Urgent Need In Haiti

The recent hurricanes that have ravaged the Caribbean Islands and areas in North America have posed a great challenge for Ministries In Action as we seek to respond in the name of our Sovereign Good God to the needs of some of the poorest people on earth.

As you are aware, MIA has been working in Haiti (with more than 500 churches scattered across that impoverished country) for more than 38 years. We have been involved in the planting and growth of hundreds of churches, and with the cooperation and sacrifice of God’s people in the United States, Canada, and Caribbean countries, we have established the infrastructure (clinics, schools, retreat centers, etc.) to allow us to distribute emergency supplies in times of disaster. Even before the recent hurricanes, God enabled MIA to distribute food to the people of Haiti. The situation has greatly worsened, and at this time the need is urgent!

At last report, over 600 deaths were confirmed in Haiti as many villages were completely submerged and houses washed away in flood waters (see photos posted on our Prayer Blog). Roland Joynes and Pastor Eneck (MIA personnel) have used motorcycles to survey the country, and consulted with pastors in Haiti to determine the best way of getting supplies to the neediest. We have started a Hurricane Relief and Recovery Fund. As we provide emergency supplies of food and necessities to these suffering people we authenticate the gospel that we share – the whole gospel for the whole man, for the glory of our great God.

If you wish to make a donation to the Hurricane Relief and Recovery Fund, send a check payable to Ministries In Action to P.O. Box 571357, Miami, Florida, 33257, follow the links to donate online, or call the office at (305) 234-7855 for instructions.

Billy and Sherry McKillop are relocating to Jamaica next month to work with pastors and leaders in the area of theological training.  Click here to read their latest newsletter.

Dear Fellow Transients,

My bags bulged with your prayers on my recent trip to West Africa. Thank you.

If I’d had more time in Ghana I could have eaten at the “God is Good Chop Bar”, the “God Bless Chop Bar”, or the “I Love You Chop Bar.” And for my thinning scalp I could have bought a  hairpiece at “Psalm 75 Wigs.” At least the sign made me look up that psalm but I just couldn’t find the connection. For sheer (and shear) creativity you can’t beat our African friends. I love teaching there. Thanks for making it possible by your support.

On the way over via England I took a former IFES team member from our Brussels’ days to visit the founder of Langham Preaching International. He lives in a lovely retirement community for clergy in rural Surrey. Uncle John is working on his final book called “Radical Discipleship.” When you consider that the author is 87 this is pretty cool. It reminds me of 85 year-old Caleb boldly possessing by faith the land God promised him in Canaan. Are you longing to be fruitful for the Kingdom right to the end.

The conference in Accra for 120 pastors and evangelists generated a lot of hope for a maturing church across West Africa, one of the poorest regions of the world. They prayed to become a missionary sending community rather than remain an aide-receiving region.

After the conference I traveled east to Benin to meet with the planning committee for our September 09 LPI preaching seminar. The maturity and commitment of these folks are inspiring. I needed to talk them down from a target attendance of 300 to a more manageable 80, our normal limit. They are hungry for instruction on textual preaching after seeing the church get bloated on prosperity sermons.

For several hours one night we thought my carry-on with all my valuables was stolen. Boy, did I need to learn  to accept deep disappointment while praying for the presumed thieves. It turns out that a domestic worker had put it in the trunk of a car they thought I was going in. Now I know how happy that lady felt who found her lost coin. Jesus reminds us of an infinitely greater joy in heaven over a lost person newly found.

This Thursday I co-lead our St. Andrews team of sixteen to Peru for a one-week work project and a vacation Bible school in a Shipibo Indian village. There are folks going who’ve never been on a plane let alone on an international project. May the Lord give us all cross-cultural grace and team unity.

Marilyn’s work as international rep at the adoption agency is going much better now that she’s had four months of experience. She joins me in sending  love and thanks for your partnership in our work. I’ll be doing a lot of teaching and preaching locally in July. At the end of the month we celebrate my parents’ 80th birthdays with a reunion in Charleston, SC. Back with you in August.

Sincerely,

Gordon

Uncle John and Sarah

Ministries In Action will be working with churches in four villages next week to respond to the food crisis that has created great harship throughout that nation over the last several weeks. Roland Joynes, a faithful MIA volunteer who has led numerous short term mission trips to Haiti, will be flying to Haiti next week and meeting up with Jean Eneck Desir, an MIA missionary in Haiti. They will be acquiring and distributing basic food items (rice, beans, oil) to churches in the villages of Flamands, Guichard, Dariol and Cotin. Those churches will then distribute the food to families in their communities.

Ministries In Action has received numerous donations for Haiti relief over the last few weeks and months, including a very generous donation of $2,500 from the Anthony Abraham Foundation. A fifth grade class at Greynolds Park Elementary School in North Miami Beach held a food drive and collected over five hundred pounds of dry food for this effort. Those items left the Miami office for Haiti today. Everything MIA has currently received when added together can be stretched to feed approximately 25% of the people in the four villages for one week.

The food crisis in Haiti a very serious and large-scale problem. This small relief action would not seem to go far in addressing the entire need in Haiti, but we serve a God that mulitplies loaves and fishes. This relief action will meet a real physical need and will allow MIA to help churches minister to their communities by sharing the love of Jesus with them.

We would like to raise additional funds over the next few days to maximize this opportunity. Would you prayerfully consider contributing to this very worthwhile effort?

Click here to donate online.

All Christian Magazine has chosen to bless Ministries In Action and the ministry of Billy and Sherry McKillop by naming them the beneficiaries of their first annual CHARITY TEA PARTY. Proceeds from the event will go to the McKillops ministry in Jamaica. The McKillops have been raising personal support and will be relocating to Jamaica during the summer.

The guest of honor and keynote speaker at the event will be Jamaica Ambassador to the United States of America – Anthony Johnson. Billy McKillop will be sharing about his call to Jamaica and Walford Thompson will bring greetings on behalf of Ministries In Action.

Please pray for this event. It is expected to draw many Jamaicans from the South Florida area and Ministries In Action has a real opportunity to share with them about the love of Jesus. If you are in the South Florida area you are ivited and encouraged to attend. Tickets are available for a contribution of $35 to All Christian Magazine.

Event Details

Sunday, June 29, 2008
3:00 – 6:00 PM
Old Cutler Presbyterian Church
14401 Old Cutler Road, Palmetto Bay, FL 33158

Tickets are available for a contribution of $35 and may be purchased by calling:

All Christian Magazine – (786) 217-5411

or

Pinelands Prebyterian Church – (305) 235-1142

Roger and Dianne Smalling serve the Spanish-speaking people of Latin America in the area of theological education.

Click here for the Smalling’s June Update.

June 2008,

Dear friend,

Greetings from Grenada. Thank you for you prayers and support over the years in ministry in St.Vincent and the Grenadines. Thank you for helping with our moving cost and resettling. We were able to clear our shipping from customs, mostly books. For the first month I have been meeting with several Pastors and leaders in seeking ways to build new relationships and to get an understanding of the needs of the church here.

The ministry of Dr. John Stott, the Langham Preaching Partnership was launched in Grenada that attracted 22 participants including Pastor Colin Smith from St.Vincent. This was indeed a refreshing time and a good introduction to several pastors and leaders.

Through the kindness of Jimmy Bristol, who attended the SVG Crusade for Christ last year we have been offered some office space. It needs refurbishing and the approximate cost is $5000. to make it workable. We would appreciate your financial help for this project. Do give us a call or email us mia@spiceisle.com

Do pray for us as we seek God’s wisdom and direction as how to serve him here. Denise is continuing her counselling at SGU and praying about a counselling centre. We are doing preliminary work on getting the Institute of Theological Education of Grenada in operations.

Pray for God’s favour and provision. There are already several inquiries.

Dawson is at home, making decision on employment. Pray for his protection.
Rhema will be taking two summer courses in preparation for her 2nd year at IUP in Indiana Pennsylvania. Pray for God’s continued provision.

Pray for Grenada. General elections is scheduled for July 8. Pray for peace and stability.

I had the privilege to preach at the St.George’s Baptist church and at Happy Hill Open Bible Church. Pray for open doors to minister here in Grenada.

Please continue to hold us up in your prayers as we also remember you.

Yours faithfully,

John & Denise and family

Billy and Sherry McKillop are headed to Jamaica next month to begin ministering in the Montego Bay area.  Please keep them in prayer as they seek a few more monthly support partners.

Click here to view the McKillop’s latest update.

Up in the hills of inland Jamaica, in the west central parish of Manchester is a small village named Walderston. On the outskirts of Walderston you will find a quiet, rural farming community of about 500 persons named Contrivance. Sharon Gospel Assembly is a small church of about 70 people located in Contrivance with a vision for meeting the needs of its community. They are a member of the Associated Gospel Assemblies, a small group of evangelical churches in Jamaica.

Sharon Gospel Assembly is led by its pastor Phillip Cardis. He and the members of the church recognize the needs in their community for education, both at a child’s level and an adult level. They have been led by the Lord to respond to that need by operating a basic school. The current facility they meet in is inadequate to truly meet the educational needs of the Contrivance community. In 2007 they decided to build an additional building to serve as the school house and began to reach out to God’s people for assistance.

In early 2008 Hyacinth Urquhart, Ministries In Action’s Director of Project Ebenezer, visited Sharon Gospel Assembly to meet with the church members and survey the community and potential worksite. It was quickly obvious to her that they had a true vision to reach out to the Contrivance community and a sound plan. She also noticed that the village and guest house available would be adequate for accommodating short term missionaries.

Sharon Gospel Assembly currently meets in a single building approximately 60 feet by 20 feet. This small building, in addition to its auditorium, houses a vestry, pastor’s office and two bathrooms. It is currently used for both church ministry and to run their small basic school, but it is not large enough to accommodate the needs of both, nor to adequately serve the Contrivance community. Because of the remote, rural location and the fact that the foundation has already been laid, no special government approval is needed to build an additional building, and they have the full support of their local government representatives.

Ministries In Action has partnered with Sharon Gospel Assembly to construct a building of identical size adjacent to the current building. The project committee, led by Erica Cardis, and made up of members of Sharon Gospel Assembly will plan and supervise the construction of the new school building. They will also host visiting work teams that come to work on the project. Ministries In Action has committed to recruiting and sending work missionaries to the project site and to raise funds to cover the costs of materials and labor above and beyond what the short term missionaries are able to contribute.

The building, when completed, will be primarily used for the basic school, but will also be used for Adult training and certification in collaboration with HEART Trust NTA, an organization in Jamaica committed to training and certifying a workforce to simulate employment and improve productivity, competitiveness and prosperity of individuals in that nation. Sharon Gospel Assembly is planning to make the new building available for health clinics, counseling and career guidance as well.

Click here to request information about a short term mission trip to Contrivance.

Click here to support this project financially.

The Faith Pentecostal Tabernacle is located at almost the center of the Island of Grenada up in the mountains of Mirabeau. From the scenic spot where the sanctuary is located one has an awesome view of the nearby villages and farmlands. The combined population of Mirabeau and the surrounding villages is approximately 8,000. Typical of rural areas, families are large with an average of eight children, although several women in the area are known to have borne between 15 and 21 children for different fathers. Mothers are often the heads of their households. Where ever a father figure is present, he is often not married to the woman and only transient.

Teen age pregnancy in Mirabeau is rampant and so too is the use of drugs and alcohol. Sexual promiscuity abounds and children are becoming sexually active increasingly earlier in life. Many of the men are involved in gambling. A very high percentage of the population have no employable skills, apart from farming, but they often do not have access to sufficient land to make it profitable or to enable them to feed the entire household. The villagers seem destined to a continuing cycle of poverty interrupted only by the occasional barrel from relatives in the US or the opportunity to migrate. 

The Faith Pentecostal Tabernacle began as an outreach of Grenville Pentecostal Church in 1976. The church met for several years in an old estate house. Reverend Joseph Raeburn, fresh out of Bible school (WIST in Trinidad), became their first full-time minister in March of 1988 and has been there ever since. Before long the estate house became too small for the growing congregation and the church embarked on constructing a small sanctuary (76 feet by 37 feet) – seemly too ambitious at the time. A few years after the dedication of the new sanctuary in August of 1992, it was already bursting at the seams. The church once again needed to expand its facilities, this time with community outreach as a priority.

Ministries In Action is partnering with the Faith Pentecostal Tabernacle to provide a facility that will not only accommodate the growing membership of the church, but also allow for them to better demonstrate and share the love of Jesus with the surrounding community. The new facility will be added above and around the existing sanctuary. When completed the building will be two stories and will measure 126 feet by 76 feet. On the upper floor the sanctuary will occupy the whole length of the building. Side rooms will comprise the pastor’s office, church office, counseling room, library and washroom. The ground floor will include a multi-purpose room to be used by the children and youth ministries and serve as a fellowship hall. The church is committed to use the remainder of the bottom floor to be utilized for outreach ministry to the public. While a specific plan has not yet been finalized, it is expected that it will be use for either a pre-school or adult education/skills training center.

Ministries In Action believes that The Faith Pentecostal Tabernacle is well positioned to make a vital impact on the lives of many in the area and the community at large. Pastor Raeburn and the congregation understand and already practice a holistic approach to ministry. This facility, when completed, will help them to be more effective. Please join us as we pray for and support the work of Faith Pentecostal Tabernacle in Mirabeau, Grenada.

Short term missionary teams that visit this project have the opportunity to participate in the construction of the church and to work with MIA missionaries in Grenada. There are opportunities for children’s ministry and evangelism as well.

Click here to request information about a short term mission trip to Mirabeau.

Click here to support this project financially.

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