04 Mar $120,000 Donated for Haiti Relief So Far

To date, Global Ministries has received $120,000 for relief in Haiti. Of that money:

• $57,000 has been forwarded to Samaritan’s Purse.
• $40,000 has been forwarded to CH Global.
• The remainder is being set aside to assist in reconstruction efforts among our UB churches and members when the opportunity avails itself.

In addition, contributions have been given directly to our superintendent, Rev. Oliam Richard, by our national conferences in Jamaica, Honduras, and Canada.

Please pray for Rev. Richard. He is experiencing some health problems, a result of existing leg problems plus being seriously run-down by the overwhelming demands he has faced since the earthquake.

Here is a recent update from Jose Nunez, regional director for CH Global, whose work is conducted in Haiti exclusively in partnership with our UB churches.

Though devastation, anarchy and suffering rule the land at this moment, the presence of God is evident within the spirit of the Haitian people. There are stories upon stories of survival and of spiritual re-birth within the broken area of Port-au-Prince.

Now more than ever, the children are longing for a sense of normalcy in their lives, and this program will certainly alleviate the physiological trauma that they and their parents have been undergoing. Working along with the Sybert United Brethren Church, a school program will be initiated on March 1.

As for the daycare program we intended to initiate prior to the earthquake, we along with Pastor Oliam Richard and Elsa (program director and member of the Delmas United Brethren Church), concluded the best and most beneficial option would be to implement it in Delmas. It would be the same idea as what was previously proposed for Cite Soliel, except that it will no longer be executed as a afterschool tutoring program, but rather as a primary daycare school program benefiting the children of Delmas, which was one of the areas most heavily affected by the earthquake.

The church in Delmas did not collapse–unlike the church in Cite Soleil, where we were hoping to implement the program. This unfortunate event, along with the lack of security, was essential to our decision to geographically move the program to the UB church in Delmas.

The sponsored children have been receiving, and will continue to receive, their sponsorship aid. Food and relief supplies have been distributed among these families from funds supplied from UB churches in Canada and the United States. Haitian UB pastors have played an important role in the distribution and administration of relief supplies.

Currently I am working in partnership with a US-based organization that will be sending a team of physicians to Port-au-Prince by the end of March. They have assured me that upon arriving in Haiti, they will schedule to meet all the children in our programs at a specific site and on a specific day. The purpose is  to diagnosed, treat, and further refer any ill children to other medical organizations in Port-au-Prince.

04 Mar Prayer Needed for Rev. Oliam Richard

Jeff Bleijerveld (left) and Oliam Richard

Joan Sider, from the UB church in Toronto, keeps in close contact with Rev. Oliam Richard, our superintendent in Haiti. Our Canadian conference provides primary oversight of the work in Haiti, and Joan has been involved with Haiti for many years. She’s also a member of the conference Global Outreach Leadership Team.

Joan sent a note saying that Pastor Richard attended a successful convention in the north with about 40 people, but returned to Port-au-Prince with a fever. He hoped to see a doctor yesterday (March 3).

Joan writes, “We need to pray for Pastor Richard’s health. His involvement with our work is so very essential. I’m sure he is thoroughly run down with all the added pressures due to the earthquake. I assured him that our church people would be much in prayer for him.”

02 Mar On Walking on Water and Second Baptisms

Billy Simbo, bishop of Sierra Leone Conference, demonstrates the fine art of walking on water.

Billy Simbo attempts to rebaptize David Raudales.

The General Conference delegates visited the Honduras Conference camp on January 11, 2010. While there, Billy Simbo, bishop of Sierra Leone Conference, entered the pool to show everyone how to walk on water. When David Raudales of Honduras joined him, Billy thought it might be good to rebaptize him.

01 Mar Our Ministry in the Philippines, 2005-2009

Members of the Philippine National Conference, known there as the Looking Unto Jesus Church.

Rev. Prudencio Lim (right, with his late wife, Restituta), superintendent of the Philippine National Conference, wasn’t able to attend General Conference in June. He had a stroke last September, so his son Aaron planned to accompany him. However, the US wouldn’t grant Aaron a transit visa so he could fly through an American airport on his way to Honduras. Rev. Lim, having traveled to the US before, had all the clearances he needed. But without his son to accompany him, he cancelled the trip.

However, Rev. Lim did send a report on the work in the Philippines during the past four years (they became a UB national conference in 2005). Here are some notes from it.

• Over 120 people were baptized during this period.
• Over 150 people became Christians through crusades, vacation Bible schools, youth camps, and weekly equipping services in the various churches.
• In 2007, a Pastors and Leaders conference was held in the province of Laguna, with 60 pastors and leaders attending.
• In 2009, they published the “Finisher Bulletin,” a brochure given to church members to be used in weekly devotions. It is written by Rev. Lim and son Aaron Lim.
• Rev. Lim’s wife, Restituta, passed away on July 7, 2009. Rev. Lim himself suffered a mild stroke on September 12, 2009, brought on by his intensive schedule of ministering in Metro Manila.
• On December 23, 2009, the church in Catimon, in the province of Nueva Ecija, was built. It took 18 months. The pastor is Edison Sumaoang.

The report concludes: “2010 is another year of challenge in reaching Filipino people for our Lord Jesus Christ. This will be another year of soul-winning and equipping of the saints of God, and the passing of the anointing to our new breed of leaders. We envision raising effective servant leaders that God will raise in these last days.”

27 Feb Bridger Fetters Leaves for Macau March 1

On Monday, March 1, Bridger Fetters will fly to Macau to begin his first term as a Global Ministries staffmember there. A commissioning service will be held Sunday morning, February 28, at his home church: College Park UB in Huntington, Ind. Actually, a commissioning will be held in both of the two Sunday morning services.

19 Feb Mother of Troy Hendricks Passes Away

Sharon Hendricks, 63, mother of UB missionary Troy Hendricks, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 16. She was spending the winter in Florida.

Troy has now lost both parents in a span of eight months: his father died June 10. Sharon was diagnosed with cancer about a week after her husband’s death.

The Hendricks family (right) left Spain today (Friday, Feb. 19) to return to the States. The arrangements:

Viewing: Saturday, Feb. 20, 4-8 pm at the Thompson Funeral Home in Pioneer, Ohio.
Funeral: 2 pm Sunday, Feb. 21, at the Pioneer United Methodist Church in Pioneer, Ohio.

You can contact Troy Hendricks at: hendricks@ubonline.org

19 Feb Helpful Information on Haiti Relief Efforts

Yesterday, Feb. 18, US Congressman Mark Souder, a member of Emmanuel Community UB Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) gathered together representatives of churches, mission agencies, hospitals, and community groups. Groups represented included Mission of Hope, YMCA, Missionary Church, the Catholic Diocese, Notre Dame University, Hands That Heal, Mission of Hope, Lutheran Hospital Group, Brotherhood Insurance, Silveus Insurance, Allen County Health Department, OMS Men in Mission, and a variety of individual churches. I attended to represent Global Ministries.

Each group was asked to introduce themselves and provide a brief summary of their interest and/or activities in Haiti.

Here is some information I gleaned from the meeting.

• Aid seems to be coming into the country without as many problems as it usually would, as organized crime rings have become somewhat “disorganized” by the earthquake. Where the military is present, things are moving smoothly. The main airport in Port au Prince is the worst location.
• American Airlines will be introducing regular flights to and from Haiti next week.
• Silveus Insurance (Warsaw, Ind.) is operating private flights from Fort Lauderdale at cost for groups of less than nine passengers.
• Relief seems to be getting in duty free.
• The United Nations presence is not always a guarantee of security or absence of corruption. UNICEF has been making it difficult for groups working with orphans and at-risk children, as they seem unwilling to share resources or accept offers of help for smaller agencies working with 10,000 children or less.
• USAID is making supplies of food available to groups.
• The Health Department will offer a training and orientation on March 13 in Fort Wayne for those planning to travel to Haiti to offer humanitarian help. They are also offering free vaccinations to volunteers, including all required immunizations and prescriptions for antimalarial and antidiarrheal drugs (an $890 value).
• Hands That Heal is organizing specialty operations: neurosurgery, spinal, correcting botched amputations, and other difficult procedures. They are also working on getting medical visas for those who cannot be treated in Haiti.
• Grave concern was expressed regarding the lack of specialists, and the impending surge in birth and brain defects that will present themselves in the coming months as a result of head injuries, and malnutrition among pregnant mothers and children.
• Congressman Souder indicated that we may be faced with the need to receive Haitian refugees in the US.

19 Feb People Coming to Christ in Haiti

The crowd outside City Hall in Delmas, next to our Delmas church. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

I received this note from Joan Sider, the Canadian point person for our work in Haiti.

“This past weekend, three days–Friday, Saturday, and Sunday–were days of national fasting and prayer throughout the country. This picture shows the crowd gathered on the property of the Delmas city hall, which is right beside our church. During those three days, about 100 people came to know the Lord. Pastor Oliam Richard is going to hold new converts classes now.”

Global Ministries is working with our Canadian Conference and our Haitian UB churches to determine how to provide assistance in the Port a Prince area as we move from relief mode to rehabilitation. Churches can serve as centers for assistance and development. However, our two churches in Cite Soliel, the most poverty stricken area of the city, were both destroyed.