Humility, Servant hood and Vision are the words the men used to describe the essence of their trip to Drouin, Haiti. Eleven men traveled to Haiti thinking they were going to pour a basketball/playground court for the school in Drouin. What they actually learned are lessons which will take a lifetime to live out. Life in Christ is a journey that requires one step of obedience after another. As we seek God, listen for His voice, watch to see where He is at work and then join Him we grow to learn more of who God is and enjoy Him in a deeper fuller manner. We are more like Christ when we are serving than at any other time. During the week of service in Drouin these men wrestled with aspects of humility, servant hood and a God sized vision. Each day was a further lesson in learning to walk in obedience to these words. The lessons were learned as we moved rocks by hand, shoveled a multitude of buckets of rock and sand, told Bible Stories to children during their snack time and by hauling buckets of concrete to create the slab. We were in a laboratory rich with opportunities to die to self and our American ways and simply serve the Haitian workers. In this laboratory there were failures and successes, but at the end of the trip the consensus was we have to return home to live these words in the places God allows us to walk day by day.
1 THING CHANGE A COUNTRY
Many of you know the devastation and poverty of Haiti either by news reports, the scenes from the devastating earth quake in 2010 or by traveling the country with me and Stepstones Ministry International or other ministry groups. It has been said the only thing that can change a country is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Education. We at Stepstones believe this statement and are striving to build up church leaders through training conferences and by providing education for 350 students taught by eight teachers a little village called Drouin. We, as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, rely on donations from individuals, churches and businesses to help us meet the needs of the tasks to which we are called. As we transition out of Summer Break and back to the routine of school and hopefully soon Autumn, so is Haiti. With this transition happening in Haiti and our call to build up church leaders to share the Gospel and to provide education in Drouin comes great need of financial resources. We have two pressing needs as we move into this portion of the year. The first is resources to pay our teachers. The teachers are paid $125.00 per month and we are in need of people to help sponsor four teachers. Sponsors can contribute any amount either as a onetime gift or on a monthly basis. The goal is to raise commitments from sponsors that total $500.00 per month. The second pressing need is to raise $7500.00 to provide Creole Study Bibles that contain a simple concordance and commentary. We will be hosting a Leadership Conference the first week of October for 150-200 pastors and church leaders. Most of the pastors and leaders don’t have a personal copy of the Bible. We would like to present each participant a new study bible as they arrive for the conference. This one act of compassion will assist the pastors in their personal growth in the Lord as well as help them become better students and proclaimers of the Word. Would you please join us in praying for and sharing the pressing need of these resources? All financial contributions and sponsorships are tax deductible and can be made payable to Stepstones Ministry International and sent to P.O. Box 1988 Center, Texas 75935.
2015 Begins
The year of 2015 has started with some excitement and a God given privilege and provision. Since May of 2014, I have been praying for the welfare of Shelby County and Center, Texas the county seat and God is beginning to produce fruit. There are now nine people committed to pray each morning between 8:00-9:00 Monday through Friday. These people are praying over a specific list each day of names that are leaders in our community. This group of nine made a commitment to The Lord and to each other to pray for one month and gather again to share what God speaks. The excitement in the room was refreshing and now we wait upon The Lord to speak. Since that meeting I have had the privilege to meet with a few key leaders in the community and have a few more scheduled in the coming weeks. Out of these meetings, opportunities for the community of faith to join hands to reclaim our city and county are emerging. During the days of January 12th-13th, I will be in Austin at a conference discussing communities of faith reclaiming their city. I wait in excited anticipation for what God will reveal through this training intensive. On January 6th, I along with several Stepstones Board Members met with a missionary couple from Zambia. It was a joy to hear their stories and see what God is doing through them. At the conclusion of our time they made a comment concerning a need that had to be met that day so it could be placed on a container that would be picked up the next day for delivery to Zambia. The need was for a medical autoclave. As the words left their mouths, we knew that God had answered their prayers because we had one in storage waiting for the opportunity to be given away. As I headed for the warehouse they were wondering what was going on. As I arrived back in the room with the autoclave they were overwhelmed and amazed at God’s provision. As we continued to talk I shared with them that we also had two certified defibrillators with EKG capabilities if they could use them. We were able to send them away with these greatly needed items to be used in the new medical clinic being built in a village in Zambia. We look forward to walking step by step with our Heavenly Father to see what all He will reveal and the opportunities He offers during this New Year. The only way we can know God, His purposes and His ways is to be consistently in His Word and take time to talk with and listen to Him. I encourage each of us to make time in the Word of God a priority this year. In Romans 10:17 we read, “So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” I pray each of us will hear clearly the voice of God this year as we spend time with Him in His Word.