59 small groups, 480 pastors...what's next??

The January trip of Doug Stevens, TLC International Director, and a fellow pastor, Russ, was our first leadership seminar addressing the character of a spiritual leader.  About three hundred pastors gathered at two locations in Port au Prince and Cayes and responded enthusiastically to the biblical teaching and helpful practical principles of what it means to be a spiritual leader. 

The concept of TLC small groups--a mainstay of our Stateside ministry--was presented and within weeks of their departure, Gilbert Jules, our newly-appointed TLC director on site in Haiti, reported that fifty-nine groups had sprung up with almost five hundred pastoral participants!  The appeal of small group fellowship and accountability obviously was something needed and desired in Haiti.

In recent months Gilbert has been meeting with small group leaders as he is able and we have been providing some materials for him to utilize in training them to be effective servant-facilitators.  Our TLC manual for servant facilitators is in the process of being revised and adapted to the Haitian cultural setting (my current job) and Doug and I will travel in August to present it to our Haitian brothers.  We will also be sharing a seminar as an extension of our pastoral training curriculum on "The Spiritual Disciplines of a Leader".  Mark August 26-September 1 on your calendar to be praying for us.

It is a privilege to have been recently appointed to the position of TLC Director, Haiti, and to work closely with Gilbert Jules, our liaison there.  Gilbert has been in the States caring for a brother who recently lost his legs in a tragic automobile accident.  He will be returning to Haiti at the end of June so our prayerful support for him while he is here, as well as for the leadership team serving while he is gone, is deeply appreciated.

It is exciting to see what God is already doing in Haiti through obedient servant-hearted pastors who are seeking to lead their people to a greater knowledge of Christ.  It is a humbling and sacred responsibility to know that through TLC we can partner with them by teaching them basic Bible doctrine and Bible study methods as well as training them in sound biblical leadership principles so that they can serve more effectively. 

Pray for us.  Paul wrote the church at Colosse these closing words in 4:3,4.  "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ...Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should..."  God has opened the door.  Pray now that we will clearly proclaim the message of the gospel, teaching it to Haitian pastors so that they, in turn,  can teach it clearly to others.

TLC 's Final Blessing!

It was a privilege this last week, along with Gilbert Jules, to meet with the Board of Directors of TLC to receive their final approval for moving forward with TLC Haiti.  Needless to say, we are excited.

The process of board review was a welcome one as we were asked to talk about our objectives, our budgetary needs, and our program moving forward,  TLC Haiti, is,  in a sense, a "test" program, using TLC's concepts that have flourished in the United States now in a foreign country.  Already with 59 groups operational in Haiti, TLC has demonstrated the need of small group ministry and its viability in Haiti.

We will be traveling to Port au Prince and Cayes August 27-31 holding one of our leadership curriculum classes as well as a training seminar for servant facilitators at both sites.  I am currently adapting our excellent training manual and will, hopefully, be carrying it with me when Doug Stevens, our International Director, and I travel this summer.

We will be holding a teaching seminar, highlighting the Book of Colossians in November and Logan Carnell, who joined me in two trips to Haiti teaching the Book of Romans, an inductive study, will accompany me again.  Our goal is to establish a twelves class curriculum in conjunction with Fuller Theological Seminary to be covered in three years with four annual teaching seminars, combining theological studies along with leadership training.  Out TLC small groups will be the monthly connective link that will encourage and support the pastors .

How can you be involved?  Please join us in prayer that we will fulfill our goal of  "Encouraging Kingdom Leaders Worldwide" through the faithful teaching of the Word, the training in biblical leadership principles, and the continued development of effective TLC groups ministering to pastors in Haiti.

You can also help us financially by contacting our website at http://www.leadconnect.org/, or by writing me, dale@leadconnect.org. 

Join us in this exciting venture we are launching in Haiti!

Mission accomplished!

It was exciting Saturday evening to receive a short text from one of our Haiti work team members simply saying, "The roof is finished!"  I found myself visibly moved by those few words summarizing four days of frantic work.

Carrefourpoy is a small village west of Port au Prince, one of four churches under Pastor Gilbert's purview.  It is a poor village, with small pieced-together houses dotting the rural countryside.  When you drive through the village, there are small children everywhere and the signs of poverty are unavoidable.

But the children are something special.  Dressed in their colorful school uniforms, hair neatly-combed and captivating smiles on their faces, they walk to school--schools like the one Gilbert has established in Carrefourpoy, serving over 300 children each week. There, teachers serve faithfully, receiving small  salaries--$30 a month (we help support that minimal wage)--and children pay what they can to contribute to their education.  At best, it is a pittance.  The alternative is the public school system which pales in comparison.

The men from our church covered the rough section where school classes meet last year and this trip's purpose was for the construction of a roof over the larger area where the church  and the school children gather. This allows for church and school to meet, even when it rains, which is often during the rainy season in Haiti.  They did this with shortened time parameters, but they accomplished their objective.

Carrefourpoy, along with churches in Desca, Ballanger and Port au Prince, are the four churches we have partnered with at Grace Fellowship Church where I currently serve as senior pastor. Two years ago we determined to establish a sustainable relationship with Gilbert and his work there.  It has been a truly a blessing difficult to describe in words.

Grace Fellowship is a small rural church in Amador County.  About 500-600 people call Grace "home".  Yet God has allowed us to participate in fulfilling the Great Commission in reaching out to the people of Haiti, with a determined emphasis on training pastors--now almost 480 pastors have been affected by our teaching-training, with our recent partnership with TLC.

Perhaps your church would like to partner with a church/churches in Haiti. "Hands-on" experiences help clarify and sharpen a church's understanding of how we participate in fulfilling the Great Commission, which is God's expectation of every church.  TLC (www.leadconnect.org) will continue to make you increasingly aware of opportunities to help n Haiti.  The return in your investment cannot be measured but it will have eternal consequences.

Want to know how to get involved?  Contact me at dale@leadconnect.org.  I would be happy to provide a template for what we did at Grace Fellowship Church--not always perfectly--in establishing sustainable relationships with our Haitian brothers and sisters.

"Mission accomplished"...for now...but there is much more to come.

the story of a lost passport

Terry Throssel is a valuable part of our Haitian work party, scheduled to leave last Sunday evening for Haiti and the construction of a roof for a church in Carrefourpoy where we have worked before.  His expertise as a skilled worker are an invaluable blessing on adventures like this.

Alas!  Terry could not find his passport and the team was compelled to leave--sadly--without him--for San Francisco Sunday afternoon, to then catch a flight to Miami and then to Port au Prince on Monday morning.

While on vacation, I received the frantic news that the flight to Miami was cancelled due to mechanical failure and our work team was forced to stay overnight in San Francisco, to fly to Miami Monday morning and to lay over there until Tuesday morning for a flight to Port au Prince.  The urgency was to contact our liaison there--Gilbert Jules--who would be waiting patiently at the airport.  Contact was made and the ever-gracious Gilbert commented to me, "Pastor Dale, God will work it all out..."  I know Gilbert was smiling.  He always is...

Meanwhile, back in Amador County, Terry found his passport!  And...you've already jumped ahead...made contact with the team and met them in Miami to fly with them Tuesday morning to Port au Prince.  His presence with them will more than make up for the lost day!

Isn't that just like God?  He weaves the tangled threads of our plans together and fashions a tapestry of His own divine purpose and planning that leave us all bewildered, yet amazed.

It will be gratifying to see how God uses the story of a lost (and found) passport to accomplish His work in the construction of a roof for the church in Carrefourpoy, where people will now be able to meet together to worship Him, even when it is raining.

God is good!

Haiti Highlights

May 6-13  
Work team from Grace Fellowship Church in Jackson, California is traveling to Haiti to work in one of our sister churches in Carrefourpoy to complete a building project that includes roofing the school and church which service about 500 each week.  We have also funded the digging of a well there.

May 17,18
Planning and presentation to TLC Board of Directors of ministry direction in Haiti including discussion of curriculum for the pastoral training school and the development of servant-facilitators (small group leaders) for the  60 groups already formed there impacting nearly 500 pastors.

May 20
Pastor Gilbert Jules will be at Grace Fellowship Church on Sunday, May 20 in the 10:30 am worship service to share about TLC ministry and our working relationship together.  You're invited--8040 South Hwy 49, Jackson, California.

May 21
Fellowship dinner for Haiti work team members at Grace Fellowship Church at 6:30 pm. Slides and stories of the work in Haiti in cooperation with Pastor Gilbert Jules will be the highlight of the evening. If you would like to join us, the cost is $12.50 per person.  Contact us at 209-223-1971.