A God Size Dream

For 33 years, I have been in ministry (17 yrs. as a staff member and 16 yrs. as a pastor). I have always wanted to be a part of an Acts 1:8 church in which there were active mission projects at home, state, national, and international places. I was privileged to be in one church that was active in all ministry regions except international. While serving in another church (2006) an opportunity came my way to make a trip to Romania to work alongside a pastor...to give encouragement and support as he pastored one church and three missions. This was a great experience and wet my appetite for future trips overseas.

In October 2013, I traveled to Ethiopia with my daughter to make final arrangements to bring my new granddaughter home. We were only there four days but the dream that had been lying dormant in my soul was revived. With God's help and if it be His will, I could venture out towards working with missionaries already in a foreign field.

Very quickly ideas began to go through my mind. First of all, what would be my mission project? My greatest conference each year is the Johnny Hunt Timothy/Barnabas conference in Branson. This conference is designed to offer encouragement, support, instruction, direction, and inspiration to pastors. So I decided that if I could find pastors who might benefit from what I could offer then that would be a viable possibility.

I checked with some people I know about possibilities in the Philippines. The story is that there has been a missionary in the Philippines for around 30 years and he founded and started a seminary for Philippine pastors. I immediately realized the pastors were already getting a good academic and spiritual education and I needed to look elsewhere.

I have known Terry and Carolyn Routon for 11 years. They had made many trips to Haiti and then felt God calling them to a permanent ministry to the people of northern Haiti. I gave them a call since they happen to be stateside. They work with the poorest of the poor in Haiti. There is only one pastor who has been to seminary.  All other pastors are fairly new to pastoral ministry and are in need of some help.

The Routon's have been working with some pastors in the areas of discipleship and evangelism. Also, there was a pastor who came to Haiti last summer (2013) to teach pastors the book of Romans. The pastors thoroughly enjoyed the conference, the instruction, and the time together. Some walked a great distance from their villages to get there which shows how much they valued the conference.

The Routon's were glad that I was considering coming to Haiti and felt like the pastor's would benefit greatly. The face to face visit gave me more of a feel for the Haiti possibility. As I continued to pray and consider, I felt God confirming and affirming a mission project to the pastors of northern Haiti. Would you pray about this opportunity with me?