It’s hard to believe that this time last year Keesha and I were preparing to move our family to Haiti. What a crazy year it has been. We’ve seen and learned a lot and God has been faithful every step. After a busy first six months, we were able to travel to the States for some much needed time of rest.
When we returned to Haiti in November, we hit the ground running once again, and once again God is doing more than we ever expected or imagined. In November, we began our regular pastors breakfast with our network of pastors and church planters. This is an important time each week for us to seek the face of the Lord together and cast vision for the future. These men are our catalysts for all of World Reach’s church planting efforts in Haiti. God has given these men a passion to see people follow Jesus and to see authentic missional churches planted. Our desire is to see each of our churches in a position where they can meet the needs of their communities, be on mission to their neighbors, and actively strive to multiply disciples and new churches. We are calling for all believers (not just the leadership) to be actively involved in making disciples. These are the goals we are praying toward in our pastors breakfasts each month.
In December, I had the privilege of preaching for several of our churches and baptizing several new believers. Jerusalem Baptist, one of our churches outside of Port Au Prince, is two years old now and does not have a roof on their building. Because of this, they meet for worship early on Sunday mornings to beat the heat (they also do not have any place to sit). We are so grateful for friends in Virginia who generously provided the funds to finish the roof, which is under construction now. Keesha and I also hosted a short-term medical mission team in December. They were a huge blessing to several of our churches and communities.
In January, I had the privilege of preaching my first Haitian wedding. It was a joint wedding with three couples getting married. I had the opportunity to baptize one of the grooms last Summer. In January, we also baptized five new believers and sent out seven more families to start new churches.
God has been at work in so many ways in our family. One of the big visions God has given us most recently is an ongoing discipleship and training with some young men that are now living with us. We are asking the Lord to begin a movement of disciple-making and church planting right out of our home. It has certainly been an adjustment but it is an exciting one.
Thank you all for your continued prayer and support. God is at work. We just want get out of the way so He can show off. He’s so good.
– Jacob
