Haiti Ministry

LOVE FOR HAITI
 
History
In 2005, the LORD stirred a passion for Haiti and its people in the hearts of Pastor Ron and Pastor Jacques of Calvary Chapel Rockingham (NH).  As a young boy, Jacques came to the US from Haiti where Voodooism is practiced by the majority of people in that country.  When Jacques became a new believer in Jesus, he began attending Calvary Chapel Rockingham.  At that time, the LORD gave him a dream about ministering in Haiti, bringing the Good News of the Gospel to the people of Haiti.  That dream became a “burning in his heart.”
 
In Haiti, many people call themselves Christian, but in reality they are practicing a mixture of Catholicism and Voodooism, explains Jacques.  “They worship spirits and believe those spirits are there to protect them, but they are deceived.  It’s a big deception from the enemy.”
 
There is also, in Haiti, a small group of Christians who are devoted to God but lack knowledge of the Word.  For Jacques, 1 Timothy 2:3-4 became a burden in his prayer life:  “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”  So he and Pastor Ron began planning a ministry to bring the light of Christ and His truth to the people of Haiti.
 
The Bethel Series
The Bethel Series is a two-year curriculum that delves deep into Biblical scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.  It became the first step toward bringing the Word of God to Haitians.  First, Jacques spent two years under Pastor Ron’s teaching of the Bethel Series.  Once he graduated, he was qualified to teach it.  But a problem existed.  It needed to be translated from English to French.
 
“I left Haiti as a young boy,” notes Jacques.  “Just imagine how bad my French was!”  But translate it he did, after three years and with the help of the Holy Spirit.  “I don’t know how I got through it, but God knows!”  In 2017, Jacques was ordained as a pastor by Calvary Chapel Rockingham.  Pastor Jacques’ heart continued to serve the ministry God had given him for Haiti.
 
Ministry In Haiti Begins
Twenty-five Haitian brothers and sisters eagerly signed up to learn the Word of God through the Bethel Series.  After two years, ten students remained in the study and were graduated.  These ten graduates along with Jacques are now the administration team for the ministry.
 
Jacques and his team began a Bible school for the local community.  A dear Haitian brother generously allowed his home to be used for this purpose.  When missionaries come to help out, the home is there for them, too.
 
Then the LORD began putting a new burden on the teams’ hearts, a burden for the children.  “Little kids started coming around.  We call them our Kingdom Kids.  We gave them food and candy, and did activities with them.  Most of these kids are orphans.  Their parents died in the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010,” Jacques explains.  Now, along with the School of Ministry, the plan has grown to include an orphanage, a clinic for all of the community, and a school based on a Biblical foundation for the children.
 
With this expanded mission plan, land was needed.  “We prayed five years for God to provide a piece of land where we could carry out the ministry that He gave us,” explains Jacques.  A piece of land was found and then prayers were lifted up asking for God’s provision to buy the land.  “At that time we had no funds whatsoever.  We prayed and trusted in the LORD and He heard our prayers and moved.”  God sent a missionary group to Haiti, and among the missionaries was one whose heart God touched with love for this ministry — specifically for the Kingdom Kids.  In 2019, this missionary provided all the money to buy the 3-acre piece of land the ministry needed.
 
Obstacles and God’s Glory
Jacques explains:  “Whenever you are doing the will of God, there is always a test that comes along or an altercation with the enemy.  Satan is real and fierce.  He will stop at nothing to try to bring defeat and destruction.  It happened to us.  Once we started working with the land we began facing altercations with the local authorities, the magistrate and the deputy.  There is so much corruption in the Haiti government.  They tried to seize the land from us, saying whoever sold it to us was not the real land owner.  They sent gangsters to make us stop the work we were doing, threatening us with their guns.  I was shaken and didn’t know what to do but I relied on what God showed me in the dream and continued working and praying hard.  I did not want us to lose this land for which we had already paid.
 
“Satan is like a dog on God’s leash.  He can only do what God allows him to do and always it’s for our eternal good.  Praise God, the family who sold us the land retained a lawyer and went to court with these people.  A deal was negotiated and the LORD gained us the land.”
 
Where We Are and What’s Next
The foundation for the wall is being built now.  It needs to go around the entire 3-acre property for safety reasons and to prevent gangsters from causing problems.  “We ask for your prayers as we seek God’s provision so we can continue moving forward.  We will be building the wall step-by-step as funds come in until it’s completed.”  While prayers are being lifted to the LORD for these needs, fundraising is also being planned.  More information on those plans will be available in 2021.