Haiti - Day #1

The Lord blessed us with a safe and uneventful trip from Atlanta to Port au Prince, Haiti. Our first day here went very well. We met with the two head pastors that we've been corresponding with for the past few years. We had some really good and frank discussions.

Tomorrow we'll meet another pastor who is affiliated with the group before we go to see the orphanage and then more meetings in the evening.

Friday morning and all day Saturday will be spent meeting with ten pastors who wish to officially organize a new Lutheran church body in Haiti. And more meeting/discussions will take place with the head pastors in the afternoon and evening on Friday.

We're looking forward to a busy and productive next few days. It is such a privilege to ne involved in this task of proclaiming God's saving word to those who seem so eager to learn and grow in their faith and understanding of God's word!

Traveling to Atlanta and Haiti

Mission Board Chairman, Joel Krafft and I are scheduled to arrive in Port Au Prince, Haiti on May 31st for the first official CLC visit. The Board of Missions has been in contact with a local pastor there since 2013. Correspondence courses have been conducted and a small amount of money was sent to provide some temporary humanitarian relief following the hurricane that hit the island last fall.

We have not yet established fellowship with this group, but they now refer to themselves as the CLC Haiti. They have adopted the CLC Statement of Faith and Purpose and would like to be officially registered with the Haitian government. At the most recent Board of Missions meetings held this past April, it was decided that a face to face visit needed to be conducted before things could progress any further with this group of pastors. It has been the policy of the Board of Missions to make every attempt to visit and verify all the information that has been exchanged via email before any recommendation for fellowship is made to the president of the CLC. While in Haiti we will discuss doctrine, see first hand the work that is being done, meet the people, and get to know the pastors. We have been asked on several occasions if we would provide on-going pastoral training, so we will also discuss how this might be possible. You might characterize this visit as "exploratory" as we seek to determine if the Lord has indeed opened another door of opportunity to assist in proclaiming His saving word. 

On the way to Haiti, Joel and I will also have the opportunity to visit with Pastor Gantt and hopefully some of the members of  Zion Lutheran Church (the CLC subsidized mission congregation in the Atlanta, GA area). We will both fly into Atlanta where we will be met by Pastor Gantt. We plan to spend the day discussing the work and looking at a church/parsonage property that the congregation is hoping to purchase.

Please keep us in your prayers asking the Lord to grant success to our visit as we trust His promise that His word will not return to Him void, but it will accomplish that for which He sent it.