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The Whole Gospel for the Whole Person
MIA BlogSpot | March, 2010
Click to donate to the Haitian relief effort.
March 25, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeeThe continuing crisis in Haiti seems to have slipped off the radar in our country. Other things, like health care reform, now occupy the national interest. But in the ten weeks since the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince things have gotten only marginally better.
Food, water and other basic provisions are getting into the country and can be purchased there more cheaply then buying and shipping supplies from the States. Thousands of tents have been donated to provide better shelter than the homemade stick and sheet huts where most of the 600,000 homeless were living.
However, the supply of provisions is still inadequate for the need and most of those who lost there homes are still in makeshift shelters. Though much has been done, much still remains to do.
One critical need continues to be medical care. A Ministries in Action medical team will go to Port-au-Prince tomorrow. Led by Medical Missions Director Kathryn Stephens, the team of 19 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals will work with our ministry partner, El Shaddai Ministries International, to treat some of the least served people in and around the Haitian capital. They will be taking with them thousands of dollars of medical supplies donated by our supporters.
I will accompany the team, along with MIA Haitian Director Bresile St. Germain and my 18-year-old son Josh. Josh, who is considering a calling to ministry, is eager to go on his first disaster relief team. He will assist the medical team.
Bresile and I are going to encourage believers with the word of God and call others to come to God through Christ. I will preach four times over two and a half days. My theme is the Sovereignty of God: trusting God to bring good out of tragedy.
Please pray for our ministry this week and the people of Haiti, especially our brothers and sisters who are in great need. If you would like to contribute to the on-going work simply click on our Giving Page or you can send a check to Ministries in Action, PO Box 571357, Miami, FL 33257-1357.
March 19, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeeTheological Education
In the Caribbean and Latin America it is rare to find counseling services available. Our missionaries report that many of the church leaders they mentor ask for help with counseling. Over at our ministry partner, Miami International Seminary (MINTS), they report that the most frequent request they get is for courses in counseling.
With that in mind our director of theological education, Barry Smith, is building a new pastoral counseling training program for MIA. He is recruiting instructors from colleges and seminaries in the US to develop courses and is writing some himself. The program will be used in our own IONA training centers and will be available to others through MINTS.
This week Barry taught a class for MINTS – Miami on depression and is writing a course on A Biblical Approach to Addictions Counseling that he will teach in Miami starting next month.
Travel: Chicago and Haiti
Please pray for upcoming trips I’ll be making. This weekend I travel to Chicago to visit supporting churches. On March 27 I will travel to Haiti with our Haitian Director, Bresile St Germain, where we will preach and teach to encourage believers still struggling from the earthquake, and to present the gospel to unbelievers. Pray especially that the power of the gospel will be evident in our presentations.
March 12, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeeReaching Hispaniola
Hato Nueva Medical Complex, the Ministries in Action’s medical missions project in Los Angeles, Dominican Republic, began in 2003 under the leadership of Dr. Sylvia Martinez. Through the generosity of many donors and with the help of numerous work teams the hospital is nearing completion. On March 13th a team from Wellenport United Reformed Church in Ontario, Canada will arrive to do a painting project in the hospital as well assist with a community feeding program and lead a Vacation Bible School for local children. Part of the urgency for finishing the hospital is that Dr. Sylvia plans to begin taking in earthquake victims from Haiti that require long term medical care.Medical Team for Haiti
Final preparations are underway for a Ministries in Action medical team to go to Haiti on March 27th. MIA Director of Medical Missions, Kathryn Stephens, has pulled together a team of medical professionals from all over the United States, as well as one who is coming from Australia. The team will be serving in the greater Port-au-Prince area to provide medical care for some of those that have been the least served since the January 13th earthquake.MIA Haiti Director Bresile St. Germain, Dony St. Germain from El Shaddai Ministries International, and I will accompany the medical team. We are going to encourage and strengthen pastors and believers in Haiti and to present the gospel to the unsaved. We will preach and teach a combined 15 times over a three-day period in open-air churches around Port-au-Prince. MIA has printed 20,000 booklets in Creole that we will take with us for discipling new believers. We will also be taking 40 John McArthur French language study bibles to give to the pastors.
Much is being done on the island of Hispaniola, both in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti. Thank you to all of those that have partnered with us in prayer and by contributing to this work. But there is much more that needs to be done. If you would like to help MIA respond to the need to provide medical care to our Dominican and Haitian brothers and sisters please contribute. Simply click on our Giving Page or you can send a check to Ministries in Action, PO Box 571357, Miami, FL 33257-1357.
March 7, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeeOn Friday, March 5, The Miami Herald had a front page article headlined "Nowhere to Call Home". The story was about the plight of the more than a half million Haitians left homeless by the earthquake. lacking other resources people have created any sort of shelter they can, most using sticks and sheets to make the kind of "tents" we used to build in our back yards when we were kids. But this situation is not a game. Lives are at stake. In her Herald article Jacqueline Charles wrote that relief workers are in a "race against nature" to provide more substantial shelters before the rainy season begins in just over two months. "Rains in Port-au-Prince threaten to make a bad situation even worse," Charles wrote.
Ministries in Action is working with Haitian church leaders to help address this pressing need. Pastors have asked for tents, real tents, that can be used to shelter their church members in the immediate term while plans for long term reconstruction move forward. So far MIA has sent 100 tents to Haiti, $22,000. for food. The funds for food went to the leaders the UEBH (United Evangelical Baptist Haiti) and the MEBSH (Mission Evangelique Baptiste du Sud d'Haiti). The are the two denominations that MIA has worked with since 1975. The presently have 13 feeding stations and are in need of more funds to continue to operate these feeding stations.The need for more tents is critical and time is short. We need your help.
If you would like to help MIA respond to the plea of our Haitian brothers and sisters for shelter to help keep them safe from the coming rains please contribute. Simply click on our Giving Page or you can send a check to Ministires in Action, PO Box 571357, Miami, FL 33257-1357.
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