Hearts in Hispaniola

You're Invited!!

2012-01-27T14:25:00.000-08:00

Please Join Us on the Rogers' Friend & Family Trip!!

Come serve with us in the Dominican Republic July 17-24th as we work alongside local leaders to redeem people, renew communities and restore Creation!

We will be celebrating Vicki's 11th year with the ministry and Jeff's 10th with any of you that care to join us. For those of you who have never been, experience our ministry first hand and serve alongside of us. For those that haven't been in a while, please come back with us!

The focus of the trip will be helping to construct the G.O. Medical Center, serve children in our nutrition centers, children's ministry and more!

Cost for the trip is $950+airfare.

If you are interested in this trip please email Vicki

We need final commitments no later than March 26th. We would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see you there!!

One Miracle to Another

2012-01-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Scars cover his body from unsuccessfulsurgeries. But two scars in particulartake this mom to my knees. He showed meduring his last hospital stay. One onhis hand and one on his shoulder. Withhis timid smile he told me it was from biting. His mom further explained that his pain is so intense that he biteshimself to endure it until it passes.

Today, about 20 people gathered around this littleboy with the courage of a lion. Evenfacing the biggest surgery of his life, his smile brightened the room and thespirits of everyone around him. He has away of doing that. Of capturing yourheart with his smile. Of breaking yourheart with the suffering he’s endured in his short nine years of life.

We prayed for Wilson’s healing. We prayed for peace for his faithful mom,Tatiana, who has been a warrior for her son. Who was so willing to put her 9-year-old son on a plane and send him toa foreign land with a foreign language to live with a family she did not knowin the care of doctors to save his life. By the grace of God, she was able to come with him, however, shepainfully left two children behind with her mother. Hope in the face of despair. Determination in the face of suffering.

Today, at 8:00am two surgeons will begin restoringhis broken body. In a scheduled six hoursurgery they will be repairing Wilson's urethra and the fistula using tissuefrom the inside of his mouth. In addition, they will be reconstructing theanus, rectum and the colon. It’s a hugefeat for such a little boy. Over theweekend he began asking his mother difficult questions about hismortality.

After several people prayed today and the pastorbegan thanking everyone for coming, my 6-year-old Sophispoke up and said she wanted to pray. She put her little hand on her friend Wilson and asked the same God thatrestored her 2 pound body that had holes in her heart, spots on her brain froma brain bleed, multiple blood transfusions, a bad staph infection, and 61 daysin the NICU where she teetered back and forth between life and death. She spoke boldly to the God who held her whenI couldn’t and asked Him to heal Wilson too. She prayed that he wouldn’t be scared. She prayed that he would be wisdom, peace and light in the world. And with that, our little miracle saidamen.

Today, we pray for another miracle for Wilson withthe same boldness that Sophi prayed. Please join us.

Red Beans, Rice & Gingerbread with Wilson

2012-01-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

We were blessed to host Tatiana and Wilson at our home for a day duringChristmas break. The girls got to playwith Wilson while we treated them to a Roger’s style red beans an coconutrice. Wilson was not a fan of the coconutrice but enjoyed the beans well enough.

Afterdinner they settled in around the table and constructed gingerbreadhouses. A good time was had by all. We’re so grateful for the opportunity toshare with them as they await what we all pray will be life enhancing treatmentfrom Kosair Children’s Hospital.

Keep up with Wilson and other G.O. Ministries updates by clicking "like" on the G.O. Ministries Facebook page.

One Dollar

2012-01-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

I was passing the hospital where all my girls were born and thankingGod for His amazing provisions of giving life to each of them when our van soundedlike it needed a trip to intensive care. It eventually started purringagain and I settled back into daydreaming until I got home and told Jeff aboutthe episode. The next day, she started coughing again, this time with amassive fever that ended with Jeff and Ella being stranded on the side of theroad. Thankfully, Dave Vogt, a great friend and longtime supporter justhappened to be driving by, and rescued them. Another good friend,supporter and mechanic took a look at it and gave us the bad news. Ourfaithful companion was gone. Engine blown, no chance of revival,destination…junk yard.

Our Dead Venture

We borrowed a car from Jeff’s parents and began praying foranother car. Old faithful had been paid off for years and we didn’t havethe money for another car. However, over the years we’ve certainlylearned that God supplies all of our needs according to his riches. Hehas this way of showing off. Just flexing His muscles and charmingCreation to remind us who He is and who we are in Him. He tells us not toworry about what we shall eat or drink or wear. We figured He meant whatwe should drive as well so without a worry (seriously, this was a victory learnedover time), we put it to prayer.

My best friend and longtime supporter of our ministry calledme asking for prayer because she was discontent. Now this sister istypically not discontent, especially when it comes to materialthings. She saw a van (the day before ours blew up) and couldn’t get itout of her mind. She wanted it and was even dreaming about it. Shewas frustrated because her van was perfectly fine. But man, she wantedthis new van. I prayed with her about it and somewhere in our conversationI mentioned our van.
I didn’t think much about the conversation until Jeff and Iwere sitting at a leadership conference where the speaker was talking aboutbeing generous leaders. My phone beeped with a text message and Iadmittedly and possibly even rudely checked it during the session. Itread, “We would love to give you our car once we have bought another one – ifyou want it, that is…we love you, friend!” I tearfully passed it over toJeff who smiled and choked back tears. Seriously, a big show off our Godis! We were so grateful (Jeff’s parents may have been more gratefulbecause they would get their car back! J). We were floored even more as I thought they were talking about their oldercar. She later clarified it was their family van. Wow,humbled. I felt like one of the silly disciples who cast my net over theboat with low expectations only to be overwhelmed with a net so bountiful Icould not pull it in.
So, with God’s provision, our friends’ faithfulness, and $1,we now are owners of a van that the girls say is a racecar and draw it withflames coming out of the back (I think that may be because of the way daddydrives it J). Today, if you’reburdened by what you should eat, drink, or wear, or maybe how you will pay thatbill, let me encourage you to turn to the One who owns all the cattle on athousand hills. He is faithful and He loves to show off!

Our Living Voyager!

And for each of you out there that support our ministry financially and through prayers serving vicariously through us, you continue to be a regular means of how God shows off his faithfulness to us and we thank you and Him for that!

Rogers Ministry Highlights from the Past Year...

2012-01-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

You can see an update about our girls here if you like.

Grace & Peace

Sophi and Raena meet Wilson

2011-12-06T18:56:00.001-08:00

Saturday after Thanksgiving we were able to visit with Wilson and his mother, Tatiana. Wilson is a 9 year-old boy who lives in the Hole in Santiago. We got to meet him when he started attending our nutrition center in order to get one good meal in him a day. His mother eventually started cooking for the center. Before long she became a Christian. Wilson was born with a severe birth defect affecting his bowel and urinary tract. He has suffered infection after infection and experiences a lot of pain with his condition. For years we have been trying to find him help and in the last two months the right contacts were finally made.

After having met a willing pediatric surgeon on the golf course, Brook, our founder, connected with the right guy. Within two weeks a meeting was scheduled at Kosair Childrens Hospital and Vicki went to meet with the head of the hospital and key decision makers in order to present Wilson's case. The hospital administration agreed unanimously to treat Wilson for free and within a week all of the necessary paperwork was filed and Tatiana and her son were awarded medical visas to the US.

They are being hosted state-side by ministry friends who home school and are fluent in Spanish. Medically, Wilson is receiving the best care possible as well as one on one education.We were blessed to stop by and share with he and his mother that Saturday afternoon. Within about 5 minutes Sophi and Raena had completely overcome the language barrier and all we could hear were shouts and giggles in the other room.

We were delivery personnel on this visit. While at the G.O. Ministries’ Women’s Conference in La Vega in the DR, Vicki was given many encouraging letters from the women from the church in the Hole that had been written to love on Tatiana. Needless to say, they were a welcome gift. We were able to sneak this photo while she was reading. What a blessing to have them here and have the opportunity to love them well.

To get more info on Wilson’s story visit G.O.s web here

To keep up to date on Wilson’s progress follow him on G.O.’s Facebook page here

Blessed to be Doctors to Our Doctors: Part II

2011-08-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

We're grateful to be able to share with you Wave 3's coverage of Eliezar's recieving of his Baha at the Hueser Hearing Institute.

Vicki also took footage and captured the moment Eliezar heard for the first time. You can see that here.

Blessed to Be Doctors to Our Doctors

2011-08-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Dr. Vladimir and Dr. Auris Canela serve as doctors with G.O. Ministries. They could certainly have chosen to start their own practice, but instead, they chose to serve the poor through a daily medical clinic in Hoya del Caimito, Santiago, Dominican Republic. Their medical knowledge, compassion, and care heal the hurts and pains of many people who would not be able to afford medical care on the island. They work in conjunction with local churches traveling with medical teams to remote sugarcane villages, landfills where multiple families are trying to survive, and remote communities far from medical facilities found in the city throughout the year to treat patients as well. In an average three day clinic, they see and treat up to 1,200 people.

On January 3, 2011 they welcomed a son, Eliezer Rosario Canela. In the midst of their excitement, they noticed something strange about his underdeveloped ears. After a visit to an audiologist, it was confirmed that he had a hearing loss due to bilateral microtia with the ear canal. As doctors, they desperately want to help their son, but his issue is out of their realm of expertise. The audiologist told them Eliezer is a great candidate for a Baha, an external bone conduction device that would enable him to hear, but there is not a Cochlear Clinic that provides such services and technology on the island. They know that time is of the essence and greatly desire for their son to hear their voices.

This is a scenario that Vicki and I are all too familiar with and we have intimate connections in terms of the sort of resources that Vladi and Auris need for their son. We have been able to secure pro bono services on behalf of Eliezer Rosario from Heuser Hearing Institute where our daughters attended school for 3 years and receive audiological services; we have received at the very last minute word that Cochlear is donating the necessary equipment amounting to close to $4000, and in collaboration with some of our partners we have raised just over $7000 to help cover all of this families expenses related to the Baha, additional services, travel and hosting.

The final piece of this whole process came together during our service in the Dominican last week. We were able to get letters from the American doctors in Kentucky confirming the dates/appointments and details of the services being provided on behalf of Eliezer. This was the evidence needed in order for a visa to be awarded to Auris and Eliezer for travel to the US. They got it!!

Today we will be picking up Auris and Eliezer at the Louisville International Airport and hosting them during their brief 10 day stay. We are blessed to be a part of this ministry to this family and grateful to report to you that your support of us through your use of the Kroger gift card frees us to do this kind work on behalf of others in Jesus’ name!

Please be in prayer for Vladimir, Auris and Eliezer. Specifically pray that all of the treatment goes well and that Auris and Eliezer are blessed by their time with us here in Louisville. They arrive on the 11th of August, have appointments throughout the week and return on the 19th to the Dominican where Dr. Vladi will be waiting to speak to his son and be heard for the first time!

Our daughters Sophi and Raena have Cochlear Implants. Eliezer will be receiving a Baha seen here.

Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel! It extends through us to others who are serving his Kingdom through the gift of medicine.

Hope for Daadli: Part II

2011-06-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

We first wrote about Daadli several weeks ago. We’re excited to report that her severe cleft palette has been corrected as of this past Thursday, June 28th. Here she is today!

Much thanks and gratitude to Cross Point Community Church, Operation Smile, Moise and the G.O. Team for helping to make this happen!

The Rogers family will be meeting Daadli fact-to-face in just a few weeks. Looking forward to introducing our daughters to this little lady at the nutrition center in Brisas!

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Pray for Our Drilling in Phaeton, Day II (Drill Trouble)

2011-06-03T13:10:00.001-07:00

This is the rig we are using in Phaeton, Haiti. As of 4:12pm EST the rig is down. Our drilling team is currently trying to repair it. Yesterday, June 2nd, they were able to drill 60 feet into the ground. Today has been slow going and we think we've only gained another 10 feet. The capacity of this unit is 150 feet. Pray the rig gets repaired and that they can stay at it until water is struck. Pray that there is water to strike!

View Larger Map

This is Phaeton in the map above.

Pray this prayer with us based on Isaiah 35:5:

"Lord, we beg of you, let the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Cause the lame to leap like deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Make water gush forth in the wilderness and create streams in the desert. By your will cause the burning sand to become a pool, the thirsty ground to become bubbling springs. We pray that your grace embrace the people of Phaeton and that by your mercy you would renew their land. We ask all of this for your glory. Amen."

Pray for our Drilling in Phaeton

2011-06-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

I spoke to my dear friend and colleague (pictured with me above in Phaeton), Tim Krauss, today, June 1st while he was at the Dominican/Haitian border waiting to enter Haiti. After completing the temporary church/dormitory facility in Phaeton, Haiti, we’re ready to move forward with phase I of the water project i.e. finding some.

Over the next 3 days we will be drilling in an effort to hit deep, fresh water in Phaeton. The current wells in this coastal town are salty and unusable for drinking. The nearest fresh water is 2 kilometers away.

PLEASE PRAY that we hit fresh water. A fresh water well in this community would be a tremendous accomplishment and benefit to the 2500 plus people that live here!
We’ve introduced you to Phaeton, before. Take another look.

G.O.'s Partnership wit the Church in Phaeton, Haiti from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

Thanks!

Paying a Dealer’s Debt: Paid in Full-Part III

2011-05-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

On a Sunday this past March we celebrated Ella’s 1st birthday. Family, friends and friends from the neighborhood gathered to celebrate her birth. We were blessed by the diversity of this group, people from so many walks of life, one of them, a former drug dealer and pimp. That’s right, at Ella’s first birthday party you’d be hard pressed to find a clown but you could find a former pimp/drug dealer. And he was only there because of the power of the Gospel! We introduced you to Jonesy back in September of 2010 (if you’re catching up read about that here) who changed his name to Al as a means of turning over a new leaf and signifying the beginning of turning away from the path of destruction (read about that here).
We reported in “Paying a Dealer’s Debt: Part II” that a friend and supporter of ours asked, “Would that expense and effort really amount to anything?” And we confessed that we didn’t know but we hoped so.

We had asked you to pray the following:
“Please pray for “Al” and his recovery, for his friendships in the shelter, for those from the community group that will be going to visit him on a regular basis. Pray that “Al” finds a job and sticks with it. Pray that through all of the efforts to serve him and love him that he encounters Jesus and falls in love with him.”

Today we are pleased, blessed and excited to report that Al's debts are paid in full! Expense and effort expressed in Jesus’ name amounts to everything! Please take a moment to hear Al’s testimony read by Brooks Ritter (the man who hosted us in his home the night Al’s dog got shot) and witness his baptism at Sojourn (done by Jeremiah Taylor).

Thank you for your prayers and your partnership in the Gospel!

Please continue to pray for Al’s journey of faith!

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Batey 9 Update

2011-05-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Jeff recently led an exploratory trip to in the Dominican and took the leaders he was working with to visit Pastor William Decena, a local leader G.O. has worked in partnership with for years. William was born a sugar cane cutter in the Southwestern part of the Dominican Republic and grew up practicing Vodou, his culture’s typical religious expression. A visiting pastor convinced William of his need of the Gospel. Becoming a Christian led William’s immediate family to disown him. William became a leader in the church and later planted a church in Batey 9. As the church has grown he has raised up and sent out two Timothys, each having planted new churches in two more Bateys.

A Batey (sugar cane community) is an arm pit. It’s very existence is the bitter fruit of racism, nationalism and classism working in tandem to oppress a people and impoverish them on purpose. 15 years ago most children that you saw were naked and malnourished and the houses they lived in were made of sticks and mud. Today malnutrition persists but less so thanks to William’s nutrition center where he feeds 80 to 100 children daily. The kids mostly have clothes. Most of the homes are block. There is a school (pre-k to 4th grade) a public park, a basketball court, a baseball field (doubles as a soccer field), a latrine to every two to four houses, curbs and sidewalks, access to well water throughout the community, a water tower to serve as a water back-up, a library with a computer lab (brand new) and a water purification system that has recently been installed. All of this has been accomplished through William’s advocacy on behalf of his community in Jesus’ name. It is a powerful picture of renewal and what a combined Christian effort can do to bring about redemption, renewal and restoration.

Check out Jeff’s brief video tour of the library in Batey 9.

Your prayer support and financial partnership with us aids us in empowering and advocating on behalf of local leaders like William. Thank you!

Hope for Daadli, The fruit of Partnership

2011-05-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Crosspoint Community Church in Nashville, TN are fantastic partners! It was our pleasure to connect them with Pastor Moise, a Haitian pastor in the Dominican Republic serving the Haitian migrant working population there in Santiago. This partnership in the Gospel has been filled with many blessings and many joint ventures. We just wanted a moment to share a recent victory with you that was unexpected and glorious! Crosspoint has partnered with G.O. for years and just this past year completed the church and nutrition center in Brisas on behalf of the Haitian church. In March of 2011 they began funding the nutrition center for the children of Brisas in need. Crosspoint sent a team down who helped with the grand opening. They met Daadli, the little girl pictured above, and were filled with compassion. Erika and Lisa of Crosspoint really connected with Daadli. In an effort to report on their trip and garner support to help Daadli, Lisa, wrote the following:

“What do you do when community is all you have but your community wants nothing to do with you? That’s a question I faced recently on my trip to the Dominican Republic with Cross Point and G.O. Ministries. As a part of our mission work, our team made daily visits to the feeding center at Brisas Church, Cross Point’s sister church in the Dominican Republic. It was there I met this sweet little girl, Daadli.

Daadli is three and as you can already see, was born with a severe cleft palate. It restricts her from being able to talk and eating is extremely challenging for her. What is also a challenge is her opportunity to interact with the other children.

Imagine living every day where children point at you and run away. They look into your eyes with fear and confusion, wondering what is wrong with you and as a result, you are completely alienated from your community.

In the world these beautiful children live in, community is everything. There are no video games and not a lot of toys. So children gather outside of their homes from dusk to dawn and play together. During my entire stay in the Dominican, I never saw a single child playing alone. Except for Daadli. I always found her sitting in a corner, staring into space with no one to play with.

At Cross Point, so many of us have been impacted by the power of community. It’s a large part of how we grow in our walk with Christ. Many of us gather weekly in each other’s homes within our community groups. We strive to serve our outside community on Serving Saturdays. And whenever a misfortune strikes another, we rally together to lift them up and restore them as best we can.
Community has been such a blessing in my life and the lives of others at Cross Point. Now, I desire nothing more than to help Daadli experience the joy of community in her own.

Cleft palate surgery is a remarkably common procedure, performed by dozens of medical missionaries each year in underdeveloped nations. Members of our mission team were so impacted by Daadli that we are now on a “mission” back here in the States to help her. With prayer and persistence, we are hoping to fund corrective surgery for Daddli that could dramatically change the appearance of her cleft palate and the quality of her life.

We all know what it’s like to have backs turned against us. We also know the feeling that occurs when our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ invite us with arms wide open into their community. I’m hoping we can do that very same thing for Daadli.

1 Samuel 2:8 ‘He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.’”

Since that March trip and a couple of young ladies' willingness to start a conversation on behalf of this sweet child, G.O. Ministries has connected with Operation Smile that has a headquarters in Santo Domingo, the capitol. They have agreed to treat Daadli for free. In fact, they treat all poor children for free and have requested that we keep an eye out (we work in 34 different communities on the island) and send any children we find their way! What an awesome new Partnership!
So we are grateful for the Partnership in the Gospel that we share with Crosspoint and Moise that started long before Daadli was even born. Before Daadli was born the Lord was already weaving together a network around her that would ultimately offer her hope and healing. We’re just blessed to be a part of such a network!

News Coverage One Year Later: Part II

2011-01-13T08:03:00.001-08:00

News Coverage One Year Later...

2011-01-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Last year on the 12th of January Jeff was leading an exploratory trip and felt the ground shake at a local elders home in the impoverished barrio of Hato del Yaqui in the Dominican Republic.

Quake in the DR from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

We thought it was just a mild tremor. What followed was devestating. How God leveraged our ministry to respond was tremendous and humbling. One year later there is still so much more to be done. Much thanks to Wave 3 for reminding Louisville, Ky of the continued need to serve.

We're blessed to be able to respond...

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Pieces of Cane II: We the People...

2011-01-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

The following is a direct quote from someone responding to a text to donate fundraiser on behalf of G.O.’s Haiti restoration efforts on Facebook:

“although they need the help...I believe in helping home land first...then spread out....something we have ALL failed to do.”

We should start out by saying that we have no intention of judging the person who made this statement. They may or may not agree with the Christian worldview that drives us and informs our posture towards the world. We get it. It’s a belief we too used to share. It’s a position that we used to hold even as Christians, but it’s a position that ultimately ends up being unfaithful to the implications of the Gospel which is what we came to discover over time.

The sentiment assumes an “us first, others second (maybe)" mentality. A close reading of the Scriptures (Galatians 3:28 might be a start) simply won’t allow for that kind of division or order of care. We’re dealing with this “us first” sentiment in the “Pieces of Cane” series both because it’s something we legitimately had to struggle to understand and also because it is a false obstacle for many to get intentionally and powerfully involved in making a difference for the Kingdom both locally and globally.

Why is helping the homeland first or taking care of our problems first before helping “them” problematic?

The title of this post is “We the people.” The reason for that is because at root how we understand ourselves as a people will affect how we carry ourselves in the world. From a Christian perspective the sentiment to help the homeland first or “our own” first is based on a case of mistaken identity, namely our own. As Christians we have a deeper citizenship than the one described by our nationality. Our identities in Christ unite us across national, political and ethnic boundaries joining us in a political body called the Kingdom of God that dynamically has been established, is coming and will be fulfilled. This unity in Christ, this political reality trumps all other allegiances that would divide it. In Jesus Christ there is no more “us” and “them" i.e. Galatians 3:28. Our “homeland” describes us socially and culturally but our identity resides in the person and presence of Jesus Christ.

There are far too many Christians in the United States that are Americans first (you can sub-categorize that as far down as you’d like from Democrat first or Republican or black or white or Hispanic, etc.). We confess that this was a path that we had been on for quite some time. We are not judging those on such a path. We are stating, however, that it is a wrong path to be on, one we’ve struggled to leave. The label needs to shift from American Christian to Christian American. That may seem an insignificant adjustment but what it means is that the Kingdom of God becomes the dominant story and ultimate reality, not any other story. It means that we can’t make of ourselves an “us” that does not include every “other” that exists in the world because Jesus has made himself available to the world and died for it, not just the people of a specific geographic location.

So the “We” of "we the people" must be understood in a Christian context to include everyone who draws a breath. Ultimately, this is the answer given the law expert in his effort to justify himself before Jesus by asking, “and who is my neighbor?” It should not surprise us that Jesus would raise the bar for us far higher than we ever would ourselves. When we recognize that “We” means “All” in the Kingdom of God it delivers us from the “neighbor confusion” that would lead us to only help those considered to be a part of our “in group.” When we try to draw up lines that create insiders and outsiders Jesus would simply ask us “and who was a neighbor?” and then, assuming we got the answer right, he would tell us to go and do likewise. Doing likewise, at least for us, proves to be a process of learning and failing and sometimes getting it right.

Today or this week or this month, a year after the quake or whenever this post happens to find you, would you consider responding to the need of our neighbors in Haiti by texting GOHAITI to 85944 to donate $10 to G.O. Ministries efforts in restoring Haiti? Would you allow this to be one modest way that you can be a neighbor to those suffering in Haiti? It's a means of providing a meal for a boy, education for a student, medical treatment for someone who might not get it otherwise. It can literally save a life. Of course, you can always do more. To find out how just click on "contact us." We'll be glad to help you.

You can also make an online donation here.

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Help Us Fight the Epidemic in Haiti!!

2010-12-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Friends,

As we prepare for Advent, the celebration of God's incarnation in our midst, we remember that He was and is and will continue to be a great light to those who sit in darkness.

As I type these words and as you are reading them there are many who sit in darkness and death. They need our material help and a tangible expression of the love and care God has willingly provided to each of us by spending himself utterly on our behalf.

As I write and as you read and as our culture runs from "deal" to "deal" in half-crazed consumer madness wasting resources on junk that we don't actually need other human beings are literally vomiting and defecating themselves to death. Biosurveillance believes that Cholera cases in Haiti are under-reported by as much as 400% and believe that as many as one million have been infected. This population is an hour and 1/2 away from the United States by air.

They need inexpensive (to us) antibiotics, IV bags and clean water. G.O. is partnering with other ministries on the ground responding to this crisis right now, again, as you are reading this. Please, SHARE THIS POST, Text to give $10 (GOHAITI to 85944). Write a check. Give online. Spread the word.

This year for Christmas you could give someone their life!

Praying Gratitude Compels Us... Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

Batey 9 is a sugar cane cutting community in the southwest portion of the Dominican Republic. It’s a place where the poverty is not circumstantial. It is the fruit of intentional exploitation based on racism, nationalism and classism. While sugar comes to us inexpensively and is available for free at coffee shops and restaurants it is provided at a high cost, severe exploitation with poor housing and no healthcare. These communities are hungry and many children die from and suffer the negative effects of malnutrition.

So as many of us celebrate Thanksgiving today, It’s good to know that some of these kids in Batey 9 are getting a meal today too, modest, though it may be. Praying today that we will allow our gratitude to compel us to do justice, have mercy and compassion, moving us towards sincere, creative and radical generosity towards others who suffer needlessly.

Batey 9 Nutrition Center from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

Praying for Haiti in the Face of Disease and Storms...

2010-11-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

On October 21st fear emerged that Cholera had hit Haiti. It was not long before the threat was confirmed. I contacted John Martinez on the morning of the 22nd to confirm that he had already made contact with the 7 Haitian pastors we work with in central and north eastern Haiti. He had called them on the afternoon of the 21st. None of the Haitian pastors knew anything about it. Imagine living in a place with such poor infrastructure that you have to receive life saving information from a citizen of another country. Thankfully, one of the pastors we work with in Haiti has a radio ministry whose broadcast is capable of reaching about one million listeners. We were able to raise the alarm early last week in response to the spread of the disease, instructing communities to wash hands well, boil water and spread the word. Today, in addition to praying that the spread of Cholera be stayed, we pray that the path of the looming hurricane passes by Haiti or breaks up all together rather than passing over it. The most recent reports suggest that this is in fact happening. Please join us in praying that it continues to weaken.

The 14th Most Dangerous Neighborhood...

2010-10-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

I spoke to my mother tonight. It turns out that we live right next door to the 14th most dangerous neighborhood in the United States. My sister alerted me to this when the info came out. The plan was to keep this from the folks to prevent unnecessary worry on our behalf. I hadn’t mentioned it on the blog before for that reason but we’ve been outed now so here it is. Turns out that (this year at least) we live adjacent to the 14th most dangerous neighborhood in the United States. Now in mother reckoning this is the same as living inside the neighborhood. To Mom’s credit we are less than ½ a block away from one of the bordering streets. And also to her credit is the fact that I can immediately think of at least two murders that have happened in our neighborhood this year. One of them was two weeks ago over $60 which I mentioned in Paying a Dealer’s Debt: Part II.

What Vic and I have witnessed from the violence in these neighborhoods is that they are almost always related to the drug culture prevalent here. If you participate in the culture you dabble in the danger. If you keep your nose clean, treat everyone with respect and compassion and watch your back you’re mostly fine. The 1 in 9 chance of being a victim of a violent crime in the neighborhood next door may be statistically accurate but the reality is that the crimes that are taking place are mostly between those involved in criminal activities on both sides.

But the reality is that these are desperately broken communities. Poverty, addiction and poor education have a choke hold on these inner city neighborhoods. In our neighborhood the first 30% of the population have a middle school education, the next 30% have a high school education but no diploma, the next 30% graduated high school with no college. That leaves 10% for some college experience but few graduates. .02% of that 10 have a master’s degree. That means that the choices available to many in our neighborhood are limited without the service of others who might open up new possibilities.

If we stay away because of fear those new possibilities are left unrealized. I believe that Christianity gives us powerful resources for dealing with fear. What are we the most afraid of? Stanley Hauerwas, a favorite theologian of mine (he’s the professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University) says that hospitals are the new cathedrals of our age in Western civilization. What he means is that our greatest fear is death and that we are willing to do anything to put it off. However, Christian discipleship, he suggests, is the art of learning to die young (not kill) for Christ and his Kingdom. The ability to do so well is rooted in how well we actually believe in Christ’s work on the cross and the promise of resurrection and the renewal of all things. If death does not have the final word what is there to fear? If God is for us who can be against us? Paul courageously mocked death proclaiming, “Oh death, where is your sting?” If death still has a sting for us as Christ followers then there is a very difficult question we have before us. But if death has no sting then where can’t we go and where shouldn’t we go as Christians? If the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Church then why not plant one right in between them? I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen it happen in the bateys of the Dominican, in La Mosca, in the Hole and elsewhere. It opens up radically different possibilities. They’re opening in our neighborhood too.

The new possibilities start with courage, hope and faith. The courage is two sided, those with resources to offer hope and help need courage to do so. Those stuck in difficult life circumstances need courage to imagine a life that might be different from the only one they’ve ever known. I know this is true of “Al” who just recently made the first steps to turn his life around, imagining a life not driven by addiction. Al came to our community group the other night, not as one requesting aid but as a participant. As we read through a section of Hebrews he commented that he needed to read more of this and asked if Hebrews was in every Bible. I don’t know where this will go with Al. I do know that it is a beautiful picture of the beginnings of redemption and renewal, a picture that we would not have if it were not for other fellow Christians willing to choose to live in neighborhoods like the ones we’re in, living hopefully and faithfully, choosing to look upon tragedy through redemptive lenses and looking for opportunities to bring life and light to dead and dark places. The top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the United States should be the kind of communities Christians in North America should be looking to for spiritual and material investment. Paul said to live is Christ to die is gain. What do we really have to fear, what do we really have to lose?

Paying a Dealer's Debt: Part II

2010-10-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago we shared about the opportunity we had to help pay off a local user/dealer’s $50 drug debt. The guy he owed money shot his dog as a warning. Some guys from our community group took Jonesy and his dog to the vet that night. A $650 vet bill and 18 hours later the dog died. One of our community group members fronted the money. As a group we’ve helped him cover the costs.

One of our friends read the update we posted and was encouraged by it. He confessed to me later that he was tempted to be a little bit cynical. “Would that expense and effort really amount to anything?” Honestly, that’s a question we’ve asked ourselves regarding more than one relationship that we’ve had. But our responsibility is to be faithful to what God put’s in front of us, not guarantee outcomes to ourselves or anyone else. The Christian community is to serve in faith with unconditional love, putting off cynicism for hope even in the face of the stark realities of inner-city brokenness. We know that hope that is seen is no hope at all (Romans 8:24).

We did not know if or how Jonesy would respond to our redemptive help. Our own experiences in the neighborhood and with Jonesy left us with our own doubts. One thing was certain, though, that we had removed an immediate threat to his life. This was confirmed a few weeks later when a woman in her forties was shot to death over $60 about 4 blocks away from where we were that night. You better believe that collection threats are real in a drug culture.

So what of Jonesy? Any updates? Yes! Two weeks ago one of our community group members reported that he had accompanied Jonesy to a local church on two different Sundays. This is uncharted territory for Jonesy and us! Last week, he enrolled into a residential recovery program at the Jefferson Street Baptist Homeless Shelter where one of our community group members serves in leadership. As a community group we are sharing the cost for him to stay in the program for the next two months with the hope and expectation that he will get a job and pay his part for the following months. God has extended our opportunity to directly care for Jonesy as he struggles at this possible point of transition and transformation pointing him to Jesus.

Jonesy is by no means out of the woods. But he’s made steps that none of us have ever seen him take before. That’s encouraging. In fact, as a symbolic gesture, I suppose, he’s asked that no one call him Jonesy anymore but to call him Al, his middle name. Jonesy wants a new name. It’s a good start. Please pray for “Al” and his recovery, for his friendships in the shelter, for those from the community group that will be going to visit him on a regular basis. Pray that “Al” finds a job and sticks with it. Pray that through all of the efforts to serve him and love him that he encounters Jesus and falls in love with him.

Thanks for your prayers on behalf of our family and our work at G.O. and in the city. For those of you that partner with us financially, your helping us help give Al a new chance in Jesus’ name. Thank you! If you don’t partner with us financially and would like to Jeff would be glad to discuss it with you. Email him at or click here for more info.

Part I: Gratitude is not Enough

2010-09-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

This entry is Part I of the Pieces of Cane series we recently introduced where we share what we have learned and are learning from our experiences serving in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and inner city of Louisville, Ky.

Serving with Christian brothers and sisters living in a 3rd world context as a North American Christian can really awaken you to perspectives and realities that may otherwise be unavailable. That’s certainly true of mine and Vicki’s experience. The discrepancy between the two cultures in terms of available resources is the most obvious reality because at first, it’s the most tangible. Water from the utilities is not safe to drink due to no back flow prevention and poor treatment. Safe drinking water is an added cost and less convenient because you have to bring it back to your home 5 gallons at a time. Electricity is unreliable. It makes tasks as simple as doing laundry difficult to complete because it requires having electricity, water in the neighborhood and sun light to dry your laundry all three available at the same time. Add to it the harsher realities of malnourished children both in city slums and rural communities; add to it again the reality of dirt cookies in Haiti. The differences in available resources are stark.

So the first response to the developing world, at least ours was, was to just be grateful. To simply just be thankful for all of the basic things that we learned by exposure were things that we had taken completely for granted. We have shelter. It has running water and a sanitation system. We can drink the water and it doesn’t make us sick. We flush the toilet and the waste is removed from our home, not staying next door in an out-house potentially making us sick. We wear shoes as do our children. We don’t worry about parasites being contracted by walking around bare foot. We have actual food to give to our children. Sometimes… far too often in fact, food gets thrown away and wasted.

And so, in response to all of the needs that we observed that weren’t being met we were faced with the reality that all of our needs had been and continued to be. This experience almost force feeds you a sense of gratitude. Regardless of whether or not we actually did, we realized that we really have nothing at all to complain about in our lives back home. Our first acknowledgement was of how truly blessed we were to have all of our basic needs met.

That is a typical acknowledgement of many that come down and serve in a short-term capacity. We're grateful now to know that camping out on gratitude is not enough if we are Christians. Non-believers easily have the same kind of experience, “We just don’t realize how good we have it back home in the …” We realized that we could be very grateful and still be selfish. We could be very grateful about what “We have” and still make darn sure that we got to keep whatever it was we had and add to it daily. To be a Christ-follower and serve in a context like the Dominican Republic or Haiti or somewhere else and go back home and only be grateful is an unfaithful response to what God has exposed us to. We’ve missed the point. We are not blessed so that we can gorge ourselves on it. We are blessed to be a blessing.

The gratitude needs to take us somewhere. It needs to get us to the place where we ask, “What do we do with all of this blessing? How do we move forward as responsible stewards of it?” For us it started with reflecting on the many ways in which we were blessed. Not surprisingly, that first round of responses recounted many, many material blessings and comforts that we enjoyed, that took up our time and our resources. We live in a culture that is drunk with the accumulation of stuff. We finally came to the place where we were able to ask the following: If all of our basic needs are met and most of our wants are attainable (within reason) where then is the line between blessing and gluttony when I know that there are people in the world living without basic needs being met? How do we know if we’ve crossed over? If our basic needs are met and there’s much left over where is the line between blessedness and wastefulness? When does using the resources available to us to obtain our wants rather than meet someone else’s need become failing to do the good that we know we ought do (James 4:17)? Where is the line? We must confess that we’ve been at this work for 9 years and we still don’t know the answer.

We do know this. Tim Keller is a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. We heard a sermon he preached once where he asked this simple question: There are only two Kingdoms, God’s and yours. One is coming to fulfillment and the other is going away forever so which Kingdom are you going to use your resources, privilege and power to build? Yours which is fleeting or God’s which is coming?

So one answer to the questions above is rooted in recognizing that nothing is really our own, that we are only stewards and that we must simply put ourselves and everything God has given us at his feet and ask his spirit to lead us. The other answer to the questions above, we believe is simply being committed to the practice of asking them of ourselves on a regular basis and being willing to live in a healthy tension that realizes this an area that we will be growing in for a long, long time. We invite you embrace the same tension.

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Partnering with the Church in Phaeton, what's to come...

2010-09-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

G.O.'s Partnership wit the Church in Phaeton, Haiti from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

In July Jeff had the opportunity to visit Phaeton, Haiti with Tim Krauss. We're excited at G.O. to be at a place where we can focus more resources on this community. You'll hear more about our work in this community in the near future. As of September 19th Tim helped nearly complete the project for the temporary structure for the church and nutrition center. At the moment it's about 10 boards shy of completion. There will be photos to come. We're finalizing details with the Haitian government regarding the cost of land we would like to purchase on behalf of the ministry there to facilitate soccer outreach, the drilling of a much needed fresh water well, sustainable agricultural projects and contextually appropriate micro-businesses.

Pieces of Cane: An Introduction to Lessons Learned on the Field

2010-09-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

When Vicki and I aren’t working from the G.O. office state-side or doing life in the inner city of Louisville, Kentucky we’re enjoying our time serving on the field in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. That time spent on the field amounts to over 3 of the last 9 years. Our roles with the ministry allow us to be hybrids in a lot of different and exciting ways. One of our roles on the field is to help facilitate short-term teams and to introduce North American Christians to an experience in Christian service that has deep implications for their lives once they return back home. The experience of serving on the ministry field in the developing world alongside local brothers and sisters in the faith can radically deepen discipleship, broaden one’s vision of God’s Kingdom and the implications of its global nature, cultivate a life of worshipful self-sacrifice in the service of others for the sake of the Kingdom and simply encourage one to become radically generous with all of their resources. In short, a short-term service experience can be utterly transformative for those that come down and serve. That’s mine and Vicki’s story.

We want to introduce a series of entries that we will be offering from time to time called “Pieces of Cane.” The sugar industry in the Dominican Republic can easily be characterized as unjust. We’ve written about it before and highlighted some of our work there with G.O. One night we were with a team on their way out of the country the next day. We were helping them debrief regarding their week with us. I noticed a glowing in the distance, right off of the coast. There was a field ablaze. Sugar cane was being prepped for harvest. Cane fields are thick and the cane can grow as high as 15 feet. The thick leaves form sharp blades that can easily cut you if you try to move through them. In order to harvest the cane many workers will light a field on fire so that it quickly burns off the leaves. The fire burns so quickly that it only consumes the leaves. What remains is what’s valuable, the cane itself. Now harvesting with the machete is much “easier” than it would have been before.

Serving on a short-term trip can be like lighting your spiritual field on fire. When you dedicate a week of your life to silence everything but how you feel God is calling you to serve all of the junk that has accumulated in your life that has made a claim on you and has made navigating your own heart cumbersome burns up like the grass blades of the sugar cane almost overnight. What is left as the smoke clears is that thing in the field that is the most valuable: the cane itself, ready to be harvested, refined and put to use.

That piece of cane discovered on the trip can look different for every team member coming down to serve. Some of us have entire fields that are revealed to us that we can spend the rest of our lives working out what it means to harvest, refine and make useful. There are common themes, basic lessons that are the same across the board, but there are also things revealed and discovered that God leads us to that are only our own, specific to the story God is telling in us for his Glory. To experience this kind of fire together makes us a stronger, deeper community of God’s people. Harvesting our cane together allows us to be sharpened by each other’s stories, embodying more faithfully that grace called the Church.

So we want to begin sharing with you some of our own “Pieces of Cane.” We’ve learned many lessons from the field that have very much shaped who we are, how we understand the Gospel and how we desire to live faithfully towards the Kingdom based on what we’ve learned. We’ve also learned that there’s much that we still haven’t learned though we’ve had the same lesson over and over again. Essentially, that means that we’re still learning, that the smoke is still clearing for us. And we share so that you may be encouraged, that we can all be challenged and that we can celebrate God’s story being told in us.

Peace be with you,

The Rogers

Phaeton, Haiti...

2010-09-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Rogers' Work with G.O. in Phaeton, Haiti from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

We are fortunate to be involved in great work all over the island of Hispaniola. Here's a glimpse of one of those works that we're getting ready to ramp up in Phaeton, Haiti.

Paying a Dealer's Debt...

2010-09-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last night we gathered with other Christians in our neighborhood to discuss the Gospel, what it means to us and to our neighborhood, an under-resourced community struggling with (or spiraling into) urban blight, drug addiction, prostitution and poverty. We gather weekly to fellowship, reflect and pray. Some who live on the other side of the neighborhood from us have befriended a bottom rung (i.e. not well off) drug dealer. We’ll call him Jonesy.

Last night, after we had prayed for God to make use of us in the neighborhood, to make our lives a lifestyle of worship evident by our loving service to each other and our neighbors there was a knock at our host’s door. It was Jonesy. He had an emergency. He owed someone $50 bucks. They broke into his house and shot his dog to remind him that payment was due or else…

The gunshot wound wasn’t fatal. Brooks, our host, informed us as to what was going on. We passed the hat and quickly came up with the $50 to pay the debt and dispel the threat that was hovering over Jonesy. Last year a 20 year-old got shot and killed just a few blocks away over a debt of $100. Brooks, a Christian that lives across the street from Jonesy, gave him the money stating that this is from the Church and is God’s grace to you. We got the dog in Brook’s car and off they went to the vet.

Those who partner with us in our ministry to the Dominican Republic and Haiti also partner with us in the inner-city as well. Last night I reached into my wallet and pulled out our money, our ministry partner’s, mine, Vic’s and God’s, to help pay a life threatening debt on behalf of a local drug dealer in Jesus’ name.

I can’t help but think that the Adversary really gets pleasure out of such acts of wickedness… from a dog being shot as a threat, to the meaninglessness of being a drug dealer in a community that has nothing, generating more nothingness, to the desperation of a mother in Haiti feeding her child a cookie made of dirt to stave off hunger pangs a few thousand miles away, and the dulling reality of that desperation becoming a normal means of coping with hunger. I can’t help but think of the sickening smile on his face.

But you know what makes me smile? What gives me pleasure? Everything from leading a small delegation of North American Christians on a day trip into Phaeton, Haiti with the intent of establishing a daily nutrition center through the local church and working on a plan to bring sustainable agriculture and micro-economic growth there in Jesus’ name to knowing that last night when I took our cash out of my wallet the laughing mockery stopped because suddenly Hope was injected into a scenario that was supposed to be hopeless. I thank God for the opportunity to pay a life threatening debt on behalf of the local drug dealer.

You know why? Because I have a debt that was paid for me by God, himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. And last night, because of many Partnerships in the Gospel with us, we could help communicate that truth to Jonesy in way that could actually make sense to him one day. Please pray that it does.

So today we want to remind you to smile too. From the brokenness of the inner-city of Louisville, Kentucky to the interior of Haiti and the Dominican Republic the mocking of our Adversary is silenced with the coming of God’s Kingdom as it blossoms from seed and takes root, returning the dead to life. Hopelessness cannot remain where there is Love (I Cor 13:7).

If you follow our work and ministry and feel the urge to partner with us financially as well know that it is welcome and needed. Find out how here or contact us directly.

You can also connect us with your church, small group or Bible study. We'd be glad to come and share.

Thank you and Peace be with you today!

Jeff & Vic

April thru June: A Brief Review

2010-06-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Our third addition to the family has really had us hopping as we're trying to figure out what our new rhythm looks and sounds like. Between that and our work with G.O. its like we've blinked and 3 months went by! That being said, here's a brief update on what we've been up to.

Ella’s first two and a half months with us were a little daunting as the poor little girl was suffering from reflux. This meant that every waking hour we experienced of her was crying. With some prayer and some good reflux meds we are happy to report that at 14 weeks our little lady is mostly free of that discomfort and has settled comfortably into her sweet self. She is a pure joy!

In late April Jeff represented G.O. Ministries at the Exponential Church Planting Conference in Orlando, Florida. He encouraged new church planters to include international ministry in the DNA of their church plants. Partnering with indigenous Christian leaders and serving along-side of them via short-term mission’s trips grows the Kingdom abroad and deepens the Kingdom at home. If teams are lead well through their experience they can come back home more committed Christ followers, more willing to serve radically in other areas inside and outside of their own communities, as well as become more radically generous with all of their resources for the sake of Kingdom work locally and globally.

While in Orlando Jeff was able to report on G.O.’s Haiti relief effort to First Presbyterian of Haines City, FL, a new partnering church with the Rogers family. Much thanks to Pastor Tom and whole crew there for such awesome hospitality.

The G.O. Derby fundraiser at the first of May brought in $49,500 for G.O. Ministries which was a tremendous blessing!

Immediately after the Derby event we coordinated and lead a 4 day All Staff Meeting state-side, training and encouraging the G.O. Staff in ministry and fundraising. It was a sweet time to reconnect, fellowship, worship and celebrate how God used each of us in the Haiti Relief effort.

June 13th we reported on Haiti Relief to supporting church, Southside Christian in Versailles, Ky and met some new friends there. Afterwards we met with the mission’s committee of Christ Church United Methodist in Lexington. They have decided to partner with our ministry! It’s been a great year of God introducing us to new friends in ministry.

June 28th Jeff met with the mission’s committee of First Capital Christian Church in Corydon, IN to discuss G.O. and what a more intentional partnership might look like with a church in one of the sugar cane cutting villages we work with. We’re hopeful about the future of this Partnership.

Currently, we are getting geared up to represent G.O. at the North American Christian Convention. Please pray for good connections to be made for the sake of the ministry and our own support as well.

July 12th we leave for our family trip to serve in the Dominican Republic. Please pray for safe travels and service. This will be Ella’s first trip to the DR. We return August 13th.

Grace & Peace,

The Rogers

Haiti Relief Recap...

2010-06-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

It's our hope that if you've been checking in here that you've also been checking in at G.O. Help Haiti.org but just in case you haven't we wanted to be sure you saw this News package done by Wave 3 in Louisville, Ky. Please take 5 minutes to watch it as it gives a holistic account of our relief response in Haiti. Watch it here.

Here's the breakdown of all of the supplies that were sent into Haiti by air the first month and a half after the earthquake by G.O.

Total Pounds Flown Into Haiti 653,911

Sub-Total Food 550,799
Sub-Total Supplies 61,543
Sub-Total Medical 41,569

Total Planes Volunteered 66

Total flights 447

Number of locations
Cap Haitien 8
Grand Goave 3
Hinche 1
Jacmel 163
Jeremie 36
Leogane 48
Les Cayes 50
Pignon 29
Port au Prince 20
Port de Paix 57

Total People Flown In 361

This does not include the poundage of supplies sent by truck, boat and shipping container. It's been an amazing blessing to respond in the manner in which we did. Much thanks to those of you who have continually prayed and given to help us do the work that we do.

The next steps in Haiti for G.O. are to come more intentionally around the 7 Haitian pastors that we work with there. Our plan is to build a multipurpose building in each of these 7 communities that would serve as the church, nutrition center, school, medical clinic and dormatory. The second phase of this effort will involve partnering with other organizations in Haiti to help with contextually appropriate economic development through various cottage industries and sustainable agricultural projects, all in Jesus' name. From these infrastructural centers we will further come alongside the work of the indigenous pastors as they lift up the communities they serve spiritually and materially. That's the long-term vision.

Ella Jayde...

2010-03-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Introducing Ella... from Jeff Rogers on Vimeo.

Today has been full of blessing. Though we're already the parents of two 4 year-old girls, this experience of delivery and our first day with our 3rd daughter has been grand and brand new. Due to complications (as many of you know) our twins were delivered in 2005 at 29 weeks of gestation (you can see their journey below if you haven't already). That amounted to an 8 week tour of the Valley of the Shadow of Death for the girls and Mom and Dad. Thankfully it remained just a tour. But what that experience has done is filled every moment with this third, lovely little girl with a deep gratitude that is difficult to put into words. There is nothing here to take for granted. As I write this, little Ella sleeps in her hospital crib in front of me in our room. It is a gift. It makes me realize how much that we may consider mundane that we take absolutely for granted. How many precious gifts do I scoff at on a daily basis because of some broken sense of entitlement? All of my daughters have taught me something profound about the importance of adopting a posture of thanksgiving no matter what the context or circumstance. There is much in this life that God has given us that should arouse our thanks. We can grow blind to that reality. Suffering, if we allow it, can heal our vision. I wouldn't be so bold as to pretend that my vision was healed but I can see clearer now than before.

And because of their story Ella will have some pretty awesome big sisters to learn from, love, serve and play with. We are deeply blessed in ways we know we can not recount.

Thank you for you love and support.

Buy Music. Help Haiti

2010-03-19T14:11:00.001-07:00

Click the Pic and Buy the Album

On January 23rd Joel Gerdis and John Congleton, members of the Rogers’ Louisville based fundraising events team helped put on the first Breachbent Benefit Show to help diversify support of our work with G.O. Ministries. They collaborated with Sojourn Community Church, The 930, Kevin Janes, Michael Winters and Drake Hatfield. Kevin helped secure the following musicians for the show: Jamie Barnes, The Parade Schedule, Dave Moisan, Brooks Ritter and Luke Asher. We’re grateful to all involved for their contributions both to our support and the Haiti Relief Fund through G.O. Ministries. Between the ticket sales, concessions, one time gifts and the silent auction just over $8000 was raised. But the Haiti Relief fundraising continues.

The above artists have each donated live songs from that show to make up a compilation put together by Drake Hatfield. This is the first release on his record label, Hatfield Media. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this $10 album will go to G.O. Ministries to help with Haiti relief efforts. Please consider purchasing this download in support of G.O., Hatfield Media and each of the above artists.

G.O. Haiti Relief Blitz!

2010-02-27T17:06:00.000-08:00

One of our fellow staffers here at G.O. put this map together for us to share with you so that you could get a better sense of where all the relief has gone through our efforts in Haiti. Again, we’re humbled by the ways in which God has equipped us to respond to this disaster.

The entire southern coast of Haiti has suffered much of the same destruction as Port au Prince. The organizations we’ve sent aid to in the North have been receiving and caring for refugees since the days after the quake.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti. The rainy season is almost upon them. G.O. currently has 1000 or so tents on their way. We’ve also sent down three 48ft by 16ft mobile greenhouses to be used as temporary shelters and hospitals. There’s an inflatable tent hospital purchased by G.O. that just reached Santiago and will be in route to Jacmel, Haiti very soon.

I was in our Louisville warehouse today, Saturday, February 27 receiving the last of some relief supplies from our local relief drive. The huge warehouse is about full and we will be emptying it out on Monday as trucks will be hauling it away to be loaded onto a boat and floated down to the island where it will be distributed. Much thanks to Eric Leach (fellow G.O. Staffer) who has organized and managed the warehouse effort since day one of getting the space. He really has done a fantastic job!

As always, thanks for your prayers and your financial support of Vicki and myself. By helping us you are helping Haiti.

Check out a more detailed account of what has gone where in Haiti here.

Pictures and a 1000 Words...

2010-02-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

Last Friday Vicki was visiting the girls’ school. On her way out she stopped to visit with their art teacher, Jill. Our girls are prolific artists. We have countless pictures, paintings and sculptures thanks in no small part to their art teacher. Jill commented on how much she enjoyed teaching them. She asked Vic if she had seen Sophi’s picture of the earthquake and then Jill got choked up. We hadn’t seen it. It was buried in a stack of pictures that come home on almost a daily basis. Jill said that she’d never seen anything like it from a 4 year old, that our girls were extraordinarily connected with a more global perspective. We weren’t sure what to make of it but anxiously searched for this piece of art once we got home. We found it. We’ll let Sophi explain it to you in her own words in just a minute.

Just a little more first by way of introduction… Our daughters are very aware of what’s going on in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They’ve been to the DR with us at least 6 times. They have a sense that their mom and dad work to try and be a help to those that need it. Before the quake in Haiti they were already familiar with the reality of hunger there and the unfortunate novelty of dirt cookies. They thought about it; they prayed about it.

When the quake hit while I was in the DR Vicki was glued to the TV. Not because she was concerned about me, she knew I was ok. She, like me, understood the enormous tragedy that this was. The girls saw the footage as she watched. Vic told them that I was in the DR helping the people in Haiti. When I came home the relief efforts state side were in full swing. We worked around the clock in the office and at home. The poor little ladies were almost neglected. Friends from our community group prepared us meals for about a week so that we could devote some time to the girls without the distraction of having to prepare and clean up a meal. Soph and Rae knew we were up to something and that it had to do with Haiti. From this the following was born.

Just so you know, Tio Mano is our friend Romano, a dear Haitian brother. Tio is Spanish for “uncle” which is what our daughters call him. It will make sense in a minute. The girls have known him their entire life.

I'll post Romano's story after this:

I was fortunate enough to shoot this quick video of Romano before he left for Port-au-Prince.

Responding to Haiti, a Gift, an Act of Faith...

2010-02-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind. God has been very gracious to G.O. Ministries in the face of such an overwhelming crisis in Haiti. We have been steadily responding to the urgent needs that have come from this event. Our years on the ground on the island of Hispaniola, our familiarity with the place and our Partnerships and relationships with people all over the island have served to uniquely position us to respond. We never could have imagined that God would use these relationships in the way in which he has. It is as though a door materialized before our eyes in a concrete wall and so we were compelled to walk through. God has completely surrounded us with the resources and the new relationships to respond to Haiti’s deep need. Our capacity to be good neighbors to our Haitian friends has been multiplied a hundredfold and continues to grow. This ability to respond in a manner that immediately meets desperate needs, in a way that has been saving and continues to save lives is itself a gift. Vicki and I are blessed to be a part of it and to have a role to play in it. It is startling; it is humbling; it is a labor of love.

3 weeks after the fact we who are on the leadership team are beginning to process and consider what G.O.’s long-term response to the new reality facing Haiti will be. We cannot imagine that the island will ever be the same on account of the magnitude of this disaster. We know that we will continue in the rescue phase for at least another 2-4 weeks as larger organizations responding to the crisis will have time to get to the areas we are currently serving. We know that we will be committed to doing our part towards restoration in Haiti. We were working towards it already. To be about the Gospel and the Kingdom of God is to be about restoration. It is not work born of duty but of faith, motivated by Love. Given the enormity of what our Haitian neighbors now face, faith seems a better resource than duty. Duty draws on our own strength and will quickly prove to be lacking. Faith draws on God’s own strength and reveals to us what God will do with a little trust and obedience.

I’m convinced that God hates what has happened to Haiti. I’m convinced that years of injustice and exploitation at the hands of others inside and outside of Haiti have not escaped his notice. I’m convinced that the brokenness of Haiti is not the final word. The final word will be his Shalom which will also be the very first word of the Age to come. It is that Age that we now work towards even more fervently than before in Haiti not because we are the saviors of the world but because Jesus was and is. And at the dawn of the renewal of all things he expects to catch us working to meet him from our side of history, not out of duty but out of faith, motivated by love and compassion rooted in the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. If we have counted ourselves among the People of God and yet have had idle hands the time for that to cease is now. There are many who suffer in the world in and beyond Haiti that are in need of our faithful love and service. Let’s give it to them.

Here’s a story published today in the New York Times about our relief effort in Haiti. Read the article here. Please watch the video report “Haiti, Help from Above.” We’re grateful for the Times coverage of what G.O. is doing in Haiti. We have lots of information on http://www.gohelphaiti.org/ highlighting different aspects of our response over the last few weeks. Please check it out and direct your friends, families and church leaders there. God has graced us with the ability to do some very important work on the island. Again, it’s been a gift to share in it and now we share that gift with you too.

Grace and Peace,

The Rogers

Christmas in Mongolia

2009-12-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

We’ve hinted here and there about G.O.’s work in Mongolia. We wanted to take a moment to highlight that work today. John Koehler serves addicts and prostitutes in Mongolia. He works with a team of Mongolian leaders that regularly hit the streets there in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar serving the Mongolian ladies hot tea and food while they are “on the job.” It used to be that if they wanted to speak with the women that they would have to pay them for their time. They’re continued kindness opened doors with the Madams and after some time they gave permission to their “employees” to stop charging for these visits.

Over time many relationships have been built and some of these women are being transformed by the Gospel. The biggest obstacle for them has been how to provide for their families if they stop the work. Most of these women are not driven by addiction. They are driven by the need to provide for their families. Once the monthly bills are covered, many do not work until the following month’s needs develop.

Each of us on staff helps partners with Koehler’s work in Mongolia through G.O. That’s why your support of our work is also support of this work. In the past year G.O. has helped to finance three small businesses in Ulaanbaatar that are offering these women other ways to earn an income for their family. We have helped get a bath house (public pay showers), a car wash and shoe/purse/wallet manufacturing company off of the ground. Our hope is that at these grow more women will benefit from them as ways out of their current life style. Our intention is to add to these efforts as time and resources allow.

I’m reminded this Christmas that Jesus, the son of God, was a blood descendant of Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho. I’m reminded of God’s gracious use to accomplish his profound will of broken people both with their cooperation and in spite of them. I’m reminded of his deep love of humanity and what He is willing to sacrifice to have us for his own. I received this photo in John’s last update, after hosting a Christmas party for the ladies.

Please join us in praying on behalf of John’s work in Mongolia. Pray for these women, loved by God, that they discover the blessings of abundant life, of Shalom. Pray for renewal and transformation.

As always, thank you for your love and support. Merry Christmas!

G.O. Leadership Team

2009-12-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

(Center) Vicki Rogers (Left to Right) John Martinez, Tim Krauss, Jeff Rogers, Brook Brotzman

The G.O. Leadership Team has just finished with our planning retreat for 2010. We spent 3 days at Quills Coffee House in downtown Louisville and 4 days in a cabin in Southern Indiana working, planning and praying through what the next year of ministry will look like!

It’s an awesome privilege to work with these four people. Brook’s work and vision for G.O. created an amazing opportunity for Vicki and I nine years ago. Brook’s faithfulness to God’s leading made space for us to discover the width and depth of God’s Kingdom locally and globally. That global discovery has forever changed us. It changes how we understand life and ministry. It has completely reshaped how we understand the application of the Gospel in word and deed.

Nine years ago, again, because of Brook’s faithfulness to God’s leading, we got to meet and start working alongside of Tim Krauss and John Martinez, similarly, space was made for them to discover God’s passion for the people of the entire world. Sharing in that discovery and the work that has come from it has been one of the greatest blessings of mine and Vicki’s life. It is truly an honor and a joy to work alongside of them.

And now, together we make up the Leadership Team of G.O. Ministries. This places us in a position of great responsibility for the care of the ministry and the Staff. There are those who have had space made for them (and others who are coming) to make similar discoveries to our own and we now still have much to discover together as God reveals what he has for the future growth of G.O. Ministries.

I am small for the task and humbled by the reality that there is much expected of me and of us. Please commit to praying for the five of us (Brook, John, Tim, Vicki and Jeff) regularly, that our leadership be characterized by service to one another, love, grace and accountability and that God would grant us wisdom as we move forward over the coming year. Your prayers and your Partnership make you apart of this work too!

Dirt is Yucky: A Thanksgiving Meditation...

2009-11-25T19:13:00.001-08:00

The morning after I posted "Dirt" Vicki was reading over the entry while Sophi and Raena were eating their breakfast. When Vicki started watching the news report on youtube Raena came over to watch the "movie." She saw the women mixing the dirt into mud and making patties. She asked Vic what they were doing. Vic explained that these people didn't have enough food to eat so they were making cookies out of dirt and feeding them to their children. Rae couldn't make sense of this at first but the reality quickly set in. I could barely hold it together when she started to express with concern, "Mommy, no! People don't eat dirt! That's for animals! Mommy no! That's yucky." She said some version of this four or five times.

I have a hard time telling this story without getting choked up. I'm choked up right now typing it out. You can read what she said but you can not hear the tone in her little voice... A tone that communicates an awareness that something is deeply wrong with this scenario. A four-year-old gets that this shouldn't be. It shocks her. She knows its wrong.

This offered up an opportunity to give Raena a glimpse into our work with G.O. Vicki told Raena that morning, "Raena, Mommy and Daddy go to work at the office because part of what we do is work so that children don't have to eat dirt." I'm still not sure what Rae makes of this but time will tell.

Sophi continued to eat her breakfast and appeared (as she often does in some educational environments) oblivious and disinterested. But she's a sneaky perceiver. She get's more than you'll ever know until she shows you. That night Vic got the girls down for bed and Sophi spontaneously prayed for the children who had to eat dirt cookies, that God would help them get food so they didn't have to do that anymore. Beautiful, from my other 4-year-old.

So these were the bookends to my day that day, a child's discovery of human desparation and a child's intuition to pray that it would cease. And tonight, before Thanksgiving, Sophi did it again, unprovoked, unencouraged, "God, please help the children that eat dirt; they don't have food. Give them food. Dirt is yucky."

So I'm choked up again. I'm grateful for both of my daughters' hearts, grateful for the work that Vicki and I share in, grateful for those that make our work possible, grateful that ultimately there is profound hope for the broken, marginalized and us. I'm thankful that we're blessed to be a blessing and that my daughters are arriving at the starting point of beginning to understand this. It took me over 20 years.

Dirt

2009-11-18T22:27:00.000-08:00

Today a dear friend brought me a terrible and yet precious gift. I was surprised by the rush of emotion and anger that came on me upon receiving it, over something so simple... I was distraught and inspired by it at the same time.

Tim Krauss and John Martinez are my co-workers in the Gospel and co-leaders in our ministry along with Vicki and myself. John and Tim recently spent several days in Haiti, visiting with 5 of the 6 pastors G.O. works with there in their own communities. Tim has returned to Louisville for a few days and carried with him this small yet profound gift.

Tim came into my office today with a scrunched up clear plastic bag. At the bottom of the twisted mass was a sampling of dirt from the interior of Haiti. Tim had presented me with the actual dirt from the mountains of Haiti used to make dirt cookies, eaten by Haitian children and adults to stave off the pangs of hunger. He acquired the dirt in a Haitian market during his visit.

Now I have a few dried shards of this Haitian soil, originally bound for the gut of some child or adult sitting on a bookshelf in my office.

I’ve known for a long time about the reality of dirt cookies in Haiti. I’ve been to Haiti several times and witnessed some of the challenges there. But there is just something about the actual presence of this substance up close and personal that really brings the weight of the reality to bear on my heart. Tim gave me the dirt and I could instantly feel heat behind my eyes. It was hard, suddenly, to speak without getting choked up.

In my hands I felt what was clearly the food of desperation, a lie, told to the body that everything was ok, that it was, in fact, fed. In my hand was a mother’s hope to quench the suffering of her hungry child regardless of whether or not it actually meant anything.

But it does mean something… It means we are a broken humanity in need of profound healing. The existence of this “humanitarian crisis” points to the spiritual realities that make its existence possible. The reality of this kind of suffering means that I’ve got no right to complain about anything. However bad I may ever imagine things to be, it’s very unlikely that I’ll ever be feeding my daughters, Sophi and Raena, dirt. It means that as a Christian I can’t sit comfortably by and appreciate how “blessed” I am because I have stuff without remembering that the only reason I’m blessed in the first place is so that I can be a blessing to others. It means that I’m called to figure out what I can do to help make a difference because children in the Kingdom of God DO NOT EAT COOKIES MADE OF DIRT! And if they don’t eat them there they should not be eating them here!

Dirt cookies mean we’re in serious need of a savior. If we get a hold of Jesus Christ and let him get a hold of us he will begin to shape us into responders and engagers for the sake of the Kingdom. We’ll be angry about the things that anger him, we’ll celebrate what he celebrates and we will learn to be servants to all. If we learn, as brothers and sisters, to live up to the calling of what it really means to be the People of God, the true humanity, there will be less and less of this kind of thing, but only if its born of love, not guilt.

So this dirt sits on my shelf in my office. It tells me to guard against self-righteousness because whether I know it or not some of my economic practices help constitute this grim reality in Haiti just by virtue of my participation in everyday buying and selling. It tells me that making an effort to change those practices is an act of good faith and in line with redemption. It tells me to not forget the severity in which my Haitian brothers and sisters (and others like them) live. It tells me to pray for revival and renewal in the land. It tells me to take heart because our work with G.O. begins to address the issue of hunger in Haiti both with food aid and the Gospel. Lastly, these shards of dirt point me to the promise that a day is coming when all bellies will be filled from the banquet table of King Jesus when his reign over the world is universally revealed. Dirt will be for walking on and the mockery of the adversary will be silenced forever.

For those of you that support us through your prayers, your financial commitments, your use of our Kroger gift cards, thank you. Through this support you are at work in Haiti too, helping to bring the Gospel to bear on the challenges that exist there. You help to bear the hope we share leading to the Gospel transformation of entire communities.

The Rogers Family: Down in a "Hole"

2009-11-09T21:30:00.001-08:00

Frequent flash flooding has finally taken the bridge down

Rather than tip toeing through the tulips... We're just trying NOT to step in sewage

This summer we felt that the girls were old enough to really experience the Hole for the first time. We had taken them to the church before but never explored the broader community with them. It was very special to walk with them through the neighborhood as a family for the first time. We stumbled into this kind of work and ministry (rather, God high-jacked us into it!), I can't imagine what it means to grow up with this kind of experiance being "normal" or "expected." Our prayer is that God shapes our girls into radical, committed servants, whatever shape it takes.

We helped out with the nutrition center on this day in addition to helping with children's ministry.

Raena and Soph passing in between houses

Hanging out with Dad by the river where the basketball court used to be before frequent flooding wiped it out

Vic takes time to love on a child from the nutrition center

Vic signs with Sophi during children's ministry

Sophi soaks up the children's ministry

Locals cross the river

Looking ahead

Clean Water...

2009-11-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Felix over-looking the Hole

Felix and Jenni Abreu serve the community of Hoya de Bartola or "the Hole" as it is rendered in English. It's a landfill community that has raw sewage contaminating the river that divides the barrio in two.

Recently, Jeff has had the opportunity to help coordinate the installation of a water purification system there. This reality came to be thanks to the efforts and colaboration of G.O. Ministries, Michael Ekman, St. Paul United Methodist Church and the Edge Outreach team.

Michael had served on a short-term team and spent some time in the Hole. When he got back to the states he wanted to do something to help make a difference there. He got in contact with Jeff and together they got the ball rolling.

In the developing world contaminated water kills regularly and without mercy. Before you can deal with the issue effectively you need to get the local community on board. Felix Abreu recognized the importance and benefit of clean water to the community that he has been serving for so long. When the offer was made to him for the system he jumped at the opportunity. He had a vision to use the purified water to supply the nutrition center he ran for 120 or so children in the Hole. He wanted to use the rest to help generate a little income to help run his ministry. Felix sells the extra purified water for less than half of what the big companies sell it for to meet his neighbors where they are at financially. In doing so he is helping offset the costs of doing ministry and avoiding the trap of entitlement.

It's taken some time to get this project complete. The first issue we faced was where to set it up. Thanks to St. Paul United Methodist we were able to purchase a house for $1500. The Edge sent a team down this summer to install the system. Michael Ekman's advocy helped bring those two agents together to help make this project happen and we are deeply grateful to him!

The house acquired with the help of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Louisville, Ky

Felix demonstrates the system to a visiting team

Felix tests the clorine level to insure a "total kill" of any creepy crawlys lingering in the agua

From the Dominican to Urban America...

2009-11-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

Dee Dee (Norman's mom), Norman, Miss Pat and Gerard (our neighbors)

We serve the world with our work with G.O. Ministries. We're blessed to be involved in the inner city of Louisville, Ky where we currently live. Over the last two years we have developed a strong relationship with our next door neighbors and have had opportunities to serve them in some difficult circumstances.

We were asked to attend a memorial service on Miss Pat's grandson's birthday at the corner where he was shot and killed. I was asked to take photos for the family. Such an unfortunate reality for so many who live in the inner city. While I was taking photos for the family a single mother approached me and asked if I could do the same thing for her later in the year, a few blocks away where her son had also been murdered. So much darkness... and yet, so much light. There is hope here and the enemy has no option save retreat. It's only a matter of time...

Crosspoint, again!

2009-11-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Crosspoint Church is an awesome story to tell. It's one that's deeply connected with Morgantown and our marriage. When we were in college it was Pete Wilson who discipled Jeff and he and his wife Brandi who were instrumental in getting us together. Pete planted Morgantown with Harold Mckee who later came down on an exploratory trip with us and lead Morgantown to get invested in our work. What we have is an elaborate web of shared and meaningful relationships. It's truly amazing to sit back and see how God has drawn the threads of our lives together for the sake of his Kingdom in such a variety of ways. And the relationships that we share continue to lead to new, amazing relationships.

Crosspoint came down to continue their work on a Haitian church they are building for Moise, a Haitian pastor that they partner with. The team leaders for the summer trip were Blake and Ally Bergstrom. It was truly an honor to get to know this couple and introduce them to our ministry.

Jeff, Blake and Moise discuss Haitian ministry in the Dominican Republic

Blake was new to G.O. and new to Moise. We had lots of great conversations as we got acquainted with each other and life and ministry in the Dominican Republic. It was great to see Blake connect with Moise and share in ministry in the community in which we are building the church. Dominicans are deeply suspicious and prejudiced against Haitians (this is putting it mildly). We were able to help support Moise's work and build credibility for his ministry as we explored the neighborhood with him and invited Dominicans to up coming ministry events later in the week. It's foolish and fallen that the presence of Americans would cast Moise in a better light than if he did this by himself. Even so, it is an honor to be at Moise's service for the sake of his ministry.

Moise feels that God has laid it on his heart to use this church building as a hub for raising up Haitian church planters. His desire is to help plant over 100 churches in Haiti from leadership developed in this church over the years to come, an endeavor worthy of a lifetime of effort. We're fortunate and blessed to be a part of it!

A Week With Morgantown

2009-11-09T19:40:00.001-08:00

We LOVE Morgantown Community Church! They are one of the craziest, most driven short-term teams we have ever seen. Scott Cox and Harold and Sherry Mckee have busted their tails to help their folks raise the funds to come and serve in the Dominican Republic. Morgantown supports our work financially and we are so appreciative of their help! During their week they helped us dig and pour the foundation for a pastor's home in Santiago. They also got to spend a lot of time developing a relationship with Romano, a Haitian pastor who is a dear friend of ours. Our hope is that sometime in the near future that Morgantown will start supporting him financially as well. We are hoping to get their pastor, Josh Scott, down on an exploratory trip this January.

Here Vicki is throwing it down and working like a wild woman! She spent some time working with the Morgantown crew. Little did we know at the time that this lady was doing the work of two. We found out the next day that in a few months she would look like this:

And just so you know, we recently found out that the "pumpkin smuggler" is actually daughter number 3 of the Rogers' clan!

Much love and thanks to Morgantown! We love doing life and building the Kingdom with you!

Back in the DR...

2009-11-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

This summer we were able to spend a month with the entire family in the Dominican Republic. As has become our habit, the girls spent their 4th birthday there among there Dominican and Haitian friends. During our near 4 week stay we helped facilitate an audiology clinic with Pathways Community Church, a youth team from Southeast Christian Church, Crosspoint Church and Morgantown Community Church. Each of these teams represent awesome partners in ministry and dear friends.

Here Sophi and Raena are hanging with Tony Krauss. We were fortunate to stay with his parents, Tim and Samira, the entire time we were in the DR. They are beloved friends and co-workers at G.O. Ministries.

The girls very much enjoyed their "Princess" party with all of their Dominican/gringo friends.

Audiology Clinic

Vicki was fortunate to be able to help out with our second audiology clinic. It was a tremendous blessing for her to help some children and adults hear clearly for the first time. It was also difficult to treat children who had gone 10 to 12 years without hearing or having any language base at all. Sign language is a resource that not many who need it have in the Dominican Republic or Haiti. Imagine if your ability to communicate was reduced to a crude for of charades your entire life. This reveals a significant need in the Dominican and Haiti to those of us that take hearing for granted. We're praying about what opportunities this might provide G.O. Ministries to serve in the future.

Dr. Rosario takes some patients...

Adults and children waiting in line at the clinic.

A little girl waits her turn at the hearing clinic.

Dominican audiology students making ear molds.

The Dominican Republic does not have an audiology program. The only audiologist living and serving the Dominican full time is an Austrailian Christian who teaches in Santo Domingo. By the grace of God we have connected with her and worked together in two clinics now. She is training students to be audiologists though they can not yet recieve any kind of certification as it does not exist on the island. We're fortunate to have her help in this endeavor!

Conducting a hearing test or crude audiogram.

An Unwelcome Opportunity to Serve Part II: Vicki's Account

2009-06-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

In the City

When we moved back to the states we wanted to be intentional neighbors. We had grown accustomed to living in the city in Santiago and naturally wanted to find something similar in Louisville. I thought we would move where there was a high Hispanic population because we were accustomed to that culture and language; however, our hearts were drawn to Shelby Park. And so began our journey for city life. I grew up in a very small town so this was more of a stretch for me than I realized.

We began a relationship with our neighbors. Thanks to off street parking we exchanged hellos frequently outside. Ms. Pat was a God send. She’s the matriarch of her family and we’ve had the privilege to meet many of her family members of the last year and half we’ve lived her. She realizes I’m a small town girl and has proven to be a great resource to teach me about city life. At every opportunity, we’ve tried to serve, but one recent day made neighbors family as we fell into the trenches and mourned together.

We were gardening in our backyard as the girls played in the dirt and I chatted with a neighbor. I’ll never forget the sound of panic in Ms. Pat’s voice as she ran into our backyard yelling for Jeff. Her grandson had been shot and Jeff raced her, DeeDee (the boy’s mother) and his sister to the hospital. Norman died before his friends could get him there. As we sat in her kitchen that night surrounded by grief ridden family members, her son explained that Little Norm was shot in the back by one of his friends over a moped.

Shelby Park

I returned home with an overwhelmed and troubled heart. A young man was shot and killed a block from where our City Group meets each week for dinner and prayer a month ago. Some fellow Christians in the neighborhood were robbed by gunpoint in their own backyard over the weekend. On Monday night, our City Group prayer walked the neighborhood. Fifteen minutes after we left the park, a woman was shot and killed while she sat on a park bench near the playground where dozens of children were innocently swinging, laughing and playing. And one night later, Norman was gone. I tried to make sense of how people could take a life so quickly. It was senseless. I remembered the faces of Little Norm’s friends and brothers. Their eyes were dark with grief, blazing with bitterness, hungry for revenge and justice. I cried out to God for our neighborhood. For peace. For unity. For reconciliation.

Over the next few days we made some phone calls and began taking meals over to the family. We enjoyed sweet time with them as we learned more about Little Norman’s life. We put a slideshow together of photos that revealed Norman was the baby of the family, the comedian who kept everyone laughing, a charmer with a warm smile, and a boy with dreams to become a man. He was only 17. He was scheduled to graduate in May, he had been accepted to KY State University, and a coupon for his senior prom tuxedo has arrived in the mail that day and lay on the coffee table surrounded by his photos and candles.

His mom walked us to the car that evening and shared a story that brought me to my knees. Little Norm had been in a lot of trouble as a kid. He had just been out of juvenile detention for 14 days when he was murdered. She said he had changed when he came home, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Then, she found a journal. He had written out a beautiful prayer to God asking forgiveness and direction as he felt called to be a pastor. His last words in his journal were “Lord, preserve me”. His mom wept in hope for her son’s changed heart but despair as she recalled his last words to her minutes before he was shot, “Mom, I’m coming home.”

At the vigil, family, friends, and the news media surrounded the scene. His brother walked away in deep grief. His mother could not even attend. Christopher 2x encouraged the kids against anger and towards self control. I was frustrated. Those were symptoms, but the problem was deeper. The problem was pride and not striving for hope and peace in a Savior above ourselves. We continued to the wake and were overwhelmed by the number of people and deep grief of so many young people. I prayed silently, “Oh Hope, come and rescue us”. A fight broke out right after we left. They locked everyone inside the funeral home. Someone broke their jaw, some kids had a gun. The police came. Where was Peace?

I sat during the funeral looking at a young man dressed in white surrounded by flowers. I longed for Hope to be restored to these young lives. For another Way to do life. For them to know they are valued and to learn to value others. To understand they were made in the image of their all powerful God as were their enemies. A pastor spoke about Little Norm approaching him at the detention center. Little Norm wanted to change. He felt a deep purpose in his life that he had never experienced before. Then another pastor read Little Norm’s journal prayer as his eulogy. He said Little Norm was a leader and that was evident by the number of people at the funeral. He told them Little Norm was leading them now towards a different life, a life of hope over hopelessness, peace over violence, love over hate. He encouraged them to follow his lead and in a matter of five minutes, Norman’s two brothers, his uncle and nearly 10 friends walked to the casket and committed their lives to a new way of life in Christ.

"No Outlet?" Not Necessarily...

After such a hopeless week, I was overwhelmed by God’s mercy. I looked across the room and I didn’t see gang members, troubled kids, hopeless family members…I saw image bearers of an almighty God who had engraved each of them on His heart. Peace had been planted, we were unified in purpose, and reconciliation was beginning to take root.

An Unwelcome Opportunity to Serve Part I: Jeff's Account

2009-06-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

We’ve been living in Shelby Park (a neighborhood in the inner city of Louisville) over a year or so. It’s been our pleasure and our privilege to be befriended by our next door neighbors. Cultivating that relationship has taken some time and care. We’ve kept our eyes open for subtle ways to serve and show love whenever we can. Tuesday night, March 24th, brought an unwelcome opportunity to serve.

Vicki and I, the girls and another neighborhood friend were in the backyard while I was getting our garden bed ready. I heard Ms. Pat calling from the side yard on the other side our gate to the privacy fence. “Jeff! Jeff! Can you do me a huge favor! I need a ride to the hospital. My grandson’s been shot!”

“Absolutely! Let’s go!” I ran into the house and snatched up my keys and my cell phone, told Vic I’d be careful and we were on our way. We needed to swing by Shelby St. a few blocks down and pick up Ms. Pat’s daughter (her grandson’s mother). I pulled up and Deedee and another woman with a baby hopped in the back seat. We were on our way headed down Broadway. Deedee had somewhat of a cool head about her. The younger woman was in hysterics. I wasn’t sure what her relationship was to the rest of the family. At this point all that I knew was that the boy had been shot. In the chaos of cell phone calls, yelling and screaming I was able to find out that the kid’s name was Norm, that he was 17 and was asked not to go down to Victory Park that night on the corner of 23rd and Kentucky.

As I’m driving down Broadway it’s as though I’m watching myself with this family in some kind of tragic documentary. Deedee is directly behind me on the phone with the young men that are with her son. As we are driving to Norton’s ER they are coming from the opposite direction. Norm is in the back seat bleeding, unresponsive. Deedee starts to yell into the cell phone at whoever is with her son (one of his friends). “Where the hell are you?! Get the f*** to the f****** emergency room! Is he breathing!? What the f*** do you mean you don’t know?! Get to the f****** emergency room!” I listen to the conversation cycle through the same content, over and over again. This mother in despair desiring nothing more than to be beside her son hoping that he is ok but knowing that he is not, fearing that he won’t be, stretched like a wire between hope and despair. I could hear her cycle through grief, hope, rage & regret just wanting to know something for sure.

Ms. Pat, stable, calm, a rock, she is the matriarch or her family and the foundation. She lights a cigarette and rolls down the window. It’s clear that she is trying to take the edge off of herself to be who she needs to be for her daughter and grandchildren in this moment. She interrupts the phone call occasionally, asking for clarification of what few details are known, telling everyone to calm down until we know something for sure.

The entire drive, brief though it was, I was just praying God’s peace on this family and to let Norm make it.

We arrived. Norton’s ER entrance comes off the street and then goes down below street level. You have to drive back up to get out. At the top of that hill was the green car Norm was driven in. EMS was parked up there along w/police who were taping off the car. They had just beaten us there. Ms. Pat and Deedee were out of the car. The young mother I did not know got out of the car and collapsed in the driveway. I found out later that this was Norm’s sister. The baby was in the car in the car seat that was unattached. An ER nurse came out. The sister was lying in the only open lane for other EMS units to use. I helped the nurse get her up off of the ground and walked her into the waiting room to sit down.

No updates on Norm. The entire family began to show up over the next 20 minutes. At one point Ms. Pat asked me if I could take the baby home with me and keep him until they got done at the hospital but before I could leave he started fussing so they kept him. I stayed for a while and offered whatever help I could back at their house. When it became clear that there was nothing left that I could do to help I made sure they had may cell number and said they could call for anything at anytime, that I was praying that Norm would pull through.

I had to back out of the ER entrance because the exit was blocked. This required that I pull around the corner where the green car was parked, where the family had now gathered near the police and the witnesses that brought Norm in to find out what information they could. By now the sister that I had helped to the waiting area was there with the rest of the family and a crowd of onlookers were on the other side of the street. As I drove by I saw the family in my rearview mirror. They seemed to respond to something… the sister collapsed on the ground… “He didn’t make it,” I thought.

I pulled over and parked, walked back to the opposite corner where the crowd was gathered. I asked a guy looking over to the other side, “What just happened?”
He confirmed what I already knew. “They just told that family that their kid was dead.”

“ That was my next door neighbor’s grandson.”

“Sorry man.”

“Yeah… me too.” I walked back to the car and called Vic with the news.

I prayed for their family all the way home. I prayed for this neighborhood. The day before I was praying in Shelby Park with our City Group and my family and left the park with them anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes before a woman was shot to death on a park bench in broad daylight with children around. I was angry with our Enemy. I sensed that whatever all of these events were that they were at least in part the forces over this neighborhood baring their teeth at those of us who feel called here to be servants of the Kingdom. I am thankful to God that my family was not intimidated by these happenings and my prayer is that other Christians in the neighborhood are not either. If we are Christians our presence makes a difference. Rev. Lincoln Bingham has said that if we are Christians when we walk into a room or a community God shows up. We need him to show up. For his people and for this city, every part of it.

This violence so close to home was not the peace for my neighbors that I have been praying for. But what I don’t know is who might have been spared that might not have been… What I did know is that my family had an opportunity to be what peace there could be even in the face of such violence and sinfulness. We would spend the coming days loving this family in whatever ways they would allow us. And what God opened up for us was amazing ways to come alongside of this family in their grief. We were given opportunity after opportunity to care for them deeply, we were able to call upon our brothers and sisters at Sojourn and Southeast to come alongside too and they did. And we were able to witness some amazing ways in which God was already at work in this situation in a variety of powerful ways. Vicki will comment on some of that in the next post.

I do not pretend to know what God is up to in the face of such tragedy or through it. What I do know is that if we claim Christ as Lord we must train our eyes to view tragedy and suffering redemptively. We serve a God that turns death into life. Where ever we see death we should look for ways in which life might take root, embrace it and encourage it in Jesus’ name for the sake of the Kingdom, may it come.

G.O. Explore Jan 26-30

2009-02-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

Jeff, Chris, Felix, Jacob and Brook

From January 26th through the 30th I had the opportunity to lead an Exploratory trip with Brook, hosting Jacob Breeze and Chris Denbow from Grace Christian Church near Houston, Texas. We shared some great ministry experiences over the course of our 3 ½ days. The trip has proven to be very successful on many fronts. This year we have made some adjustments to our approach of encouraging the national Christian leaders. At an all pastor meeting we rolled out a plan to be more intentional in investing in the pastors and leaders of the various churches we are networked with. The vision was received with a lot of enthusiasm.

The Entire Dominican G.O. Leadership

We discovered in Jacob a quality theologian and teacher. He and I will be working together regularly to coordinate and translate training materials for our pastors and leaders. He will also be bringing his students down regularly starting this summer.

Thanks to an engineering class that came down on a trip with us this past year from Evansville University, we had the opportunity to reveal the blue prints and 3 D virtual model of the new Central Church that we will begin construction on this Spring. The Dominican and Haitian leadership is very excited about getting this project up and running. Once the first level is complete we will be able to move forward with the medical facility that will stand on the location of the current out grown, church building.

Jeff, Jordy, Jacob, Tats and the Gospel

While in the Hole with Jacob and Chris, I ran into our deaf friend, Jordy, at the nutrition center. Jordy drew my attention to Jacob’s tattooed arm. I signed for Jordy to come with me for a closer look.

"The Lamb that was slain..." The lamb is at the top of the arm, the skeletons rising are bodies being resurrected

I signed to him the significance of Jacob’s tattoo which essentially was an image drawn from the doxology in Revelation: “The Lamb that was slain is worthy to be praised.” I explained that the lamb was Jesus and that the skeletons floating up were each of us being resurrected. He nodded with a big smile. I don’t know how clearly he understood it but the visual was a tremendous help in trying to connect these ideas. It was a great part of the day. The week was a tremendous blessing all the way around.

Giving Jacob a tour of the current Central Church and future site of our medical facility

Felix discusses the future on the ministry in the Hole with me

Kids in the Hole

*all of the photos in this post are by Chris Denbow

Help the Rogers' Ministry With G.O. by...

2008-12-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Doing something you're probably already doing.

If you shop at Kroger or one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroger#Chains you can help us out. We’ve made an arrangement with Kroger so that if you care to, 4% of what you spend on groceries anyway, can be designated to help support our work.

So, here’s how the whole thing works:

1. Fill out this Web form: http://go-ministries.org/give_kroger_gift_card2.shtml

2. Be sure to pick "Jeff and Vicki Rogers" in the "Supporting" drop down box.

3. You will receive a Kroger gift card in the mail already credited with $5

4. Next time you go to Kroger to get groceries go to the customer service desk first and put additional money on your gift card (whatever you estimate you will spend).

5. Get groceries and pay with gift card.

6. Keep your gift card and reuse it over and over again just like the above. It’s important to keep the card b/c that’s how the whole thing is tracked.

Kroger will donate 4% of each dollar you put on the gift card to G.O. Ministries in our name, helping support our work.

This adds a step to your grocery run but helps the cash you’re spending go 4% further to help change the world in which we live in very positive ways. Once we receive your registration we’ll get a card in the mail to you right away.

Thanks very much and God bless!

The Rogers

Successive Storms Torment Haiti

2008-09-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Haiti has suffered storms back to back. Heavy rains always spell trouble for this country because of rampant deforestation. Gonaives has been especially hard hit. I spoke to my friend Romano tonight over Skype. He is Haitian living in Santiago in the Dominican Republic. He told me that he has heard that they have found around 600 bodies in Haiti. He believes that as the water recedes many more will be discovered.

Pray for the survivors, pray that relief agencies get there promptly, that nations with resources come quick with significant aid.

To learn more about the current crisis check out these NPR links:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407524
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94389789
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/09/haiti.gonaives.flood/index.html?eref=rss_world

Grace and Peace

Ministry is Moving Along...

2008-09-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

There has been so much going on. Vicki is booking new teams like crazy for 2009. I just got back a week and a half ago from leading an exploratory trip with three sets of leaders from three different churches spanning Kansas, Indiana, and Maryland. One of the churches, Harris Prairie, is getting on board with a Partnership with Nico Gracesqui in a big way. The leaders from Maryland are already on the calendar for a trip 2009 and the leader from Kansas City is meeting with his leadership to see if G.O. is the route their church wants to partner with for further involvement in global ministry.

Pastor Nico

Gracesqui Family

I was able to get over 100 new books to Santiago for the Pastors’ Library. If all goes as we hope the library will be open and available for use by September 10th. All of the logistics are coming together.
I will be following up in the next week with all of those who have expressed interest in Partnering with a national pastor or worker over the last two months in the Dominican. Pray that hearts are turned to commit to help further the work of these passionate servants.
I’m currently coordinating a group of volunteers for another G.O. fundraiser at Churchill Downs in a couple of weeks. We’ll be helping to run a clearance sale of all of the 2008 Derby merchandise in conjunction with the Ryder Cup here in Louisville. The event should earn G.O. about $4500 to $5000.
It is also that time of year for Vicki and I to start thinking about budgets and hopping back on the fundraising trail. We’ve been so busy with ministry we’ve not kept up with our own fundraising development very well. We’ll be giving that some attention in the coming days.
If you’ve considered supporting us monthly, or dropping us a one-time gift, we welcome it. You can send in a check or give through the Paypal link to the right. We could use a little boost after losing some significant support recently.

More Books = AWESOME!!

2008-08-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Harold Mckee at www.mccmissionteam.wordpress.com, Anne Jackson at www.flowerdust.net, and Pete Wilson at www.withoutwax.com we have received over 100 books in Spanish for the Pastors and their new library. These were purchased from Amazon.com in 2 days time. When we got back to the office from the Dominican Republic I had stacks of boxes on my desk.
Our original Amazon list had only 19 titles. It has sense been updated to 60 different titles. If you’d like to pick up a book choose one from the list at the bottom of this page. Every purchase you make through our site from Amazon will earn us 4% back for the purchase of more books for the Pastor’s Library.
I’m leading an exploratory trip on August 18th and am looking forward to dragging 100lbs of books down there with me. Pray I get through customs without too much fuss. I’ll have a hard time not looking like a book dealer. Better then looking like another kind of dealer I suppose!
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this effort!
Much love and appreciation!
Jeff and Vic

The Pastor's Library...

2008-07-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

Books collected and ready to be sent to the DR Pastor's Library

Dominican and Haitian pastors are starving for information about the Bible and ministry. They do the best they can with what they have but for the most part they do not have the resources available to them to further their own education. The resources are either unavailable or too expensive.

Bit by bit we are making an effort to improve this situation. Currently we have a few professors and teachers committed to coming down regularly to do intensive on-going training with the pastors. Now, in addition to that, we are finally establishing a modest library for the pastors in Santiago.

Many have purchased books I’ve asked for and had them shipped to our office state side. Others have made special gifts to the ministry specifically for books and tools for pastor education and given me the freedom to buy what we need. I just purchased 30 two volume sets of church history and theology books that will be used for the first installment of the History and Theology of Christianity being offered to the pastors in the fall.

Logos has offered us amazing comprehensive Bible study software in Spanish for $145 a license. It is normally $200. The software is comprised of 150 different books, commentaries, Biblical encyclopedias, lexicons and so on. With this tool the pastors will be able to work with Greek and Hebrew in a way that was completely inaccessible before and also get an enormous amount of study out of a smaller amount of time. We just need some more funding for the software as well as a few basic (but hopefully new) laptops to run the programs on.

We’d welcome any help towards the goals of building the library and study lab (Logos Software plus laptops). Follow http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/2910E2F5ULSYK/ to see the list of books we would like on Amazon. They can be shipped to our state-side office at:

Attn: Jeff Rogers
G.O. Ministries, Inc.
11501 Plantside Dr. suite 14
Louisville, Ky 40299

We will open the Pastors’ Library in mid-August. Some of the pastors are already buzzing about it!

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Jeff

Partnership in Action...

2008-07-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

It was great today to see Pete Wilson and Moise Jean discussing life and ministry in the window of a church Pete’s church is helping to build for Moise’s ministry and congregation. This is what G.O. Ministries is all about, creating partnerships in ministry between American churches and indigenous churches abroad. It is awesome to see men of God and leaders of God’s people enjoying the same work though in different cultures, together.

New Threads...

2008-07-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

Vicki and I have had enough life experience now that we can look back on our lives and see how God has sown various experiences into our lives like threads that He will sometimes pull together for his own purposes and glory.

Our twin girls are deaf and have cochlear implants. We are teaching them to speak but are teaching them sign language as well so that they have an alternative means of communication should there be issues with the implants in the future. This is also due to a concern that we now have that we did not have before for the deaf community. Our own children have made that concern acute.

After some of our recent work and experiences here in the DR I can’t help but think that perhaps part of the reason our girls were born with profound hearing loss was so that our eyes might really be opened to those living around our spheres of influence on the island of Hispaniola. Here are a few of those possible emerging threads…

The Clinic:

We had an exciting opportunity to help coordinate and facilitate G.O.’s first Audiology clinic. An Australian audiologist who teaches in the capital teamed up with an American audiologist from Fort Wayne, IN to join G.O. Ministries in reaching out to people and families who dealt with hearing losses from mild to profound. We had 130 some hearing aids to fit free of charge along with several months of batteries for each patient. Word of the clinic was given to all of our pastors and they canvassed their communities in order to bring help to those with such a special need. The audiology team saw about 30 patients a day for 3 days.

Hearing Aid Package

It was frustrating to receive patients who were 14 and 15 years old that had zero communication. These were kids from families with very few resources and were just doing the best they knew to do under their circumstances.

Vicki speaking to a parent at the clinic

It was also glorious to see adults and children really, really respond to their new hearing aids. For many patients it was clear that they could hear better with the amplification made possible by the aid. This is an instant increase in the quality of their lives and is immediately tangible. It was exciting to get to be a part of that.

A Boy being fitted for his hearing aid

This effort to serve allowed us the opportunity to share why we had come to offer this much needed clinic. We are compelled by Christ’s love to serve in his name and for the sake of all of those who need and desire him. Our faith is the reason for our service and it was a privilege to share that too with those who would receive it.

Fitting Complete!

We look forward to continued partnership with the audiologists we worked alongside of. It is hard not to imagine that there may be bigger things in our future together.

Magdelina, Deaf Woman in our Neighborhood:

Our ministry in the Dominican in based in a barrio called Hoya de Ciamito. Our friends and co-workers, Tim and Samira, have a friendly acquaintance who is deaf. They had often wrestled with understanding her at times when she needed some help. Her daughters signed and spoke and so interpreted for her. They attend our Christian school. We were introduced to Magdalena in our dormitory the day of the hearing clinic. We were surprised to discover that we knew many of the same signs and could communicate at least a little bit! She was using ASL. She came and had a hearing aid fitted for one of her ears that has very, very limited hearing. It was an honor to meet and help her in some way. Because we know some sign, we expect to see more of her and look forward to it. Again, we have no idea what God will do with this but recognize it as another potential thread.

Vicki and Magdelina signing a conversation

Deaf Boy in an Urban Slum:Yordi

I mentioned above that our eyes have been opened for the deaf in a way they were not before. Yordi (pronounced Jordy) is a young boy in our nutrition center in the Hole. He has been coming for years and we discovered early on that he was deaf. We had to ask the pastor his name because when we asked the children they just called him the “mute boy.” We hugged on him and played with him but never made a more concerted effort to communicate with him. Yesterday it was different. Vicki found flash cards that had words on them in Spanish, English and American Sign Language. She offered them to some families at the hearing clinic who appeared to be very supportive of their profoundly deaf children. She had a couple of packs left over and so we went with Pastor Felix to seek out Yordi’s mother.

A recent flash flood took out the main bridge over the sewage river and we had to scramble across a wooden crossing that served as a substitute for the one being rebuilt. The boy’s mother lived in a shack at the top of a steep hill across the river from us. Once we got over the river we made it up the hill we were warmly welcomed by the grandfather and mother. We discussed with them our own recent family history and discovered that Yordi was a twin born prematurely, as early as our own girls. Sadly, his brother did not make it. It is likely that his deafness is related to his prematurity but it is not certain. Soon we offered them the signing cards. At that point is began to rain heavily and everyone was forced inside. We now had time for a lesson and a few people for our class. Vicki showed them how to do all of the signs on the cards. When Vicki got to the end of the lesson the rain stopped. After the rain, the mother kindly lead us away from her home by a different route because the dirt path we climbed up was impassable when wet.

We have offered to gather more resources to help their family if they like. We are praying that they will be responsive for Yordi’s sake. He is 14 years old and has no language. His communication is limited to those who take the time to discern the meaning of his pantomiming. There are not many who take the time. We hope that one day he will come to understand the Gospel. We hope that in the future we will have more to tell you of Yordi.

So in one week we have participated in an audiology clinic, met a deaf woman in our neighborhood we did not know, and got more involved with a deaf boy and his family in the Hole and Sunday Vicki is visiting a Deaf church near our neighborhood with our dear friend Jennifer Goodenough.

God is up to something we think. We’ll have to see what develops over time. We’ve found that we’re to be faithful to the threads. He pulls them together when its time and when it is time, we will just kind of discover ourselves there in the middle of it.

Back in the Dominican Together!

2008-07-17T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's very pleasant being back in the Dominican with my AWESOME wife even if we are just here for a 2 week stint this time 'round. We're grateful to our Dominincan friends that were willing to watch our daughters so that we could work with the team helping to build the church you see around us in the background. It's an awesome work and we're having a great time helping coordinate. Please pray for us, our girls, and our health as we enjoy the precious time with our beloved friends and family here.

Yes, It’s true, the Kingdom is really coming…

2008-06-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received an email from a friend I made back in January of 2005. I traveled to India with him on a relief trip in response to the tsunami. He and I hit it off from the start. His line of work brought him to this part of the world frequently and he led our trip. One of the reasons he was also there was to explore the development of small business plans with the local indigenous pastor there.

Establishing businesses whose profits go towards financing ministry on the ground is called “Kingdom Business.” The point of the project is to develop self-generating support for a ministry in a way that characterizes economic justice. So, those who work for the business receive a decent wage and the rest of the profits go towards funding various ministry projects (food relief, infrastructure, water purification, etc.). Essentially, a revenue stream is created that both finances ministry and increases the economic health of the community it is in.

So, enter my friend; we’ll call him Mr. Anonymous. He sent me an email yesterday out of the blue with a link to a website highlighting a kingdom business he would like to start on behalf of G.O. Ministries somewhere in the DR. It’s premature to discuss too much in detail as we are now the second day into considering the how’s, what’s and if’s of what this would look like. I’m only posting it because its such an encouragement to know that there are brothers and sisters in Christ out there who are doing this kind of work.

Mr. Anonym said in his email, “I don't need the profit, I make plenty of money in my job and have already determined in my own life "how much is enough" - so I am free from having to chase money.” He has essentially capped the use of his income for his personal and family use, freeing the rest for work in the Kingdom.

So far, since our trip to India in ’05, he has helped transform the lives of 11 families through similar kinds of work and investment. He is making a global difference with his resources that will ultimately benefit hundreds if not thousands of people.

A friend of mine is a pastor at a church in Nashville. He has a blog where he has been discussing spiritual transformation and what it looks like. See the discussion here.

That quote from C.S. Lewis has stuck with me.

“Our Lord finds our desire, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Thank God for his work in the lives of people like Mr. Anonym who by God’s grace has been matured spiritually enough to forsake at least one manifestation of the American mud pie, chasing money. He has made space in his budget for what others might call “disposable income” and has found a use for it other than wasting it (disposing it) on himself. He feels called to give it in a manner that reproduces, in a similar manner to the two faithful servants with the master’s talents.

And he doesn’t do this out of guilt or religious obligation. It’s done out of a heart transformed by that Gospel. Because he knows what Christ has done on his behalf and on behalf of the entire world he is responding to the world in this manner. It is an act of gratitude and hope. Gratitude because of the redemption that has taken place and hope because working towards God’s Kingdom is a way of moving with the grain of the universe. The world is moving towards fulfillment (regardless of how it may appear one way or another) whether it likes it or not. We might as well be heading that direction ourselves.

Tim Keller, a pastor at Redeemer in NYC has said again and again that there are two Kingdoms, God’s and mine. Which one will we invest in? Why not the only one that matters and the only one that lasts? Why not the one whose King will see his feet littered by a thousand cast cast crowns from far lesser kingdoms?

So as to this recent inspiration, I do not now know how it will all work out. I know only that someone is willing to make a difference with what he has been given. One more disciple is daily becoming harder and harder to be “too easily pleased.”

Thanks to all of you who support Vicki and I and others across the world striving to see the Kingdom come. Thanks to you who seek to multiply whatever it is that God has graced you with. You are a comfort, an encouragement, and a challenge to all of us.

If you have interest in helping establish a “kingdom business” with G.O. please contact me. I will connect you to Jerry Woodcox, our Director of Kingdom Business. This is a new initiative of G.O. Ministries and we are very excited to see it get off the ground in a variety of ways.

Grace and Peace,

Pray for the safety of our Haitian brothers and sisters in the DR.

2008-05-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

A week before my (Jeff’s) March trip with Crosspoint there was a tragic incident in the neighborhood where our ministry is headquartered. Will Partin and John Martinez both responded to a Haitian man in a desperate situation. Will stepped out of his apartment on the second floor only to discover a Haitian man collapsing in the street. He ran to get help from John. Within moments they returned and were dismayed to discover the man surrounded by Dominicans from the neighborhood. It was clear that the man was in need of help but the bystanders were only gawking. John and Will pushed by and tried to access the man’s situation. It was clear he had been attacked by someone wielding a machete. He had two deep 5 to 6 inch gashes on his head revealing blood, bone, and brain matter. He was still breathing, moaning and groaning. The crowd around them offered no help. They argued back and forth over whether someone should call the police and who, but no one would touch him. Will and John managed to lift him and put him in the back of a pick-up truck owned by the ministry. Leaving a pool of blood behind they raced to the hospital, John in the back, trying to stop the bleeding from the man’s head with a shirt.

They entered the hospital and the Dominican staff asked John, “Why did you bring him here? It’s dangerous.” They did not respond to this situation as if it were a real emergency. They mostly argued over who would pay for the treatment before they would even give the man a second look though John made it clear that he would cover the cost of everything. Once that was settled they cut away the man’s clothing. This revealed a significant wound to his abdomen that had exposed his intestines. The doctors explained that he would need a surgeon and that there wasn’t one on duty at this particular medical facility. They would have to take him somewhere else by ambulance, but not before the service was prepaid. At each turn John and Will were met with resistance from people who were supposed to be committed to serving the sick and injured. In tearful and prayerful frustration they got the ambulance paid for and sent the man off from there.

After reflecting on the general attitude of all of the Dominicans they encountered in the entire process Will and John now doubt this decision in the chaotic moment. They fear that without the proper supervision, this man may have just been dropped off at the morgue to die.

We do not know why the man was attacked for certain. It may be that he was attempting to steal something; it may be that he was caught up in some dispute with another Haitian. Regardless of the causes for his injuries the response to his critical needs by those that could have offered him aid is inexcusable. It is inexcusable and also to be expected of a culture in which the Gospel has not cured its heart of the disease of racism, nationalism, and classism.

Many of the Dominicans did not act out of fear of the police. When there is an assault or a murder the police typically arrest everyone around and take them in for a day or more of questioning. No doubt this is part of why Will and John were greeted at the hospital with, “Why did you bring him here? It’s dangerous.” But regardless of the danger imposed by the police real or assumed, inconvenience is not an excuse to refuse aid when one is in such desperate need.

Some did not act out of a lack of concern. At best, this bloodied Haitian collapsed in the street was only a spectacle to behold. There is little doubt that deep down some likely relished this tragedy. This will be one less Haitian causing “trouble” for Dominicans (never mind how much Dominicans benefit from the daily presence of inexpensive labor in their own country). Had this victim been a Dominican citizen you can, rest assured, count on them having been rushed to the hospital and treated with no resistance, because when a Dominican is hurt they are considered a person.

This spiritual sickness (the three headed monster of racism/nationalism/classism) lies mostly just below the surface in the Dominican Republic. An event such as this reveals how deeply the monster is rooted in the culture. When a Haitian commits a violent crime against a Dominican (or is just accused of it) the nation is inflamed with rage and results in countless reprisal killings. We have felt the affects of this reality personally. A few years ago a Haitian had been accused of attacking a Dominican family in a community 2 hours away. Daily, Haitian bodies were showing up at the morgue all over the Dominican. Among them was a friendly Haitian day laborer I had had an opportunity to get to know a little bit. We had worked on a few construction projects together. He and his cousin had been walking down the street, lunch in hand, heading towards a job site (unrelated to G.O.) and had both been gunned down by a Dominican passer-by in a pick-up truck. They were murdered simply for being Haitian. It happens more than most would care to admit, without much of an investigation to follow.

These stories are difficult to hear and tell but they must be told if we are to properly understand the daily dangers of being Haitian in the Dominican Republic. They need to be told, especially to those who Partner with Haitian pastors in the Dominican Republic. These men and flocks they serve in Jesus’ name are daily potential victims to random acts of violence for no other reason than that they are Haitian. The attack of the Haitain man in our neighborhood and the subsequent ignoring of his situation by Dominican bystanders served to underscore the seriousness of the possibilities facing Moise Jean, the Haitian pastor that Crosspoint Community Church partners with. John Martinez was gracious enough to recount his experience on Crosspoint’s behalf, that they might be admonished to pray for Moise and his flock regularly and intensely. Please join them in those prayers both for Moise and all of the Haitians attempting to make a living in the DR.

Crosspoint Partnership: A Reason to Hope

2008-05-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sheila, a member of Crosspoint, plays with a boy in The Fly

I (Jeff) joined Crosspoint this past March to help with the continued construction of Moise’s church. This is the first Haitian Church that G.O. has helped to build in the Dominican Republic. We are building it in an emerging Dominican neighborhood.

Brian Alexander (an elder from Crosspoint) and Pastor Moise

Our hope is that this church will serve as a potential bridge between divided cultures. Moise breaks every Haitian stereotype held by Dominicans. He is extremely intelligent, speaks English, French, Spanish, and Creole fluently. He is tall and respectful and addresses everyone with dignity. He also understands the spiritual illness of racism/nationalism/classism that divides his people from his Dominican neighbors who he would also have as his people if they would only have him. He has a desire to reach out to both communities and it is our hope that our work alongside of him will help to build his credibility with his Dominican neighbors in the vicinity.

Our work brought us to the beginning of a new phase in the construction. With some 1800 block and all the columns poured in 4 days we are now ready to put up forms for the pouring of the ceiling/second level floor. To celebrate all that has been accomplished thus far we held an Easter service there on Sunday with Moise’s Haitian congregation.

First Easter worship on the new site

Songs of praise

A Dominican at Easter service

I was surprised and pleased to see three adult Dominicans wander in and stay for the mostly Creole service. It made sense to me that they would come in out of curiosity, but that they stayed for the entire event was truly amazing! I will not make too much of this incident but will only pause to give thanks and affirm that it is a good start, however humble and seemingly trivial. This, friends, I hope and pray, is only the beginning. May God’s Kingdom grow in this community, may its authenticity be affirmed by the healing of old grievances, real and perceived, may Crosspoint's passion, service, commitment and God's blessing upon it help to fuel all of these things. May the ministry of reconciliation frustrate the division rendered long ago by the adversary!

Ryan Bult, a Crosspoint Staffer, preaches with Moise translating

Vic's February Trip with Dave Stone's Bible Study...

2008-05-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

When the girls were in the hospital, Dave and Beth Stone (pastor of one of our supporting churches, Southeast Christian) entered the NICU with tears in their eyes and prayed over our girls. I will never forget the incredible encouragement we received from them knowing there were 20,000 other members in our church. They have an incredible gift of remaining very personally involved with people in such a large church. In February, they took over 30 people from their Bible study on a trip to the Dominican to open their eyes to what God is doing around the globe.

I (Vicki) had the incredible opportunity to return to the Dominican with them. They helped build a church and nutrition center in Hoyo de Bartola (The Hole) and Hato del Yaque as well as children’s ministry and feeding the kids. I was reminded of God’s love for Israel as I watched them feed the children in the nutrition center; “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love, I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.” Hosea 11:4

I also had an incredible opportunity to fit a 14-year-old boy named Melvin, with hearing aids. The girls’ audiologist, Dr. Sue Windmill, programmed a pair of donated hearing aids for him and showed me how to fit him. After explaining the process and fitting him with temporary molds, I turned the switch on and the soft spoken teen smiled from ear to ear hearing clearly for the first time. It was an amazing experience and we are looking forward to more opportunities to bring hearing and resources to children in the DR and Haiti with hearing loss.

Hearts in Hispaniola: Building a Church, Building a Bridge...

2008-03-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hearts in Hispaniola: Building a Church, Building a Bridge...

Bitter Sugar

2008-01-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

We have long supported the work of William Decena, a former cane cutter of Haitian descent, in Batey 9. G.O. has helped him construct a church and establish a nutrition center there for the children suffering the most from malnutrition. We have recently broken ground on a new church in his community and just completed a dormitory there for facilitating short-term teams so that they may serve in the surrounding Bateys. This community consists of a people group of Haitian descent brought over from Haiti to be economically exploited in the sugar fields of the Dominican Republic. Poverty is difficult enough when it is circumstantial. In the Dominican sugar industry poverty among the peoples of the Bateys is the result of the bitter threads of nationalism, classism, and racism having been woven into a bitter cord of injustice. James 5 makes it clear that such injustice will not go on forever.

The Price of Sugar is a documentary chronicling the suffering and economic injustice placed on one particular Batey owned and run by a Dominican family. A Spanish Catholic Priest who has invested his life among these people has helped to organize the making of this film in an effort to bring to light the suffering of these people without a voice. The Bateys G.O. Ministries works in do not suffer to the degree that this Batey does but unfortunately there are many parallels and commonalities.

Please make an effort to see this film.

If you live in Louisville, Ky it is coming to Village 8 from January 18th to the 24th.

Here is the trailer:

Here is the link to the films website:
http://www.thepriceofsugar.com/

A Ministry Overview of 2007

2008-01-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

Much has been accomplished in 2007 on the island of Hispaniola for the sake of the Kingdom. A church and nutrition center have been completed as well as a dormitory for facilitating teams in Batey 9 in the Southwestern part of the DR. In addition to that four new churches and nutrition centers are under construction. Below is our Christmas video highlighting some of that work. We are blessed to have a full year of ministry behind us and a very exciting year ahead. Thank you for your prayers and support, both financially and through your friendships.

God's Blessing and Provision for Our Family

2008-01-11T20:51:00.000-08:00

We came back to the states in the summer of 2005 to very difficult circumstances. Our daughters' lives were threatened by a rare high risk pregnancy as well as a dramatic two and a half month premature birth. It is many of your prayers and the prayers of our Dominican and Haitian friends and family that helped to sustain us and the girls. They continued to sustain us through the discovery of our daughters' profound hearing loss and it's consequences. We have put a video together to commemorate both their survival as well as one year of listening with their Cochlear Implants. You have been a blessing to us. We hope this blesses you.

Grace and Peace,

Jeff & Vicki

Tropical Storm Olga Strikes...

2008-01-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

As we prepared to celebrate the holidays Tropical storm Olga made an unfortunate turn. It cut right through the center of the island of Hispaniola from east to west. Typically these storms pass across the southern coast, failing to threaten the center of the island. Tremendous amounts of rain lead to record flooding in Santiago, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. The receding waters will likely leave vulnerability to water born diseases as well as explosions in the mosquito population likely leading to a surge in mosquito born illnesses. The poorest of the poor live near streams and rivers. They are the most severely affected. But even those living a little higher up in the valleys were also overwhelmed by the loss affected by swollen and raging waters. The local churches affiliated with G.O. have been quick to respond to needs for clothing and other necessities. The video below was shot by Isiais, one of the Dominicans we work with. He was kind enough to go down to The Hole to survey the situation. Watch below.

Please pray for those who have suffered tremendous loss due to this storm. Those who lost everything already had especially difficult lives. This disaster will be an obstacle to overcome.

Scroll down to view other photos of Santiago under water in the right hand column.

Here comes the bride...

2007-10-04T13:27:00.001-07:00

On my first trip to the Dominican seven years ago I met Vivianna. She's one of our translators for G.O. Ministries and over the years I've watched her make children in desperate situations smile with hope while singing and dancing to songs, bring people to deeper spiritual insight through interpretive dance and mimes, and bring people to tears of laughter with her quick whit. She's truly been a blessing to many through her time with G.O. Ministries and this past weekend she married Kent who came to the Dominican the same year that I did on a medical trip as a dentist. While only an uncle was able to make it to the states for the wedding, I was incredibly privileged to be there and love on her as her surrogate family.

Vivianna and her Uncle Dr. Disla who also served with G.O. Ministries.

Vivi and Kent.

Brittany, Vicki, Vivi, and Jen

Intensive Training...

2007-10-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

One of our Pastors studying during the lecture

Brian teaches while Isiais translates into Spanish

I was pleased to host Brian Johnson in the Dominican from August 13th through the 20th. Brian is a professor of New Testament studies at Lincoln Christian College and came down with me to share in the training of our pastors. While he was there he taught classes, lead Bible studies in the evening and preached 3 times on Sunday. We kept him on a busy schedule!

Brian spent 5 hours a day for 5 days leading our pastors through a theological overview of the New Testament. This systematic approach is mostly unavailable to our pastors due to lack of financial resources and availability of learning opportunities. It was a huge blessing. Some pastors brought new leaders from their church so that they could share in being sharpened and in the responsibility of passing the knowledge on to the rest of the community.

The trip was a success in many ways. The Pastors were edified, Brian enjoyed his time and has committed to coming down four times in 2008 for more training. We already have him set up to come down in March along with a team of 20 Bible college students. Brian has agreed to help me in developing other contacts to come down and teach. All in all the trip was a tremendous blessing!

Brian Johnson's NT Class of 2007

A full circle moment...

2007-08-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

We just returned from another amazing journey back to the Dominican! This trip was particularly special because we were there with one of our partnering churches, Cross Point Community Church from Nashville, TN and the church where Jeff and I first met while we were doing ministry together in college, Morgantown Community Church in KY. Pete Wilson is the pastor at Cross Point and Morgantown Community was his first church plant. We worked with him in high school ministry while we were at WKU and Pete was Jeff's discipleship leader and his wife-to-be at the time, Brandi, was was my roommate. They played a large part in our relationship that led to our marriage nine years ago. So, you can see why it was such a neat experience to have both teams in the same place sharing our vision!

Cross Point Community partners with pastor Moise. They purchased land for a church for him in Brisa del Ocampo and are building a church and nutrition center in the community. Moise meets an incredible need in Santiago as he helps other Haitians who are in the Dominican trying to find work to send money back to their families in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Pictured above are Lisa, Moise, and Melissa. Lisa and Melissa are good friends and we were all incredibly inspired by Melissa's strength and faith as she worked long hours in the hot sun to help Moise and the Haitian community. Her plight is inspiring because two days before the trip she just had her last radiation treatment for cancer. Following the trip she began chemotherapy. Not once did she complain or speak of her problems, she continued to focus on the community, the children, and how she could make a difference. Please keep her in your prayers for complete healing as she battles this horrific disease.

While Cross Point Community Church worked on building the church in Brisa, Jeff spent a day working with Morgantown in Hoya del Caimito building a home for a single mother. He's pictured here with Fran.

My friend, Brandi, came on a trip two years ago and I was so disheartened that I missed her because I was in the hospital with the girls. We finally were able to spend a week in the DR together and it was a great reunion!

Scott and Dave from Cross Point take a break from digging a four foot trench in the front of the property for the wall.

Probably one of the most special things about our trip to the DR this time was spending it with Jeff's sister, LeAnn. I've said a million times that she's the sister I never had (I have brothers) and this was her second trip down. Her love for people, her compassion and her funloving spirit were amazing.

Prayer before children's ministry in Santa Lucia, La Mosca.

I pose with a little girl and her artwork after children's ministry.

Harold Mckee is an elder at Morgantown Community and we worked with him 13 years ago in high school ministry. We were attracted to his jovial spirit and his absolute love for people. He hasn't changed a bit! He is helping to turn the attention of the church he serves towards international ministry. This was their first short-term trip to the Dominican. This experience has opened their eyes in a profound way to better see the Latin Diaspora in Butler County who are attempting to provide for their families both locally and abroad.

Morgantown’s trip to the DR has deepened their compassion for their Latin neighbors. They are realizing that the poverty and exploitation they witnessed in the Dominican is a common reality that many Latin Americans in the US are fleeing. In order to get closer to this community and to learn Spanish, Harold has spoken with the Hispanic owner of a local Mexican restaurant and asked if some of the people from the church could volunteer working at the restaurant. He asked if they could bus tables for a few hours so that they can practice their Spanish and get to better know the workers! This will help them both at home and in the Dominican. What an amazing way to allow a short-term trip abroad to begin to make a long-term difference at home!

As part of Jeff's ongoing traninig series for the pastors who work with G.O. Ministries, Tom Tyndall, associate pastor at Cross Point, led an ongoing training seminar for several pastors on grace and legalism.

Our girls celebrated their second birthday in the Dominican and loved participating in children's ministry. Here, Sophi sings along with Magdelina.

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers!

Time to Put the Gloves On!

2007-07-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

We're heading back to the DR on the 12th of July with two groups. We are joining Cross Point again as we continue together in the construction of the church for Moise Jean and the community he serves. In addition to this we will also be working with a new team from Butler County, KY.
Vicki will be getting her hammer back!
Morgantown Community Church is coming down at the same time to continue the construction of the church in Hoya de Bartola (The Hole, a functioning landfill where over 500 families live). We are looking forward to being back home among our Dominican and Haitian friends and family. We are also excited to be down with actual family as Leann, Jeff's (Older, Jeff's emphasis) sister will be down with us. And, yes, we're taking the girls with us so please pray for safe travel as well as a safe stay. Our dear friends Tim and Samira are putting us up until we return state-side on the 24th of July. We look forward to sharing more of our work in the DR and Haiti with each of you. We will do our best to update as we go if electricity and time allow. Until then the gloves are on!

Jeff looks grumpy (but isn't) as he chooses a delivery path for fill dirt

Building a Church, Building a Bridge...

2007-05-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

In mid March we had the opportunity to go down to the Dominican with Crosspoint Community Church. We worked alongside them in constructing a church that will serve as a tool for Moise Jean and his congregation. It is exciting work for Vicki and I because this church supports us too and this Partnership with Moise is one we were blessed to help develop with the leadership at Crosspoint. Overall they have committed around $100,000 for this project even before they had secured a more permanent location for their own building (they are a recent church plant within the last 4 years or so).

Moise Jean and Ryan Bult from Crosspoint

As we worked on pouring the floor of this building I reflected on the potential of this place we were making for Moise and his congregation. This is more than just a building. It is a potential bridge between cultural enemies.

You see, Moise is Haitian and he serves a Haitian migrant working community that has come to be somewhat established in Santiago, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. Moise would willingly serve Dominicans in his church as well but they wont have much to do with him. There is a deeply entrenched racist ideology in Dominican culture. Haitians will often respond to racism with racism which is typical of the unredeemed human condition. However, this is not the case with Moise. He knows both the implications of fallenness and redemption. The Kingdom of God means more to him then national or racial ties, then the implications of a volatile political history between two countries bound together by the same geographic space. He knows that nationalism, hatred, prejudice, and pride are rooted in sin and that apart from Christ’s healing they remain unchallenged, unaltered, and unrepented of. He is aware of why his enemies are his enemies and he forgives and loves them just the same.

Moise’s understanding of the Gospel is why this building is both a Church and a Bridge. As teams come to serve Moise they are also serving the broader Dominican community that surrounds his Church. This building will ultimately serve them too because Crosspoint intends to help finance a nutrition center there that will serve both Haitian and Dominican children under Moise’s direction and leadership. Once the building is complete, we will be able to host medical clinics in that community that will serve Haitians and Dominicans alike. Our hope and our prayer is that the Dominicans will begin to understand that the goodness that has come into their community would not be there if it was not for the existence of the Haitian Church. We hope that the testimony of service growing out of Moise’s Church will soften hearts and transform minds as they are confronted with tangible expressions of God’s love through people they would typically be at odds with.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
2 Corinthians 5:16-19

Moise understands what it means to forsake a human point of view in light of the Gospel. He knows he has been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation and accepts it with all of its hardships. Please join us in praying for his protection, his wisdom, and his impact in Brisa Del Campo (the community where we are building the church). Moise and his congregation have difficult, but blessed work ahead of them.

A new border...

2007-04-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

In November 2005, my life changed forever. My heart was pierced, my perspective enlightened, and my faith challenged. When a doctor told me my daughters were profoundly deaf time stood still. I have crossed many borders, explored many cultures, and learned new languages in love and commitment to serve God's people in the world. On that day, I crossed a new border, into the Deaf culture, into a beautiful visual language spoken with the hands. I knew in my heart that God had an incredible purpose with Sophia and Raena.

In that moment, I knew that we, as a family, would cross the border and find a way to help our Deaf brothers and sisters in other countries. However, I had and still have no idea how that will happen. While we are stateside, we've been commited to sign language courses and learning more about the Deaf culture. We've been networking with people in the Deaf community to find resources available to those in the Dominican and Haiti.

On our most recent trip to Haiti, I met Judeline. She lives in an orphanage that one our pastors runs. They think she is 17-years-old. She usually has a smile on her face as she helps make and serve food to the children in the Nutrition center. She has a friend who is mute and they have created their own sign language. While they have no formal training, I could understand their signs because they are so close to ASL. To talk with her I had to speak Spanish to the pastor, he translated into Creole to the girl who is mute who would then make some signs for Judeline to understand.

I stood in amazement at her courage and strength and walked away with incredible heartache. How could she be 17 and only be able to truly communicate with only one other person? As I write this I just watched my 20 month old sign to her sister to put her cochlear implant coil back on her head before she gets in trouble for playing with it. I'm not sure at this point that I can even put in words the incredible pain I feel for the Deaf in the third world who are many times without resources and advocates. I can only commit that we will do the best we can to make sure that they don't go unnoticed or unheard.

This young lady (above) is a child in Arcenio's orphanage in Haiti

This little girl helps earn money for her family by begging at the border crossing. She is plagued by a skin disorder as well as skeletal issues. Such suffering, unfortunately, is common place in Haiti. A team member from Nashville prayed for her healing. Please join him and us in that prayer for this little girl for God's glory.

One of the children in our nutrition center in Haiti.

The Nashville team prays over a Haitian Pastor.

The team from Cross Point Community Church.

We're Returning...

2007-03-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

Vicki, the girls, and myself leave Saturday the 10th for the Dominican. We will be helping Crosspoint from Nashville continue building a church for their partner Moise Jean. Please pray for smooth travel there and back. We will be returning on the 23rd if there are no kinks in the travel plan. We are excited to be going back. This will be the girls' first time back with cochlear implants. We're curious to see how they do. The Dominican is a very loud place but it also has lots of new, cool sounds for the girls. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers while we are away.

Grace and Peace,

Jeff

Dave Calhoun's Celebration of Recovery

2007-03-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

Wednesday February 7th I had the opportunity to meet with Pastor Dave Calhoun of Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, KY (http://www.hopespringschurch.com). Dave has been to the Dominican Republic at least 3 times and now his church comes down on short-term trips on a regular basis. While they were on the field they had the opportunity to get to know Eduard Gabriel and his ministry. Eduard pastors a church, oversees a vibrant Christian radio ministry (listen live by following the link under media), and is the spiritual advisor for a local government sponsored rehab facility called Hogar de Crea. Dave and Eduard struck a common chord through their mutual interests in recovery ministry. This has led to a partnership in ministry between them.

Dave for sometime now has been utilizing the recovery tools developed by Sattleback Church in Washington State. The program is called Celebrate Recovery. Its approach articulates Christ as our higher power and blends the 12 step program (developed through AA) with 8 principles drawn from the Beatitudes (find more info here: http://www.celebraterecovery.com/8principles.shtml ).

This past year Dave did a short seminar with our pastors on recovery ministry. This short time together generated much interest among the national pastors. Dave and I met on Wednesday to discuss the likelihood of a more intentional, intense training on recovery ministry this summer. I expressed to Dave that the need for such training was great. Many of the children in our feeding centers (which are located in the actual church buildings) are there in part because their parent(s) are afflicted with addiction. Drug use aside, Dominicans consume about 90% of the rum produced on the island. Alcoholism is rampant, especially in the most impoverished areas like the Hole and La Mosca. There are many communities that could benefit from such a ministry; we need only help equip the pastors and their leadership to respond to these needs.

Dave Calhoun will be with us on the field July 31st through August 7th. We will likely have an intensive seminar for 3 or 4 days to help train the pastors in using the Celebrate Recovery tools. Each start up kit is about $100. Dave already has 10 in Spanish that he intends to use in the Dominican. If you would like to fund additional kits for this training please follow the “Contact” link to the right and call or email me. I’d be glad to help you set that up. Please be in prayer for Dave Calhoun, that he will be able to make this trip and continue to influence the world for Christ through his efforts locally and globally in recovery ministry.

Deportation and Prematurity: Ascension's Situation

2007-02-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

A dear friend of ours knows that Vicki and I have a soft spot in our hearts for the local Latin American community, particularly those who have come up against difficult circumstances while trying to make a living here in the U.S. Because of her work, she sometimes works with Latin American children here locally that have special needs. Very often the families she serves are poor, at least by American standards.

She told us of Ascension and her family. Her husband was recently captured in South Dakota in a factory during an INS raid. The authorities told him that his papers were not in order and that he would have a few days to come up with $5000 to pay a fine and cover the expense of a new worker’s Visa (This family had already been in the states for 10 years). His family and friends pulled together the necessary funds in Louisville and began the trip to South Dakota to have him released from the custody of INS. They arrived only to discover that he had already been deported to Mexico. It turned out that though he was told he had a few days to get the money together they deported him the next day, anyway.

Since her husband’s recent deportation Ascension has given birth to their fourth child, a little boy who arrived prematurely and is estimated to need to be in the NICU for at least four weeks. Being a parent of premature twins, I myself, can not imagine what it might be like to have a child in a place like the NICU and not know the language well (she does know enough English to get around). Believe me; it is difficult to make sense of what you’re being told by the doctors and nurses in your native tongue. I can not imagine what she may be misunderstanding. I can not imagine the anxiety she has to endure with her child in this place, especially without the added comfort of her husband. And for him, how helpless he must feel having been deported in the midst of this whole turn of events. He has three daughters and this is his first son, that he is not there to see him and to hold him must be especially difficult. He has been the main source of provision for his family for 10 years but now what he can provide will pale in comparison to what he was able to do. So many frustrations in their story are coming together at once. What a terrible burden.

And so, Ascension is left with her children without a primary source of income for the time being. She is fortunate in that her sister and brother-in-law live close by. Latin American communities are very good about taking care of extended family for the most part. She was lacking some very basic needs for her little boy who will be home soon. She did not have a crib or a car seat to bring him home in, no clothes for him as his other siblings are all girls.

Our friend alerted us to these needs and we were able to call on a handful of other friends connected with our ministry to help. Before long I was on my way out to Prospect, KY in my pick-up truck to pick up a crib and car seat. They were both very nice and in excellent condition. The next day I acquired a mattress. Other friends contributed shoes, clothes, and toys. One woman is making Ascension a fleece sling to carry her son in.

So Saturday, January 27th Vicki, the girls, myself and our friend who discovered this situation met up and headed for South Louisville. We arrived at Ascension’s modest two bedroom apartment. They had a couch and a television. There were no lamps, only the ceiling fixtures, nothing on the walls, no trinkets, no end tables, no curio cabinets, etc. Both bedrooms were sparse and had no light fixtures. As the afternoon went on the rooms got darker except for the one closest to the hallway light. In the master bedroom there was a bed, probably a full sized with sheets, etc. There was a bare twin mattress lying against the wall. I assume this was where the daughters slept. Likely at night they would just throw it on the floor, covering up with blankets. There were several toys around the room. This seemed to be the most luxurious detail in the apartment. I could see directly in the closet while I was assembling the crib. For so many children to be in this household there were very few clothes; it was more empty than full. This was a family whose economic life was closely oriented around their basic needs, probably out of necessity, possibly out of the deeper wisdom of simplicity. There was nothing extravagant, nothing impractical, only things that were useful.

While I unloaded my truck and moved things in Vicki and our friend were hanging out with Ascension and her daughters. Our daughters loved the attention they were getting from Ascension’s daughters who were about 11 months, 2 and 4. As I moved to and fro the flow of spoken Spanish back and forth served as a soundtrack of sorts as I labored. I sat there on the floor of the bedroom getting all of the pieces together and reading the instructions. As I began to put the crib together the middle daughter would come in and address me as “Senor, Senor, is this my baby’s bed?” to which I would respond, “Yes, sweetheart, this is for your little brother.” What a precious little girl.

I was beginning to feel like I was back in the Dominican. Oddly enough this feeling intensified when I asked to use their bathroom. While I was in there I noticed that they failed to flush their toilet paper, having thrown it into the trash can beside the toilet. Latin American plumbing does not handle toilet paper very well. I suppose that even after 10 years living in the States that old habits die hard. Strange as it may seem, that little detail made me smile. I was struck by a little bit of nostalgia. Strange, I know.

So this particular Saturday proved to be a little mission trip of its own. I finished putting the crib together; we gave Ascension the items we had collected and before we left presented her with a brand new Bible in Spanish for her and her family. Vicki plans to go back in a few weeks, once the boy has come home from the NICU, and take pictures both of him and the family so that Ascension will have them and be able to send some photos to her husband who will likely be in Mexico for some time.

Vicki and I ask that you pray for this family. Pray for this little premature boy. Pray for his health, especially as he comes home in the midst of RSV season which can be deadly for premature babies. Having older siblings that are still children will increase his health risks at home. Pray for the financial provision of this family. Pray that Ascension’s husband is able to return to Kentucky to his family. It will be a miracle if this can be done legally having already been deported but certainly a legal re-entry would be the most secure situation for his family and the least problematic, particularly since immigration is such a hot political issue these days.

In All Things Peace...

Gehenna: La Mosca

2007-01-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Valley of Hinnom was a ravine south of Jerusalem where fires were kept burning to consume the dead bodies of animals, criminals, and refuse. Its proper name in Greek is Gehenna. We translate it into English as hell. This place, the Valley of Hinnom, is what Jesus pointed to in order to communicate to his disciples the reality of suffering of those forever alienated from God.

In the North Western corner of Santiago, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic exists the desperately impoverished community of Santa Lucia (St. Luke) popularly known as La Mosca, The Fly, on account of the enormous number of flies that thrive from the environment there. La Mosca is nestled at the base of a perpetually burning mountain of trash. When Jesus communicated the reality of hell, he would have pointed to a place just like this.

The scenic overlook of La Mosca. On top of the trash in the background there are garbage trucks with people and children lined up behind them waiting for them to drop their loads so that they can go through it looking for food, materials they can use, and items they might be able to repair. Dozers go back and forth spreading out the refuse. Hots spots fire up, burn themselves out, smoulder, and then fire again. Some days, when there has been no rain for a while, the smoke gets very heavy and saturates the entire barrio like a fog.

The people that make up the community here are among the poorest of the poor in the Dominican Republic. The perpetually burning heap serves not only as a source of income and of food for this scavenger community but also as a playground for their children. They race up and down the hillsides, often bare foot. They ride the bulldozers as they push the trash over the edges, maintaining the dump. Sometimes unsuspecting scavengers are injured and even killed by the cascading trash pushed over the hillside’s edge and sometimes even children fall prey to such accidents.

This mother and her children descended the hill side to cross the foul water in order to return to their home to sift through their findings in the trash. If you look closely you will see that the mother is wearing flip flops and the children have no shoes.

The mountain of trash is surrounded by a moat of sorts. The water at the base of the trash heap is a fermented toxic mixture of broken down trash and raw sewage. It is a poisonness brew that also allows for the breeding of the worst kinds of mosquitoes, carriers of dengue fever and likely malaria. Next to it are homes with children who play in the water as if it were a stream like one that might flow in your own back yard. Smoke often hangs in the air, leading to asthma and a variety of other respiratory illnesses. It is a place of profound suffering and despair. Disease, addiction, crime, illiteracy, and malnutrition reign supreme. La Mosca is a torment for those that live there. It is truly a place characterized by hopelessness.

Well, it was characterized by hopelessness but that character is changing little by little thanks to the efforts of a pastor courageous enough to look through the darkness of that place through the flies and the smoke with the foolishness of the Gospel in his heart envisioning the seeds of hope that might be planted and nurtured there. Thanks to the faithfulness of a supporting church in Kentucky willing to partner with his passion, Jonas de Leon has been further equipped to share the Gospel in deed as well as in word. The deed manifests itself through the provision of a fully functional feeding center able to reach out to 120 of the children in the worst need in this community, giving them six hot meals a week, education that was previously unavailable, and the hope and power of the Gospel to transform their lives and the lives of their families. Thanks to the faithfulness of Jonas, the partnership of Crestwood Baptist and the members of their congregation with his ministry the presence and influence of the ministry there is growing.

Now that we have a secure facilities to work from we are able to send more and more teams into La Mosca for medical clinics, sports and childrens' ministry, all under the auspices of Jonas' ministry. His credability is growing as is the respect and attention he receives in the community. Before the feeding center he would often have doors shut in his face. Now, on account of his care for the communitiy's children he is often received with open arms and gratitude. Suspicions are being laid aside, the Gospel is moving forward, and the Kingdom is finding expression even in the most dire circumstances. Hope has come to knock on the doors of hell, demanding to be let in. And now hope is there.

Get a Glimpse of La Mosca Here:

While in Haiti: Part II

2007-01-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

Baptismal Procession

Saturday evening we were supposed to have baptisms but the scheduled activities went a little longer than anticipated. It was decided that we ought to wait until the next morning. Sunday we awoke and gathered outside of the Church. About 30 or so headed out as a group towards the Massacre River (the natural border between the Dominican and Haiti). We walked through the town passing houses on the left and right. The group sang hymns in Creole as we walked. Those we passed would stop and observe us on our way. A man heckled us from his house; everyone else just looked on. Some smiled at us.

What stood out to me the most as we made our 20 minute trip to the river were some of the people that passed through our cloud of witnesses as we went along. The streets were busy with activity and people were coming and going on their way to trade or hauling water, tending to the basic needs of the day. Occasionally a man or woman would pass by or fall in line with the group because we were, for that stretch of the road, headed in the same direction. Some of them would just walk silently. Others, though, would join in the song, praising along with us. So every so often a stranger would pass through revealing themselves to be brothers or sisters in Christ, offering their blessings on the occasion that brought us briefly together and offering their thanks to the Lord on account of it.

Jerry, John, and Jean Baptiste wade into the river

We arrived at the river and my dear friend and co-worker, John Martinez, waded into the water with Jean Baptiste (the associate pastor at the church) and Jerry Woodcox, a fellow Louisvillian checking out the ministry. Gathered at the waters edge, the crowd continued to sing and pray as those who were being baptized were led into the water one at a time. The first baptism went as expected. The next young lady was being baptized. Her head was about to go under when her body first went rigid and then threw itself into a violent convulsions. Jean Baptiste told John firmly to baptize her. They took her down and brought her back up as she twisted, turned, and screamed out. John and Jerry managed to hold her steady while Jean Baptiste, with one hand firmly on her shoulder and one hand raised in the air began to pray fervently over her. This went on for about a minute and a half. Suddenly, the young lady became calm and came to her senses. The spirit that oppressed her was expelled. I glanced around at my Haitian peers at the rivers’ edge while all of this went on and no one looked surprised or amazed. They went on singing and praying as if nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. Of course much of their prayer and singing were on account of and in response to what was taking place. Another victim of the spiritual oppression that grips much of Haiti was released in our presence and was now free to worship God.

A young woman desiring to be baptized resists out of spiritual oppression and influence

Jean Baptiste (John the Baptist) prays over the young woman and against the spirit that burdens her

That baptism was followed by another young lady, who when she was submerged, went totally limp like a corpse. It took all three men to get her up on her feet. She stood upright in their arms like a dead person being held up. Again, Jean Baptiste assumed his previous posture and began to call out to the Lord to free this woman of her oppressor. Moments went by; again, the songs and prayers continued without a pause; she came to. Jean Baptiste shouted praises and exaltations and the young lady returned to the riverbank, cleansed anew.

Another young woman is oppressed by a spirt at the moment of her baptism

Jean Baptiste prays over her as well until the spirit leaves

The other baptisms took place without incident, as we would expect here in the West. Each of the newly baptized Christians was offered new clothes, dresses for the women, shirts and slacks for the men. A make shift changing room was made there on the bank with a few people of their respective genders holding up sheets as curtains for each of new brothers and sisters.

Christians pray on the river's edge during the baptisms

We walked back in song and prepared for church.

I had the opportunity to speak with Jean Baptiste later that day. I asked if this head ever happened to him before. For him, it had been the first time and it had taken him a little bit by surprise. When he discovered what was happening, however, he knew just what to do. He told me that this sort of thing happened all of the time in the communities in the interior of Haiti, especially the rural areas, but this was the first time it happened in his presence in Quanamenthe. He thought that the spirit is the first woman was so strong due to her grandfather being a Voodoo priest. He said that it was not uncommon for families so closely related to servants of Voodoo to have similar experiences when they attempt to forsake the gods of their fathers.

Young observers watch us pass by

Again, we bump up against a culture and an understanding of the world that is far different from our own. Those in Haiti caught up in the powers of spirituality characterized by Voodoo know about spiritual power. They attempt to manipulate it; they fear it; they recognize it when they see it. When they encounter Christians who know the True Spirit, who know the One in whom true power resides they come to recognize a Power that they can not manipulate, a Power that frustrates their own fallen intentions, a Power that seeks them out. Haitians know and believe in the spiritual world; it’s just that many of them are unfamiliar with Jesus. But when they are confronted by him they discover that even the spirits they serve bow before him, as ultimately we all must, and they begin to pay closer attention to this Jesus often surrendering their lives to him. They discover that his yoke easy and his burden light, a stark contrast from their former spiritual masters.

While in Haiti: Part I

2006-12-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

Jeff and Harold Mckee, an elder from Morgantown Community Church

at the Dominican/Haitian Frontier

From December 8th to the 12th I had the opportunity to facilitate an excursion trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Of the seven visitors, three were from a youth ministry that supported a Haitian pastor we work with, two were from Louisville trying to decide as to what capacity they were going to come alongside of the work we are doing, and two were from a church in Morgantown, Kentucky who are considering partnering with G.O. and Vicki and I.

We had a four day tour of the ministry. Friday we landed. Saturday we drove from Santiago to the Dominican/Haitian frontier and crossed over. We made the 40 minute walk from the border into Quanamenthe, Haiti. This was the first time four of our visitors had ever been to Haiti. It appeared to them to be a wholly different world. They are right.

There were at least 2000 people gathered in the church yard,
surrounding streets and roof tops for the conference in Haiti.

We were in Haiti to celebrate a conference taking place at a church in Quanamenthe. Saturday evening was dedicated to worship and the testimony of a former voodoo sorcerer who had been transformed by the gospel. His charismatic presentation of his life practicing the dark arts and his eventual conversion captivated and entertained the audience. We American observers knew very little of what was being said, though it was clear that the Spirit was present and moving. Testimonies like this in Haiti are significant.

In Haiti it has been said that the population is 90% Catholic and 100% Voodoo. Voodoo is the spiritual heritage of the Haitian people. It is a part of the landscape of their history and lineage; it pervades Haitian culture and is an unquestioned power, except for those surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.

Sunday morning we were the audience for another former voodoo priest who had become a Christian. He was at the celebration but did not share his testimony this time. He had spoken at a previous gathering. He told us his story through Romano who served as our translator. I do not pretend to understand all that he said and all that it meant but I will reproduce it for you hear as best my memory can serve. This is Emmanuel’s story:

“When I was a boy of nine years old, a special secret was imparted to me by my father (as I was his favorite). I did not choose this life for myself; it was given to me. My father told me that he wanted to share a secret with me and that I could tell no one about it. He was a witchdoctor and was late in years. He took me to his hut when no one else was around and got a stick out of a special box that had been hidden. He poked me in the arm with it. It didn’t hurt but I did feel a burning sensation in my arm that lasted for some time. Three days later my father died.

I went back later to his hut and among his belongings found a little book with many pages on it. On the first page was a picture of a rat, in fact on every page there were pictures of animals that could be found on earth with different words arranged under each of them. The words described how one could transform one’s self into the creature on each page. That night I did what the book said under the entry pertaining to the rat and I became one myself. With my transformation complete I began to understand the nature of this secret shared with me by my father. I wondered through the village unnoticed. Later, I reversed the transformation and returned to my human form. These newly developing skills would prove to be very useful to my new occupation.

And so I grew to be a man. By early adulthood I was already a very powerful voodoo sorcerer. The spirits I served compensated me well with material goods and status. This was my number one reason for refusing the Gospel when Christians would attempt to share it with me. I would mock them and say things like, “You say you serve this Jesus but you have nothing! Why would I want to be like that?! Why would I want to be like you? My spirits give me power and wealth and I do as I please. Who is this Jesus?!”

I was feared and respected and many did my bidding out of fear of death (except for Christians). I have, with my powers and abilities, killed many, many people who have angered me or gotten in the way of what I have wanted.

But I can remember two occasions when my will was broken against those who served the Gospel above all else…

The first was a Haitian pastor who was preaching at a conference in the community much like the one we had last night. As he preached he condemned the practices related to voodoo and denounced the priests and sorcerers. I was offended and angered by what he said and made up my mind that I was going to kill him.

I hid out near his home for a few days to get a feel for his comings and goings. He had a red truck that he would sometimes drive to get to another community. I decided to go and wait for him to take his next trip and when he would come, I would ambush him. A few days more went buy and I heard a truck coming down the road. I had my preparations ready for him. But when the driver came close enough to identify I saw that it was an elderly man and not the pastor I was waiting for. I let him pass.

Several days more went past and I saw the pastor walking down the road towards me. I used my powers to turn him into a cow and I threw a rope around his neck. I had him! I began to whip him again and again and again. I continued this from day until late into the night, punishing him for his slander. I made up my mind to kill him but did not wish to kill him as a cow but as a man so I turned him back… only to discover that it was not the pastor that I had transformed or beaten but it was one of my friends. I did not then understand what had happened because of my spiritual blindness. Later, I would figure it out.

The second confrontation with a Christ follower had to do with a young woman who lived in my community who was all the time trying to convert me. I was amazed by her attitude because she had no fear of me what-so-ever. She persisted in harassing me until I finally decided that I would rid myself of her annoying presence. I made up my mind to kill her. One night when I knew she was away from the village in the wilderness I turned myself into a dragon. I flew through the air and discovered her in an open area. I was about to swoop down on her when I felt the wind change. Suddenly I was oppressed by a fierce blast of wind and I could barely fly against. Then, out of nowhere, a bright creature with white wings flew quickly past me and knocked me out of the air to the ground. I have a scare on my ankle from where I crashed to the ground.

I lay there alone in the woods. I felt as though I were dying. I cried out to all of the loa (voodoo spirits) that I had served my whole life and no one would come to help me. I was terrified and began to cry thinking that I would die. I began to pray to Jesus, this Jesus I did not know but had heard about, I began to understand that he was more powerful than the spirits I served and that if he wanted he could help me, he could save me. I cried out to him for help…

The next morning I awoke in my own bed, not remembering how I came to be there. And from that day to this I have served only Christ and testified against voodoo in his name. My spiritual blindness has given way to sight.”

Now, I have not made any of this up. I have heard dozens of other stories like it from other former voodoo priests though only second hand. This was the first I heard recounted in person. As he told his story I watched the Americans around me struggle to make sense of what this man was saying… “you turned yourself into a rat, a friend into a cow, yourself into a dragon… What?!” At the same time I watched the Haitians absorb the story like you might absorb the reading of a grocery list or a sports page or any other typical expression of your everyday life and culture. This account, however baffling to us is typical of everyday Haitian experience and they are not the least bit taken back by it.

Though the details of this story are different from the details of our own stories the heart of it is the same. It impressed me that Emmanuel rejected the Gospel primarily because the people who followed Jesus appeared to be so weak and poor. From his perspective they had nothing to show for it and were fooling themselves. Because for so long Emmanuel had been his own lord of sorts he had no way of conceiving what it might look like to live under the Lordship of Christ until his own idolatry had been exposed for what it was. This exposure revealed the truth of his own situation, his own weakness, poverty, and emptiness. And he came to serve the real Lord on account of it.

I don’t know what you may make of all the stories in Haiti about voodoo, loa, sorcerers, possession, etc. I’m not sure what I make of it. It is clear that certain powers are at work there. One might think that such beliefs are primitive and superstitious, and those are easy assumptions to make when you come from a culture that is technologically advanced, bearing a scientifically weighted worldview. But in North America we serve our own loa. The unquestioned reality of voodoo in Haiti is mirrored in our own culture by the unquestioned reality of materialism. Emmanuel served the loa, we are tempted to serve our automobiles, our bigger houses, our boats, our stuff. We cover over it and say such service is for the benefit of our families but at the heart of it, it is about us, our egos, our own pretended lordship over our lives. Emmanuel was constructing his own kingdom at the expense of others. We, as a culture, are guilty of doing much the same. We fail to question it and it oppresses us without our knowledge just as Emmanuel was oppressed by his own spiritual blindness. The methods in Haiti and the U.S. are different but the functions are much the same.

Once Emmanuel came to Christ he burned all of his belongings he had gained through his dabbling with the loa. He offered them up as a sacrifice to Christ. Afterwards, he began to reach out to some of his fellow voodoo priests. Some responded in his old fashion, “Why would I serve your Christ? Look at you; you have nothing…” One in particular responded, “Once I have secured a few more comforts I will turn and follow, perhaps…” Emmanuel told us that he received a message the previous night at the conference that this man had died that same night. The spirits are different but the function is the same.

The arrogance and foolishness of our own kingdoms is everywhere being frustrated. It is only a matter of time before the coming Kingdom invades our own superficial borders to confront us with the truth and power of Christ’s Lordship. For many of us who have by his grace already been annexed into the Kingdom this is cause for great celebration for others, cause for fear, but only, by his grace until they discover that they are only squatters, not lords and that the Lord of all has for them a much better habitation than they could have ever previously imagined. Amen.