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NW Arkansas & Haiti
This morning I leave for NW Arkansas for three days of meetings. Most of the meetings are focused on Haiti initiatives. Tuesday night, I will be speaking at a Haiti Relief Town Hall meeting along with Craig from Thirst No More.Multiple churches, community leaders, NGO’s and businesses are gathering to find ways to collaborate and serve our friends in Haiti.
I also get to hang with Mike and Jacob and so many other folks from the Cobblestone Project. They’re doing some tremendous work for the poor in NW Arkansas.
Here’s a quick video we shot will in Haiti last week.
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Haiti: what can we do?
I’m writing this blog on a flight from DFW to Miami. In just a matter of hours, we will land in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for a five day journey of learning, discovery and a time to build new friendships! My heart is already heavy, knowing that we’re going to connect with new friends, who just a few months ago were pulling bodies from rubble. These women and men have been through so much, they’ve lost so much, they need to much.
I often wonder what we can do to help. My hope this week is simple, our very presence will offer some sort of hope and light. Maybe we can give a hug, or simple smile, or say something that will make a difference.
I do know this, our greatest gift we can give is our presence, and that’s what we hope to do this week!
Of course presence can only go so far. These people also need food, medicine, water, and shelter. They need short-term needs met, so we can focus on long-term solutions.
On this trip, we hope to tell great stories, stories that will cause action, stories that will help fuel a better way to live. But, we don’t just want these stories to be random or impersonal, we hope, by time the week ends, we will tell stories of our friends who need others to walk with them, in such a time of need.
And yet, for whatever reason, the real reality is this: when I board a plan to return home, I have a feeling these local Haitians are going to bless me, far more than I will bless them. Read James 2, and you’ll know why!
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HELP: End Local Poverty in Haiti:
Dear Friends,As I write this, it’s 2:30AM. My soul is restless as I think about the suffering in Haiti, and how HELP can respond. Jeff Mangum (HELP co-founder) and I have discussed, several times over the past year, that Haiti would be the next country we work in. Then, the earthquake took place, and we wanted to do somthing, so we did. We sold shirts, held fundraisers, and sent funds for baisc nessessities, such as food and water.
At the same time, we wanted to make sure the timing was right before we committed to Haiti for the long haul. We did not want to rush in, make promises we could not fulfill and possibly lose focus on our Zimbabwe mission. (Most of you know, were really passionate about those 100 kids in Zimbabwe.)
Yet, Over the past week, we officially decided to work long term in Haiti as an organization. Which for us means rescuing orphans, restoring their hope and renewing their communites. And, we need your help to make this happen.
In 3 weeks, a team of us will travel to Haiti. The team consists of the following:
1. Myself
2. Scott Wade (photography and story-telling)
3. Jacob Van Horn (Pastor, Soma Austin)
Our goal is:
1. Asses the situation, and find how we can help.
2. Find a local Haitian national, who is passionate about the local church, church planting and orphan care. Our desire is to serve this national.
3. Listen to the locals, learn from their experience, and create plan-of-action to serve the people of Haiti, through the local church.
4. Find a clear understanding on how these potential projects will work; cost, materials, timeframe, Haitian laws, etc.
5. Connect with potential partners (churches, NGO’s) on the ground. We will work with these partners long-term to provide needs, such as clean water, shelter, education, etc! We’re currently talking with Living Water International and some others.
Currently, our hopes are to raise $100,000 in the next 12-16 months. These funds will go directly to serving orphans on the ground. Here’s what we would like to do:
1. Build, or rebuild orphanages that will rescue orphans. (2011 or 2012)
2. Launch our child sponsorship program, which will restore these orphans hope and provide day-to-day needs, so the local leaders can work on other important issues, and not be overwhelmed by the daily necessities of life.
3. Help renew these broken communities by working on long-term development issues to help the people of Haiti. We need solutuons, such as clean water, finance, education, etc.
But, our biggest need is this: to connect with a local Haitian national, one person whom we can serve long-term. So please pray that this happens. We want to walk with this key leader, and help them end local poverty in Haiti.
After our trip in May, we will roll out our long-term plans, or at least the next steps. But, in the meantime, we need your help. We are looking for investors who will help off-set the cost of going Haiti this May. We simply don’t have the necessary funds to cover 100% of the cost ourselves. So, we need to raise $2,000 in the next 2-3 weeks to cover the cost of this trip.
Here’s how you can help:
1. Send a check to: (Please email us, and let us know if possible)
H.E.L.P.
PO Box 202647
Austin, TX 787202. Click the Paypal button below (or email link) and give to our travel fund. An automatic receipt of your giving will be emailed to you immediately.
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Orphan Crisis and other stuff
Lot’s going on this week!
I wrote a blog post for my friends Restore Austin. You can read it here. Restore Austin is also apart of Austin New Church. I will be speaking at ANC this Sunday about Gospel Justice. Love this church, and how they serve the community of Austin and the world.
By time you read this, I should be in Long Beach, CA attending The Ideation Conference. You can follow the conference on Twitter@theideation and the hashtag #theideation.
Also, some big announcements later this week, bring on a new staff member who’s gonna really help take us to the next level.
All right, gotta wake-up in 4 1/2 hours!
Shalom.
