Haiti Crisis Update #17 from Jimmy Dodd

CURE International

Many have asked me to recommend additional ministries working in Haiti. While there is no way I could provide an exhaustive list of ministries doing great work in Haiti, in addition to the five agencies listed above, I can personally recommend the following ministries:

Finally, I am aware that many Catholics prefer to give only to Catholic relief agencies. I recommend:

Jimmy Dodd

PastorServe

Loving, Serving and Blessing Pastors and Ministry Leadership

Haiti Crisis Update #13 from Jimmy Dodd

February 12, 2010 by Eric Rochester

Reflections – A Confused Anger

One month ago today an earthquake struck Haiti. The following thoughts have stirred in my heart for the past several weeks.

It is a picture we have come to know all too well. Haitian orphans wandering the streets, unemployment inching towards 80%, clean water a luxury, food in short supply, no working sewer system which results in refuse flowing down the streets of Port-au-Prince, children being sold into slavery and more than half of Haitian children not attending school.

A post earthquake picture of Haiti? No! This was everyday life in Haiti on January 11th, the day before an earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince.

I have had the same discussion with a number of people this past month. Each feels sheepish about beginning the conversation. They experience a mixture of guilt and anger as they share the deepest recesses of their heart. The exchange goes something like this:

I am so grateful that everyone jumped at the opportunity to help Haiti. I am grateful that George Clooney, Taylor Swift, Alyssa Milano (and ten thousand other celebrities) have made Haiti a priority. They are speaking out about the need to get involved, raising money, answering the telethon phone and even traveling to Haiti (Sean Penn leads the parade). But, it’s not like Haiti didn’t have extreme problems on January 11th, 2010. When people are asked, ‘why are you involved in Haiti?’ The answer is often – I am involved because I feel compassion for the thousands of orphans, for the families who lost loved ones, for a country literally starving before our eyes.

“But”, (and here is where I hear a confused mix of anger and passion), “where were these people on January 11th?” Why now? The devastation in Haiti did not begin on January 12th! The devastation has been there for decades. The earthquake took Haiti devastation from a 9 to a 10 on the tragedy scale.

I too am grateful for those who have rushed to Haiti. I thank the Lord for the countless individuals who have given of their financial resources and their time to assist. I believe that the Lord can and will use the earthquake to awaken a new commitment to serve one of our closest neighbors.

I believe (and I pray) that January 12th will be remembered as the worst day in Haitian history and the best day in Haitian history.

But, the question remains: Why are so many people wanting to be involved in Haiti? It is a valid question. I Corinthians 13:5 tells us …_Love does not self seeking._ Love does not seek its own personal, private preference without reference to what may be good for other people. Love seeks its joy in the good of others.

When you attempt to live – not motivated by love – but so that God will bless you make you feel better about your earthy existence – this is incredibly selfish. If the good works you do – are being done with selfish motives, then you are living life to ultimately justify yourself and your behavior.

Here is where this reflection gets downright painful –

If I jump on a plane to Haiti immediately following the earthquake – because I need to be there; but the need to be there is in actuality a deep personal need to feel justified – then ultimately , though I may feed a thousand children, I am not helping the poor – I am helping myself because it is all about me as I attempt to justify my existence upon this earth.

Please don’t get me wrong. Everyone working in Haiti is not doing so from selfish motives. And, it is not wrong to naturally feel satisfaction with serving. But, if that is the root of our good works then our acts of kindness are ultimately selfishness.

As a pastor, I have encountered the following on countless occasions. In a family, one spouse is a drug addict / alcoholic (name your addiction). The spouse of the addict sacrifices much for the unhealthy spouse. They go the extra mile again and again to help the unhealthy spouse to recover and lead a productive life. Commonly, more often than you would imagine, when the unhealthy spouse gets healthy – the marriage falls apart. Why? Because the healthy spouse finds it difficult to connect any longer to the healthy spouse. Ultimately, the relationship was not about love – the relationship was about the healthy person’s need to be a savior. The apparent acts of sacrificial love were about the healthy spouse’s need to be indispensable. “Look at the love I’m giving my spouse who has so many problems”. When the unhealthy spouse recovers, the marriage is often over. This is Love seeking it’s own (I Cor. 13:5). Clearly, in this scenario they were both unhealthy,

Some are championing Haiti and rushing to the scene because they are feeling like they have to be the hero, the champion, the savior. If that is where your heart is today, while your acts to serve the poor are commendable, your acts are not motivated by love. You are seeking your own. To be sure, these are actions which will benefit Haiti, but ultimately, your actions are not motivated by a need to feel justified, accepted and loved.

The rush to help Haiti points to a deeper issue. You are not the champion. I am not the champion. But there is a savior, a hero. His name is Jesus. When you begin to see that Jesus alone is the savior and lover – only then can you begin to be motivated by love. When the other person’s joy is your joy, their delight is your delight – this is love. And, it is only found in Jesus.

Please – don’t mistake being good for meeting Jesus.

Watching the world’s celebrities take their turn at the front of the stage to promote helping Haiti has more often than not revealed their search for significance, a search which can only be settled in Jesus.

I understand why many people feel resentment towards those who have suddenly made Haiti their life priority. But know this; many of the people who have jumped on the Haiti bandwagon are looking for an opportunity to justify their existence upon this earth. GK Chesterton wrote, ““Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God”. So too, any person who rushes to Haiti for self justification is looking for God.

We can only pray that through their attempts to be a savior to Haitians by serving the poor, they will see their need for a savior and a hero – only Jesus.

Mission Trip Information

If you have any interest in traveling to Haiti, now is the time to get your Passport and Shots (Tetanus, Hep A and Hep B series).

For mission trips to Haiti with the Global Orphan Project – click here

For mission trips to Haiti with El Shaddai Ministries, contact esmieletter@aol.com

Giving Information

HR 4462 law allows an immediate deduction on your 2009 tax return for certain earthquake related charitable contributions.

The donation must be made after January 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010.
The donation must be supported by the general documentation rules – generally a cancelled check, credit card receipt, or telephone bill supporting a text message contribution, and if the donation is either actual cash or $250 or more, you must also have a receipt from the organization.
The donation can be deducted in either 2009 or 2010 (but not both years).
You must itemize deductions to be able to deduct charitable contributions.

Highly Recommended Relief Agencies:

Finally, I am aware that many Catholics prefer to give only to Catholic relief agencies. I recommend:

Jimmy Dodd

PastorServe

Loving, Serving and Blessing Pastors and Ministry Leadership

Haiti Crisis Update #12 from Jimmy Dodd

February 05, 2010 by Eric Rochester

The Big Picture

The Government is reporting that the number of displaced people ranges from 800,000 to one million. Reports to that effect have been confirmed by ministries throughout the country as they prepare to minister to thousands of families seeking refuge in their villages.

No matter how much food hits the shores of Haiti, distribution is the key to keep more people from dying. Without that, the volume of aid becomes an impressive but meaningless statistic.

The United Nations continues to operate with little or no input from Haitian leadership. Haitian leaders are ready to serve. More than 1200 Haitian pastors who survived the earthquake and are ready to serve – but are not being asked. In short, the number one problem appears to be the ineffective use of the local indigenous church. Allowing Haitian pastors into the distribution process would result in an immediate dramatic uptick in results. The pastors are quick, trusted, and knowledgeable. They have the right mix of centralization and decentralization.

We are moving out of Phase I of the earthquake aftermath. The vast majority of Haitians have either been treated or they are dead. Phase II (the next three to four months) will be to provide ongoing medical care and establishing temporary housing and stabilize effective food and water distribution – but, Phase II will also bring a public health crisis with problems such as cholera and dehydration. Phase III will begin to address long term issues such as infrastructure and rebuilding. No doubt, the ongoing health crisis will be at a critical level.

Food and supplies are still bottle necked at the airport and port. On January 19th, President Clinton lamented the absence of any effective distribution system in Haiti. Since then a voucher system has been implemented allowing women to receive food and water. Yet, many Haitians continue to go without.

Security is commonly cited as the reason for the distribution bottleneck. There are not enough UN security forces to provide adequate support. Yet, from all NGOs in Haiti I have heard one resounding theme – Security is not an issue.

The World Health Organization has effectively distributed medical supplies. Yet, food and water are not being distributed. The message is wildly inconsistent.

Electricity remains unstable which has hindered earthquake relief assistance. Fortunately, the fuel crisis is now passed. Fuel tankers are everywhere in Port-au-Prince.

In short, the perfect is in the way of the good. Right now, 50% right is better than nothing. There are ways around the airport and port crisis. Supplies can be delivered to the Dominican Republic and trucked into Haiti. These alternatives are being used by almost no one (save the Global Orphan Project)

Reflections

I am currently in Washington DC to participate in the National Prayer Breakfast, and to lobby for Haiti support. Today I met with Congressman Todd Tiahrt (KS). Tomorrow I will have the privilege of meeting with Senator Sam Brownback (KS) and Senator Jim DeMint (SC). Each of these men are committed to the Lord Jesus.

I have prepared extensive reports on Haiti for each man and his staff. I will be asking for action on several issues, including the following:

1. Stop random distribution of aid as this fuels a lawless mentality. Instead, immediately release supplies to faith based NGOs who are working with the local indigenous Haitian leadership.

2. Immediately begin communication with Haitian church leadership led by Chavannes Jeune and Louis St. Germain. They have formed a group comprised of 20 Christian organizations to maximize the efforts of providing immediate assistance in the form of shelter, food, water, medicine, etc. This coalition has been named COCAVITH: Coalition des Organizations Chretiennes pour L’Assistance aux Victimes du Tremblement de Terre en Haiti (Coalition of Christian Organizations for the Assistance of the Victim of the Earthquake in Haiti)

3. Convene a gathering in Haiti (or Miami) of Faith Based NGO leaders and Secretary of State Clinton and Bill Clinton for the expressed purpose of expanding and encouraging cooperation between NGOs, the United States Government and the United Nations.

4. We would recommend that you encourage capitalist, not socialist solutions. Provide tax incentives for US companies building in Haiti and doing business in Haiti. Haiti is attractive as a business partner because of proximity, cheap labor and the availability of real estate. Create a Haiti trade free zone. Make it easier for Americans to own property in Haiti.

Reports:

If you are interested in the US government daily repirt (very interesting reading) see www.reliefweb.int for the most up-to-date situation reports on the disaster that I’ve seen. You’ll have to go into the Haiti earthquake page and then access the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report. Updated every day.

El Shaddai Ministries

A letter from the leader of El Shaddai helped me to keep things in perspective over the weekend. I was preparing a message for Redeemer Fellowship in Kansas City, I was preparing to host a number of friends for my wife’s birthday party and I was anticipating a basketball game between Kansas and Kansas State. What was I thinking about – I hope the message goes well at redeemer, I hope the party goes well tonight and I hope Kansas wins the basketball game.

As I am thinking about these matters, the following e-mail comes across my computer, and suddenly my perspective changed:

Dear Brother Jimmy,

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus!

Indeed, as the days passing by, the situation become more and more fragile and the life of our spiritual leaders is in danger. We need the food ASAP for them. They are starving. This tragedy is unique. We never face some thing like this before.

We have 400 pastors waiting for food. In some areas, water is non existent.

We hope to get a great answer from you and to see the power of the Gospel continue to spread. We need to keep our spiritual leaders in good health in order to maintain the truth of the Gospel in the midst of the chaos. May our Lord continue to bless you and guide you and your entire family.

Love and peace.

Your Brother Louis St. Germain

Suddenly, my worries were embarrassingly small. Perspective. So vital as we continue to serve the people of Haiti.

Cross International

Partnering with the Global Orphan Project, Cross purchased four trucks of food, arriving shortly from the Dominican Republic..

Cross arranged for two C737 cargo planes to fly into Port-au-Prince airport yesterday to deliver a total of 50,000 lbs. of goods: nutritional-blend food, water, Gatorade, hospital supplies, tarps, and diapers. These will be received through Christian Revival Center, a new partner which has a warehouse near the airport.

Working in partnership with another organization, Cross International was able to secure enough food to feed 3,000 families in Port-au-Prince and/or Leogane. Cross is working with partners in those locations to receive and distribute the food.

The Global Orphan Project

From Joe Knittig live from Haiti:

This is a big day. Here’s what’s happening so far (and it’s not even 10 am):

A truck of supplies arrived at 6:30 – unloaded.
We’re readying for the arrival of 47 children and caretakers today.
Several others will likely come from other places.

We received a report of 2 orphanages in PAP that crumbled in the Jan 12 quake. 591 children. 28 confirmed dead. 64 unaccounted for (likely under the rubble). The rest are living under hung sheets – no help since the quakes. We’re on the way to these sites now with emergency food and to assess.

The influx of people into Gonaives is creating big problems. Increasing death from infections. Scads of kids (many of whom were orphaned pre-quake and are really in bad shape). We have govt request and approval to bring 240 into care immediately. We pulled the trigger on that this morning. 80 children in each of 3 locations in Gonaives.

NOTE: We need VILLAGE and HOME sponsors for these 3 locations!

So, our efforts in our post quake emphasis on orphaned and abandoned children:

Transition Village – more than 250 children in; staff of 35 (all Haitian) busting their butts; rapidly approaching 300 plus.
Gonaives – 240 children coming in effective immediately.
PAP – 500 new children being assessed – disposition unknown.

Other than that, not much going on.

Last night, Calix broke down crying tears of joy before he and his children went to bed. For the first time since everything changed, they were going to bed in a home and knew they would wake with food waiting.

We sat out listening to kids singing – the most mesmerizing sound of joy. Tonight, the sound will be at least 47 louder.

GO Family, we’re just starting. We could not do this without your generous and sustained partnership.

Merci!

Joe

Mission Trip Information

If you have any interest in traveling to Haiti, now is the time to get your Passport and Shots (Tetanus, Hep A and Hep B series).

For mission trips to Haiti with the Global Orphan Project – click here

For mission trips to Haiti with El Shaddai Ministries, contact esmieletter@aol.com

Contact Marybeth Jackson at One 5 Foundation for information about their medical trips.

Giving Information

HR 4462 law allows an immediate deduction on your 2009 tax return for certain earthquake related charitable contributions.

The donation must be made after January 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010.
The donation must be supported by the general documentation rules – generally a cancelled check, credit card receipt, or telephone bill supporting a text message contribution, and if the donation is either actual cash or $250 or more, you must also have a receipt from the organization.
The donation can be deducted in either 2009 or 2010 (but not both years).
You must itemize deductions to be able to deduct charitable contributions.

Highly Recommended Relief Agencies:

Finally, I am aware that many Catholics prefer to give only to Catholic relief agencies. I recommend:

Jimmy Dodd

PastorServe

Loving, Serving and Blessing Pastors and Ministry Leadership

Haiti Crisis Update #11 from Jimmy Dodd

January 28, 2010 by Eric Rochester

The Big Picture

There is an amazing opportunity for your local church to provide meals to Haiti. See below.

‘Normalcy’ slowly resuming to Haiti…Commerce is reportedly resuming around Haiti. Cross International Projects Officer Michael Wilson said, “We saw a few banks open. Gas stations. A grocery store. Haiti-grown staples seem to be abundant on the streets and in the markets. Tap taps (Haitian buses and taxis) are running. People are in the streets. We have seen no looting, rioting, or anarchy that some have portrayed. We have seen IDP camps in all sorts of places. Water trucks giving out water. Restaurants serving as soup kitchens. And a spirit, while certainly battered and bruised, equally most certain not broken.”

Schools to reopen…In a dramatic reversal of a decision made just one week ago, education officials in Haiti hope to reopen some schools by next week, but with thousands of children and teachers dislocated and as many as 8,000 schools reduced to rubble, it remains unclear how many classrooms can be used, or how many students will return.

Rainy season looming: Government agencies have cited ready-to-eat food as an immediate need, and more tents and shelters to be needed with the onset of the April rainy season.

Orphan offered for $50 Human trafficking continues to be a major problem in Haiti. The first confirmed case of a child being offered for sale since Haiti was devastated on Jan 12 took place near Gonaives, 150km north of Port-au-Prince. It was reported by Noel Ismonin, a Canadian pastor who rescues orphans in the area. A man offered to sell him the boy but the pastor refused.

Incredible stories of God’s provision in the midst of disaster can be found here

If you are interested in the US government daily report (very interesting reading) click here for the most up-to-date situation reports on the disaster that I’ve seen. You’ll have to go into the Haiti earthquake page and then access the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report. Updated every day.

Reflection

As I continue to reflect on Romans 8:28 and it’s promise of God working alll things – even Haitian earthquakes – for our ultimate good and God’s ultimate glory, I have found myself drawn time and time again to the story of Dan Woolley and his rescue from the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince.

Dan, a member of Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs, was in Haiti with Compassion International. At the time of the earthquake, he was in the hotel after a day of shooting video for a Compassion project. Dan was trapped in an elevator shaft for several days before his dramatic rescue by a French search and rescue team.

Dan has become quite famous for using his iphone apps to save his life. He used apps to guide himself through first aid procedures which may have ultimately saved his life. He set his iphone alarm to wake him up every 20 minutes as he read that falling asleep was the first step towards death. No doubt, Dan’s story will make it into the next iphone app commercial. “Need to survive for 65 hours after being trapped by falling concrete – There’s an app for that”.

But, Dan is famous with me for another reason. During his multi day ordeal, Dan faced reality. Accessing the situation, he concluded that he may not make it out alive. In dark and cramped quarters, he had access to a notebook and a pen. And, like any parent who has only limited time left in this world – he wrote letters to his wife and children. His letter to his two sons, ages six and three, was written in the notebook stained with blood and tears. To his sons, he wrote the following:

“I was in a big accident. Don’t be upset at God. He always provides for His children even in hard times. I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But, He will always take care of you.”

This is Romans 8:28 in the words of a dying man. This is Romans 8:28 real life. Dan was right – We should not be upset with God. God does provide for his children. God will always take care of his children. As Dan wrote his letters, he shared his heartfelt words from an eternal perspective. Ultimately, the earthquake would be used for good, and ultimately, the earthquake would be used for God’s glory. It is Daniel 3:16 – Haiti instead of Babylonia.

16Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

I am immensely grateful for Dan Woolley and his faith in Jesus.

Pastor Scott Hickox sent me some great quotes which further reflect upon this truth…

Kevin DeYoung, writing in Why we Love the Church says,

“As evangelicals, we’ve become addicted to happy ending stories where we go through “x” (hard thing) and then start praying and then – Shazam! – God makes everything better and we have a nice, utopian story to tell where we are the hero who ends up with the great job, the great family, the time off, the free plane ticket, the lost purse, or the great healthy kids. The fact of the matter is, sometimes (often) the happy ending is heaven, and the getting there is a really difficult but formative part of our sanctification. And sometimes what God wants in the interim is for us to find our happiness, holiness and identity in Him, rather than our perfect jobs, perfect 2.5 kids and perfect testimonies.”

While Dan Woolley is an incredible story – with an incredibly happy ending – his letter to his kid really strikes at the heart of the issue of God working for our ultimate good and his ultimate glory. “I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But, He will always take care of you.” Has better theology ever been uttered from beneath tons of concrete!

Along this same line of thinking, Larry Crabb writes, “As a culture, present-day Christianity has redefined spiritual maturity. The reformers knew we were saved to glorify God. We moderns live to be blessed. The mature among us are now thought to be the successful, the happy, the effective people on top of things and doing well… We’re more attracted to sermons, books, and conferences that reveal the secrets to fulfillment…than to spiritual direction that leads us through affliction into the presence of the Father… We seem more interested in managing life into a comfortable existence than in letting God spiritually transform us through life’s hardships.”

2 Cor 4:17-18 says,
“..For this slight, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal..”

John Piper, in commenting the passage says, “Our suffering is momentary, it might just last a lifetime.” That’s a perspective I seldom consider.

How you can Help

In past updates, I have written about the opportunity to pack meals for Haiti. Now, the opportunity can come to you!!

In past updates I have written about the opportunity to pack meals for Haiti at the Youthfront auditorium, a ministry in Kansas City. Youthfront of Kansas City Feed the Hunger initiative is mobilizing teams around Kansas City to tangibly bless God’s hurting children in Haiti, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. The meals consist of rice, dried vegetables, soy protein, and essential vitamins. This is a great way to serve Haiti – for students, families, businesses, Church groups, neighborhood groups, etc.

Last night hundreds of people packed the forty assembly stations at Youthfront packing thousands of meals. As the first wave of relief comes on the ground to supply Haiti’s most urgent needs, Youthfront and our distribution partners in Haiti are preparing to send a secondary tier of aid. This will more efficiently reach the most vulnerable people after the current relief efforts resolve the initial bottlenecks of distribution. These measured efforts will help to sustainably and responsibly address the continuing hunger that will persist over the next critical weeks and months. Through Youthfront’s additional partnerships and financial support to cover overhead costs, volunteers will package and deliver meals to our partners in Haiti for only 20 cents per meal.

The meal packing ministry at Youthfront is scheduled to conclude this weekend. Now, you have the opportunity to bring a meal packing line to your church!

The Youthfront auditorium is rented out by another group next week. Rather than shut down this amazing ministry, YouthFront can send an assembly station to your church. Imagine a room where church families come for an hour or two to pack meals for Haiti. This would be a great hands on ministry for any church. The assembly line can handle ten people at once.

To package meals, the process is simple. People pay for the number of meals they wish to package, receive a brief orientation on the packaging process, and then pack until all of their bags are sealed and boxed. For a $30 donation, one person can package 150 meals in about one hour.

Youthfront is distributing the first shipment through Touch Global and The Global Orphan Project.

Start a sign up sheet at your church and schedule teams of ten every hour. Senior adult retirees could come during the day, families could come in the afternoon and early evening and youth and young adult could come at night. Call Youthfront at 913-262-3900 for details.

Mission Trip Information

If you have any interest in traveling to Haiti, now is the time to get your Passport and Shots (Tetanus, Hep A and Hep B series).

For mission trips to Haiti with the Global Orphan Project – go here

For mission trips to Haiti with El Shaddai Ministries, contact esmieletter@aol.com

Giving Information

HR 4462 law allows an immediate deduction on your 2009 tax return for certain earthquake related charitable contributions.

The donation must be made after January 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010.
The donation must be supported by the general documentation rules – generally a cancelled check, credit card receipt, or telephone bill supporting a text message contribution, and if the donation is either actual cash or $250 or more, you must also have a receipt from the organization.
The donation can be deducted in either 2009 or 2010 (but not both years).
You must itemize deductions to be able to deduct charitable contributions.

Highly Recommended Relief Agencies:

To help sponsor the shipment of a container at $8,000 each—visit here

To get your church involved in filling a container with emergency goods—visit here and click the online information request form.

To keep apprised of ongoing relief efforts—visit here

Finally, I am aware that many Catholics prefer to give only to Catholic relief agencies. I recommend:

Jimmy Dodd

PastorServe

Loving, Serving and Blessing Pastors and Ministry Leadership

Haiti Crisis Update #10 from Jimmy Dodd

January 26, 2010 by Eric Rochester

The Big Picture

Less than two weeks after one of the greatest recorded disasters in history, and Haiti is officially off of the front page of the news. Today’s Wall Street Journal features the budget, violence in Bagdad, GM woes and travel – but no Haiti. CNN no longer leads with Haiti. Fox never did lead with Haiti. The reality of the situation is coming into focus. The world’s attention is fading, yet the needs of Haiti are as desperate as they were two weeks ago.

Pedophiles and their human traffic agents from around the world are now in Haiti seeking whom they can kidnap from the hospitals, orphanages and from off the streets just walking around. Even though the USA news media seems to be silent on this issue, Geneva Post states a report by Unicef that over 15 cases of children disappearance has been documented so far and continues to be mounting. As reprobates are taking advantage of the weakness of the local authorities and relief coordination. Rapert Colville, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that child enslavement and trafficking in Haiti was “ an existing problem and could easily emerge as a serious issue over the coming weeks and months”.

Haiti is awash in doctors – nurses are in short supply. See this article

The pressure and intensity to get aid to the people have not subsided. Time and resources continue to be our greatest challenges with still not enough food and medical care reaching the people with the greatest need. For example in Les Cayes alone, 150,000 refugees are now there from PAP. Louis St. Germain, one of the leading pastors in Haiti wrote:

“I just talked with some key leaders in the south [of Haiti]. The demand is so high and we don’t have the means to meet it. The churches are crowded. People came from all over and they don’t have anywhere to go. Most of the people, before they left the villages, sold their land and everything. So now they have to start again. Please continue to pray with us.

Dr. Eachempati, trauma surgeon and incoming president of the New York State Chapter of the American College of Surgeons commented, “The U.S. response to the earthquake should be considered an embarrassment. Our operation received virtually no support from any branch of the U.S. government, including the State Department. As we ran out of various supplies we had no means to acquire more. There was no way to transfer patients we were poorly equipped to manage to a facility where they would get better care. We were heartbroken having to tell patients suffering incredible pain we could not perform their surgery for at least a day.” Read more of Dr. Eachempati’s assessment here

One of the great frustrations of Haiti has been the apparent lack of cooperation between the US military, the UN and faith based relief agencies. It now looks like there is now an agreement/Memorandum of Understanding in place between UN and US military.

Read this

However, the need for greater cooperation between the US military / UN and faith based relief agencies remains.

Christian Light Ministries in Port-au-Prince, Haiti reports:

It appears that the larger support organizations have quite a supply of food and water just sitting at the airport waiting to be distributed. Many of the volunteers have never been in Haiti before and are actually afraid to go out into the communities with the Haitian people – probably due in large part to the alarming reports of violence being played on CNN and other news channels. How frustrating to know much needed water and nourishment is just sitting there unused.

The lack of cooperation has been well documented by numerous news outlets. For an overview of the problem, read this

The Haiti earthquake is an opportunity for the church around the world to work together. Collaboration, Cooperation, Shared Vision and Partnership are commonly absent from the US church when responding to a crisis. I encourage you to go to The Sending Project to learn what they are doing to help coordinate work in Haiti and around the world. If your local church is working in Haiti, if you are giving to a particular part of Haiti or if you are planning a church mission trip to Haiti – please let The Sending Project know. Let’s serve together in the body of Christ.

Reflections

I have been reflecting on a passage which the Lord has impressed upon my mind – Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 has become so popular that I hear it routinely used as a means of comfort by those who do not love Jesus. No doubt, the misuse of Romans 8:28 has led to a false sense of security. This is a promise in scripture intended for believers only. Believers can wrap their lives in the truth of this promise. Unbelievers can warp their lives in this promise.

Romans 8:28 doubly conditional promise: The promise is for those who 1. Love God and 2. are Called by God according to his purpose. The promise that all things will be used by God for our ultimate good and his ultimate glory is for those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus.

The first condition is that we would love God. In the context of the letter to the Romans, this can seem troubling if one were to end reading at Romans 7. The chapter closes with an emphasis upon the sinful nature – that is, we are slaves to the law of sin. But – in one of the great passages in scripture, Romans 8:1-3 tells us:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by flesh, could not do. He sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.

How many of you who are followers of Jesus go to church each week feeling condemned? You know the dark depths of your thought life, your issues, and your sins. You feel condemned. You would never share your deepest sins with even your closest friends for fear that if they really knew you – they wouldn’t like you. But, the glorious news of Romans 8:1-3 is this: In Jesus – you are fully known and fully loved. In Jesus, you are not condemned.

To fulfill the first condition – We must have genuine faith – not just intellectual assent. How do we know we have genuine faith? Admit that you can’t make things right through your own ability. Salvation comes to those who genuinely admit how weak they really are. Surrender to Jesus understanding that He alone lived the life that we should have lived and died the death that we should have died.

The second condition of the promise is that we are Called according to His Purpose. What is Paul’s reason for adding: “according to his purpose”? To make perfectly clear and forceful that the call of God originates in God’s purpose not ours. The call of God is not a response to anything we purposed to do. There is a process that we must embrace if we are to assume that 8:28 is true. In other words, you can’t have the promise of Romans 8:28 without the truth of Romans 8:29-30. It is a package deal! While many would want to take Romans 8:28 a la carte, there is no such option.

Romans 8:29-30

29For (for means the text will stand upon a prior promise) those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Our confidence is this – that all who begin will finish – 100%!! Read the promise – if God foreknew you and predestined you to be conformed to his image – you will be glorified!

The text does not say 91% of those he predestined, he also called; those he called, 69% he also justified; those he justified, 23% he also glorified. The same number he called will be justified. The same number he justifies will be glorified. No one will be lost along the way. Another of the great promises. God justifies everyone that he calls. He acquits them. He pardons them. We are treated as righteous. We are his children. “Those whom he called he justified.”

The calling is the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit by which He convicts us of our sin and shows us the need we have for Jesus.

The call of God that Paul has in mind is not like calling a friend who may or may not answer the phone – or like calling my dog – “Here Scout. Here Scout. Come on girl.” Scout may or may not come. The call of God is like the call of Jesus to the corpse of Lazarus: “Lazarus, come forth!” The call contains the power to produce what it commands. It is an effectual call. That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that all “those who are called are justified.” The certainty of their justification lies in the fact that the faith by which men are justified is produced by the effectual call of God.

But – and here is where the rubber really meets the road – how do we respond when there is a tragedy in your life.

If you think that you were called according to your own purpose (you do not believe in God’s calling as spelled out in v 29-30) in that you see God as powerful but not sovereign and you see yourself as sinful but still nevertheless good – how do you respond to tragedy – like an earthquake in Haiti? Most commonly, with anger towards God.

But, if you think that you were called according to God’s purpose – if there is tragedy in your life – you commonly respond with fear of God. How is this possible in the midst of tragedy? Because we understand that God is totally helpful and we are totally helpless.

John Piper has written, :Therefore when Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together to good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose,” it means the beneficiaries of this massive promise are those who once did not love God but now do love God because God himself has called them from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, from death to life, and has planted within them a love.”

Some of you have lived a painful, tragedy filled life. And, as a result, there is anger, bitterness and distrust towards the Lord. “Where was God when my mother died, when I lost my job, when my wife left me…”

But, and here is the promise, every single thing that happens – no matter how tragic – God is working into a plan for our good and for his Glory. Very seldom do we ever get even a microscopic glimpse of how God is working all things together for good – but he is. You can know – God has not abandoned you – he loves you.

Romans 8:18 tells us “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Think of that promise in light of the Haiti earthquake. The Haiti earthquake and the resulting death and devastation are as nothing when compared to being in the presence of Jesus in glory. II Corinthians 4 tells us that the suffering taking place in Haiti is ‘light and momentary affliction’ when compared to the promise of one day being with Jesus in glory. Again, either this promise is true or else God is a liar. These are the only options.

If you are in the midst of the Haiti earthquake – or if you are in the midst of a personal earthquake which has shaken your foundations. If you are in the throws of sorrow, the bottom of depression, the depths of grief, the agony of loss, the uncertainty of life… God has a word for you today. He has a promise for you. And, this is not a patronizing word, not a shallow word but the greatest promise known to God’s children:

We know that in All things God works for the good of those

Who love him and who have been called according to his purpose.

Reports:

El Shaddai Ministries

47 nurses and doctors are currently in Haiti. They have medical teams lined up to go in and out up to the end of February. Please contact esmieletter@aol.com if you would like to be a part of a medical team.

Tents for Churches and homes – Forty-five 10×12ft tents that can each house a family of 10 people. God’s willing, these will be shipped by Wednesday to the DR and should be cleared by the end of this week to be given to the families most in need. There is the need for 3 huge tents to hold congregations with 2000 members. Most of the churches in PAP were destroyed. The congregations are in the streets. ESMI has identified 3 locations with key leaders for these. The desire is to encourage and rebuild the spiritual life of the Haitian church. What a wonderful opportunity to share the good news that in the midst of such hopelessness, there is hope in God.

ESMI has identified 400 pastors to begin a more intentional network of food distribution. On Wednesday, January 27, ESMI’s leadership team will meet with these pastors in PAP. It is important that these leaders be empowered also to participate in the effort. This is a work that cannot be done alone. It is bigger than any one church or any one organization. With a unified effort, the church in Haiti can help meet the needs of her people.

There is a need for about 6 Mack dump trucks. Once the food gets to PAP on containers, it must be reloaded onto dump trucks for distribution into the different areas of need. This is the best way to get the food out into those communities. Later these trucks will be used in clearing debris and bringing in construction material. Why Mack dump trucks? They are long-lasting trucks and the parts are easily available. There are excellent mechanics who can make anything go as long as they have the parts available. To have piles of food and no means to get them to the people is a dilemma that the international aid community is now facing.

Cross International:

Cross ministry partner, Project Medishare, has been serving about 300 – 350 patients each day in several makeshift hospitals around Port-au-Prince. It’s been an increasing challenge to feed each patient, plus one family member per patient, three times a day—approximately 2,000 meals a day. Due to quickly diminishing stocks of food, Medishare was recently forced to stop feeding family members and to reduce patient meals to only twice a day. So Cross Projects Officers Michael Wilson and Claudio Merisio, who are in Port-au-Prince, immediately secured a nearby shipping container with enough food to feed their patients for another week. In the meantime, Cross is directing four more truckloads their way, as well as providing cash grants so Medishare can ramp up their cooking facilities and purchase food as needed in the local market, which is beginning to resume trade.

When Cross International first inquired if School of the Good Sower and the 52 orphaned children who lived on campus survived the quake, Gladys Thomas answered “Yes, everyone’s fine!” Indeed, the buildings remain standing and no child was hurt. When our team stopped by the school over the weekend, however, they found all 52 orphans and their four house-mothers living in the courtyard. The buildings had not collapsed, but the damage they did sustain made the house-moms reluctant to go inside, especially with continuing aftershocks. Projects Officer Michael Wilson said, “They had 24 bottles of water left and very little food.” By the time the sun had set, Wilson and the Cross team had supplied them with food, water, tents, and tarps. “We used the headlights of our vehicles to set up the tents,” Wilson said. “We left with the sounds of 52 kids clamoring to sleep inside one of them ringing in our ears. Pretty sweet music if you want to know the truth.”

Last year, Cross helped Bethsaide, a children’s shelter in Jacmel, establish an egg-laying business as a way to generate additional revenue. By January, more than 100 chickens were laying about 40 – 50 eggs a day. On January 12, Bethsaide’s co-directors, Nirva Desdunes and Mathilda Marcello, went to Port-au-Prince to purchase food and supplies, leaving the children in the care of their house-mothers. Nirva and Mathilda survived the quake, but they were stuck in the city and could not make it back to Jacmel with much-needed food and supplies. Yesterday, when Wilson and Merisio checked in on Bethsaide bearing rice and Vitafood, they found that the facility had sustained some damage; so for the time being the children are sleeping under the stars. But they have not gone hungry—they’re eating plenty of eggs!

To help sponsor the shipment of a container at $8,000 each—go here

To get your church involved in filling a container with emergency goods—go here and click to the online information request form.

To keep apprised of ongoing relief efforts—go here

The Global Orphan Project

We have multiple 40′ containers en route to the Dominican Republic, and ultimately to our depot at the Transition Village in Haiti. Tents, tarps, meds, food, beds, mats, etc…

For now, we need to hit the PAUSE button on non-cash donations intended for shipment to Haiti. We have a very targeted focus on the Orphan Transition Village and related needs. We must be careful not to clog our distribution channels, or allow supply chains to overwhelm our staff and focus. So three points:

What we need most is cash donations. This allows us to stay nimble and meet needs as they arise, with speed and efficiency. Here is the link to our Haiti Relief Fund

If you have bulk foods you’d like to donate, please contact us.

In the coming days and weeks, we will likely have specific needs for additional goods. As we do, we will communicate them to you.

A great story today from Rob Boyer –

Hello from Haiti. The internet is working tonight so I thought I’d take a moment to share a good story.

We’ve had a very productive and crazy last few days. As is often the case, we begin each day with a handful of objectives but God usually has something else planned. Yesterday was such a day; we drove into Port au Prince to perform a variety of pick up and drop off tasks. Sounds easy enough but in Port au Prince it takes about 3 to 4 hours to get from one side of town to the other. Long story short; nothing worked as scheduled. Traffic was terrible everywhere, we got lost once, the errands changed etc. etc. By 5:00 pm we found ourselves near downtown Port au Prince in a beat up mini-van on two spare tires. Pierre the driver, my manager Blanchard, James (a guy from another charity group), Chris (one of our volunteers from Chicago), Paul (a volunteer from Austin, TX), and Jennifer, an ER nurse from Kansas City who needed a ride across town. We were a motley crew in terrible traffic packed into a minivan you wouldn’t drive to your neighbor’s house.

Chris had promised a friend back home that he would look in on the orphan home they support. Not a Global Orphan Project home, but it was on our way so we decided to stop. As you can imagine, we couldn’t find it. Asking people along the way we were eventually directed to the orphan home. Turned out it was not the home we were looking for but a Haitian run adoption home. We entered the front gates to discover a most horrible scene. 75 kids and a handful of adults living in the yard and their home completely destroyed to rubble. We learned that 56 children had perished in that home when it collapsed.

Jennifer immediately noticed a small child; 2 year old boy…left ankle in a bandage which was oozing something and the left leg was twice the size of the right. The boy was crying and had high fever. The home had taken him to seek medical care after the earthquake but clearly this boy was in trouble. Jennifer promptly announced to the Haitian caregiver, “We’re taking this baby.” With very little resistance to the idea we loaded up in our so called “ride” and headed toward the nearby 82nd Airborne Field Hospital in downtown Port au Prince.

Now, if you’re following this story closely you should be asking yourself, “Isn’t it getting dark and is downtown Port au Prince a smart place to be at night?” The answer is Yes, it was nearly dark and No, downtown is the wrong place to be. But we weren’t far and I liked the idea of 50 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne. Now the story gets interesting…..we took a wrong turn and were headed the wrong way. So I’m arguing with Pierre and James about the route while darkness settles over the city. After ten or so wasted minutes and a call to my friend Jean Marc who was with the 82nd Airborne we got righted.

Now the area around the field hospital is a huge field. Huge fields in Port au Prince are now refugee camps and this particular camp has about 500 people during the day but swells to over 5,000 when the sun goes down. Recall that everyone here sleeps outdoors and so every night Port au Prince is literally the world’s biggest campout. So as we approach the field hospital we can’t go to the front door without driving through hundreds of makeshift tents. So I direct Pierre through a side street and into an alley which I know leads to a gate where the 82nd Airborne is located. We arrive at that gate…it’s dark…we’re in an alley and it’s now among the longest 5 minutes of my entire life waiting for Jean March to get this gate open. The tension in the van is pretty thick as you can imagine so I decide to get out. I find a small opening in the gate and through it just then can just make out the approaching Jean Marc, a doctor, and two fully armed, M-16 toting, full combat gear, bad ass looking Americans I’ve ever seen. What a great site!!

I’m sorry to ramble on but I think this is a typical story of an average day working in Port au Prince. It’s hard. Nothing goes as you plan and we spend our days moving on to Plan B and trying to help wherever we can. And despite all the twists and turns and a few anxious moments, we never lose sight of the fact that something very wonderful happened…a 2 year old boy was saved from certain death. Not what I planned when the day started, but I guess God had something else in mind.

Love to you all

Rob

Other Ministries Serving in Haiti

CURE International now has several teams of doctors working on the ground in Port au Prince to provide emergency medical care to victims of the earthquake. They have been operating non-stop to save lives and stabilize the most critically injured patients. The CURE team is coordinating the arrival of desperately needed medical supplies and will continue to bring in additional surgical teams in the days to come. CURE also plans to bring patients to their hospital in the Dominican Republic as soon as it becomes logistically possible.

Two years ago I was privileged to spend some time at the CURE hospital in the DR with my daughter Sarah. CURE is an amazing ministry of dedicated medical professionals who serve the poorest of the poor to bring healing, life and hope.

How You can Help – Today’s Focus: Learn, Pray, Help Children work through Crisis

Learn more about Haiti at Operation World. This site will give you an excellent overview of the needs – both physical and spiritual in Haiti:

Help Children process the Haitian tragedy. Here are some excellent ideas from Perspectives Ministry.

IDEAS TO HELP YOUR FAMILY PRAY for HAITI:

Talk together about the great needs in Haiti. Encourage your children to PRAY for those who are hurting.

MAKE A POSTER: Have your children print out pictures of children and people in Haiti. Put the photo up on your fridge, or on your kitchen wall.

USE A MAP: Put a small world map on your refrigerator, and use this area to display current international news updates from the Haiti situation. Pray as a family, perhaps around the dinner table, for specific needs in Haiti, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

GIVE SOMETHING! Your kids need to know that as a family, you care. My dad often said, “A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing!” In Luke 21:2, Jesus commended the widow who gave only two small coins!!! Our family knows a national minister in India who receives only $100 a month, and he chose to give $50 of his support to help the needs in Haiti.

PRAY for ORPHANS of HAITI!!! – Even before the earthquake, there were many orphans in the country of Haiti. Now the need is even greater. PRAY fervently for these orphan children. Pray that Christian families around the world would feel God’s love for these children and want to open their homes to eventually ADOPT a child from HAITI. PRAY that orphan children in danger will be released out of Haiti, to get to a safe place (many orphanages were destroyed, and many of orphans now sleeping outside, with little food & water). Read James 1:27. God has a HUGE heart for orphan children.

A very helpful resource from Focus on the Family, Parenting in the midst of Tragedy, can be downloaded here

Mission Trip Information

If you have any interest in traveling to Haiti, now is the time to get your Passport and Shots (Tetanus, Hep A and Hep B series).

For mission trips to Haiti with the Global Orphan Project – click here

For mission trips to Haiti with El Shaddai Ministries, contact esmieletter@aol.com

Giving Information

HR 4462 law allows an immediate deduction on your 2009 tax return for certain earthquake related charitable contributions.

The donation must be made after January 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010.
The donation must be supported by the general documentation rules – generally a cancelled check, credit card receipt, or telephone bill supporting a text message contribution, and if the donation is either actual cash or $250 or more, you must also have a receipt from the organization.
The donation can be deducted in either 2009 or 2010 (but not both years).
You must itemize deductions to be able to deduct charitable contributions.

Highly Recommended Relief Agencies:

Finally, I am aware that many Catholics prefer to give only to Catholic relief agencies. I recommend:

Catholic Relief Services)

Jimmy Dodd

PastorServe

Loving, Serving and Blessing Pastors and Ministry Leadership

Haiti Crisis Update #9 from Jimmy Dodd

January 25, 2010 by Eric Rochester

How you can help

Joining with others around Kansas City…

Yesterday, the Dodd family had a great afternoon! We went to Youthfront, a local ministry in Kansas City to pack meals for Haiti. No one has ever had so much fun packing meals! And, the hairnet fashion statement was fabulous.

One group had driven to Kansas City from Wichita to pack meals. They expressed their desire to add a hands-on project to their prayers and financial giving.

This is a great way to serve Haiti – for students, families, businesses, Church groups, neighborhood groups, etc.

The meal packing ministry at Youthfront is scheduled to conclude this coming weekend. I would hope that there would be such an overwhelming response that the meal packing opportunity would remain open for weeks to come.

Youthfront of Kansas City Feed the Hunger initiative is mobilizing teams around Kansas City to tangibly bless God’s hurting children in Haiti, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

As the first wave of relief comes on the ground to supply Haiti’s most urgent needs, Youthfront and our distribution partners in Haiti are preparing to send a secondary tier of aid. This will more efficiently reach the most vulnerable people after the current relief efforts resolve the initial bottlenecks of distribution. These measured efforts will help to sustainably and responsibly address the continuing hunger that will persist over the next critical weeks and months.

The youth of Kansas City are leading the way, calling on their congregations to join them over the next few weeks to package thousands of meal packets – consisting of rice, dried vegetables, soy protein, and essential vitamins in order to distribute them to Haiti through Youthfront’s Feed the Hunger initiative. Youthfront is extending this invitation *to you to bless the people of Haiti in a hands-on *and joining this movement of compassion and justice.

Click here to sign up your group

Through Youthfront’s additional partnerships and financial support to cover overhead costs, volunteers will package and deliver meals to our partners in Haiti for only 20 cents per meal. If you would like to take a group to Youthfront’s auditorium to package meals, the process is simple. You can pay for the number of meals you wish to package at the door, receive a brief orientation on the packaging process, and then pack until all of your bags are sealed and boxed.

The Dodd family packaged about 450 meals in just more than one hour. Everyone helped – Sally started with the soy, Allie (5 years old) added the dried vegetables, Paige (7 years old today!) added the 11 essential vitamins and Sarah (14) topped off the mixture with rice.

For a $30 donation, one person can package 150 meals in about one hour. For most groups, a 1-2 hour session is rewarding, so plan your donation goals accordingly. For those who would like to financially participate in this cause in order to extend the opportunity for others to package meals, Youthfront will gladly accept donations on our website, by mail, or by phone.

Youthfront is distributing the first shipment through Touch Global, the crisis response arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America, who have people on the ground. Future shipments may be channeled through additional partnerships in Haiti.

As word has trickled out about Youthfront’s efforts to address this crisis, the response to participate has been remarkable. they have the capacity for up to 400 people to package 45,000 meals per-hour – enabling entire churches, organizations, and workplaces to participate together. Currently, sessions are planned for January 27, 30 and 31. To request an alternate date to accommodate your schedule, please contact Kendon McBee at kmcbee@youthfront.com . In order to avoid overbooking, Youthfront asks that all groups pre-register on Youthfront’s website.

This is such a great way to serve! If you are outside of Kansas City, I would encourage you to contact Youthfront to learn how to bring the Feed the Huger initiative to your church, school or ministry. Imagine this opportunity traveling around the country from city to city providing millions of meals for Haitians over the next year. Remember, the crisis is Haiti will pass from the news. Yet – the need will remain. We need to commit to working alongside our Haitian neighbors for years to come.

Giving Information

Jimmy Dodd

PastorServe

Loving, Serving and Blessing Pastors and Ministry Leadership

Haiti Crisis Update #8 from Jimmy Dodd

January 22, 2010 by Eric Rochester

I apologize for the lack of information these past few days. I was asked to prepare a report for the US State Department which has filled my days. Please pray that this report – submitted at the request of Kansas Senator Sam Brownback – makes it to the right government officials – and leads to greater cooperation between faith based ministries on the ground in Haiti, the US government and the United nations.

As we enter the eleventh day of earthquake relief in Haiti, I have reflected on the indescribable move of the Holy Spirit working through the lives of Jesus followers who want to do anything they can to help. A Kansas City based youth ministry has converted their auditorium into a food assembly and distribution warehouse (see below for details). A radio executive packs a bag on a moments notice and flies to Port-au-Prince to assist in relief coordination. Everyday people ask their physicians for sample meds which are immediately shipped to Haiti are already being used to save lives. And the list goes on and on.

As you know, my heart has been most deeply touched by the death of little Jean-Marc Vaval, the eight year old son of close friend Moise Vaval. I have shared the story of Jean-Marc in previous posts. Emotionally, right behind that story has been the story of a young Atlanta teen who has committed to changing his Eagle Scout project to care for the poor of Haiti. I was so touched that this young man was willing to make a change at a moments notice when he saw the need. His name? Appropriately, JohnMark.

Wednesday, I was included in a Compassion International conference call with Compassion president Wess Stafford, Bill Hybels and Andy Stanley. I loved what Wess said during the call:

Despite what you hear on CNN – the church of Haiti is alive. The church is God’s Plan A – and there is no plan B.

There was also a report from a Compassion worker who was present at a Haitian worship service in Port-au-Prince amidst the rubble. The message of the pastor was simply this: If you have one potato, cut it in half and give it to someone who has none.

The Big Picture

The death toll has been raised to more than 200,000.

More than two million Haitians are homeless and are filling the countryside in makeshift refugee camps.

The Port-au-Prince port is now open. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are at the port seeking transportation to Jeremie and surrounding coastal cities.

Gladys Mecklembourg reported about her difficulty in obtaining food. Prices have skyrocketed. Mecklembourg reports that a 20 lb. bag of sugar is now going for $500 H—the equivalent of US $65. In addition, she said “they’re hiding the food—they don’t want to sell it!”

The Senate unanimously passed legislation Thursday that will allow taxpayers to deduct cash donations to Haiti earthquake relief on their 2009 tax returns instead of having to wait to file the claims next year. Leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee from both parties introduced a bill Tuesday that makes contributions made between Jan. 12 and Feb. 28 count toward an individual’s or family’s 2009 taxes. The House unanimously approved the measure Wednesday.

Several aid groups called Thursday for an immediate halt to any new adoptions of Haitian children after last week’s earthquake. The Global Orphan Project, Save the Children, World Vision and a unit of the British Red Cross said the focus first must be on tracing any family members the children may still have and reuniting them. “Any hasty new adoptions would risk permanently breaking up families, causing long-term damage to already vulnerable children, and could distract from aid efforts in Haiti,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

There are NO sewage treatment plants in the entire country of Haiti. What that means is the human waste from over 2 million people is winding its way on the streets to the ocean. That is one incredible public health nightmare. One can expect epidemics in the next week or so.

All school has been cancelled in Haiti for 2010.

When asked about medical priorities, Espwa’s Medical Director, Dr. Cynthia DeSoi responded, “anything to do with surgery.” Dr. DeSoi said, “I am trying to find the time to pray and listen to God for the roadmap to all this. We are operating totally on faith.”

From Cross International, speaking about the PAP prison which was destroyed in the earthquake: “Many prisoners escaped but not before turning the place into a war zone. 15 prisoners were killed by the guards and that all the guards inside were badly beaten. Two-thirds of the prison is destroyed. There are holes in the walls to the exterior and holes in the roof that the prisoners used to escape. All our sewing machines and supplies were burned! Immediate needs: food, clothing, first aid medical attention, personal hygiene items. The remaining prisoners are all inhumanely shut in four cells. It is deplorable! We will be preparing food for them here and delivering it to them as soon as we can. Don’t know how long we can keep this up. Please pray for the prisoners, the guards and us.”

The music world’s top stars are signing on for Friday’s “Hope for Haiti” telethon. Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and Alicia Keys are just a few of the performers who will be featured, according to MTV Networks, an integral partner in the two-hour event. This event could raise hundreds of millions for Haiti relief.

Reports:

El Shaddai Ministries

Praise God for the response that is coming in. Two 20 ft truckload of food and water were purchased and crossed into Haiti from the DR yesterday. Thank you all for making this possible. We are also partnering with other ministries to get food into Haiti. Today at noon, God’s willing, a 17-seater plane from the Bahamas will fly into PAP filled with food, medical supplies, and water.

Next is the distribution of food. Louis was organizing 30 people from the south to head to PAP yesterday. ESMI needs to secure vehicles, preferably dump trucks to go into different areas to do this. We are setting up stations in Petit Goave, Carrefour, Miragaone, and Grecier for now. These are areas that have suffered substantial damage also but have received little to no aid. We will work with the pastors of these communities.

Today will also be a day of more strategic planning on distribution and coordination of those desiring to help at this crucial time. Pray for wisdom. The plan is to have two sites to host Haitians and US teams: Croix des Bouquets and Carrefour. The orphans will be removed from the latter area and the home turned into a guesthouse for now. At the moment, there are 2 medical teams desiring to go tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. Pray for the logistics to be worked out and to see if this is still possible after this 6.1 aftershock.

Suggestions for Packing Containers for Food and Clothing. Some of you are already collecting food to send in containers once the ports in Haiti open. We’d like to offer the following suggestions as you do so.

Food: As you collect, please pack a number of food items for immediate consumption- biscuits, chips, sardine, tuna sandwich mix, canned sausage, lots of small bottles of water, malta drink (Haitians love this drink-Floridians check Publix), Boost or other nutritional drink, evaporated milk, cereal, etc. and of course, rice, black beans, red beans, oil, canned meat, spaghetti, enriched fine yellow cornmeal, bulgar wheat, baked beans, canned soup, tomato paste, salt, sugar, black pepper, food seasoning, spices, etc. These are just some of the items the Haitians enjoy food-wise.

Clothing: Please, give gently worn clothing and shoes.

Tents: These are needed for temporary housing. Many, as you have seen, are sleeping in the streets with sheets as tents. We are also looking for large tents for churches to have their services. It rained yesterday in PAP. I leave the rest to your imagination.

Cross International:

Food Ready to Ship: Right now, Cross has 200 containers of donated food available to be sent to Haiti as soon as we can raise the funds to ship them and work out the best plan for getting them to earthquake victims. Already we have a 2-million meal supply of dehydrated lentil blend nutritional packets at the Project Espwa orphanage in Les Cayes, which will be used to help feed refugees at a U.N. tent city while also providing for the 680 children at Espwa.

URGENT NEED: The cost to ship one container is $13,000. The cost is high because the container must be purchased as there is no where to store food and medical supplies. Please, consider giving to Cross International to assist in the purchase and the shipping of containers.

Project Medishare has received the first container of supplies from Cross. The container arrived in Miami and was airlifted to Port-au-Prince yesterday. Today a second container was shipped from Georgia to Miami. Once it arrives in Miami the goods will again be airlifted to Medishare.

Most organizations helping Haiti are bringing goods over the border from the Dominican Republic to Haiti because of difficulty in using Haiti’s chaotic airport or damaged sea port. The Dominican Republic’s government-assigned coordinator of aid to Haiti is currently helping our shipping department work out the transport of goods through the D.R.

Major distributions from Cross (and other NGOs) are going through our partner, Mission of Hope, located about a half-hour out of Port-au-Prince. Our shipping dept is currently working out logistics of vehicles, fuel, drivers, etc. to transport shipped goods from there to our many affected partners in Haiti, especially south of Port-au-Prince, where air and sea transport is limited and roads are damaged.

Father Marc (who runs a Cross orphanage in Les Cayes) reports there are tens of thousands of refugees coming in or through Les Cayes. Refugee camps are being established to provide temporary shelter, but food and water are the biggest needs. Father Marc was able to provide 10 cases of International Food Program (IFP) food (approximately 1500 meals). Espwa has enough food to feed his 650 children for a few more days.

The Global Orphan Project

Last night, the second baby was born at our transitional village in Croix des Bouquets. Weighing in at 6 lbs 8 oz, Maliko arrived just after midnight. It brings great joy having a small part in creating a safe place for a child to enter the world.

On our way home with a sweet boy with a winning smile! Welcome Pierre Pietel. Pierre has a broken femur – now casted. We promised him yesterday that we would not forget him. When he saw us today, he lit up! Today at the same hospital, a man tired to kidnap a boy. That’s happening. And that is why the transition village makes sense. Hospitals and camps are overwhelmed. They need a safe and IMMEDIATE outlet. We can’t wait for hand wringers to come up with “perfect” solutions. Trust me, predators don’t tarry.

Just got done w a series of meetings at UN re identifying the orphans and displaced kids in a mass of humanity. And doing so in a way to prevent child trafficking, which is a serious problem in this mess.

We’re in a position to help provide a safe, loving environment for the little ones NOW. That’s the huge need here. Risk. Urgency. Distribution. Execution. We guaranty that’s what you’ll get with GO Project. Good’s the goal. Not perfect.

Basically we are running a small town with basic services: security, food, shelter, childcare, medical, etc. The interesting part is doing this in the middle of a third world country ravaged by earthquake on top of language and cultural differences. While we embrace the eternal importance of this work, sometimes we have to step back and smile. Today while unloading our supply truck we discovered about a ton of salami and about 40 crates of Haitian smoked herring. No, we didn’t order that. We’re not sure if the shipping company just threw that in to thank us for our business.

Beth Fox (TGOP co-founder) is leading an effort to build records on all the kids we have here.

How you can help

Todays Focus: Go, Pack, Listen and Sign

Plan on going to Haiti.

Now is the time to get your Passport and Shots (Tetanus, Hep A and Hep B series). For trips to Haiti, click here

Joining with youth groups around Kansas City…

Youthfront of Kansas City Feed the Hunger initiative is now mobilizing teams of students around Kansas City to tangibly bless God’s hurting children in Haiti, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

The youth of Kansas City are leading the way, calling on their congregations to join them over the next few weeks to package thousands of meal packets – consisting of rice, dried vegetables, soy protein, and essential vitamins in order to distribute them to Haiti through Youthfront’s Feed the Hunger initiative. We’re extending this invitation to you to bless the people of Haiti in a hands-on way and joining this movement of compassion and justice.

Through Youthfront’s additional partnerships and financial support to cover overhead costs, students will package and deliver meals to our partners in Haiti for only 20 cents per meal. If you would like to take a group to Youthfront’s auditorium to package meals, the process is simple. You can pay for the number of meals you wish to package at the door, receive a brief orientation on the packaging process, and then pack until all of your bags are sealed and boxed.

For a $30 donation, one student can package 150 meals in about one hour. For most groups, a 1-2 hour session is rewarding, so plan your donation goals accordingly. For those who would like to financially participate in this cause in order to extend the opportunity for others to package meals, we will gladly accept donations on our website, by mail, or by phone.

We are distributing our first shipment through Touch Global, the crisis response arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America, who already have people on the ground. Future shipments may be channeled through additional partnerships we have in Haiti.

As word has trickled out about Youthfront’s efforts to address this crisis, the response to participate has been remarkable. We will have the capacity for up to 400 people to package 45,000 meals per-hour – enabling entire churches, organizations, and workplaces to participate together. Currently, sessions are planned for January 23, 24, 27, 30 and 31. To request an alternate date to accommodate your schedule, please contact Kendon McBee at kmcbee@youthfront.com . In order to avoid overbooking, we ask that all groups pre-register on Youthfront’s website.

Click here to go to the Youthfront website and sign up your group.

So this Sunday, we encourage you to get your youth up on stage calling your congregation to join them in this hands-on way to show compassion to the hurting in Haiti.

I am a longtime Paste Magazine subsrriber. Paste has just launched Songs for Haiti.

From Paste:

Like so many others, Paste has been moved by the tragedy facing the survivors of the Haitian earthquake.Wondering how we could help, we remembered the website we built last year for the Save Paste Campaign. Thanks to your generosity, and that of over 150 artists who donated songs, we raised more than $250,000 to help our magazine survive its darkest hour.

But what we faced was nothing compared to what hundreds of thousands of people are experiencing right now in Haiti. The need is staggering, and help will be needed for months and years to come. To help raise money and keep awareness high, Paste and diverse artists—Ludacris, Of Montreal, Andrew Bird, Hanson, Umphrey’s McGee, Switchfoot, Bruce Cockburn, Xiu Xiu, and over 200 others—are offering free MP3s (many previously unavailable) to everyone who donates to help Haiti.

You can donate through Paste or to a charity of your choice (just tell us), and you will have access to our Download Vault and 250 songs (and counting). We don’t think people should donate to the relief efforts in Haiti just to get a reward. But this gives Paste and artists a way to help, using the thing we’re most passionate about—music.

If you’ve already donated elsewhere, we hope you’ll tell us and take advantage of the free songs. We want to make a strong statement of concern and show the generosity of our readers and the music community in general. We also hope you’ll continue giving as you are able.

You can donate (or tell us about donations you made elsewhere) at: Songs for Haiti. You’ll also find resources (banner ads, Twitter & Facebook icons, etc.) to help spread the word.

From ONE, an organization led by Bono and others passionate for debt relief:

As Haiti rebuilds from this disaster, please work to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans. Haiti needs a sustained international effort as it seeks to recover from this earthquake. Beyond the current emergency response, we’ll need to ensure that money saved from debt relief is invested in long-term development, and that assistance to Haiti isn’t given in the form of new loans that would exacerbate the debt problem.

The work ahead for Haiti to recover from this tragedy is immense. So here’s a goal: $1 billion for Haiti. That’s how much Haiti owes to the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others. Sign the petition below to ask Haiti’s creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti’s debts:

Click here for the petition.

Giving Information