Transform Blog

Bonjou!! Greetings from Port au Prince, Haiti. I write to you this morning sitting next to a team of 20 people who traveled to Haiti on a family trip with Frazer UMC. We have had a wonderful week together and as always, teams of people from the US have come here and been obviously touched and changed by their interactions with the community at Leveque.

Rev. Patrick Quinn from Frazer UMC is leading the family team this week. On Sunday afternoon he preached on the hilltop that will be the location of the new church for the community. With dozens of deaf families we discussed the nature of worship using Mark 14 and followed Patrick’s thoughts with a prayer from William and the use of oil to bless the ground that will be the site for the community church. It was apparent from the beginning that the deaf community understood the significance of their involvement as community leaders both eternally and temporally. As the oil was poured out over the land by community members and team members together, we were reminded of the importance of our partnership together – that love, encouragement and fellowship are always meant to transcend culture, languages, and all challenges.

The deaf leaders and I in other ways have had a pretty stressful week that started with a bit of civil unrest in the community.  The situation has necessitated several long dialogues and challenging conversations this week, but in short, our prayers that the Lord’s peace would reign in Haiti have been abundantly and beautifully answered. With many of the right people in place who can keep perspective and lead their people towards peace, I am fully confident that discussions and the opening of new communication channels will allow for the community to grow together and become a beautiful and flourishing model for the rest of  Haiti (not to mention the importance of continued community recreation and educational programming!!!!) The situation in Leveque this week reminds us that while things are generally going very well, there will be some challenges ahead.

Growing pains will always be a part of community development. I trust that the majority of the people in Leveque truly desire to love their neighbor and to work together – but disagreements will arise and cultural mentalities will often manifest themselves in ways that the last several generations of Haitian leaders and community members have learned. With dictators, military coups, exiled leaders and the often violent exercise of control and power, most Haitian communities have never been welcomed to an open and peaceful dialogue for the sake of communicating grievances and resolving issues.

We find that people are almost always products of their environment and learning. Community growth and the ways in which people resolve conflicts are no different. As we recently resolved with community leaders and local government, and as we move forward together, we are stressing the importance of completely open and regular dialogue. At the moment I think trust is a large issue with much of the local government and leadership. They have been told time and again for a century that people will listen to their ideas, and time and again that promise has been broken. This is one more place where we need to work hard with community leaders to allow them to lead us, but also to continue developing the level of trust that allows them to comfortably and peacefully approach us with anything that may be on their hearts or minds. We are reminding them that in our relationship together we have always been men and women of our word – but a couple of years in building trust is only the beginning of a journey to repair centuries of broken trust.

We are entering the rainy season here in Haiti and the deaf leaders have approached me with many ideas surrounding the best use of their land for home gardens, and ideas for rain water collection that can provide water for drinking and food preparation. I am encouraged that the leaders are now approaching us with their plans for development and asking only for the bare minimum of support – sometimes even just saying, “Kyle, this is what we would like to do . . . we think we can take care of it ourselves and just want you to know everything that is going on.” My response is generally – “WOW – AWESOME WORK!”

Our deaf carpenters have blown away the competition within the community and are now receiving contracts for expanded work. The allocation of work and of resources however, is a very delicate situation. We are doing our best to keep this market competitive in order to encourage good work and ingenuity, but in Haitian communities the allocation of work must be balanced very carefully.

I end this post today with another prayer from my journal from last week:

“Lord, you continue to blow my mind in this work. That as I try to wrestle too much control and take things into my own hands you remind us that all of this is beyond my control and far beyond my own understanding. Lord, I thank you for challenging all of us, especially for challenging me to place all of this at Your feet. Lord, You know that my mind often goes to extreme places, and that I sometimes fear the unknown and the seemingly insurmountable challenges that are placed in my path. Lord, thank You for strength, for reminding us of Your control and for teaching us to let go of ourselves. For strengthening us in seasons, and growing in us through trials, we thank You for difficult reminders of our limitations. Lord, within this praise today I pray that you grant such strength to the community at Leveque. Lord, that Your peace would reign in their hearts. That as they engage in life together and encounter challenges, that they first seek Your peace and Your wisdom – Lord, that you grant them courage to be leaders after Your own heart. In Your most holy name I pray today. AMEN.

Wishing you all the continued experience of the abundant grace and peace of our Reigning King!

Kyle

Read: Mark 11:8-10

Have you ever to been to an especially moving worship service, a church retreat, a mission trip, or heard an enthusiastic speaker on fire for Jesus Christ, and you vowed in that moment that you were going to do life differently?

You promised God that today would be the day that things were going to be different for your life; and then you go back home to the same old drudgery of Monday in the workplace, not nice people, problems and issues, and the passion you felt on Sunday or at the retreat or the mission trip fades away.

On Palm Sunday, the people who had seen the miracles, the healings, and the preaching of Jesus lined the road, cheering as He road that donkey into Jerusalem. But these same people would all disappear a few days later.

In the ordinary living of life, our passion for Christ will fade if we aren’t careful. It is our responsibility to keep the fire for Christ burning in our hearts by staying in His word, doing your daily devotional, serving others, spending time with God, praying your heart’s desire, and listening and seeking God. Burning hearts are stoked when we make every act, no matter how small, an offering to Christ.

-Dr. Tim Thompson

READ: Mark 15:42-47

THINGS TO LOOK FOR: Jesus is dead. Mark names witnesses to this fact: Joseph of Arimathea and the two women are repeatedly talked about in detail. Mark is offering anyone who may doubt this story the opportunity to fact-check its authenticity. What benefit did Mark see in making sure that eyewitnesses were recorded in the story of the cross?

ACTION: Eyewitnesses offer powerful testimonies. Whether it’s in the Bible or in a courtroom, eyewitnesses provide a first-person glimpse into the situation. Today, you are an eyewitness for Jesus. You have had firsthand experience with Jesus, the Church, and Christianity. Your testimony is powerful. Your testimony is needed. Share what you have seen in your faith journey.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank you for my journey of faith. For the good times and the bad times, I rejoice in what you have shown me about abundant living. Help me communicate that to others. Put someone in my path today that needs to hear the good news! Amen.

-Patrick Quinn

READ: Mark 8:27-38

“You are the Messiah.” Peter speaks what no one else dares to say out loud for fear of blasphemy. Only moments later, Peter tries to stop Jesus from telling the disciples that He must suffer and be killed. Peter believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but that idea of who the Messiah was and what the Messiah would do on the earth did not include suffering and death. Peter wanted to be with Jesus, but on his terms.

We have ideas about God. We love the God of John 3:16 which says God loves us, God gives His Son to die for us, and God gives us eternal life. But what about the God of Mark 8:34, which says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”?

Jesus doesn’t sugar coat His message to us. Yes, Jesus is the King who will take His followers with Him into a new Kingdom of God to live with God forever. But, Jesus asks of us our lives—not in death, but in life. “If any man would come after me let him deny himself…” Are you trying to follow Jesus on your terms or on His terms?

-Dr. Tim Thompson

READ: Mark 15:33-41

THINGS TO LOOK FOR: Jesus cries out, “why have you forsaken me?” It was Jewish tradition to speak the first line of a Psalm, which would infer the content of the entire Psalm. Read Psalm 22 from beginning to end. What exactly was Jesus communicating in His last words on the cross?

ACTION: Darkness fell over the earth. The sun was blotted out. Sit in total darkness for fifteen minutes and meditate on the death of Jesus. Notice how lonely darkness can feel. Jesus died for you. He lived for you too!

PRAYER: Dear God, thank you for the Bible that offers your wisdom. Thank you for Psalm 22 that Jesus quoted. Though darkness covered up everything, the light of Christ would have the last word. May the light of Christ have the last word in my life today. Amen.

-Patrick Quinn