Haiti One Year Later

Today many news networks will focus their attention on Haiti.  Most stories will be about why things haven’t been handled faster or if the efforts have been worth the costs.  As I reflect on Haiti one year later I choose to focus on the fact that once again Florida Baptists and Southern Baptists have brought Help, Healing and Hope to a hurting people after a disaster.

The quake only lasted for 30-35 seconds.  Estimates are that 300,000 people died in the quake.  That was about 10,000 people a second.  In addition, 1 to 1.5 million people were left homeless.  It was a devastating blow to a people that had very little.

Because the Florida Baptist Convention has had a 15 year partnership in Haiti, I knew that we would be heavily engaged in the response.  What that meant for me was that I would be living in Haiti for almost 8 months while serving as the Incident Commander for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief efforts.  Like 9/11, the 2004 Florida hurricanes and 2005 Hurricanes I was honored to play a small part.

One of my first memories of arriving within days of the quake was the fact how the people had immediately picked themselves up, dusted off and began living again.  The reason was that Haitians live day to day and are survivors.  They knew that if they didn’t move foreword they would die.  This was stark contrast to what we saw in 2005 after Katrina where people sat and complained that help didn’t come fast enough.

Early on I described our work as a marathon not a sprint.  That is how we approached the response.  We started out sending medical teams and then added home inspection and chaplain teams.  We also launched an ambitious project called Buckets of Hope.  I still recall my family sitting down in the isles of our WalMart packing the pilot bucket.  We had the list of food items that the Haitian cooks has told us would work but still had to decide on what to put in and how to pack it.  It was the first of what would be 155,000 food buckets produced by Southern Baptists.   We eventually expanded to ministry teams, demolition teams that worked along side the Haitians swinging sledgehammers to break up the concrete and teams that built temporary shelters.

Our Haitian brothers and sisters not only welcomed our efforts they embraced them as their own.   Haitian Christians saw this as an opportunity to minister and share Christ. As a result, they led over 165,000 people to Christ and started over 270 churches.

One person who has responded to Haiti described his experience in Haiti by saying it must have been what Peter and the early Christians experienced.  Like Peter, we saw people coming to Christ and miracles being performed daily.  Many times we would pray for something and the prayer was answered the next day if not earlier.  That experience continues still today.

Many people today will ask if we have made any difference in Haiti over the past year.  Truthfully I don’t know.  I can only reference back to Peter and the early church.  They accepted Christ’s call to make disciples and to take the Gospel to the 4 corners of the earth.  They didn’t set out to change history but instead simply stayed obedient to the call of God upon their lives.  God honored their faithfulness and we are the fruits of their labor.  It is my believe that we too as Florida and Southern Baptists have sought to be obedient to God’s call by responding to the needs the best we could.  We have been the good neighbor who saw a person in need and used the means we had to help them.  Now we must continue to work the fields and let the Master bring the seeds to harvest.  Thanks to everyone that participated during this part of the response by praying, giving and going.

We just started the second half of the marathon in the rebuild phase.  Southern Baptists have recently set a goal to build 6,000 block homes over the next 3 years.  Homes will be built primarily with Haitian laborers whom we will hire and train.  I’ll talk more about that next time.

Hurricane Earl Update

Wednesday 9/1/2010 – Everyone in Florida is breathing a sigh of relief that Earl is missing us.  However, he may take a swipe at the Mid-Atlantic coast from NC up to Maine.  The latest NHC forecast appears that Earl will stay just enough off of the NC coast to not make a direct hit unless it Jogs left.  However, even though the eye wall may not hit the coast, the tropical storm force winds (extending 200 miles out) and possible hurricane force winds (extending 100 miles out) will hit the Outer Banks area.  Right now, NC Baptist DR groups are preparing to respond if needed.  They have a lot of units and volunteers so it is doubtful that they will need FL Baptist DR groups in the initial response.  If we are needed, it would be part of a 2nd wave of volunteers if the storm jogs left and makes a direct hit.  The earliest we would be activated is Tuesday of next week.

Be aware that  Tropical Depression #9, has formed off the west coast of Africa.  It will probably be named Tropical Storm Gaston by Friday.  Gaston will slowly track across the Atlantic towards the Lesser Antilles.  It will be 10 days to 2 weeks before Gaston could threaten FL.  Therefore, have a great Labor Day weekend.  It may get interesting by the end of next week.

6/14/10 What an incredible day!

Monday, June 14, 2010 – What an incredible day in Haiti!  We started out by going to the Minister of Civil Defense’s office for a mandatory meeting.  It was called because of a problem that developed Friday.  The minister decided to go with us to open 5 containers.  (He rarely went to that  so it was going to be great or really bad.)  When got to the truck yard, there were only 2 containers.  Needless to say, the Minister was upset at us for not having 5 containers.  (It was a simple delivery problem but still the whole thing almost blew up.)  While they were discussing the problem in a loud manner, I felt compelled to sit down, under the deck of a semi-trailer and pray.  I prayed for the Lord to intervene.   Within minutes I noticed that the voices were calmer.  As I looked up I noticed CMBH National Director of Ministry, Pastor Lebranc, giving me a thumbs up.  At first, the minister only gave us permission to open the rice container.  He said we could not open the bucket one.  As we went to open the rice container, we found that someone had placed a lock on it but no one had the key.  Again things were tense but the Lord prevailed.   Once we opened the rice container, the minister warmed up and decided to let us open the bucket container.    That was incredible.

Since the beginning I had visualized this day in my mind.  I had been telling the pastors, the contract workers and others about the buckets.  They could not comprehend it.  When we opened a couple of buckets and showed the minister and his assistant how the bucket was packed, they were amazed along with everyone else.   We distributed over 600 buckets this afternoon.  We also distributed over 8 pallets of rice.  It was hot, tiring, and hard.  Still, it was a great day.  Several times I had to stop because I became overwhelmed by the enormity of the moment.  This is just the first of over 100 containers.   The marathon continues.

For those of you practical people, yes the buckets did shift and tumble some because this one was not palatalized except at the back.  Many lids cracked because some buckets had more space that the original size we tried to get people to use in the promotion piece.  Many bottoms of the buckets bulged, bent and a few cracked.  Never-the-less, there was only two buckets that the beans and oil did not survive.  They  it came apart when they fell out of the back of the truck when we opened the door.  Pretty awesome!

Thanks for all who participated especially Terry Ryan, who made it happen on the FL Baptist DR side.

Headin Home

4/13/10 Tuesday – Well another Haiti trip is almost in the books.  It has been a great trip.  Saw things slow down before Easter, spent probably the most unusual Easter of my life, (me, Wade Gaylor & Thomas the guard) and then started gearing back up for the April-July push.  The Demolition team concept got off the ground with a smash (sledgehammers in full swing) thanks to 12 guys from Southern Seminary.  An AL medical team came and is serving in Jacmel.  (I got to go to probably the most beautiful place in Haiti.)   Here are answers to the most asked questions.

1. No, the buckets are not here yet.   The first 10+ containers are somewhere between the us and Haiti customs.  (on their side of the fence)
2. I don’t know when they will be released.  Most likely it will be a the very beginning of the real rainy season.  That is when I predicted it would happen.
3. Rainy season hasn’t started yet.  (See item #2)  It is raining but only occasionally.
4. Yes we really asked people to bring sledgehammers in their checked luggage.  Yes it got through TSA.
5. Yes I am ready to go home.  However, it is always hard to leave.
6. Yes I plan to be at San Jose Baptist Church this weekend for the first DR training of 2010.  I’ll be a zombie. (yes Haiti humor)

Thanks for the prayers.

Thanks to TAZ!!!!!!!!   He helped Deborah and the boys with a house problem last week.

4/1/2010 Buckets gone viral

Thursday, April 01, 2010 – Tonight, I had a little free time at the CMBH house in PAP.  The internet was working much faster than normal so I tried to catch up on Facebook. While there, I noticed several posts about the Buckets of Hope and became amazed how the whole bucket thing has gone viral.  Seeing the pictures, videos and news articles was truly amazing.  The first containers are on the way, I hope at least 1 clears customs before I return to the US on 4/14.  We have been telling the Haitian pastors about the buckets but I still do not think they fully grasp the concept.  It will be fun to watch them as they open the first container.  Imagine them as they look inside and see 1,300+ buckets.  Then imagine them opening one to see what’s inside the bucket.  Only then will they realize what folks in the US have have done for Haiti.  (I would love to have a camera inside the container to catch their expression.)  In case you are curious, here is how the bucket project came about.

We were in Haiti the first week after the quake with the SBC DR assessment team.  We were talking about ways to give people in the US a tangible project o help the people in Haiti.  As we talked, we combined a couple of ideas and came up with a food bucket concept.  Everyone thought it was a good idea but no hard plans were put in place.  As we were winding up the trip, I felt compelled to not let the bucket idea die.  So, I started asking several of our Haitian cooks about the types of food items that a Haitian family would like.  As they talked, I took notes.  After I returned to FL, I asked my family to help me try to put a food bucket together to see if it could be done.  So, we went to Wal-Mart.  We started with the white bucket with white lid and began going up and down the grocery isles.  We would find an item on my list, discuss the amount to buy and then try to pack it in the bucket.  My wife, Deborah, made the final call on the items and the size packages.    After about 45 minutes, the Wilson family had completed the 1^st of 150,000+ buckets.

The following Tuesday, I showed the bucket during a Haiti response planning meeting.  The group loved the idea.  That same day, the convention PR department video taped me talking about the bucket project.  During the taping, I used the term “Bucket of Hope.”  The name sort of stuck and the rest is history.

Thanks to everyone across the country who made the Buckets of Hope project happen.  A big thank you goes to my associate, Terry Ryan.  He was the one who had to make the logistics work.  Allison Walker, my secretary, also deserves credit for handling the phone calls and processing the shipping funds.  (Sometimes @ $10 a check.)  Most of all, I want to thank the 100+ FL DR volunteers who are handling about 140,000 of the 150,000+ buckets as they flow through FL to PAP.  You folks are the best!

Pray for the buckets to get here and clear customs.  Also pray for the folks doing the distribution as well as the families that will receive them.

3/30/10 I’m alright

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 – For those of you concerned because I have not posted an OTF page in a long time, as the Caddy Shack song goes, “I’m alright, don’t nobody worry about me.”  I simply took a mental break from writing for several weeks.

I have been back and forth to Haiti a couple of times since the last posting.  It has been 2.5 months or about 12 weeks since the quake and I have been in Haiti for almost 9 of them.  Many things have happened because Southern Baptists from across Florida and the entire US have been praying, giving and going.  We have had over 350 people come through the CMBH house since the quake.  Many volunteers have never been here before but leave transformed by seeing the faith of the Haitian Christians who have nothing.  I am convinced that not only will Haiti be transformed by the quake and the response of Christians acting out the faith but also many American churches will be transformed because the  people are being obedient to God’s call to come.

Since my last post I have seen, experienced and heard many things.  I could write a book sharing how God has been continually at work in the past 2.5 months.  (There are no plans for one.)  However, yesterday I heard a statement that best describes the fear that many Haitian’s feel every night.  It was told to me by David Brown who is the America’s Director for Baptist Global Response.  We were talking about the fear that is gripping the entire and how we can help people overcome it.  During the conversation, David shared a statement that a Haitian man had told him, “My house is now my enemy.”

Think about that statement.  The one thing we cherish most after God and family is our home.  Not just the physical structure where you eat, sleep and live but also the place where you keep most of your prized possessions.  It is the place where you can be yourself and let your hair down.  It protects you from bad weather.  It is where you raise your children.  Imagine now that your home is now your greatest threat to your safety, your family and your life.  Imagine choosing to sleep outside with mosquitoes, filth and lack of security in a shack, tent or under a piece of plastic because you do not trust your home to protect you.  That is the reality that many Haitians live with everyday.  One family that I know chooses to sleep outside in a tin shack every night because of their fear that their perfectly good home made of concrete walls and roof would attack them during another quake.  What makes this even more amazing is that they have a new baby girl less than 1 week old.

So as you come home, eat supper, watch TV, lock your doors for security and get ready to go to bed, look around your home and imagine what if your house turned on you and attacked you while you were sleeping.  You would not rest very much.  As I often like to say to people when they experience a ‘Light Bulb Moment,’ “Welcome to Haiti.”

2/7/10 Losing Focus

Sunday, February 07, 2010 – Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible called The Message has become one of my favorite ways to read God’s word.  The story of Legion in Mark, Chapter 5 is paraphrased in a way that really applies to my past week here in PAP, Haiti.

I’ll start after the point Jesus has healed Legion, the pigs ran off the cliff, and the people that saw it ran to the town to tell everyone and the town’s people became typical “rubber neckers at a car wreck” racing out to see what had happened.  It is at this point where Dr. Peterson describes it like this.

‘They came and found him (Legion) sitting there in his right (sane) mind and were in awe.  Then they thought about the pigs and asked Jesus to leave.’

This has been one of the most spiritually challenging weeks of my life.  Sunday through Thursday, the Lord led me by the hand, put me in the presence of some very strong brothers and sisters in the Lord and grew my faith deeper than it ever before.  During that time, He opened my eyes and gave me the vision of how our response should be structured.  I was in total awe of what the Lord was doing.  Yet then, I thought about the “pigs” and lost focus on awe of how the Holy Spirit was enveloping me with love and opening my eyes and in a way, “I asked Jesus to leave” by letting the distraction of Satan effect me.

This morning in my quite time I asked the Holy Spirit to help me regain the focus on the awe of what He is doing in Haiti through His people.  I asked that He guard me from “pig” issues that distract me and cause me to stumble.

My challenge to you today is to reflect on if this morning during the time you worshiped God (went to church) and ask yourself.  Were you focused and in awe of what God is doing and who He is or did you think about the pigs?  (I.e. hot/cold, sermon short, asking about tithes, type of music, etc)

Pray for me that God will keep me focused on His awe.

2/2/10 Sprint or Marathon

Tuesday 2/2/10 – Happy Groundhog’s Day.  In thinking about Punxsutawney Phil he seems to have a really good job.  People bring him food and clean up after him.  If he’s predicts a long winter and he’s wrong, every body is glad because spring comes early.  If he predicts a short winter and is wrong, nobody really blames him.  The best part is that he only has to work just a couple of hours, one day each year.

Last night I was reminded of something I said early on in the quake response.  “Florida Baptist and Southern Baptist Disaster Response is about running a marathon not a sprint.”  As I continue to travel through the streets and countryside of Haiti I notice that many of the response groups that came here very fast with short term response goals are beginning to pack up and head home.  You see fewer and fewer news reports on TV and internet because they only look to tell the immediate story.  Don’t get me wrong, they all did a lot of short term good that had to be done.  The problem is that the people of Haiti are still in need of medical care from their wounds, they are still sleeping in the streets, and still trying to rebuild their lives.

The 100, 200 and 400 meter sprints of quake response are done.  It is time for the distance runners to step to the line and that is where Florida Baptists and Southern Baptists are at their best.

We have be doing many “sprint” type of activities over the past weeks with medical teams, food distributions and providing basic needs.  At the same time we were looking, listening and learning how to help Haiti run the marathon of recovery.  Florida Baptist and Southern Baptist disaster teams are lining up ready to come a week at a time to Haiti for months and months to come.  We will go not only to work in Port-a-Prince but also across all of Haiti where the people have moved because they lost everything. We are ready for the marathon.

Some people may think we are not doing enough “sprint” or immediate activities because they think we should pour everything into the sprint response.  That is ok for groups that only think “sprint” because that is their focus .  However, a few well meaning sprinter type groups tried to do that but made mistakes by not knowing the course and doing things like getting into areas, getting swarmed and the military had to get them out when they were overwhelmed.  One well meaning sprint group tried to take orphans out without going through the right channels and were arrested.  I am glad that we as Florida Baptists and Southern Baptists have a full track team that can run both the sprint and are ready to run, as Paul wrote, ‘the full and complete race’ called Haiti Earthquake Response.  Have a good day Punxsutawney Phil.  Rest well tomorrow and the next 364 days because you worked hard today.

1/31/10 God passed through Haiti today

Sunday, January 31, 2010 – As a disaster guy I have always enjoyed reading about Elijah’s experience in 1 Kings 19:11-13.  It tells the story about a time when Elijah was scared because the king wanted to kill him.  He ran to the mountains, hid deep in a cave and had a pity party.  Then the Lord told him to go stand in the mouth of the cave and wait for him to pass by.  After Elijah got to the mouth of the cave, scriptures say a hurricane (great wind in some translations) passed by but the Lord was not in it.  Then an earthquake shook the mountain but the Lord was not in it.  Then a fire swept down the mountain and the Lord was not in it.  After all the furry of nature, the Bible said that Elijah heard a small voice and it was the Lord.  The Lord said What are you doing here in this cave.  Get out and go back to the people.  I will protect you.

This morning I heard God’s voice after the earthquake.  It started early when those of us at the CMBH mission house heard groups of people singing.  As we listened we could recognize familiar tunes of traditional hymns but the word were in Creole.  People had begun to gather for Sunday worship.  Churches all across Port-a-Prince, Carrefour and other communities that you have watched on countless news reports for the past 2 weeks were meeting outside of the walls of their buildings because they were either destroyed, damaged or the fears of the people prevented them from going inside their building.  We traveled to several churches and attended outside worship.  People were singing praises to the Lord, offering prayers of thanks for saving them from the quake and preaching the Word.  It could be heard all across the land.

One place we went was a sinistre (sin es tray) camp (homeless camp) where 3,000 – 5,000 people had moved because their homes were gone.  The area had an amphitheater.  In it was one of the CMBH churches having services because their people would not go inside their building across the street.  About 100 people were sitting in theater but everyone in the sinistre was attending church because of the loud PA system that could be heard throughout the entire camp.

God passed through Haiti today after the earthquake and many of the people heard God’s voice because His true church (the people) was outside the walls of the buildings.   Maybe God is trying to tell the church in the US to do the same.  Get outside the walls and let people see, hear and feel His love.

Thank you for your continued prayers.  God is at work in Haiti pushing back the darkness as His people serve and love on hurting folks who lost everything.

Headed back

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 – I am heading back to Port-a-Prince tomorrow to establish a Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Incident Command team.  Pray for health, safety and wisdom for me so that we can get the long-term response into high gear.  Also check out the buckets of hope project on the news and information page.  I hope to provide OTF updates from Haiti.