After rolling past miles and miles of flattened houses and crushed structures in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, MTW’s Sam Haupt was surprised at the sight that awaited him at the church “Reformation D’Espoir D’Haiti.”

“We had seen so much devastation,” he said. “But we were amazed to see that they were already rebuilding their church. As we pulled up, the church members were singing worship music. It seemed to be a picture of their name: ‘Reformation Hope.’”

Sam, who serves as MTW’s assistant director of Global Support Ministries, had embarked on this journey to find a long-term ministry partner for MTW’s disaster response efforts in Haiti. “It was clear that God had gone before us,” recounts Sam. “We wanted to connect with a church. We wanted to help children. Reformation D’Espoir had a 2,000-member church, a school for dozens of orphans, and an established network of local pastors.”

MTW is now partnering with Jean Paul, pastor of Reformation D’Espoir Church, and with his U.S.-based mission organization Reformation Hope, to continue rebuilding its church and school—representing the completed work of Christ to those who have lost so much. (Jean Paul’s congregation lost 250 members in the quake, but no one on their property was harmed.)

“My hope is to see the whole country of Haiti reformed,” said Jean Paul, a Haitian national who studied both theology and engineering in the U.S, working as a New York City cab-driver, before returning to Port-au-Prince in 2003 as a Presbyterian minister.

“Christ can transform the whole country. But people need help—they need training to know how to pray and trust God.”

Jean Paul never imagined that his engineering background, seminary training, heart for orphans, passion for mercy ministry, and network of Haitian pastors would become so pivotal. Today, his ministry is perfectly positioned to meet needs in his homeland.

“I still don’t know how I can bring comfort to these people,” said Jean Paul, “but the Lord is always in control. And He can do anything.”

A recent Religion News Service story revealed how quickly ‘He can do anything’ through the MTW connection in this case:

For some inexplicable reason, the employees had been late serving dinner. Some of the 56 children living there grew cranky and tried to get into the dining room. Some older boys chased them out, afraid they would knock the plates from the table and make a mess.

Then the earth shook. The church and the school collapsed with a roar, pancaking down until there was no space between the concrete ceiling and the concrete floor.

“No one inside could have survived,” Paul said.

But none of the children was even injured. At the time, a dispirited but grateful Paul said, “We have lost everything but we have lost nothing.”

The story of that first miracle was circulated around the U.S. and the world by the Presbyterian Church in America. Within weeks, the Reformation Hope orphanage received $200,000 in gifts — most of it, Paul said, from people who had read about the miracle in Port-au-Prince.

And now, a church much bigger and grander stands at the site, a building of bright blue walls and pink ceramic tiles and broad, polished wooden pews, one of the largest churches in the city’s La Plaine neighborhood.
Source: www.christianity.com

Reformation D’Espoir is well positioned to rebuild its church and school, to reach out to its community, and to work through its extended network of pastors so they can do the same, with the help of partners like MTW.

Sam reflects, “While I tend to think of destruction in terms of damaged buildings, calamity, and economic implications, what we’re really trying to do is rebuild lives.”

MTW is helping rebuild livelihoods in Haiti by hiring a Haitian worker for every short-term worker who comes to work on Reformation D’Espoir projects. Short-term teams will travel to the church in future months to provide medical care, counseling, and construction help.

To learn more about MTW’s efforts in Haiti, to give, or to volunteer on a short-term team, visit www.mtw.org/haiti

[Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced above is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

For more information on Reformation Hope, visit http://www.reformationhope.org/