Despite the fact that the team of eight from Community Baptist could not provide food for every Haitian that approached them, they could provide nourishment of a different kind.

Aside from building a house for a family that lost theirs in the Jan. 12 earthquake, the team was on a mission to minister to and worship with those in Jacmel.

“We were able to help a family with a physical need by building a house, but what they need most is an answer for their spiritual needs,” said Pastor Mike Knight. “You won’t be able to touch the poverty level, but you can do something to change their hearts. The people are very needy. This is a great window of opportunity to reach them right now, because they’re so open and they’re tender right now.”

Beyond the crumbled buildings, filthy streets and tent cities, Knight witnessed a need of a different kind.

“The best way for our country to help the Haitian people is not just to give them money or a place to live. The greatest need is the gospel,” said Knight. “Because of the poverty that’s there, the way to reach Haiti is through the heart of the people. We want to help give them the message of the gospel, that Jesus Christ can save them from their sins. Change their hearts, and they will begin to do things differently.”

Knight said the trip provided them not only an opportunity to provide a family with a new home, but to further their church’s purpose.

“There are great physical needs there – I don’t want to minimize that, but our focus is not just on the physical, but the spiritual needs,” he said. “Our church’s purpose verse is Mark 16:15 – ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’ It’s all about taking the gospel to our local community and to people all over the world, be it Haiti, Garner, Clayton, Fuquay-Varina. It sums up what our church is all about.”

Knight received the opportunity to spread the word when he preached at a local church, Hosanna Baptist, an experience he calls one of the highlights of the weeklong trip.

The members of Hosanna Baptist meet in a concrete building with room for 300 people.

According to Knight, the church would fill up quickly and there would still be 300 or 400 people lined up outside wanting to get in, so the church began offering two services – the first takes place at 6 a.m. and the second at 9 a.m.

For team member Rich Wells, the experience he will never forget came from another church visit.

“Besides the gratefulness of the family for whom we had built the house and working alongside my brothers as we demonstrated the love of Christ, my favorite memory would be when we traveled high up into the mountains of Jacmel to attend a church service,” he said.

According to Wells, the service began well after dark. During the time of worship singing, the generator that supplied electricity to the church failed, plunging the church into darkness and causing the speaker system to quit.

“Even though we were all suddenly plunged into darkness, we kept singing and giving thanks to God,” said Wells. “We were in the pitch dark, in a hot building with no A/C, bugs everywhere and these people were content with what God has given them.”

Knight said the singing continued for over an hour in the dark – no song books were required, as the church members had all the words memorized.

“It was amazing to me – these people had nothing, but they had the joy of the Lord in their lives,” he said. “It was such a blessing and a challenge to us. We received more than we gave them, and that was so awesome.”

Bound for home

The last day of the trip arrived, and the team loaded up for a three hour truck ride over the mountains to Port-au-Prince, a plane ride and then home. But they were in for one last shock as they made their way through the devastation of the nation’s capital.

“We had to make our way through sections of roadway that were rent in two by huge cracks…the damage to the buildings in Port-au-Prince was phenomenal compared to Jacmel,” said Wells.

“People by the thousands are living in tents and perhaps just as many are living beside the roads or on the medians in tiny 6 by 6 foot shacks created from tin roofing and cardboard boxes. Huge mounds of rubble lay everywhere and since there has been a breakdown of basic government services, people just pile their trash along the streets which many times rivaled the concrete

rubble piles.”

It was a situation Wells said most Americans could not even begin to fathom.

“No one has running water. Few have electricity. No TV. A radio here or there perhaps. And they are happy,” he said. “They certainly have something that most of America has lost. For them this is just their life and the way things are. We Americans want for nothing and we still do nothing but gripe and constantly look up the ladder.

“How much we could learn from the Haitian people, especially those who are active in good churches for they truly understand what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4: ‘Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.’”

Wells said he has brought back a greater appreciation for his life, family and comforts, a lesson even those who will never make such a trip could learn from.

“Our culture has become so narcissistic and self-focused that we are never content with what we have,” he said. “As we scramble to work harder and make more money to buy even more stuff,

most of which we don't need, we lose track of what's really important, and it's no wonder that most of us are in a constant state of angst. We have lost much of the work ethic and great notions that went in to founding our country. We could learn much from the Haitian people but sadly, most of us won't ever get the chance.”

Knight is hoping to give that chance to more church members. He would like to lead another team to Haiti in the near future to fulfill a need that was brought to his attention by Pastor Dieupie Cheribin of Hosanna Baptist. Cheribin was approached by the mayor of Jacmel and asked to help provide housing for three widows and two single moms with children – all of them homeless.

“Right now these families are living in the woods just a 1/4 mile from where we stayed when we went to Haiti,” said Knight. “Each day they try to buy a five gallon bucket of water just to survive.”

According to Knight, someone in the village donated a half-acre of land for these needy families to build houses on. He is hoping Community Baptist can help raise the $10,000 to $12,000 it would cost to build five small block row houses for those families. Each house would measure about 10 by 20 feet.

“Here we are, a new church in Garner, North Carolina of about 130 people, and we were able to raise the money, go over there and have an impact,” said Knight. “If we can do it, anyone can.”

Community Baptist has set up a Haiti Mission Trip Fund. Those interested in helping with the project can send a tax deductible donation to Community Baptist Church, 130 Commerce Parkway, Suite 105, Garner, NC 27529. Checks should be designated to Haiti Mission Trip Fund.

And if you’d like to hear more about the needs of Haiti firsthand, Pastor Cheribin will be speaking at Community Baptist on Sunday, Aug. 22 at 10 a.m.

For more information, visit www.cbministry.net.