Like many Californians, when I first heard of the earthquakes in Haiti, I shrugged it off. Heck we get earthquakes all the time here in the Southland. Just as I was starting to ponder the reality that Haiti isn’t here and that their construction “values” surely wouldn’t meet the high standards we have here, the news started to pour in about the extent of physical, personal and spiritual destruction visited upon the poorest nation in our hemisphere. And, like many of you, I have been riveted to the news that immediately began saturating our airwaves and internet spaces.
As it happens, my church, Copperhill Community, has strong and abiding ties with an orphanage/school that we support down in Haiti – Three Angels. [PASSON FOR THE HARVEST] In fact, we had just had a team of folks visit the Three Angels facility just prior to Christmas to deliver presents from us and do some site evaluation to assess current and future needs. [VISIONARY LEADERSHIP] One of our guys, Eric Helgemo, also happens to be trained in Disaster Preparedness. He and others set about fixing their water cistern and filling it up. They also set up power inverters and such. Chris Stockwell, another of our team is a construction engineer who gave the facilities a once over from the perspective of future efforts to improve the facilities and structural integrity.
Part of the role of the orphanage is to find adoptive parents [FAMILY PRIORITY] in the US. And of about 30 orphans there, I believe that 26 had families in the US ready and waiting for paperwork to clear Haitian and US channels. Two of those adoptive families are from our church. Thanks to Facebook (the tool we all love and hate at the same time) we were getting minute by minute reports on the status of the children and care givers. Shannon Hoffman, who is our key Three Angels supporter and go to person here at Copperhill, met with our body a few nights ago as we committed to a prayer vigil for the Three Angels operation and Haiti in general. She gave us some additional – and, at times, heartbreaking – background. Three Angels is not just an orphanage and school for local children. [CULTURALLY RELEVANT EVANGELISM] It also is deeply involved in the local community. Many of the locals line up for medical and other attention every day. We prayed for a lot of things, not the least of which were the school children and workers who were in their homes at the time the earthquakes hit. Many are still unaccounted for. Their primary need then as now, is for cash. [STEWARDSHIP]
Also as it happens, Shannon’s husband, Gary is a radio announcer on KFI with Bill Handel, who graciously provided abundant air time and coverage of the Haiti disaster and Three Angels needs in specific – especially their need for cash. Earlier that evening, I got a call from a friend in a faith based organization that I belong to who saw our Facebook postings and asked me to call a relative of his who is a reporter in Fresno looking for content. They shared with their audience same of the facts that we had and the Three Angels need for donations and support. And the Body of Christ began to respond.
We also prayed for Chris Stockwell, who would be a member of a four person team to go back to Haiti the following day to assess the damage and to bring those orphans, hopefully, back to the US. They “managed” to find a mission aviation flight into Haiti. They “managed” to get to the orphanage and found that while the building did not collapse, the rest of the neighborhood was in ruins. That all of the children at the orphanage got out in time and were being watched over by onsite caregivers is simply the act of a merciful God. Working sources in the Haiti and US governments, the 26 children were taken to the embassy in Haiti, provided with paperwork and clearance to leave. They “managed” to get on another mission aviation flight out and landed in Florida yesterday. Today, as I write this, two of our local families are on their way back to Santa Clarita with their adoptive children; 24 others to families across the US! [INTEGRITY]
In a meeting last night, I was told by Gary Hoffman, that donations for Three Angels are in the vicinity of $250,000.00, to date. The orphanage and school will need to be rebuilt and expanded to accommodate the new orphans and care givers [MULTIPLICATION OF LEADERSHIP] who will flood into the system in Haiti. Fortunately the building was leased and plans are being made to secure the well being of many lost, hurting and hungry souls still In Haiti today and for the future. That is why I am encouraging continued donations to Three Angels. There are many good charitable organizations in Haiti, but giving to Three Angels assures you that your donations will go directly to the point of need. Please be generous and as Three Angels pick themselves up out of the dust and rubble, you might consider sponsoring an orphan or two – sadly there will be many in need.
We live in a fallen world; a world that is “under the curse” and that includes earthquakes, tsunamis and other tragic events. (Read Romans 8:18-30 for Paul’s take on this). Yet, we serve a master who is, even as we speak, actively redeeming all of creation and all of his people. So, some may ask, where is Jesus in all of this? I look at all of the events surrounding Three Angels; all of the people involved and all of the other relief efforts on going and I say: Jesus is among us.
To give to Three Angels, go to:
www.threeangelshaiti.org
To watch a video on the return of the orphans, go to: http://www.kfi640.com/pages/Multimedia.html?feed=337183&article=6653067
[For those of you attending the ILI Regional Conference at Copperhill in February, you might be interested to know that the topics shown above in brackets [INTIMACY WITH GOD], are specific core values that we will discuss at our conference, as displayed in the incredible story of Three Angels. That should make you feel good about attending.]
Mike Brown - Elder
Copperhill Community Church
Comments [0]