Dear Friend & Partner,

I am writing you this urgent email from Chennai, India, where I just arrived today from a couple of weeks of travel and ministry in Nepal and India.  By now you are all totally aware of the devastating earthquake that has virtually destroyed the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  Because of your daily access to the news, many of you know far more about this cataclysmic event than I do.  To date I have not seen TV and only a few pictures Since I had been traveling and ministering in remote areas of North East India, I had no access to news.  I only heard of it when I made a brief call to Patt to check in on her.  I was shaken to the bone with the news she shared briefly about Haiti—especially since I was just there a few weeks ago prior to this trip to Asia!  But from what I have been able to read, they are already saying this will be the single biggest natural disaster that the United Nations has ever faced.  Certainly it is the biggest natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere in the poorest country—right on our doorstep as a nation!

When I heard the news, I was stunned.  Haiti is our oldest field of ministry, going back to 1969.  Immediately my heart was divided and pulled in two different directions.  I wanted to jump into a “time machine” and go to Haiti to help out!  But since no such vehicle is available except in Hollywood movies, I could only pray and begin to plan to get to Haiti as soon as possible after I return from India.  In spite of the strong pull of my emotions, I knew I had to “stay the course” and complete the ministry tasks God had brought me to Asia to do.

Once I got to South India to be with our partner, Murli Menon, I could get on line and begin to communicate with Patt at home, ministry partners in the States and friends in Haiti.  From what I have been able to hear, most of our key ministry partners were not killed.  But there is not a family in Haiti that has not been impacted by this horrific event through the loss of a family member or total loss of property.  The family scars will last into eternity.

But I am thankful that I have been able to do some crucial communication and major coordination from here.  It has been amazing to be on this side of the world helping coordinate Disaster Relief in Haiti!  But that is the benefit of the world we live in that is connected via TV, internet, sat phones and Blackberries!  More than that, it is the blessing of a life-time of strategic partnerships in America and Haiti we could build upon during this dark hour of crisis that will go on for months and years.

THE ASIAN TSUNAMI

This tragic news brought back a lot of similar painful membories when I was here in India in 2004 shortly after the Tsunami, doing relief work in villages that were totally destroyed by the massive waves that flattened everything in its path.  While I was here then in this same city of Chennai working with Bishop Ezra Sargunam, I was also communicating regularly with Haiti relative to the “Haiti At The Cross Events” we were coordinating there for the 200th Anniversary of the country.  There was a strong move in the country to rededicate it to Voodoo.  And in partnership with our long-time friend and partner, Dr. Chavannes Jeune, we were seeking to mobalize the Christians to break the blood covenant with the devil and radify the blood covenant of Christ on the cross.  God wonderfully honored those events through great spiritual revival.

Now the situation is reversed.  I am sitting in India helping coordinate relief efforts in Haiti!  And here there is growing opposition by the Hindu Fundamentalists.  We were to dedicate a new church we built in memory of a beloved friend who came to India with me several decades ago, Jimmy Byrd.  I preached his funeral several months ago.  The family gave funds to build the church and it was up to roof level and almost ready for our trip and dedication this very week.  Then we got the sad news from Bishop Ezra that the militants had stormed the church and threatened to kill the workers if they continued.  Work was stopped.  The church now is incompleted.  We still hope to see the problem solved so we can return and dedicate it around Easter.  So there are so many similarities between India and Haiti.  But God is sovereignly working in both—often in ways we will never fully understand this side of eternity.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HAITI AND INDIA

On my first ministry trip to Haiti in 1969 with the “New Directions” musical team, I was told this: “The only real preparation for ministry in places like Bombay or Calcutta, India, is Port-au-Prince, Haiti.”  That meant that the only partial preparation you could get for the massive problems of poverty in India was the similar poverty in Haiti.  The only difference was in quantity rather than quality.  The levels of poverty were the same.  There was just so much more of it in India.  At that time the total population of Haiti was around 6 million people.  There were already several cities in India with populations twice the size of all of Haiti!  So Haiti was not only a strategic focal point of ministry for me and NDI, it was an incredible preparation for the ministry in India that God would also give us.

It is also very interesting to me that God in His sovereignty allowed me to connect two of our key Haitian and India partners: Bishop Ezra Sargunam and Dr. Chavannes Jeune.  A few years ago I took Bishop Ezra to Haiti with me to teach a Pastor’s Seminar for Chavannes.  They immediately were joined in spirit.  It was also interesting to me that both men are short of statue—but “giants in the spirit!”  Both are passionate about their countries, the development of Christian pastors and leaders and the growth of the church.  And both are politically proactive in their countries.  God has given both Bishop Ezra and Pastor Chavannes great political influence which they are seeking to use for the poor and for the advance of the Kingdom of God.

One thing I will never forget is what Bishop Ezra said when I took him on a short walking tour of Cite Sole in Port-au-Prince.  He said he almost threw up because he had never seen anything that bad in India—which has some of the largest and worst slums in the world.  That was saying a lot for a man who has ministered in some of the worst slums in Asia!

So there has been a strong connection between India and Haiti in my personal life and ministry.  And there has been a wonderful and strategic connection between Bishop Ezra and Pastor Chavannes!  When God wants to get things done for His Kingdom, He always raises up strategic leaders in His church.  These two men are giants for the Kingdom and two of my dearest friends in the world!  They have been united in ministry and in tragedy.  So please continue to pray for them both because they are making huge differences for time and eternity in their respective countries.

SUPPORT FOR RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT

I want to thank those of you who have already given for the relief work in Haiti through New Directions International or Impact Of Hope International—just like you did for the Tsunami work here in Asia.  Right now the eyes and hearts of the world—especially Americans, are fixed on Haiti.  Rightfully so since it is on our door-step as a nation.  I know we will rise to the challenge by giving liberally and even sacrifically to stand with our Haitian brothers and sisters.  But unlike India, Haiti does not have much of an infrastructure in place to build upon.  We will have to clean away the rubble and start from ‘ground zero’ to rebuild the nation.  It will take years to complete the task!  Many people will get tired of hearing about the need and fall into ‘compassion fatigue.’  But I urge you to keep focused by faith and love on these dear people.  With your continued help we can and will make a big difference!  And while we will continue to focus on the relief and disaster relief in Haiti, we must not forget our other crucial partners and projects in other countries.  Their needs and opportunities are great also.  I can’t wait to share some of the reports from here that will bless and encourage you.  Be watching for those in the days ahead.

There is much more I would like to share about what is happening there through our friends and partners at Double Harvest.  It was first in Haiti that I began a friendship with the VanWingerdens that has spanned over 3 decades and several countries in Africa like Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Zimbabwe.  Right now they have one of the strongest infrastructues still standing.  I will tell you more about that soon.

OPPORTUNITY & OPPOSITION

As I wrote in my New Year’s blog, these are but more of the “signs of the times” that the Bible has warned us about in advance.  Jesus predicted that these kinds of crisis would come more and more like “birth pains” leading up to the “End of the Age.”  Therefore, all over the world, opportunity and opposition come together.  Seldom do you get one with out the other.  And after over 40 years of of ministry in America and across the world, I have found that you must “respond by faith” to both when they come.  There are no pause or rewind buttons on the controls of life.  Patt and I have also found over and over again that neither opportunity or crisis come at a convenient time for us!  They seem to always come at the times when we least expect them and are often the least prepared spiritually, emotionally and physically to deal with them.  As the saying goes: “Life happens.”  And you have to deal with it by God’s grace when it comes to the best of your ability.

Frankly, I am physically tired right now from a very exhausting trip that I started with a bad cold and cough.  I have basically coughed my way through Nepal and India.  I was looking forward to getting back home with Patt for some rest so I could get better and stronger.  But that option does not seem to exist now in the face of the Haitian crisis.  I am certainly not trying to be a martyr.  But the Spirit will not let me sit back and “look after me” when there are countless thousands whose needs are so much greater than mine.  So I do covet your prayers for a fresh healing touch from the Lord Jesus and renewed strength for the trip to Haiti I hope to make next week if I can get into the country.

More soon…

In His Sovereign Love,