Haiti One Year After the Earthquake

On January 12 it will be one year since the devastating earthquake that hit the nation of Haiti, one of the poorest on the planet. It has been 8 months since I went to Haiti for the pastor's conference in Port Au Prince. Haiti is about the size of Maryland with a population of 10 million people. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line, and 54% living in adject poverty. The daily personal income averages to $2 per day.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:53 in the afternoon with the epicenter 10 miles West of Port-au-Prince. As many as 250,000 people were killed and 1.2 million people were displaced . Since then there have been 33 aftershocks.

To me, the biggest aftershock is not the physical impact of the earthquake, as horrible as that was and how it continues to impact the people. It is the spiritual aftershocks. God is working in the midst of the incredible suffering. It is hard to imagine what a tent city is like until you are there and see an ocean of tents as far as the eye can see. When we came for the conference, we met pastors who had suffered so much, yet were hungry for what God could do in their lives and in their congregations and communities. Here is an excerpt from my first message which opened the conference:
We want you to know that as a pastor, who knows Christ, armed with the Word of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, you are more capable than you realize to help the people suffering in your church, and in your community. You don’t need to be an expert in post-traumatic stress, or have a doctoral degree to make a difference.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.
But we also want to bind up your wounds, to minister to your hearts. Our goal is that as you experience the ministry of God to you, you will begin to experience healing, your hope will be renewed, and you will be better equipped to be servant leaders to your people.

Little did I how prophetic these words would be. God is doing amazing things in Haiti, breaking the stronghold of supersition and vodoo which has gripped so many. The church is rebuilding and revival is breaking out.

To find out more, I encourage you to go to the web site of the organization which sponsored the conference in which I participated, http://www.churcheshelpingchurches.org/. Pray for the pastors and people of Haiti. Our God is an awesome God!
Blessings,
Dr. Paul