children are staying put, despite the best intentions. One report stated that they had full approval from the orphanage and the parents of the children that they were taking. 21 of the 33 children had parents and those parents actually put them on the bus to get them out of Haiti and to the Dominican Republic. I don't know the full story. It is doubtful that anyone does at this point. I fully understand the need to have things documented and for the proper paper work to be done. Actually, I fiercely support things being done the right way when it comes to children. There are many ill-intentioned people out there that would take advantage of a situation like this and it is possibly that the group from Idaho was in that number. But, when international power plays begin to get involved in things like this, then the story is not always as it appears. 

The role of the church is to be an advocate for justice and righteousness all over the world. The Haitian children should be protected from predators that would seek to exploit them in this time of disaster. At the same time, children that can be taken care of and provided for in these types of situations should be. If they cannot leave Haiti, then we should go to them and help care for them there. The 11 year old orphaned girl that we rescued from sex slavery last week is burned into my mind. Fortunately, she is in an orphanage that we are working with and is not being prostituted on the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, how many more are suffering? What else can we do?

My heart aches. 

Is It the Wind That Moves the Trees?

The whole concept of Downshoredrift is that God is always working - He is always initiating. We are not the initiators, but rather, we are to respond to the Divine Initiative. God is always working, always redeeming, always restoring, always saving and reconciling the world to Himself through Christ. In understanding this, we must realize that we are to follow Jesus (which implies that Jesus is moving through history) and not try to get Him to follow us. We are characters in God's story - He is not a character in our story. Believing this fundamental truth caused me to be in Port-au-Prince, Haiti last week and always leads is to unexpected places.

Eugene Peterson has a great perspective on this in his book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places:

"G.K. Chesterton once said that there are two kinds of people in the world: when trees are waving wildly in the wind, one group of people thinks that it is the wind that moves the trees; the other group thinks that the motion of the trees creates the wind. The former view was the one held by most of humankind through most of its centuries; it was only in recent years, Chesterton said, that a new breed of people had emerged who blandly hold that it is the movement of trees that creates the wind. The consensus had always held that the invisible is behind and gives energy to the visible; Chesterton in his work as a journalist, closely observing and commenting on people and events, reported with alarm that the broad consensus had fallen apart and that the modern majority naively assumes that what they see and hear and touch is basic reality and generates whatever people come up with that cannot be verified with the senses. They think that the visible accounts for the invisible."

Are we man-centered or God-centered? Am I self-centered or Christ-centered? I confess that I am often the former. As I grow in maturity, my prayer is that I be conformed to the image of Christ, that I realize that it is the wind that moved the trees, not the other way around. God is always working. Faith gives is eyes to see that, and in seeing, we rejoice.



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Final Reflections on Haiti

I am sitting on the veranda of a restaurant overlooking the Caribbean on the south coast of the Dominican Republic. I had a good night's sleep in a bed after a hot meal. I even had a shower last night! It is amazing how grateful you can be for the little things. This will likely be my last report on Haiti - when I return home, my attention will be diverted to other things.

My heart is heavy for the children of Haiti - the adults too. They are a kind and happy people, even in the midst of so much suffering. They were so grateful that we were there. My job with the team during the times that we were doing the medical clinic on the plaza, was to float from station to station and help where I could. I was also assisted with the evangelism team. In doing this, I had the opportunity to walk up and down the line of people waiting for medical care. At times, the line would grow to 150 people standing in the hot sun for hours. They were so patient and grateful for even a sip of water. In all that time, they maintained good attitudes. The Christians in the crowd continued to praise God and look to Him.

Many asked why God allowed the earthquake to happen. They asked me of there sins were worse than the sins of other nations. I told them that Jesus was once asked the same question about a tower that fell on a bunch of people and killed them. He said that there sins were no worse than the ones who did not die - but unless we all repent, we too will perish. I told them that Haiti's sins were no worse than America's sins. But, there was a message for all of us in the earthquake: unless we all repent, we will all perish. The Haitians understood that judgment was coming. So many were grateful to be alive, and in gratitude mixed with fear of God, they repented and turned to Jesus - almost 200 of them in 2 days (I was wrong on the 150 that I earlier reported - it was more).

Many rejected Christ as well. One guy yelled at us because he said they needed food, not Jesus. Many more did not respond. I shared Christ with one young man named Phillipe James for about 30 minutes. He was a musician in his mid-20's with dreadlocks. He spoke English very well so we were able to talk freely. He had lots of questions about God but was not ready to leave his sinful lifestyle behind. Phillipe did not believe in cheap grace. But God was working on His heart. I could sense the conviction and the struggle. Phillipe wanted to know Jesus but he could not leave his old life. I told Phillipe that I would pray for Him and that I hoped that he would one day come to Christ. I told him that I hoped to see him in heaven one day. He is homeless like so many others in Haiti, just wandering the streets. Please pray tha he finds a home in Christ.

I want to close out my reflections by writing about Patricio. Patricio helped us throughout the week and always had a great attitude. His smile was infectious. I called him Snoop because he looked just like the rapper, Snoop Dog. The thing about Patricio was that he lost his wife and 2 children in the earthquake. His house fell in on his wife and the children's school fell in on them. He lost his home and his entire family. Today (Sunday), the team was going to dig through the rubble for Patricio's family. Yet, he continued to help us serve others all week long. If I lost my wife and children that way, I could not see myself doing what Patricio did, much less smiling like he does. May God bless Patricio today.

The world will soon move on from the Haiti earthquake to something else. But it will forever mark these people. They still believe in God - perhaps more now than ever. They are crying out to Jesus by the hundreds. They need help that they know only God can provide. As Christians come and bring food and medicine, may they also give a reason for the hope that they have in Christ. May they come and hold the babies, rocking them to sleep, like the German teenager with our team. May they bandage wounds like Butch, my friend from North Georgia. May they give out cups of cold water and pray and comfort and build shelters to protect from the sun and rain. May we show who Christ is through our deeds, demonstrating the Kingdom. May we also tell them who Christ is through the gospel, the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.

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Other Ministries in Haiti

In one of my updates, I said that we are not seeing other Christian ministries in Haiti. I was corrected by a couple of my readers who said that they were getting updates from several different ministries that were on the ground. I am glad that others are here. I can only speak to what we have seen. We have traveled from the coast to the mountains. We have been to the U.S. Embassy and to the airport where all of the international relief organizations are staging. We have seen many tent cities and thousands upon thousands of people in desperate need. One of our team members who spent his days taking severe cases to the hospital saw a couple of guys from Samaritan's Purse. We have not seen anyone ae at this point. I am sure that other Christian ministires are here, especially if people are getting reports. I just have not seen them or heard about them. But, that does not mean that they are not here, of course. No matter how much I have seen, our view is very limited. The need is so vast that you could have 100 groups here and I would not see them. So, I just wanted to make that correction lest people think that I was trying to contradict other reports.

Whether there are 5 ministries here or 5000, the same point remains: the need is so great and the people are so spiritually hungry that I pray that more doctors, nurses and people to minister come and assist the Haitans in need. That is just one of my prayers fpr these people.

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Back in the Dominican Republic

I am traveling on a bus out of Haiti to the DR after an experience that will forever mark me. I served on a team of Americans, Germans, and Hatians. We spoke English, German, French, Spanish, and Creole. There were over 30 of us. Some of us are leaving, but more are coming. I praise God for each and every person that I worked with and for Helping Hands Foreign Missions. Right now, we are traveling through the Hatian countryside on our way back to Santo Domingo. We will fly out tomorrow.

We operated a clinic right outside the broken down capitol building in Port-au-Prince the last two days. We treated almost 500 patients. Many were sick. Some had broken bones and wounds. There were many children and babies. The lines of people to see us stretched down the street, but they were just a few of the 600,000 living in tent cities right in that area.

People here are spiritually very hungry. They are afraid of another earthquake and they are turning to God in droves. Person after person came up to me and asked me how they could know God. As a team, we saw over 150 people turn to Christ in two days. Others rejected the gospel, but you could see God working on the hearts of many.

Yesterday, one of our team members was helping a little girl. She had lost her whole family in the earthquake and was only 11 years old. She had been picked up on the streets and was being used for sex slavery. I don't know exactly how it happened, but she was able to get away. When I saw her later, our team had gotten her and were taking her to an orphanage that we knew about. God had us there at that time to be able to rescue that little girl. I am thankful.

We are working with the orphanage and a ministry in Alabama called Bridges of Faith to bring 50 orphans back to Alabama. Please pray that we can work this out.

Haiti is in deplorable condition. It was already unspeakably poor. Now, there is no electricity, drinking water, or food. People cannot live in their homes. Tent cities are everywhere. The UN is dropping off food, but that will often cause a riot. 3 people were killed a block from our clinic at the capitol the other day when the food was being distributed. But still, people are doing their best to return to a sense of normalcy. There are many Haitian Christians here who are trying to serve God in the midst of chaos.

We are at the border again trying to leave. My prayer is that many more ministries and Christians would come. Fear should not keep us sleeping safely in our beds at home. The hands and feet of Jesus are needed here. I praise God that He called me to come here. Jesus wants to be ministered to and worshiped here in Haiti. This is the altar for the American Church. Will we bow down and worship Christ here by ministering to those in need? We have already done so much through giving. Now is the time for people to come. It can be done. But, there are almost no Christian ministries here yet. Now is the time for Christian doctors, nurses, and others to come who can just show compassion and give a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. I really hope that more come very soon. The need here is beyond description.

My prayers are with the Haitians today.



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Update from Haiti

I am borrowing a friend's iPhone. My phone is not working in haiti. I'll just quickly go stream of consciousness for an update. Total destruction, death, sorrow, poverty, hunger. Everyone is living outside. Fear of another earthquake grips everyone. Hot, dusty, filth. Sickness, injuries, broken limbs and lives. Today we set up a clinic outside the broken palace. We saw over 250 patients. We saw over 100 come to christ. I have to go, but please pray that we can get 50 orphans out of the country to Alabama. That is a possiblity. One other thing: the chrisitian ministries still are not here en masse. Why not? Hopefully, they are coming. The people are so scared and open to god right now. Please pray.



Damon Whitlow

Director of Technology

Advergents, LLC.

404.932.8474 cell

678.325.5503 office

Headed to Haiti

I'm on my way to Haiti for a week to assist with a field hospital near Port au Prince. It is going to be a very difficult trip. I'm trusting God and I appreciate your prayers. May Christ receive the reward of His suffering.

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Christ: A Component or Center of Our Lives?

Kenneth Boa, in his excellent book on spiritual formation, CONFORMED TO HIS IMAGE, says,

"It is impossible to progress far in our walk with Christ without a radical shift from an earthbound to a biblical perspective. Yet a surprisingly small minority of believers renew their minds on a consistent basis with the Scriptures, and this means that the majority are more likely to be influenced by their culture than by their Creator. . . . The phenomenon of compartmentalization compounds the problem, because so many people view Christianity as another compartment of their lives. It is something they practice on Sunday mornings and occasionally at other designated times, but it has little impact on the rest of their week.

"For many believers, Christ is present in their lives, but lordship is often resisted or rejected. For others, he is prominent in their lives, but there are still areas, such as work and finances, in which they hold onto the driver's wheel. This is usually because they think they are in control or because they are afraid to trust him in these facets of their lives. But there are also believers for whom Christ is preeminent as the focus of their being and pursuits. These people acknowledge his sufficiency and supremacy by relegating all areas to his rule and authority. For them, Christ is the hub who orders and integrates every spoke of life. If the claims of Scripture are true, this is the only realistic option for a follower of Christ to follow; the other options are based on the illusion that we are autonomous agents of our own destiny. The faulty assumption is that we have both the wisdom and control to accomplish what is best in our lives without complete dependence on the Lord."

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White Christians, MLK, and the End of Racism in the Church

Things are definitely changing. We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday today in an America that is moving beyond its racist past. Sure, racism and prejudice still exists, sometimes disgustingly so. But, it is obvious that things are changing.  I am primarily talking about the Church. I don't know exactly where America is headed in regard to racial prejudice. I have a suspicion that things will always be difficult in that area and perhaps increasingly so as America becomes more diverse. But, in the Church, I am seeing real progress, and for that I am very glad.

In the church that I pastor in Montgomery, AL, we continue to see blacks, whites, and people from other countries worship together. The racial diversity in our church is growing. I praise God for that. Dr. Martin Luther King asked us to imagine a day when people would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That is happening in our church, as it should, and I am grateful. The Church of Jesus Christ is the only place where we have a real chance of seeing racism end, in my opinion, because it is the only place where grace can truly be experienced and proclaimed. We are all sinners and we have nothing within us to merit the merit of Christ. How can any real church separate on the basis of race, skin tones, culture, economics, or class? How can there be elitism of any kind in the church? How can we ever think that we are better than anyone else on any basis?  We are all alike in desperate need of the grace of God. If not for Christ, we would all be lost. How can we separate from others?

Dr. King was a prophet and a great leader who pointed to a better way of living that was based on the equality that can be found in the midst of the beloved community. Neither he nor his theology were perfect, as has been documented by his adversaries repeatedly over the years. Still, he had the courage and vision to call us to a way of life that was very biblical when it came to racial justice and equality. The gospel does not allow there to be divisions based on race or people groups. Christ died for all.  Ephesians 2:11-22 tells us that Christ Himself is our peace.  The Civil Rights Movement in America was a movement that was born in the church and was victorious because it was on the right side of history and on the right side of God's will. Dr. Russell Moore from Southern Seminary eloquently made a case for the righteousness of the Civil Rights movement and why it ultimately prevailed over white racism today. I urge you to read it.

I have become quite a student of the role of both the white and the black church in segregation and the Civil Rights movement. I am convinced that there are valuable lessons for us today that we must learn or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past in different forms. Here are some of the questions that haunt me:

• Why was the white evangelical church so blind to the evil of its racism?
• Why was the true gospel subverted under a false gospel that caused people to look down on and separate from others because of the color of their skin?
• What would have happened if the Evangelical Church would have righted itself and led the Civil Rights Movement against a Southern culture that was steeped in deplorable practices?
• How would America have been different from the 1960's onward if the Southern church would have led the way on the issue of racial equality?
• In what area are we now being affected by a blindspot prophetically? What are we missing today that could affect future generations?
• How can we be more aware prophetically so that we can throw off the trappings of cultural Christianity, not subvert the gospel to false concepts, and boldly proclaim the biblical Jesus?

I have been trying to answer these questions for some time now and I believe that they are very important in developing a missiology for the American South and for America as a whole. People like Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Fannie Lou Hamer, Phule in India, and others have had the vision to see what was wrong and what needed to happen to make things right. God has been working through people like this since the time of John the Baptist and earlier in the lives of the prophets of Israel. How can we recover their voice and apply it to our own times? What would that look like? 

If we are to truly celebrate the birth of Dr. King, let us praise God for the progress made in the area of race while also asking Him to show us how we can continue to proclaim truth from the rooftops in a world groping in darkness.  I am looking forward to the day when the Church leads the way in restoring the world to God's intentions. I think that I am seeing that beginning to happen and for that I am very glad.

Don't Think "We have Abraham as our father."

That's an obscure title for a blog post, I know. It comes from Matthew 3:9, though, and it was spoken by John the Baptist when the crowds were coming out to meet him. He was preparing the way for the Messiah and the coming of the Kingdom of God. He was calling the people to awake from their sleep and complacency. They all thought that they were ok because they were descendants of Abraham. You see, God had made Abraham a lot of promises to bless his descendants. They weren't really focused on a true allegiance to God. They were just hoping to be taken care of and they thought they were because of their ancestry.

But, we have to actually know God. Salvation is not a state of being - it is a person, Jesus. Many claim to be saved and place their faith in their goodness, church attendance, a prayer they prayed, or the fact that they have never killed anyone (thus qualifying them for heaven). John the Baptist rightly says that it is all about relationship with God and that we should not grow complacent in trusting other things, whether it be our family or past experiences.

John says to repent - turn around - the Kingdom of God is coming. We cannot come into God's presence and stay the same. If you encounter God, you change. You have to. He is holy, which means that He is altogether different from us. To be with Him, we must be changed. The good news is that Jesus changes us - He makes us righteous. We must believe and respond to Him. But the result of the coming of Christ is that our lives are different. John the Baptist was calling out to Israel to not put their faith in the past and instead to look forward to God and run to Him, conforming their life to His and turning away from behavior that was contrary to who God was.

As we later see in the life and ministry of Jesus and the Apostles, we cannot change ourselves. Our sin is too great. That is why we must trust and look to Christ. But, John the Baptist's call for us to turn from self-focus to God-focus must still be heeded if we want to see Christ and join Him in His life and redemption.

How can we repent and embrace the Kingdom of God today?

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Seeing Jesus for Who He Really Is

I am preaching on who Jesus is over the next several months in our church and this thought occurs to me today: Would all those who claim to be Christians now have liked Jesus if they had been alive 2000 years ago? I understand that the Holy Spirit works to reveal Christ and draw people to God and we can't really explain how all of that works, but it just seems like a lot of people did not like Jesus very much when he walked the earth. People were constantly wanting to kill him. That is pretty extreme. I don't often want to kill people.

I'm asking because I think that we tend to like the version of Jesus that we have in our heads more than the real Jesus. Does our Jesus basically support our lifestyle and interests or does He turn things upside down? Do I ever get angry, confused, or skeptical about things he says? Do I ever struggle with my faith and desire to obey? Am I at all aware of a conflict within me regarding who Jesus is and who I am, or does my Jesus pretty much reinforce my own views?

I have written about this before and Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost talk about this a great deal in ReJesus. But, today I was thinking about the Apostles after Jesus' resurrection and I was wondering if anyone had a problem with it. Did they ever get their feelings hurt by Jesus? Did any of them ever feel slighted because he spent more time with Peter, James, and John? Was it hard for them to worship Jesus as the King of the Universe if they misunderstood him? Of course, the Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to them, but from a human level there were likely issues. The gospels talk repeatedly about the disciples arguing over who was the greatest. I imagine that some of their debates were pretty strong.

My point is that after 3 years of hanging out with Jesus, there was likely some disillusionment. Maybe that is why all the disciples except John abandoned him. How do you come back from that relationally?

Repentance was necessary. At whatever point the disciples saw things the wrong way, they had to reorient. When the Holy Spirit showed them who

Christ really was, they had to lay their old views down and accept what God was saying. In all of those misunderstandings, THEY had been wrong, not Jesus. Seeing Him raised from the dead had a huge affect, no doubt, but they still had to lay down false beliefs to conform their thinking to who Jesus actually is. Once they did, everything changed.

What if we laid down our false beliefs about Jesus and embraced who He really is? What would happen to us? How would we see things differently? We find Jesus in the Gospels. Let us meet with Him there. Let's find out who He is.

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How Politics Can Become an Idol

We are finishing up Tim Keller's "Counterfeit Gods" tonight in our Wednesday night Bible study. It has been an enlightening study regarding false worship and the idols in our lives.

Tonight, among other things, we are talking about how politics can be an idol. Keller says,

"We can also look to politics. We can look upon our political leaders as 'messiahs' our political policies as saving doctrine, and turn our political activismu into a kind of saving doctrine. One of the signs that an object is functioning as an idol is that fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of lif. When we center our lives on the idol, we become dependent on it. If our counterfeit god is threatened in any way, out response is complete panic. We do not say, 'What a shame, how difficult,' but rather 'This is the end! There's no hope!'

"This may be a reason why so many people now respond to U.S. political trends in such an extreme way. When either party wins an election, a cetain percentage of the losing side talks openly about leaving the country. They become agitated and fearful for the future. They have put the kind of hope in their political leaders and policies that once was reserved for God and the work of the gospel. When their political leaders are out of power, they experience a death. They believe that if their policies and people are not in power, everything will fall apart."

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Keller is right. I used to give an inordinate amount of time and attention to politics and watching the news. At some point several years ago I realized that most of what I was thinking about had nothing to do with me. The news was full of sensationalism, gossip, and fearmongering. I am not saying that we should not be informed. We should be. But, we should keep things in perspective and place our hope and trust in God. The government cannot save us and demonizing our political opponents is not helpful.

For several years now, I have advocated a position of being prophetic instead of political, which means that we must be tied to a Biblical perspective on life, we must affirm what is right and good, and we must denounce what is negative and evil - no matter which party the behavior comes from. Party politics always requires a level of compromise and subjugation to power. But, taking a prophetic stance changes the equation. It enables you to submit to God and represent His truth in all of life without adhering to worldly power plays. Ultimately, we should look to God and not political power as our source of meaning, security, and provision.

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Church and Family Should Work Together

It is hard for me to believe, but for many people there seems to be a tension between church and family. That should not be the case, but it often is. Many church leaders want people involved with and working with the church to help it grow even of the family unit is stressed and separated. Many families see the church as something that can help their family on the one hand, but can also wear their family out. It almost seems like there is a competiton and for some, it is as though they are trying to protect their family from the church. That should not be.



In Luke 2:21-52, we see a picture of Jesus' family, their relationships with others, and the role that the community and the Temple had in his childhood. Jesus was born into a family and that family loved Him, nurtured Him, and taught Him. But, Mary and Joseph did not live isolated lives. Jesus was not just raised with his family. He was circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish law. He was prophesied over by Simeon and Anna at the Temple. Every year, Jesus' family traveled to Jerusalem with friends and family for the Passover Feast. He was in the Synagogue every Sabbath day growing up (Luke 4:16). He was raised by His family and He grew in wisdom and stature, but His family was also deeply involved in the religious community. That is how it should be.



Churches do not exist to help families be strong for their own sake, and families do not exist to help the church grow, necessarily. Both family and church exist to meet with God and learn from Him and display His character and life to a lost world. Both family and church exist to help us love God and others. Just as in the life of Jesus, family and church should compliment one another in bringing glory to God, not compete with each other. How that happens is something that every family and church leader should consider and take seriously.

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What Gospel Did Jesus Preach?

There is much talk in the church today of being "gospel-centered" and of refocusing on the gospel. I agree wholeheartedly with this emphasis. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ and it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:17). But, what we mean by gospel is very important - crucial, obviously. Most talk about the gospel in the American church focuses on how individuals are saved from the penalty of their sin so they can go to heaven when they die. While this is central to the gospel, it is by no means the extent of the gospel that Jesus preached. Jesus preached "repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." Jesus proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom. I see Him preaching no other gospel.



What is the gospel of the Kingdom? Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi has written an excellent book called "Kingdom Come." In it, he describes the gospel of the Kingdom. He says:



"So as I understand it, the kingdom of God is about the dynamic of God's kingship being applied . . . God's reign descends in and through Jesus and is applied in a world that is not yet fully under his authority. Sicknesses are healed, demons are banished, wins are forgiven and people are assured of God's live for them. Wherever God's kingdom comes, his kingship is applied and the evil of darkness is banished."



Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom. Of course, personal salvation is a part of that. But, Jesus clearly proclaimed and demonstrated the reign and rule of God. I am not saying that you have to come fully under the reign and rule of God to be saved. We are all in process and God is the One who saves. But, if you have no desire for God's authority in your life after you have been "saved," then you might need to take a look at what gospel you are really believing in. A lot of people want the benefits of salvation in heaven but they do not want a relationship with Jesus now. There is no such thing.



Jesus proclaimed an all-encompassing gospel that affects our entire life and the world around us. I do not know who believes and who does not. But, I think that our gospel is too small if it only affects the next life and not this one. Jesus came to bring God's reign and rule. How can we claim to be His and not desire to live in His Kingdom? How can we claim to be Christians and not desire to follow Him? I am not talking about perfection here, I am simply talking about seeing Jesus and not myself as Lord. I am talking about true discipleship and that seems to be a difficult conversation for many at this point. May we truly fall in love with Jesus and leave the rest behind.

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C.S. Lewis on Why the Church Exists

"In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose. It says in the Bible that the whole universe was made for Christ and that everything was to be gathered in Him."



Paul said that he resolved to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. May we be consumed with Jesus this year in all we think, plan, and do.

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Bringing Our Gifts to the King

The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time dates back to St. Nicholas in 4th century Turkey. Beyond that, it goes back to the three Wise Men who presented the gifts of gold, frankenscence, and myrrh to Jesus shortly after his birth (Matthew 2:1-12). Whatever the origins, gift giving has become one of the most cherished traditions of our Christmas celebrations.  Yesterday during our morning worship service, quite a few people presented their gifts and talents before the Lord in worship to Him and it was beautiful. The whole service consisted of children and adults singing songs, performing dances, playing instruments, and coming together in choirs to give praise to Jesus. It was really beautiful and demonstrates how God has gifted us with amazing talent in our church.

As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that whether in song, art, dance, music, poetry/writing, speaking, serving, working, or making things with our hands, God has gifted us to give praise to Him. The first way that we do that is with our lives. God has blessed us with life, strength, imaginations, talents, experiences, and resources.  Will we present them back to Him as gifts or will we use them for ourselves?  Christmas should be a time to worship Jesus for what He has given to us - Himself.  How do we give ourselves back to Him and back to others, even to the point of sacrifice?

What gifts will we give to Jesus this year?  How might we lay our lives down before Him and serve Him with gratitude and thanksgiving?  What can we give to Him and to others?  What would it cost us to truly serve God and serve others?  If He is the Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift, then whatever we give to Him and others came from Him in the first place.  How can we excel in the "grace of giving"? 

I think that if Christians truly excelled in the grace of giving (time, energy, resources, talents, etc.), it would be the best way to demonstrate the person and work of Jesus, the greatest giver of all. As we give presents to one another this year, could we think about what Jesus has given to us and how we can respond to Him by giving our lives back to Him and in turn, to others?  

What would 2010 look like if we truly lived with open hands, giving as we have received?