Point-of-View

I never go to Haiti that my life is not changed.

The week of Oct. 13 was no different.

What a beautiful sight! What a beautiful sound! Pastors from all over Haiti gathered for the National Convocation of the Confraternité Missionnaire Baptiste d’Haiti (CMBH).

The CMBH was organized and is directly supported by the Florida Baptist Convention through the Maguire State Mission Offering. The organization includes six full-time directors of missions in Haiti and a National Coordinator.

I have never participated in a mission strategy this ambitious. The CMBH began in 1995 with 88 congregations that had been started by individual Haitian pastors in Florida. In response to a request made by these pastors, the Florida Baptist Convention entered into a partner relationship with the 88 churches in Haiti to help develop a base of operations and a network of support. The number of churches now affiliated with the CMBH is fast approaching 500.

We work in partnership with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The IMB has two missionary families in Haiti and one single missionary.

The work in Haiti is difficult for many reasons–poor economy; condition of roads and lack of transportation; worship of voodoo and the occult; lack of education and training; and political instability.

But I have never been to a riper or more rewarding mission field. The people are responsive to the love of Jesus Christ. They are among the most appreciative people I have ever met. They are worthy of our investment as Florida Baptists.

The highlight of the trip for me was the visit to the Gospel Baptist Church about 90 minutes outside Port Au Prince. A new church building had just been completed for this new church start. I was invited to celebrate the dedication of the building.

It was hot! The rain from the night before had left everything muddy and muggy. The trip required four-wheel-drive most of the way.

But what a wonderful celebration! About 100 persons were in attendance on a Wednesday morning. The beautiful children sang, the youth sang and I spoke briefly. The new church building will seat 250 people and consists of eight posts, a concrete floor and a tin roof. While such a church building would not be adequate in the United States, in Haiti the facility is ideal and a blessing from God.

Florida Baptists provided all of the materials to construct the building. Our total cost was $2,500. The funds were given over and above the regular ministry budget provided by the state mission offering. Florida Baptists can build 10 to 15 church buildings a year if we can find or ship the materials to the Caribbean island. Perhaps someone in your church can help us in this effort.

During the National Convocation, Mark Stephens, director of Theological Education and Distance Learning for the Florida Baptist Convention, announced that the Florida Baptist Convention was going to bring quality theological education to Haiti through a certificate program designed with our partner, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

This will give greater stability to our CMBH than anything we can do at this juncture. Pray for this venture. Finding doctrinally sound and quality theological and seminary-related materials in the French language is difficult.

Dr. Tommy Green, pastor of First Baptist Church, Brandon, and president of the Florida Baptist State Convention, will teach the first class in January 2004. Tommy and his congregation have made numerous mission trips to Haiti and know the area well. They, too, have made significant investment in this ministry.

Thank God for Florida Baptists who have a great heart for missions. Thank God for the 187 Florida Haitian churches who affiliate with our Convention and offer us great encouragement and help with the work in the nation of Haiti. Thank God for Dr. Craig Culbreth, our Partnership Coordinator, who keeps all of this "humming!"