Spanish River Church - Glocal Ministry

We are going Glocal at SRC...

2010-09-14T13:35:00.000-04:00

We are excited as a church family to start a new ministry year with a Glocal focus. Both the Vision Sunday service and the Leadership Community reflected where we are going as a community responding to Jesus' call "come, follow me". Our know, grow, serve philosophy of ministry is being implemented, as we continue to grow in Christ together and now learn new ways to step up and serve glocally with our time, talents and treasures.
Glocal stands for Global and Local service. We will be sharing with you in the days ahead many opportunities for you to get involved in our ministries both locally (inside the walls of SRC and local to the Boca Raton area) and globally (around the world as we serve our church plants).
We will be sharing new stories of God at work with you, and we will be here to help you engage into glocal service. We are on for a great ride together. We have an upcoming Glocal Fair, scheduled for the weekend of October 16-17. There you will have a chance to learn more about the many opportunities for us to serve God together. Mark your calendars, so you can join us that weekend!

Pray for our church planter... Adrien Bausells

2010-08-02T18:00:00.000-04:00

SRC has been so blessed with the partnerships that God has given us in Brazil. One of the special partners that we have is Adrien Bausells. Last March a team from SRC had the privilege to participate in the dedication service of Vila Olimpia Church in Sao Paulo. SRC has partnered with Good News Church and Chacara Primavera to plant Vila Olimpia 4 years ago. Now the church has more than 120 members and is fully organized with elders and deacons. What a blessing! Here you can watch a little bit of the excitement of that night, on March 21st, 2010. Adrien works with our partner Ricardo Agreste, SRC's movement leader in Brazil. Ricardo pastors Chacara Primavera in Campinas, where our team also served in March. Please continue to pray for Adrien and Soraia and their ministry of the gospel in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Pray for our church planter... Josue' Rodrigues

2010-08-02T16:39:00.000-04:00

SRC has planted 35 churches in Brazil over the years. In Rio de Janeiro we work with several partners to advance the gospel to that region of Brazil. One of our partners in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro is Pastor Josue' Rodrigues. Josue leads Betania Presbiteryan Church, a congregation of more than 2,000 people. Josue' has a vision for church planting and recently Betania partnered with SRC to plant Betania Litoranea Church (see picture below). Leandro Marques is pastoring that congregation and God has been blessing their efforts. Josue' is also a great musician and has many Christian records in Brazil. Please keep Pastor Josue, his family and his ministry in your prayers.

Pray for our church planter... Caleb Clardy

2010-08-02T15:58:00.000-04:00

One of SRC church planters in New York city is Caleb Clardy. Caleb works with Jon Tyson, the leader for the Trinity Grace movement in NYC. We started working with Jon in 2006, and now he is planting his 4th church in the city. Caleb and his wife Allison are ministering in the Brooklyn area to the Park Slope community. For more details on the great work that God is doing through them, and also to connect and pray for them, you can visit http://www.trinitygraceparkslope.com/
Keep them in your prayers, and send them a note of encouragement when you can.

Pray for our church planter... Leonel Ortiz

2010-06-25T17:02:00.000-04:00

Since 2007, SRC started to develop a relationship with Pastor Leonel Ortiz from Colombia. His son-in-law Pastor Matt Dubocq is our church planter in Miami. Through Matt we got to meet Pastor Leonel and now we've been working in Colombia since 2008. SRC has planted 2 churches in that country so far, in Villavicencio and Cali. Pastor Leonel is training many leaders (see pic below) for the work of the gospel through church planting in Colombia. He and his wife Belgica, as well as his children are very involved in ministry. Please keep them in your prayers this week. Pray that the gospel can advance in Colombia and that many people can find Christ through the ministry and leadership of Pastor Leonel Ortiz.

Pray for our church planter... Khen Tombing

2010-06-24T15:15:00.001-04:00

Our movement leader in India (Myanmar area) is Rev. Khen Tombing. SRC has been involved with church planting in India since the early 1980's, and so far we have partnered with Khen to plant 16 churches in India. Khen and his wife Rith are very active in the ministry of the gospel to the Hindu communities in India. Khen has recently lost his sister to a car accident and was not able to attend our GO Conference in April. Please lift up Pastor Khen and his family in prayer, as we continue to serve our SRC church planters by praying for them every week.

Join us as we pray for our SRC church planters

2010-06-04T12:35:00.002-04:00

During the weekend services at SRC, we have been highlighting the work of our church plants and lifting up a particular church planter in prayer. This is a great way for the SRC family to continue remembering our church planters. We thought it would be a good idea to do the same here in our GO blog, this way people can continue to pray during the week.

This week we will be praying for Pastor Clinton Cesar. Clinton and his wife Juliana are planting Libertas Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the famous Copacabana beach. They are in their 3rd year of work and plans are to dedicate the church towards the end of 2010. They attended the GO conference recently and brought great news about the new location that they secured for their meetings. We are supporting them in prayer and also financially with the remodeling with the new building. Join us in prayer for the Cesar family and for Libertas Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Special thanks to all the GO Volunteers!

2010-06-04T11:47:00.000-04:00

We had an amazing Global Outreach Conference this year. The weekend services were so intense and covered with great stories of God's work. We went around the world in 60 minutes and we discovered that "we've got to do this" and "we get to do this" together! It's about the gospel and it's about changing lives here in the US and around the world.

The GO Expo was the best ever. We had more than a hundred volunteers involved in making it happen. It was a great time for our church family to come together and celebrate the fruit of their investment (time, talents and treasures) into church planting. It was also a great opportunity to visit with our church planters and to connect with the work that God is doing in their churches.

The conference sessions also went very well, with time for our church planters to meet together, connect and share experiences. On Tuesday we had a special speaker, Randy Pope, who provided great teaching and a time of interaction for our church planting partners and friends. We closed our conference with a communion service where we had a time of thanksgiving and great fellowship.

None of the above would be possible without the faithful and joyful dedication and service of our GO volunteers. We are grateful for them! We have a great family at SRC, the family of God, and the fruits of our efforts here is impacting the whole world.

You can meet our Pastors from Brazil and Colombia!

2010-04-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

Thanks for following our blog as we share wonderful stories of how God is at work thorough SRC around the world. You saw the recent posts on the mission trips to Brazil and Colombia.
If you were not on the teams that went to South America, you can still meet and get to know the church planters that we recently visited...
Pastors Leonel and Javier from Colombia, Ricardo Agreste and his team (Adrien Bausells, Renato Camargo, Ricardo Makino, Rodrigo Leitao, Fabrini Soares, Leonardo Sahium) from Brazil will be visiting us at SRC for the Global Outreach Conference. The dates will April 24-28th. Don't miss this opportunity to meet and get to know them!

Colombia Trip - Day Three - The church in Cali

2010-03-24T23:46:00.000-04:00

The team visited Javier's church in Cali, Bethany Church of Reform. In the picture you see Tommy & Shannan, Javier & Gloria, Matt and Casey. Below you can see a view of their church place, where they normally pack 120 people for Sunday service. Pastor Javier is coaching three other pastors who have been leading bible studies and are now ready to plant more churches.

Colombia Trip - Day Three - Meeting with Javier's leaders

2010-03-24T23:39:00.000-04:00

The team traveled from Bogota to Cali by air and the next day visited our church planter Javier Gil and his wife Gloria. They are expecting their first baby, Tomas.
On Wednesday, March 24th, our team spent the day with Pastor Javier and his leaders.

Colombia Trip - Day Two - Visit to SRC project

2010-03-23T23:35:00.000-04:00

The mission site in Villavicencio that SRC is supporting is a place where kids from the community spend half-day while parents are at work. Instead of the kids staying on the streets or alone at home, they have plenty of activities at the mission site, plus they get to hear about Jesus everyday.

Here you can see Pastor Leonel at the Villavicencio mission site.

Colombia Trip - Day Two - Time in Villavicencio

2010-03-23T23:14:00.000-04:00

The next day, our team had meetings in the morning, visited our project in Villavicencio and drove through the mountains back to Bogota to catch a flight to Cali. The road was one of those two-lane type with the solid yellow lines in the middle (which means do not pass). The driver seemed to ignore the solid lines, and was leaving the trucks behind... Above you can see a picture with Pastor Leonel and his wife Belgica.

Colombia Trip - Day One - Meeting with Leonel's leaders

2010-03-23T23:02:00.003-04:00

On March 22nd Tommy, Shannan and Casey traveled from Sao Paulo to Bogota. They arrived at the airport and our SRC church planter in Miami, Matt Dubocq, was waiting for them. Matt spent the rest of the time in Colombia with our team, as he speaks fluent Spanish and is Pastor Leonel's (our Movement Leader in Colombia) son-in-law. Matt was a great host and he made the time in Colombia an easy and smooth one for our team. Thanks Matt!!

Here you can see a picture of our team meeting with Pastor Leonel's leaders in the hotel in Villavicencio, a town about 2 hours driving from Bogota.

Visit to Colombia

2010-03-22T22:55:00.000-04:00

On March 22nd our team left Brazil after serving there for ten unforgettable days.
Tommy, Shannan and Casey continued their mission trip itinerary, now going to Colombia. Rick Krive went to Recife to spend time with SRC church planter, Pedro Albuquerque and his family. The rest of our team returned home safe and sound on a direct flight from Sao Paulo to Miami.

Day Nine: Sao Paulo - Dedication of Vila Olimpia Church

2010-03-21T17:15:00.005-04:00

Our team had the privilege of participating at the dedication service of Vila Olimpia Church. Four years ago, Pastor Adrien Bausells (below) started that church plant and a partnership between Spanish River Church, Good News Church, Chacara Primavera and Pirituba Church funded that project to completion and to self-sustaining mode.

It was a beautiful service where Rick led the worship and Tommy gave the message.

This was the last event of this mission trip to Brazil and it was a remarkable one.

Day Nine: Sao Paulo - Fazendinha and Seed Projects

2010-03-21T17:12:00.004-04:00

On Sunday afternoon, the team visited the projects that Alphaville Church has in the Sao Paulo area: Fazendinha, Seed, and Santana da Parnaiba Projects. Everyone on our team was amazed by the work that they are doing in those communities. Pastors Hilder and Carlos Alberto are the movement leaders in that area, and they have other leaders overseeing those projects. Pastor Alessandro (picture above) takes care of Fazendinha and Valdir ministers at the Seed Project.

Day Nine: Sao Paulo - Alphaville Church in the morning

2010-03-21T17:08:00.002-04:00

The team left Campinas on Sunday morning and traveled to Sao Paulo to participate at some events there. In the morning, the team attended the service at Alphaville Church, where Rick led the church in a great time of worship and Casey preached a wonderful message.

Pastor Hilder invited our team to go up on stage and the church recognized everyone for their service. It was a special time for us.

Day Eight: Church Service at Chacara Multi-site

2010-03-20T17:03:00.012-04:00

On Saturday evening, part of the team participated in the Chacara multi-site church service where Tommy preached the message. Here you can see Tommy and Hilton, who was a great translator for the American speakers at all events of the week. Hilton is the Associate Pastor at Vila Olimpia Church in Sao Paulo. He worked very hard delivering the messages in Portuguese, so the local pastors and communities could be blessed. Thanks Hilton!

Rich and Valette Porter went to Jaguariuna to present the Money Management Seminar. Rich is shown with Pastor Rodrigo of Jaguariuna Church.

Larry and Sonny went to Indaiatuba also to present the Finance Seminar to the community of that church that Pastor Ricardo Makino leads. Sonny is shown above speaking to the audience.

The team ended the day at Aldenir's house and enjoyed Mexican food for dinner. Aldenir is on the worship team of Chacara Primavera in Campinas. He is a Palmeiras fan - we mean fanatic :).
He loves giving Palmeiras soccer shirts to the guest speakers. Aldenir hosted the team twice in his house for delicious food and great fellowship. Thanks Aldenir!

Day Eight: Meeting with leaders in the morning

2010-03-20T16:55:00.002-04:00

The team had breakfast at Chacara Primavera with leaders of the CTPI church planting network (above).

While Tommy, Terriel, Casey, Sonny, Larry and Fabiana met with Ricardo's leaders in the morning to talk about the status of the church planting projects and future steps, Rich, Valette and Craig went to Chacara multi-site where Rich gave the Money Management Seminar.

Day Seven: Conference continues

2010-03-19T16:45:00.003-04:00

In the morning, after a wonderful time of worship with Carlinhos Veiga, Terriel talked about "The Method: the Dynamics of the Preacher in the Contemporary Communication".

Then SRC church planter and partner Fabrini (shown here) spoke about "The Mission". The team went out to lunch in the mall, and visited the Presbytery Museum at the Campinas Seminary.

In the evening, Sonia Agreste (Pastor Ricardo's wife) led the worship, and Ricardo closed the conference talking about "The Call: A New Preacher for a New Reality".

The conference ended and the team went out to celebrate at Romano's Italian Restaurant. Dinner was served at 1:00am!

Everyone had a great time in fellowship with Ricardo and the leaders of CTPI.

Day Six: Conference the rest of the day

2010-03-18T16:16:00.002-04:00

After a long break for lunch, the conference participants attended workshops based on their interests or needs. They offered three tracks: initiation (for new church planters), consolidation (for experienced planters), and mother-church (for churches who are now planting other churches).

In the evening, Carlinhos Veiga led worship with emphasis in the Brazilian popular music style, with Christian lyrics. Rick and the band followed Carlinhos.

Tommy spoke about: "The Person: the integrity, spirituality and quality of life of the Pastor". The central point was Acts 20:28 and the importance of pastors taking good care of themselves.

Day Six: Conference in the morning...

2010-03-18T16:11:00.003-04:00

This was Tommy's day to talk at the church planting conference. He spoke in the morning about "The Paradigm: Paul's Experience in Athens" and how pastors need to use the message of Acts 2 and apply it to an Acts 17 reality. Although the message remains the same, the language and the methods that pastors use in the new reality need to adapt to the culture that they are in.

Tommy used the music of SRC's own Eric Whitaker (2 Edge) as an example of another method to deliver the message of the gospel in today's language. This talk was fantastic, and created a lot of good discussion for the Q&A panel that followed after Ricardo's talk about "A Way: The Gospel and the Brazilian Culture".

Day Five: The Conference Opening

2010-03-17T16:03:00.004-04:00

Rick Krive opened the conference with 30min of worship, and he led us with songs in Portuguese and English. About 300 people were attending the opening night, and we had a wonderful time praising our Lord in both languages.

Terriel followed with a talk about "A Problem: The Preaching Crisis in the New Reality". Hilton translated the talks for the American speakers and he did a wonderful job following Terriel as he spoke, showed examples, and danced (!!), as an illustration of a preaching style.

Day Five: Timothy Project

2010-03-17T15:53:00.006-04:00

Terriel and Tommy spoke at the Timothy Project, a network of young pastors in the Southeast region of Brazil that our Movement Leader, Ricardo Agreste, coaches, mentors and walks alongside to build them up for ministry.
Terriel did a wonderful job sharing with those pastors about "Preaching in the Art of Being a Pastor". That happened in the morning and it was followed by a panel with Q&A.

In the afternoon, Tommy spoke about "The Leadership in the Art of Being a Pastor". Both talks blessed those leaders and gave them new perspective in both areas of preaching and leadership.

In the evening, the music workshop happened, where Rick Krive, Carlinhos Veiga and Sonia Agreste spoke to about 100 worship leaders. Rick focused on the participation during worship, Carlinhos talked about the role of culture in the worship, and Sonia talked about the inclusion of non-believers during worship. Our team had a wonderful time this day. We learned a lot.

Day Four - Tommy and the remainder of the SRC team arrive in Campinas

2010-03-16T11:00:00.006-04:00

Today, Tommy and Shannan Kiedis, Casey Cleveland, Rick Krive and Terriel Byrd (Professor of Christian Ministry from Palm Beach Atlantic University) arrived in Campinas and joined the team for the opening of the CTPI (training center for church planters) Conference at Chacara Primavera.

Shown at right are Tommy with Pastor Ricardo of Chacara Primavera church in Campinas who is hosting the church planting conference

At left are Tommy and Pastor Ricardo with two of our church planting partners: Pastor Leonardo Sahium of Gavea Church in Rio de Janeiro and Pastor Fabrini Viguier of Igreja Plena de Icarai in Niteroi, Rio.

The SRC / GNC team poses for a group shot below:

Rich Porter, Rick Krive, Sonny Lemons, Valette Porter, Craig Kindell, Fabiana Marques, Nicholas Marques, Shannan Kiedis, Terriel Byrd, Casey Cleveland, Larry Weeks (left to right)

Day Four - Preparing for the Church Planting Conference

2010-03-16T10:30:00.002-04:00

The SRC / GNC team spent Monday resting, shopping and sight-seeing, getting ready for a busy week.

The morning was spent helping to prepare for the Church Planting Conference which will begin tonight.

The team is shown here making name tags and assembling information packages for the conference.

Day Two - Evening service at Jaguariuna Church

2010-03-14T18:30:00.011-04:00

Craig visited Jaguariuna Church which meets at a hotel in the center of the small town of Jaguariuna located about a half hour drive from Campinas. The church is an SRC church plant that is celebrating its one year anniversary. The service had about 25 people attending (a smaller number than usual due to the very heavy rain that night) and had a guest worship leader, Paulo Nazareth, son of Josue' Rodrigues who is a church planting partner in Niteroi, Rio. Paulo did an excellent job leading worship including several worship songs that he had written.

Pastor Rodrigo Leitao gave a good message on identifying the true church and the service was followed with food and fellowship.

Day Two - Evening services at Campolim Church in Sorocaba

2010-03-14T17:00:00.004-04:00

Sonny visited Campolim Church in Sorocaba where Pastor Renato Camargo gave the message at two evening services which had a total of about 135 people attending. There was also a separate program for the many children in attendance. The church meets in the TransAmerica Hotel in Sorocaba which has small auditorium. The services included a worship band and there was a time of fellowship following each service. Good News Church is partnering with SRC to support the Campolim Church plant.

Day Two - Evening service at Renovo Church in Braganca Paulista

2010-03-14T17:00:00.003-04:00

Rich and Valette visited Pastor Roberto Ferreira at Renovo Church in Braganca Paulista. Roberto is a very good speaker and gave an excellent message to a group of about 25 people. Rich, an elder at SRC, was invited to help serve communion at the service. Rich and Valette enjoyed the worship time which included a few songs in Portuguese and English.

Day Two - Evening service at Indaia Church in Indaiatuba

2010-03-14T14:43:00.001-04:00

Larry and Fabiana attended Indaia Church in Indaiatuba, which is an SRC church plant about one hour from Campinas pastored by Pastor Ricardo Makino. There were about 40 people attending the service held at a school. The service included a time of prayer and praise led by Pastor Ricardo's wife, Luciana. Ricardo gave a great message including a very clear gospel presentation of the bad news and good news. Communion was served at the service which was followed by a great time of fellowship. Indaia is a grand-daughter church of SRC. It was planted by Vinhedo Church, Pastor Ricardo Costa, whose church SRC helped to plant in 2005. Indaia Church leaders are already looking into planting another community in the neighbor city of Jundiai. Pastor Ricardo Costa holds a bible study for 20 people once a week in Jundiai. Another church plant is being born...

Day Two - Chacara Primavera Church in Campinas

2010-03-14T13:59:00.001-04:00

The team attended church on Sunday morning at Pastor Ricardo's church in Campinas. The service was well attended with 200+ and included a great time of worship. Headsets were provided to the team with real-time translation so that they were able to understand Pastor Ricardo's message. Following the service was lunch with Brazilian BBQ and a wonderful time of fellowship with Pastor Ricardo, his wife Sonia and their children with several members of the church. After wards, the team split up to attend several evening services at church plants in cities surrounding Campinas. Chacara Primavera is celebrating its 9th anniversary as a church. Pastor Ricardo is shown here introducing Pastor Ricardo Makino of Indaia Church in Indaiatuba and Pastor Rodrigo Leitao of Jaguariuna Church with their families. Both churches are completing their 1st year of ministry.

Day One - Campolim Church in Sorocaba

2010-03-13T21:00:00.009-05:00

Rich, Valette and Craig traveled to Sorocaba, an SRC/GNC church plant about one hour driving from Campinas where Rich gave the Money Management Seminar for a group of about 80 people. Pastor Renato Camargo opened the evening with prayer and Rich gave the presentation which included Rich's testimony with the gospel and suggestions for preparing a budget and a plan for reducing debt. Rich was assisted by Nadia, who did an excellent job translating and made some good suggestions for adapting the presentation to a Brazilian audience. Her husband, Anderson, an accountant, helped translate some of the accounting terms. The presentation was followed by a Q & A time and the audience asked some very good questions. The presentation was done as an outreach into the community and was well advertised on radio, television and in the newspaper. Pastor Renato opened and closed in prayer and there was an intermission where he talked about the church and invited them to come to a Sunday service. After the seminar, Rich, Valette and Craig enjoyed a traditional Brazilian barbeque with Pastor Renato, Nadia, Anderson and several others at the home of one of the church members.

Rich and Valette with their translator, Nadia.

Day One - Renovo Church in Branganca Paulista

2010-03-13T21:00:00.008-05:00

Sonny and Larry traveled to Branganca Paulista to give the Money Management seminar. Renovo is also an SRC/GNC church plant lead by Pastor Roberto Ferreira and is about one hour's drive from Campinas. Larry presented the seminar assisted by Angela, their translator who gave good suggestions on the flow of the presentation. There were about forty plus in attendance with a broad range of ages and backgrounds. Prior to the presentation there was live music featuring popular Brazilian songs. This presentation was also advertised widely in the community and included an invitation to attend the Sunday service. Paster Roberto took Sonny and Larry out for Brazilian pizza afterwards with several church members.

SRC/GNC team arrives in Brazil

2010-03-13T10:00:00.004-05:00

Campinas, Brazil - March 13th, 2010
A team from SRC and Good News Church is in Brazil this week visiting our church plants and helping with the 2nd annual Church Planting Conference hosted by the Training Center for Church Planters (CTPI) at Chacara Primavera Church in Campinas, Brazil. Our movement leader in Brazil, Ricardo Agreste, is the Senior Pastor at Chacara Primavera. The team includes two members of the Good News Church (GNC) missions board, Sonny Lemons and Larry Weeks. Shown here are the members of the team that arrived in Brazil on Saturday (left to right): Larry Weeks, Rich Porter, Sonny Lemons, Fabiana Marques, Nicholas Marques, Craig Kindell and Valette Porter. Another team from SRC will join us starting Tuesday, March 16th.

After a short rest, Rich, Sonny and Larry prepare for their financial seminars Saturday night.

Food distribution center in Gonaives

2010-02-08T23:02:00.002-05:00

Our partner in ministry ESMI has set up a food distribution center at El Shaddai Phaeton church/orphanage in Gonaives. They have water, rice, corn, beans, spaghetti, and sardines for distribution to our church leaders and their families in that community. To date, the SRC family has sent $94,000 to El Shaddai Ministries to to purchase food, water, and other supplies in the Dominican Republic and deliver to distribution centers such as this. God is good!

Team works at the Gonaives hospital

2010-02-08T22:57:00.004-05:00

Today our team went to help at the Gonaives hospital. They first set up a tent pharmacy by the hospital so they could be ready to start treating patients who would walk in to the hospital. On the left you can see a picture of the hospital entrance, and on the right you can see a patient arriving on a car to receive medical treatment at the hospital.

Sunday afternoon clinic in Gonaives

2010-02-08T22:45:00.002-05:00

The team set up the clinic in the church building after the service on Sunday afternoon. They treated the patients from that community for the rest of the day.

The children sing in church

2010-02-08T22:32:00.002-05:00

Everyone has a chance to worship the Lord during the church service in Gonaives, Haiti. Here you can see the kids who live in the orphan compound perform a nice song during church.

Sunday Church Service in Gonaives

2010-02-08T22:18:00.002-05:00

Day 1: Team works in Gonaives

2010-02-06T23:00:00.004-05:00

After three hours driving from Port Au Prince, the team arrived in Gonaives to set up their first clinic at the church that SRC built. They saw patients for a few hours, then went to work in the clinic that SRC funded in the orphanage compound. It was a good clinic day for the team. When they went back to their hotel to have dinner, they met an Orthopedic Surgeon from Bolivia who is working at a warehouse close to the hotel. The team had seen two patients today who needed surgery, and now they can refer them to this surgeon. "That was a divine appointment", said Craig. Here you can see a video of the team setting up the clinic at the SRC church.

Team arrived in Gonaives

2010-02-06T22:41:00.004-05:00

It was a long drive yesterday from the Santo Domingo airport to the border of Haiti, then to a hotel in Port Au Prince to spend the night. After being on the road for more than ten hours, the team rested at night, and left this morning to go to Gonaives, in the northern part of Haiti. It took about three hours on a very bumpy road for the team to arrive at their destination. Around noon today, the team finally got there and was ready to set up the first clinic. Here you can see a video of the bumpy ride.

Team arrived in Santo Domingo

2010-02-05T14:02:00.002-05:00

They landed in the DR at 12:49 pm, got all 28 luggage bags and bins filled with supplies, and met with Pastor Dony at the airport. They also got the meds that were ordered in the Dominican and were waiting to be delivered to them. Other teams from North Carolina and St. Louis met with them, and a total of 29 people will now start their long drive in 2 buses towards the border of Haiti.

SRC teams up with The Grace Place to go to Haiti

2010-02-05T12:21:00.005-05:00

This morning, a team from The Grace Place in Stuart, FL (http://www.tgpstuart.blogspot.com/) left for Haiti. The team will stay for one week serving in Gonaives, where SRC has churches and orphanages. Together with TGP team, Jackie Adames and Craig Kindell joined from SRC. Craig and Jackie will help the team, as both have already been in Haiti (actually they just returned last week) and can help coordinate the efforts. Please be praying for this medical team of 14 people (2 doctors, 8 nurses and 4 helpers), as they travel to Santo Domingo, then drive to Gonaives, Haiti overnight. It will be a long journey, and they will find many needy people as they get there.

Day 9: SRC team arrives safe and sound

2010-01-29T20:40:00.002-05:00

The team was able to get seats on a MFI (Missionary Flights Int'l) plane that landed in PAP to bring supplies and medical people to serve in Haiti. The team took off at about 3pm from PAP and arrived in Fort Pierce around 6pm. They had an easy and safe trip back home. Joe Adames and Mike Hughes (and his wife) graciously offered to pick the team up and bring them to Boca. Now the team is home, getting some deserved rest and sharing their stories with their loved ones.
Many thanks to everyone who followed this blog and prayed for our team.

Day 9: Dr. Yelle catches a direct flight to Canada

2010-01-29T20:30:00.003-05:00

While our team waited in line to get on the next flight out of PAP back to Florida, a big cargo plane from the Canada Air Force landed right in front of them. Dr. Yelle is from Renaissance Church (SRC church plant) in Ottawa, Canada. He had no trouble getting into that plane for a direct flight back home. Dr. Yelle served faithfully for a week-long in Haiti with the SRC team. God provided a present for him, by bringing this flight to the PAP airport exactly when the team was waiting to get home. Thank you, Lord!

Day 9: SRC team leaves Port Au Prince. On the way home...

2010-01-29T15:07:00.002-05:00

The team is just boarding the MFI flight and leaving Port Au Prince in a few minutes. They will land in Fort Pierce, and we just need to confirm their time of arrival. More later.
Thanks for keeping them in your prayers.

Day 9: SRC team waits at Port Au Prince Airport

2010-01-29T13:15:00.003-05:00

This morning our team communicated to us that they are at the PAP airport on standby, waiting for the next opportunity to get on a military plane or on a MFI (Missionary Flights International) flight. They were told that their names are down for the next flight out of the PAP airport. We are waiting for confirmation about what time they will take off, and where they are heading (Miami or Fort Pierce). We will keep everyone posted, so we can arrange drivers to pick up the teams. Please keep everyone in your prayers as they fly back home (Dr. Yelle, Dr. Janette, nurses Jackie and Toni, Craig, Scott and Daniel).

Day 8: SRC team finishes the medical trip in Haiti

2010-01-28T22:58:00.004-05:00

Today was the last day that our medical teams had to provide medical help and distribute medical supplies in Haiti. They spend most of the day at the mobile clinic that they set up at a tent city in Leogane. Many people were seen today, as another team of doctors and nurses came to help our team. Tomorrow, our teams return home. They will try to catch a charter flight that will leave Port Au Prince at 5pm (at least that's the plan for now). Each day was an adventure, and the team has many God stories to tell everyone when they get home. Here you can see one last time the faces of our team at work. Dr. Yelle (God's super-star from Ottawa, Canada) treating a patient. And our dear Jackie, always caring for her newborn babies.

Day 7: Team set up a big clinic in Leogane

2010-01-28T22:50:00.002-05:00

Today our team headed south of Port Au Prince to a tent city near Leogane. Many people lined up quickly to receive treatment, as they say the bus approaching with the medical team and supplies. Other doctors and nurses who were in Haiti joined our team today, so together they could maximize their efforts and treat as many people as possible. This was the team last day in Haiti.

Day 7: Our team received many supplies at PAP airport

2010-01-28T22:42:00.002-05:00

This morning, our team went to PAP airport to receive a big load of supplies sent from the US on a private plane. Dr. Janette and her team made arrangements to meet with the plane and get the supplies. Praise God for the many ways that He is at work. Thanks to Dr. Janette and her team for donating all the supplies to our El Shaddai ministry. Both teams were able to join forces and treat many more patients today.

Day 6: Our team sings with the kids in Croix des Bouquets

2010-01-28T22:09:00.002-05:00

Many orphan kids, who are cared for our partner in ministry C3 Missions, live at the Eben Ezer mission site in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti. Here our team spends time with them, loving on them and singing with them. The team also cared for their health issues and treated many of them. Many orphans received a tetanus shot that the team prepared for them.

Day 6: Our team serves at Love a Child Compound

2010-01-27T13:55:00.003-05:00

This morning, our team headed to Love a Child tent city to visit the two girls who had surgery yesterday. They are both doing well and recovering. The team visited them and followed up with the surgeons. Here you can see a quick video showing the tent city around the Love a Child site. Our team will continue to serve in Haiti until Friday, when they plan to return home.

Day 6: Scott Stapp is with our team in Haiti

2010-01-27T13:46:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, another three people joined our team in Haiti: Dr. Janette Nesheiwat and her brother Daniel, along with Scott Stapp. After numerous hours planning over the weekend, the team flew to Santo Domingo, carrying lots of supplies and medicines, and met with Pastor Dony at the airport yesterday. Then, they drove together to Haiti. Today both teams continue to work and see people in need around Port Au Prince. Here you can see Scott and Craig (our trip coordinator) at the Love a Child compound. Because of the great need and the additional supplies that our team received, they decided to stay in Haiti until Friday, when both teams will come home.

Update #8 from our partner El Shaddai Ministries

2010-01-26T23:42:00.002-05:00

Received on Jan. 25th at 4pm:

Dear Friends,
Tomorrow will make it 14 days since this devastating earthquake. The pressure and intensity to get aid to the people have not subsided. Time and resources continue to be our greatest challenges with still not enough food and medical care reaching the people with the greatest need. For example in Les Cayes alone, 150,000 refugees are now there from PAP. Louis wrote on Friday:

"I just talked with some key leaders in the south. The demand is so high and we don't have the means to meet it. The churches are crowded. People came from all over and they don't have anywhere to go. Most of the people, before they left the villages, sold their land and everything. So now they have to start again. Please continue to pray with us. We have so much medical need that a whole month of 100 doctors will not be enough to serve every body. So many people fled PAP with broken bones and severe, life threatening and infected injuries. We have a hospital at Bonne Fin which my father build. It has 300 beds. All of them are occupied and patients are on the floor. We have at Cite Lumiere another Medical Clinic equip with 75 beds. Same story."

Below is an update on the response that has come in to the immediate needs mentioned on January 17:

1. Containers with Food Supply via the DR-To date, ESMI has sent in 6 food containers and distributed with over 100 Haitian volunteers from the South helping.

2. Food Containers from the US- We have a container that will be ready to leave by this Wednesday from Miami to the DR. God's willing, it should be in Haiti early next week.

3. Medical Teams: 47 nurses and doctors are currently in Haiti. Thanks to Lisa, Susie, Julie and Fabiana for coordinating this. They have medical teams lined up to go in and out up to the end of February. Please contact esmieletter@aol.com if you would like to be a part of a medical team.

4. Tents for Churches and homes: thanks to Brother Ed who secured forty-five 10x12ft tents that can each house a family of 10 people. God's willing, these will be shipped by Wednesday to the DR and should be cleared by the end of this week to be given to the families most in need.

As ESMI continues to work on the above 4 needs, we will also begin to do the following:

5. ESMI has identified 400 pastors to begin a more intentional network of food distribution. On Wednesday, January 27, ESMI's leadership team will meet with these pastors in PAP. It is important that these leaders be empowered also to participate in the effort. This is a work that cannot be done alone. It is bigger than any one church or any one organization. With a unified effort, the church in Haiti can help meet the needs of her people.

6. There is the need for 3 huge tents to hold congregations with 2000 members. Most of the churches in PAP were destroyed. The congregations are on the streets. ESMI has identified 3 locations with key leaders for these. The desire is to encourage and rebuild the spiritual life of the Haitian church. What a wonderful opportunity to share the good news that in the midst of such hopelessness, there is hope in God.

7. Containers to be packed with tents, cots, sheets, blankets, food for immediate consumption, etc. God willing, the ports in Haiti should be opening up in a week. Ed has graciously agreed to offer his time to coordinate this effort. Please contact Ed at 1-561-988-0253. He will also assist in the coordinating efforts of the food containers from Miami.

8. Pray that by the end of this week ESMI would have secured a piece of land for temporary housing.

9. There is a need for about 6 Mack dump trucks. Once the food gets to PAP on containers, it must be reloaded onto dump trucks for distribution into the different areas of need. This is the best way to get the food out into those communities. Later these trucks will be used in clearing debris and bringing in construction material. Why Mack dump trucks? They are long-lasting trucks and the parts are easily available. There are excellent mechanics, like DouDou, who can make anything go as long as they have the parts available. To have piles of food and no means to get them to the people is a dilemma that the international aid community is now facing.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
El Shaddai Ministries International
13651 S. Biscayne River Drive
Miami, FL 33161
website: esmihome.org

Day 5: Tomorrow will be our team's last day in Haiti

2010-01-26T23:03:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday, our team will start traveling back to Florida. They will try to get on a charter flight directly out of Port Au Prince. If they can't get on the plane, they will have a long journey driving back to Santo Domingo to catch their flight that leaves at 4:40pm. We will know more in the morning as to what time they are expected to arrive in Florida.
Another team from SRC, Dr. Janette and her two brothers traveled today to Haiti with Pastor Dony and a partner from MNA. Janette's team purchased a van in Santo Domingo to donate to El Shaddai Ministries. They also brought a lot of medical supplies to our clinics in Haiti. God's people are so generous. We are so blessed to work for our Lord Jesus Christ. We close our blog news today with this picture showing how blessed are the people in Haiti who were touched by the love and care of the SRC team!

Day 5: Team found the two girls who needed surgery

2010-01-26T22:58:00.002-05:00

Praise God that Jackie, DouDou and John Snyder, a C3 volunteer, found both girls from tent cities at Carrefour and at La Collin and transported them to the Love a Child location where several plastic surgeons arrived today. It was a miracle that we found them and then to have surgeons available is even more amazing! God is good! A young boy, James, an orphan who we treated at Eben Ezer site had surgery there this morning and they will be taking him back to Eben Ezer.
It was a good, long day for the team.

Day 5: A quick view of La Collin tent city

2010-01-26T22:50:00.002-05:00

Here you can see a view from the road of the tent city called La Collin, where our team served on Monday and Tuesday. Many people are temporarily living under tents made of sheets, and they wait for food, water and medical treatment. Our team made sure to bring them hope. The team met some medical needs, and also made sure that the love of Christ was shared with them.

Day 5: Team helps young girls to get surgery

2010-01-26T22:34:00.003-05:00

Today, nurse Jackie went with DouDou to find two young girls who had serious facial injuries, one from Carrefour and another from La Collin. Jackie and two volunteers from C3 missions will try to get the girls to see a surgeon in the area who is doing plastic surgery. It will be a challenge to find these girls in the tent cities (our team treated them on Sat and Sun before they knew about the surgeon).

Day 5: SRC team helps with food distribution

2010-01-26T16:28:00.006-05:00

Part of our team went back to La Collin today. Yesterday, the UN truck only distributed water, so today the team delivered food to that community, including three large bags of rice. Dr. Yelle helped to distribute the food to those families living in tents.

Day 4: UN truck stops to deliver food at our clinic site

2010-01-25T18:18:00.002-05:00

Since many people gathered around the mobile clinic to receive medical treatment, a UN truck that was passing by the site, stopped and started distributing food for the tent city's temporary refugees. Today was a better day for that community, as they received food and medicines. Rescue came to them, and now they can have hope again.

Day 4: Our team is interviewed by French press

2010-01-25T18:11:00.004-05:00

As our team was serving in La Collin, with the mobile clinic working at full power, a reporter from a French newspaper interviewed members of our team, through a translator, and covered the scenes of people receiving medical treatment and being seen by the doctors. Here you can see the reporter and her team making a special edition of today's news in La Collin, Haiti.
The team was also interviewed by the Globe (Canadian national newspaper) when they were seeing patients in Carrefour.

Day 4: Mobile clinic at tent city called La Collin

2010-01-25T17:10:00.005-05:00

The city of La Collin (The Hill) is located between Gressier and Leogane. Our team arrived at the site around 11am after a long drive (the roads are blocked by big trucks and machinery who are moving the rubles). The team had to set up the mobile clinic quickly, as many people were waiting to be seen by the medical doctors. Today, three Haitian doctors helped Dr. Yelle and our team to see the patients and treat them. A truck from United Nations came to distribute food to that community while the clinic was set up. So those people got double blessed today: food/water and medical supplies. These are the greatest needs.

Day 4: Where on the map is our team?

2010-01-25T13:17:00.002-05:00

View Larger Map

Day 4: Going beyond Gressier...

2010-01-25T12:25:00.002-05:00

The team headed to another town this morning a little further west from Gressier. It is a tent city near the epicenter of the earthquake. The team will set up the clinic in a field there and spend the rest of the day helping injured people from that community. As the team was traveling to get there, they took this picture showing how people are lining up trying to get money or any aid they can.

Day 4: Our team prepares tetanus shots for orphans

2010-01-25T11:07:00.003-05:00

One of the greatest needs in Haiti at this point, because of some many injuries, is for tetanus shots. Our team was able to order those before leaving the US, and today they are preparing them to give to the orphans who live at the Eben Ezer Mission House. Here you can see nurse Jackie and Dr. Yelle getting the shots ready to be given to the orphan kids tonight.
We are waiting to hear from the team about where they are going to set up the mobile clinic to see patients today. We'll keep you posted.

Day 4: Updates from SRC team

2010-01-25T10:51:00.002-05:00

Today, our team is reduced to four people who are staying in Haiti until Wednesday: Dr. Yelle, nurses Jackie and Toni, and Craig. Their first task this morning was to find out a way to return to the US on Wednesday, since commercial flights out of PAP were all canceled. We were able to re-book their flights to leave from Santo Domingo, DR on Wednesday at 4:40pm. The team is scheduled to arrive in Miami at 6:05pm (if not delayed). The team went to the PAP airport to make contact with United Airlines for a possible free flight that is being offered in partnership with the US military, for helping to evacuate medical teams out of PAP back to the US. We will keep you posted on the status of their return.

Day 3: Team at work in Gressier, Haiti

2010-01-24T18:06:00.004-05:00

Everyone got busy when they arrived in Gressier and found a long line of people waiting to receive treatment. Here you can see, on the left, nurse Karen taking care of a little girl with an injured leg. On the right, nurse Katrina provides IV treatment to a very dehydrated teenage boy. After it got dark, the team headed back to Croix des Bouquets, where they will eat dinner, rest, and spend the night outside in their tents. Nurse Terri left today back to the US. Tomorrow, nurses Karen, Katrina and Aimee with head back home. Dr. Yelle, nurses Jackie and Toni, and Craig will stay at least until Wednesday. We are trying to get another team of 4 medical people down there tomorrow. Please continue to pray for these relief efforts. The gospel goes in front of our team, and the Living Water is not being offered by many other groups.

Day 3: SRC team serves in Gressier

2010-01-24T17:30:00.003-05:00

After serving in Carrefour this morning, the team headed to another city called Gressier. The mayor led our team to that site due to the many critically injured that still wait for medical aid.
On this site you can see some images of the earthquake destruction in that area: http://www.gressier.org/
Our team was very busy in the afternoon, treating the people of Gressier, considered one of the epicenter towns of the earthquake.

Day 3: SRC team joined a worship service in PAP

2010-01-24T17:12:00.002-05:00

As the team was traveling to Carrefour this morning, where they went to see patients for half-day, they found a tent city worship service in PAP. They joined that church and worshiped with them for a few minutes, then Craig and Dr. Yelle introduced the SRC team and shared the gospel with the people attending the service. Pretty neat the door that God opened for the gospel to be shared.

Day 3: SRC team at work in Croix des Bouquets

2010-01-24T09:50:00.003-05:00

This morning the team saw a few patients in Croix des Bouquets before heading down to Carrefour or Les Plein mobile clinic. Pastor Louis was going to confirm where team needed to go today. The need is so great, and several people haven't received any help yet. Les Cayes is also an area of great need right now due to many refugees moving to that city. Here you can see the team at work this morning at the Eben Ezer site, before they left for the day.

Day 3: SRC team starts early in the day

2010-01-24T09:38:00.003-05:00

The team served yesterday all day, morning in PAP hospital and afternoon in Carrefour clinic. In the evenings, the team returns to the Eben Ezer Mission site to eat dinner, rest and spend the night. They have been sleeping in tents outside, as the building conditions are not 100% stable. Nothing is stopping the team from having a smile on their face and serving God with all their heart.

Day 2: Our teams are covering different cities in Haiti

2010-01-23T16:31:00.003-05:00

The SRC team went to Carrefour after they helped at the Port Au Prince hospital this morning. They have started seeing patients in Carrefour yesterday, and needed to go back today as many people awaited to be seen (see picture). The team from South Carolina headed to Les Cayes with Pastor Louis, and will continue to serve that community until Wednesday. Pastor Louis informed that there is great need in Les Cayes since many refugees are moving there from PAP looking for help.
Our team home base is Croix des Bouquets for spending the night and eating meals (breakfast and dinner). Then they leave in the morning to go serve in other sites as needed. They will probably return to Carrefour tomorrow and serve there for another day. Monday plans are still in the works. We'll keep you posted. Stay tuned.

Day 2: Teams tries to save burned baby in PAP

2010-01-23T13:42:00.002-05:00

The SRC team headed to the PAP hospital this morning in a rush to try to save a baby's life. His body had been seriously burned and was very dehydrated. He needed immediate attention, and our team responded quickly. As they got to the hospital, they had to take charge and continue to provide care for the baby. Unfortunately, because his condition was very critical, the little baby did not survive. Sad moment for our team. They need strength to continue to help others. Keep them in your prayers.

Day 2: Team helps at the Port Au Prince Hospital

2010-01-23T13:21:00.004-05:00

Part of our team rushed to the PAP hospital to transport the burned baby, and ended up staying there to help with so many people who were waiting to be seen and the hospital was under staffed. The other half of the team stayed at the clinic to provide wound care and treatment to other patients. Here you can see a video of the baby with nurse Terri in the hospital.

Day 2: Team helps to rescue a burned baby

2010-01-23T13:15:00.003-05:00

One tough case for the team to handle was a baby with serious burns on his body. The team had to act quickly, provide IV treatment and rush the baby to the Port Au Prince hospital. Here you can see the team transporting the baby to the hospital. As they got there, the hospital was under staffed so our nurses took charge and helped to treat the patients. The baby was in very critical condition.

Day 2: SRC Team in Croix des Bouquets

2010-01-23T13:09:00.002-05:00

The team went back to Croix des Bouquets (15 miles east of Port Au Prince) last night to meet with the other team of doctors and nurses from South Carolina (Katrina from SRC joined that team), and to spend the night at Eben Ezer Mission site. This morning the two teams set up a mobile clinic there to provide medical attention to people in that community. Here is a picture of the team when they started the day.

Day 1: SRC Medical Team continues to work in Carrefour

2010-01-22T18:10:00.002-05:00

The team has been seeing many patients from the town of Carrefour since this morning.
A boy with a dislocated hip just came to get treatment and was transferred to the local hospital.
The line of people to be seen and receive treatment continues to grow, as the team continues to work hard on their first day in Haiti. Another team is arriving tonight to add more help to the portable clinic that will be setup in Croix des Bouquets.

Our team started seeing patients in Carrefour

2010-01-22T15:37:00.008-05:00

Our team arrived in Carrefour at 11am to set up the clinic and start seeing people in need. The team will spend all day working at the clinic, then will return to Croix des Bouquets in the evening. They will spend the night there and tomorrow will set up a mobile clinic in that area.

Carrefour is a largely residential and very poor commune in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. The district has an estimated population of 408,000 as of 2003. It is mostly a bedroom community for those who work in central Port-au-Prince. The neighborhood is very poor and ill-serviced, however, as of recently, small-scale construction has gone on in the area along with street renovations. (Extracted from Wikipedia)

You can read more about Carrefour and how desperately it needs aid on this link. Carrefour was an epicenter town of the earthquake.

Day 1: SRC Team drives through Port Au Prince

2010-01-22T11:09:00.002-05:00

As our team relocates to another site called Carrefour, where they are going to setup the clinic today, they drove through Port Au Prince, and they were speechless as they saw the devastation and the current situation of the people. Here is a video showing a little of what they are experiencing.

Day 1: SRC Team on the way to Carrefour - Haiti

2010-01-22T09:11:00.003-05:00

This morning the team had breakfast, organized the medical supplies, and is now in the process of transferring to another location where they will setup the clinic for today. The other site is Carrefour and has a safe building for them to work during the day, and perhaps spend the night.
Continue to pray for all the logistics and that many wounded people can be helped today. Here you can see the C3 Missions team (Joe Knittig, Beth Fox and Tracy) making the strategy for the day.

Day 1: SRC Team in Croix des Bouquets - Haiti

2010-01-22T09:01:00.002-05:00

The Eben Ezer clinic site is located 15 miles east of Port au Prince. The plan was for the team to stay there, set up the clinic, and care for wounded people until next Wednesday. Because of uncertain conditions of the building structure, the team will move today to another location called Carrefour (this is normally a C3 Missions orphan home, but the kids were transferred to Les Cayes). Here you see a picture of the Eben Ezer location, where the team was supposed to stay.

SRC Team at work in Haiti

2010-01-22T08:18:00.003-05:00

As the team arrived in Croix des Bouquets, and they were getting close to the clinic, a desperate woman in pain waited to give birth to her baby. Dr. Yelle and Jackie went straight to work, and delivered a baby girl, 6 lbs 8 oz. The mother asked Dr. Yelle to name the baby after his daughter, Marika, who is 8 years old. By the way the delivery happened under flashlights and with a few supplies that they had in hand. Both mom and baby are well. God is so good!

SRC Team arrived in Haiti

2010-01-22T08:11:00.002-05:00

After driving for about 4 hours from the airport in Santo Domingo, the SRC medical team arrived at the border of Haiti around 10pm last night. They had to transfer all the luggage and load other vehicles that were waiting for them on the other side of the border, now on the Haiti side. They traveled for another hour by car to the Eben Ezer Mission House (a place maintained by our partner C3 Missions). That was the place where the team was originally going to stay for the week...

SRC Team is crossing the Dominican Republic

2010-01-21T21:20:00.003-05:00

The medical team that SRC sent to help with immediate needs in Haiti is currently driving cross country in the Dominican Republic to get to the border of Haiti. We just received communication from the team that they were about 45min from the border, and when they get there other vehicles will be waiting to take them into Haiti. The Eben Ezer Mission Clinic where they will be serving is about one hour driving west from the border. The town is called Croix des Bouquets, and is located 15 miles east of Port of Prince. Here you can see a picture of Jean Pierre (DouDou), Pastor Dony and Jackie when the team was being picked up from the airport in Santo Domingo. God is guiding all the steps of this trip. We are so grateful for His mighty ways.

SRC Team on their way to Haiti

2010-01-21T16:32:00.002-05:00

On Jan. 21st, early morning, the team left SRC towards Miami. Their flight left Miami at 10:05am going to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 23 bags were checked in and the airline waived all the fees. That was a big praise. They landed in Santo Domingo at 12:30pm and went through customs with no problems. Another big praise. Pastor Dony met the team at the airport at 3:30pm, and they started their journey towards the Haitian border. It is a 3-hour drive to the border. We are hoping and praying that they can cross the border before it closes today.

SRC Team Preparing for Haiti Trip

2010-01-21T16:18:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday Jan. 20th many volunteers came to help the Haiti team with the final preparations for their trip to Haiti. Plans started on Monday afternoon, and within 2 days the team was ready to go. God put all the pieces together in a marvelous way. The people, the supplies, the tickets, the money. Everything got accomplished in very short time. Thank you Lord!
We appreciate so much the help of the wonderful volunteers, who took their time, talents and treasures to help the team with the packing and getting ready to go. Special thanks to Allison Good and Jean Mackey for helping us to coordinate so many details. Let's continue to keep the team in our prayers.

Update from our partner C3 Missions

2010-01-20T15:47:00.001-05:00

This village is where the medical team from SRC will be staying...

6.1 Aftershock Hits Port au Prince

While we have established our transitional Orphan Village and are continuing to build out and recover from the 7.3 earthquake just one week ago, this morning a 6.1 magnitude aftershock rocked just outside of Port au Prince.

Joe Knitting, our Executive Director and team are on the ground and reported this:

"Everyone in our transition village is doing fine amid the aftershock this morning. We set out early to try and help in the most affected areas of Port au Price (PAP). We are driving through PAP back to Eben Ezer hospital, a sick boy needs immediate attention (pictured above, name unknown), injured from the most recent aftershock. Doctors and team are readying for his arrival back at Eben Ezer. In addition to many other kids that we have gathered that are in need of help. There is no room in PAP hospitals for them so we are having to begin taking these kids to our village and help as best we can."

Update #7 from our partner El Shaddai Ministries

2010-01-20T14:02:00.002-05:00

Received on Jan. 20th at 12:30pm:

Dear Friends,
An aftershock of a 6.1 magnitude hit Haiti this morning I'm awaiting news from Dony on what the situation is. ESMI is so thankful to many of you who will remain committed as Haiti walks this very difficult path.

Praise God for the response that is coming in. Two 20 ft truckload of food and water were purchased and crossed into Haiti from the DR yesterday. Thank you all for making this possible. We are also partnering with other ministries to get food into Haiti. Today at noon, God's willing, a 17-seater plane from the Bahamas will fly into PAP filled with food, medical supplies, and water.

Next is the distribution of food. Louis was organizing 30 people from the south to head to PAP yesterday. ESMI needs to secure vehicles, preferably dump trucks to go into different areas to do this. We are setting up stations in Petit Goave, Carrefour, Miragaone, and Grecier for now. These are areas that have suffered substantial damage also but have received little to no aid. We will work with the pastors of these communities.

Today will also be a day of more strategic planning on distribution and coordination of those desiring to help at this crucial time. Pray for wisdom. The plan is to have two sites to host Haitians and US teams: Croix des Bouquets and Carrefour. The orphans will be removed from the latter area and the home turned into a guesthouse for now. At the moment, there are 2 medical teams desiring to go tomorrow, and Friday. Pray for the logistics to be worked out and to see if this is still possible after this 6.1 aftershock.

Tents- These are needed for temporary housing. Many, as you have seen, are sleeping on the streets with sheets as tents. We are also looking for large tents for churches to have their services. It rained yesterday in PAP. I leave the rest to your imagination.

To maximize the use of space in the containers, pack these items in boxes.

Again, we thank you for your prayers. We serve a sovereign God whose good purpose through all of this will one day be seen.
Blessings,
Sharon St. Germain

SRC is the first to respond to medical teams needs

2010-01-20T13:49:00.002-05:00

Received from El Shaddai Ministries on Jan. 20th at 10am:

Dear Team,
You are the first responding team to go to Haiti from the US through ESMI. Dr. Don, whom some of you met, went to Croix des Bouquets last week with 5 nurses. I don't know what the situation is there. Maybe I'll get word from Dony today. But as you prepare, please expect the worst. Think of a war zone where you are helping those wounded and you have very little medical apparatus to work with. You only have God, your team mates and the supplies you came in with. If I hear differently, I'll let you know. A team tried to do medical missions in PAP and they were swarmed. The need is so overwhelming. You will be outside of PAP and the patients will be brought to you. Please know that there are lots, lots of details that Dony will try to work out today. Pray for the team there. As soon as I hear anything from Dony, I'll let you know.

Thanks Spanish River and New Covenant for working together to get down there this week and coordinating the small aircraft connection. It would be so much easier to go next week with AA. You are making an incredible sacrifice to be there this week and not later. May God bless your efforts for His glory.

We'll ask DouDou to be with you at all times, I know you love him and feel very safe with him. There are folks from Cayes who will also be with you at the missions site to help with translation. I believe the Haitian nurses who are already there will do triage.

Blessings,
Sharon St. Germain

SRC is sending a medical team to Haiti

2010-01-20T08:48:00.002-05:00

As a response to one of the immediate needs identified by our partner Dony St. Germain, SRC is sending a medical team of seven people, who will join another medical team flying from South Carolina. Together the two teams will serve at the clinic in Croix des Bouquets (15 miles from Port Au Prince) for one week. The SRC team members are:

Dr. Robert Yelle (SRC church plant in Ottawa, Canada - Renaissance Church)
Jackie Adames, RN (SRC office staff member)
Terri Bartuska, RN (SRC church plant - Treasure Coast Church)
Toni James, RN (former member of SRC from St. Augustine)
Karen Kluge, RN (SRC friend from Passport Health)
Aimee Brueck, PT (SRC member)
Craig Kindell, Trip Coordinator (SRC Deacon)

Please keep the team in your prayers, as they prepare to leave tomorrow to an experience that will be shocking and will change their lives. Pray for safety, for strength, and for flexibility to adapt to the difficult conditions. May God be glorified by the gospel going forward.

How SRC is responding to the immediate needs...

2010-01-20T08:33:00.002-05:00

Based on the needs that Pastor Dony identified, SRC is responding as following:

1) Thanks to the generosity of the SRC family, we were able to raise $54,234 last weekend!

2) $10,000 is being used to purchase the so needed medications (antibiotics, tetanus shots, wound care medication, gauze, bandages, splints, etc), so the SRC medical team can take with them on their mission trip.

3) $44,324 was given to Pastor Dony to purchase the food containers in Santo Domingo. He returned to the DR yesterday, and with the help of C3 Missions, will start driving the containers into the needy in Croix de Bouquets, where the C3 Missions clinic is.

4) SRC is sending a medical mission team on Thursday, Jan. 21st, to work in the clinic for one week. A team of eight people is flying to Santo Domingo, then driving for 4 hours to cross the border and get to the clinic. Another team of seven people from South Carolina is meeting our team on Friday. There will be 4 doctors, 9 nurses, and 1 physical therapist working together at the clinic, and they will be treating some 800-1,000 people per day.

5) We will continue to receive funds for Haiti Relief from partner churches around the globe. Those funds will be wired to El Shaddai Ministries to continue helping them with the relief efforts.

Immediate needs in Haiti and how SRC is helping...

2010-01-20T08:21:00.002-05:00

We communicated with our partner, Pastor Dony St. Germain, as he came to Miami to gather supplies and funds to bring back to Haiti. These are immediate needs that were identified:

1) Food and water. With the help of our partner C3 Missions, Pastor Dony is able to secure containers in the Dominican Republic and those containers can be loaded with food, water, and other supplies. The cost for a 20ft container loaded with supplies is $10,000. Then the container can be shipped to Croix des Bouquets in Haiti (about 1 hours driving from the DR border). This is where El Shaddai Ministries and C3 Missions are setting up a big clinic to help the people with food, water, and medical care.

2) Medical teams. There are many people who are wounded and hurting in the outskirts of Port au Prince. The relief operations are concentrated in the capital, however several small towns were severely hit by the earthquake, and no help is getting there to save those people. That's where our partners will be focusing, and they need our help with medical teams and medications.

3) Because buildings were destroyed and many are cracked and not safe, people have moved away from their places and are now living on the streets. Church buildings were destroyed and congregations cannot meet. A big need right now is for tents. Big ones for churches to start meeting again, and small ones for people to get shelter. Pastor Dony can get those in the DR if he receive the cash donations.

How generous are the people of SRC...

2010-01-20T08:14:00.002-05:00

Last weekend in church Tommy gave an update about the situation in Haiti, and informed the church family that we were taking a special collection for the Haiti Relief Fund...

God provided through the generosity of the SRC family, His people, and we received $54,324 in donations for the Haiti Relief fund. Praise God! And thank you SRC family for your generous heart!

Update #6 from El Shaddai Ministries - Pastor Dony

2010-01-18T21:47:00.003-05:00

El Shaddai Ministries International, Inc.

13651 S. Biscayne River Drive

Miami, FL 33161

January 17, 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thank you for your prayers in such a difficult time as this for my people and my country. We, Louis and I, have sensed your prayers as we too are mourning the deaths of key leaders in our ministry. I lost 10 key leaders in PAP. One of these leaders died with his entire family.

Church, what you are seeing on the television, as difficult as it has been to watch, fails in comparison to what is really happening in Haiti. There are too many people who are still not getting the help they need, many are suffering. For example, the concentration of the relief so far is in PAP but there are a number of surrounding cities that have also suffered major damage that no one is addressing such as Jacmel, Miragoan, Leogan, and the list goes on. There are still aftershocks being felt. Two buildings that were standing and showed no signs of damage fell yesterday with people in them. We continue to be in desperate need of your help to minister. Ministry must not only be in PAP but also in the surrounding cities where many are returning. ESMI is already strategically based in some of these cities and sees this as an opportunity for future church plants and growth. However, at this time, the focus must be on the immediate needs.

These are the needs we must work on now:

1. Containers with Food Supply from the Dominican Republic (DR).

PAP was the main entrance of food for the entire country. They have run out. Soon the trickling effect into other cities will begin as these cities become overcrowded with people who have left PAP.

We can get a 20ft container with $10,000 worth of food and transport it across for another $2,000. We need at least 20 of these right now. A team is already in place to do the purchasing and packing once the funds are received.

2. Food Containers from the US

Although rice, black beans, red beans, oil, canned meat, spaghetti, cornmeal, bulgar wheat, baked beans, canned soup, tomato paste are much needed items, other important items to pack are food for immediate consumption such as biscuits, tuna sandwich mix, canned sausage, lots of small bottles of water, etc., anything that does not have to be cooked. ESMI has the contact to have these containers cleared within 3 days in the DR.

3. Medical Team

Many, many people have not been treated for their injuries. Large numbers are sitting under sheets with swollen feet, arms, and face; untreated injuries with dried clots of blood; back injuries; some totally immobile because blocks fell on their backs or chest. Some are being fed by others that are too weak to feed themselves but it is only a matter of time before they are no more if no one sees them. The General Hospital is overcrowded, patients are outside waiting and the people are dying by the minute. This is just too much for the hospital to handle.

The Need:

i) Several mobile clinics with all the needed medical supplies to treat these patients in the different locations.

ii) Medical Team

We are ready right now to have medical teams come in to see patients. I have secured a clinic in the Croix de Bouquet area, 15-20 minutes outside of PAP. It is safe.

4. Tents for Churches and Homes

Most churches in PAP have collapsed but the body of Christ is very much alive. As the sun sets and night falls PAP becomes a city of worship. Singing is heard everywhere throughout the darkness. We need huge tents that can accommodate the thousands of church members, and smaller ones for those living on the streets until other housing is found.

Thank you once again for all your prayers and financial support that has come in these last few days. We still need your financial support to meet some of these immediate needs.

By God’s grace, I know we will prevail as His people.

In His Service,

Dony St. Germain

Haitian Ministries Coordinator

Update #5 from SRC partners in Haiti

2010-01-16T23:16:00.002-05:00

Received from El Shaddai Ministries on Jan. 16th at 2pm:

Dear Friends,
We are on Day 4 of the aftereffects of the quake. Spoke with Dony late last night and received a few emails this morning.

Yesterday, he visited schools and hospitals in PAP. Did not go to the DR since C3 partners were already there. His words:

"One school has 350 children buried under it. Another nursing school, 100 students. No food. Day 4 without food and water in PAP. Interviewed a family that lost 12 people. PAP is not a city that can be rebuilt easily. Hundreds and thousands of people sleeping on the streets. Some are sleeping in tents but there are not enough. If I could get some in the DR and take in...Everyone is seeing things differently, but you have to be here on the field. Visited the hospitals - no antibiotics, no medication, not enough personnel to minister to the people. No gas in PAP. Need to purchase 2 huge containers to store for future. ESMI lost one of its vehicle. People are moving back to the provinces so ministry cannot only be in PAP but need to go to the villages to those people too. Still a lot of areas without help. A lot of people still in need. We have identified a clinic twice the size of the one in Cayes that we can use for the relief effort, and use it as our headquarters. It also has a guesthouse where we can host at least 200 people so I have taken control of the facility."

Today's plan:

1. Louis will send 5 nurses and 1 doctor, possibly 2, to the above facility to begin doing some preliminary treatment until we can get medical teams organized from the US to come in. This is a big need: medical personnel and medical supplies to treat earthquake victims. The facility is in a safe place about 15 minutes outside of PAP. If you are interested in being a part of a medical team, please respond ASAP to esmieletter@aol.com.

2. Dony will head to St. Marc and the Gonaives area to buy up as much food as he can for storage.

3. C3's trucks should be arriving today at a location about 3 hours from the DR border where the food will be stored and then distributed from.

4. Louis will also get staff from Cayes to manage this distribution center and will bring more supplies...food, water and medical.

Pray for these efforts today and for safety as one team travels from Les Cayes and another from the DR. Dony will need to return with whatever funds we can collect here. No banks are functioning in Haiti.

If you would like to send a contribution, please send to Spanish River Church, and indicate Haiti Relief on the memo. These funds will be sent to Dony and Louis ASAP.

Thanks to all who have already sent funds. Please know that 100% will go toward the relief effort.

Thanks too, to my friend, Susie Austin, who has been getting the word out to you via email. Thanks to Frantz St. Germain and Shane Hackett who have been posting the updates and at the same time working feverishly to get our website updated to make it functional during this relief effort.

May God continue to guide us and have mercy on His people.
With His Peace,
Sharon St. Germain

Update #4 from SRC partners in Haiti

2010-01-15T14:00:00.002-05:00

Received from El Shaddai Ministries on Jan. 15th at 12:45pm:

"God is truly amazing! My God is truly amazing!"

Those words from a song are resounding in my mind as I write. Our C3 partners have been trying to get a hold of Dony and Louis as they hoped to meet in Port-au-Prince yesterday. Their plane, however, was not permitted to land and had to be diverted to Santo Domingo,DR. They were frustrated. Since they were in the DR, they thought of purchasing food and was able to contact a business woman who willingly helped with getting the vehicles. Were they ever encouraged to read update #3 that Dony was heading to the DR!! The next concern was how to connect with him.

God is AMAZING! They were able to do that this morning. C3 partners worked hard this morning in purchasing food, water, etc., packing the items and getting clearance to drive across. The plan is to meet up with Dony and DouDou who will organize the distribution from the Haiti end. Of course, the food will not be brought into PAP just like that. Food will be stored outside of PAP and brought in discretely.

Louis was in PAP yesterday with a Haitian team from the Les Cayes area. The 2 brothers have yet to meet.

Louis writes:

"I WAS AT PAP YESTERDAY, ALL DAY. WE ARE GOING BACK TOMORROW, SATURDAY.
WE BROUGHT FOOD, WATER AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO PETION VILLE.
WE RESCUED A YOUNG GIRL AT DELMAS 40.
BROTHERS, IT IS UNBELIEVABLE AND HORRIBLE, MORE THAN ANYONE COULD IMAGINE.
THE DISTRIBUTION WENT WELL.

INDEED, THEIR IS NO CAR RENTAL AT PAP. NO GAS IS AVAILABLE SO FAR. THEIR IS NO FOOD AT THE RESTAURANTS. CIRCULATION IS OK AT SOME PLACES. BUT THE SMELL IS HORRIBLE. IT IS WINDY AND ALSO THE DUST IN THE AIR MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO BREATHE. TOMORROW IT MAY BE CHALLENGING, BECAUSE THE SMELL WILL BE WORSE. THERE ARE MANY BODIES TRAPPED IN THE COLLAPSED BUILDINGS AND THEY CANNOT GET THEM OUT.

EVERY BODY NEEDS HELP. MOSTLY WHEN THEY SEE STRANGERS AND THE JOURNALISTS, THEY WILL APPROACH AND START TO ASK REPETITIVELY FOR HELP. THEY NEED TO SURVIVE AND THEY ARE STILL UNDER SHOCK FROM THE EVENT.

AT BROCHETTE (CARREFOUR), OUR KIDS ARE OK. WE CARRIED WATER, FOOD AND CLOTHING FOR THEM. WE WILL BRING MORE TOMORROW. WE WILL CARRY FOUR HUNDRED GALLON OF WATER FOR THEM TO DRINK. IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, WATER AT PAP WILL BE NON PORTABLE...
PART OF THE FRONT WALL COLLAPSED. THE GATE IS DAMAGED (BENT), BUT THE HOUSE IS OKAY AND SO ARE THE KIDS. I WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM. THEY WELCOMED ME WARMLY."

Please check esmihome.org for current photos and videos from Louis. More will be posted today describing the drive from Les Cayes to PAP and what was seen and done yesterday in PAP.

On a sad note, those of you who have been to Haiti may remember Esaie, another driver we would use with Nader. His wife died in the quake and Dony had to do the funeral yesterday. Continue to pray for his family and so many who have lost loved ones in this manner.

Dony reports that many are returning to the provinces. There is now nothing for them in PAP.

Yes, there is a spirit of sadness and despair but thank God we can look to Him for hope, a hope that is eternal. We will continue to trust God to bring good out of this horrific situation. The Haitians are a resilient people, what says those who are firm believers in a Mighty God.

With His Peace,
Sharon St. Germain

Update from our partner C3 Missions

2010-01-15T13:06:00.001-05:00

Received on Jan. 15th at noon:

After 2 days of travel trying to get into the ravaged country, Joe Knittig and Adrien Lewis just arrived at Croix de Bouquets, a small village just northeast of Port Au Prince. GREAT NEWS!! Pastor Claude Mondesir and all 109 children at Ebenezer are fine. There was minor damage to his campus, and Claude is exhausted – his clinic there is overflowing with injured people. There are ‘after-shock’ tremors occurring today in the area. Dony St. Germain and Dou Dou are there as well, and shared that they will want to move the 106 children to Ebenezer from Carrefour as the rubble and stench are very bad.

Joe will be headed to Pastor Moise Vaval’s church to assist him with the search for his son, Jean-Marc, at his school, Ecole La Source. Please continue to pray for them.

And, this means – all of our orphans in Haiti are well – but, they will need much food and water throughout Haiti. Mike Fox and his team are on their way with some right now.

Update from Pastor Louis St. Germain

2010-01-15T12:55:00.007-05:00

Received on Jan. 15th at 10:15 am:

I WAS IN PORT AU PRINCE YESTERDAY. WE BROUGHT FOOD, WATER AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO PETIONVILLE.

WE RESCUED A YOUNG GIRL AT DELMAS. BROTHERS, IT IS UNBELIEVABLE AND HORRIBLE. MORE THAN ANYONE COULD IMAGINE.

THE SMELL IS HORRIBLE. IT IS WINDY AND ALSO THE DUST IN THE AIR MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO BREATH. TOMORROW IT MAY BE CHALLENGING, BECAUSE THE SMELL WILL BE WORST. THERE ARE MANY BODIES TRAPPED IN THE COLLAPSED BUILDINGS AND THEY CANNOT GET THEM OUT. PLEASE BROTHERS CARRY A MASK WITH YOU. AND ALSO WATER. EVERYTHING YOU ARE GOING TO CARRY IN THE VEHICLE TO DISTRIBUTE NEEDS TO BE COVERED OTHERWISE PEOPLE WILL JUST JUMP ON AND TAKE IT FROM YOU. IT IS THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE.

LOVE YOU ALL…

SINCERELY YOURS,

LOUIS

Update #3 from SRC partners in Haiti

2010-01-14T22:37:00.002-05:00

Received from El Shaddai Ministries on Jan. 14th at 7 PM:

Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers. Just heard from Dony at 6:25pm. He's well. He was only able to talk very briefly. The situation is horrific with dead bodies on the ground and everything smells. People are sleeping on the streets. No water. No food.

PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD! The pastor, the workers and the 106 orphans in Carrefour are fine. He passed also through Gonaives and the pastors and ministry there are well. THANK YOU LORD!

What is needed immediately are monetary funds. With whatever funds he took down, Dony was able to help those around the airport area who have so graciously helped us when teams would come in, and others. He is making plans to return to the Dominican Republic and buy supplies there - dry food items, water, etc. and drive those back to Port Au Prince. Pray for them as they will begin tonight.

Thank you, Father, for showing Your mercy continuously even in the midst of this indescribable devastation. Continue to pray for the many other organizations doing relief effort in these first few days which are always so crucial.

In His Service,
Sharon St. Germain