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Haiti Relief
January 12, 2010 is marked in history as the day that the most devastating earthquake hit Haiti. As we have sought the Lord in how to respond to this disaster, He has continued to deepen the connection we have with Ted and Theo Steinhauer and the Quisqueya Crisis Relief Center in Port-au-Prince. In the coming months, we are building teams with specific skill sets to respond to the relief effort. If you would like to give to LIGHT International and The Harbour Church to facilitate these short term teams click here. If you would like to give directly to the Quisqueya Crisis Relief Center to facilitate their relief work in Haiti click here.
Update #9May 4, 2010There has been much grace from heaven on this outreach to Haiti, my third trip to this nation since the earthquake on January 12. Our team is doing excellent. They have been doing amazing physical therapy work at various locations around the city of Port-au-Prince. Aside from a 4.5 tremor yesterday, which sent patients and workers running out of Community Hospital, we have had a flawless outreach thus far. Please pray us safely home. Each time I have traveled to Haiti I have walked into a completely different situation. Over these past four months there has been a constant state of flux in this nation because of the crisis. The first outreach was solely an effort to save lives. The second outreach was an attempt to bring stability and improve systems in order to work more effectively and efficiently. This outreach has been about coming face to face with the long term reality of what it is going to take to see this nation become what the Lord wants it to be and hearing His heart on how each ministry should move forward. Our two missionary families, the Steinhauer's and the Weeks, who have been on the ground since the quake, will be returning to the US to receive advanced wilderness and paramedic training with an organization called SOLO. After that training there is a possibility of them returning to Haiti to do ministry in some extremely remote mountain villages. This week, Tim Brindamour and I have been helping to pack their belongings and close up the house they rented. Ted Steinhauer, Theo Steinhauer's father, has been leading the relief effort here at the Quisqueya Christian Relief Center since the quake and is in transition as well. The school is making preparations to reopen this Fall, so they will no longer be hosting teams. On one hand everyone is excited that the school is reopening. At the same time they are sobered and saddened by the fact that they will no longer be directly involved in the medical effort. Please pray for Ted and Kathy Steinhauer as they seek the Lord for direction. Wendy and I have tried to spend some time with them to encourage them and strengthen them in the Lord. We have one more day left, and then we will be returning. Thanks for all your prayers and support! For His glory, Update #8March 23, 2010I am honored to have the privilege to be back in the nation of Haiti. I am leading a small recon team comprised of a 1 photographer, 2 videographers, 1 administrator, and 1 individual that is helping Stateside to unify the effort here in Port-au-Prince. One of our objectives is to prepare the way for the medical team we are bringing to Haiti in the first part of May. For the most part, the media has pulled out of Haiti. Therefore, the relief effort has slowed to a large degree. The Quisqueya base where we are staying, once housed over 200 medical professionals, now has around 75 medical professionals staying at the base. My sense is that the Haitian people and leadership are worn out, discouraged, and malnourished. However, in the midst of it all, the presence of the Holy Spirit is moving in a powerful way! Now is the time for the Body of Christ to rise up and serve the Believers in this nation. If you or anyone you know is interested in being a part of our medical outreach team, please contact Michelle Carr at michelle@lightinternational.org. For His glory, Update #7March 19, 2010I am traveling to Haiti next week, Monday, March 22 - Wednesday, March 24. This is my second trip to Haiti since the devastating earthquake. I am traveling with three members of The Harbour Church: Heather Ballis, Michelle Carr, and Amanda McKelvey. Joining us are, Daniel Bashta and Matt Jackson, ministry partners from other churches. Our purpose is to understand the relief work currently needed in Haiti so that the future teams sent to Haiti are fully prepared and equipped. We are also serving Quisqueya Crisis Relief Center as the needs of the base continue to grow and evolve. Please be in prayer for our team. We need wisdom, discernment, and divine strategy for future plans. We also need prayer covering for physical health and safety. I will report back to you upon our return. For His glory, Update #6First Full Day in HaitiJanuary 27, 2010Today we journeyed south of the epi-center and along the way broke our team up into 3 groups to provide medical relief to the tent cities that are cropping up everywhere as people by the 1000's flee Port-au-Prince to the country towns. Please pray because disease has already begun and, outside of a miracle, will ultimatley be out of control in these camps. Long term medical strategy is needed to address this reality. It will take mobile clinics set up on site to begin to address the issue, which is what our team began today. Along with four others, I journeyed an hour past our last mobile clinic. Upon arriving at a refugee base, I assisted our orthopedic surgeon to set 2 severely broken arms that a 12 year old boy suffered trying to stop a falling cement block wall. At the same time a lady was carried in with a fractured hip that we helped treat. Unfortunately, I witnessed one man pass away today. In the midst of all of this we are sharing the love of Jesus everywhere we go. Samuel and I prayed for an 80 year old woman who had been waiting 9 days to receive further treatment for a broken leg. The Haitians are an amazingly resilient and beautiful people. I have felt completely safe here and graciously welcomed by them. Tommorrow (Wednesday) I will send the medical team out again, while I take some time to strategize with Ted and Theo Steinhauer. There is much still to do, and I believe that the Lord has comissioned us to be a part of it. Please pray us through to the end! For His glory, Update #5Landing in Port-au-PrinceJanuary 26, 2010As we landed at the Port-au-Prince airport my first image was a critically ill patient being loaded into a Blackhawk helicopter for transfer to a medical ship. It was like I had been dropped into a warzone. The drive to our base only amplified this perception, as on my right and my left lie buildings in ruins. In spite of the destruction, my heart was completely alive! I felt instantly like this is where I belong at this moment. Pulling into our base I noticed the military presence in the compound, along with medical professionals and missionaries from around the world. What an amazing operation, and leading it all up were Ted, Theo, Lee and their team. The sense of both destiny and honor I had for these men was moving beyond words. You would have to see what is taking place here to understand how God has positioned them and now us for such a time as this! Tomorrow our team has been assigned to go out to the more remote locatioins where help has not yet arrived. Our main target area will actually be Leogan, which was the epi-center of the quake. By God's grace I will update you. Please keep us in your prayers! For His glory, Update #4Medical Team Leaves for HaitiJanuary 24, 2010Please pray for our team as I [Darren Davis] lead an outreach into Haiti. Our team departs to Port-au-Prince Monday, January 25th at 6:00am and we plan to return on Thursday the 28th. I will be accompanied by two Harbour members: Samuel St. Fleur, who will be helping with interpretation and Teddy Cook, who will be a member of the medical team. Joining us on the medical team will be:
During the team briefing last night we were informed that the situation on the ground has actually worsened in the past week. There are thousands of extremely sick people with very traumatic injury and now infection has set in and the medical facilities, supplies and protocol are simply unable to meet the need. Also, due to lack of food and water, people have begun to riot. We must have the power of God flowing in and through us! Please pray for our safety and cover us over the course of this outreach. We will be connecting with Lee Weeks and Theo Steinhauer, who were some of the first responders on the ground after the earthquake took place. Theo will be returning with our team on Thursday, to regroup before returning to Haiti. Communication is limited, so I am unsure if I will be able to send any email updates while we in country. If that is the case, I will update you upon our return. For His glory, Update #3Continuing the EffortJanuary 20, 2010On Tuesday, January 12th at around 5pm the nation of Haiti suffered a 7.0 earthquake causing massive loss of human life and almost total incapacitation to the already strained infrastructure of the nation. By Friday, January 15th, Theo Steinhauer, a former Harbour staff member and Haitian native, was on the ground in Haiti with a team from Crisis Response International. The team is basing itself out of Quisqeya, a Christian School located in the center of Port-Au-Prince. The school is under the leadership of Ted Steinhauer, Theo's father, and miraculously suffered no damage from the earthquake. Out of this base of operations at Quisqeya, members of the CRI team were the first responders to the cities of Carfour and Leogan. On Tuesday, January 19th, a second CRI team led by Lee Weeks, another former Harbour staff member, travelled into Haiti to render relief to the initial outreach team. Through the Steinhauer family's leadership in Haiti, the Lord has divinely positioned The Harbour and LIGHT International to be able to serve the people of that nation. Thus, we are committed to:
If you are interested in partnering with us in any of these endeavors, please contact our Ministry Center at (954) 876-0307 or email the following staff member giving oversight:
If you are interested in being a part of a future short term missions outreach please contact Michelle Carr at michelle@harbourchurch.org. Please specify if you have expertise in any of the following areas:
As we have need for specific supplies to support our outreach objectives in Haiti we will send out an email update. In the meantime, if you have a desire to donate items to the relief effort, we are partnering with Food for the Poor in Margate, Florida, foodforthepoor.org. Food for the Poor is in need of rice, beans, canned fish, canned meat, canned milk, bottled water, blankets, canned baby formula and orthopedic devices. Food for the Poor has an office in Port-au-Prince and is currently feeding over 20,000 hot meals each day. We believe that this could be the greatest hour in the history Haiti and the nation could literally be transformed in a day if we all obediently play our part in this effort! For His glory, Update #2Team Arrives in HaitiJanuary 16, 2010Our team has arrived safely in Haiti via the Dominican Republic. They have traveled to the epicenter of the quake, located 40 miles south of Port-au-Prince and are the ONLY disaster response team working in that area. They have reported that it is complete devastation with dead everywhere! Please keep them in your prayers! As the Harbour community, here is how you can help:
Please join us this Tuesday in The Furnace at 7pm as we pray for Haiti and this Friday Night at 7pm where I will be sharing on the crisis in Haiti from a biblical perspective. If you have any further questions, please contact Michelle Carr at (954) 876-0302. For His glory, Update #1Haiti Disaster Relief BeginsJanuary 13, 2010I am sure by now you have heard of the massive 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti last night. I happened to be in a meeting with Mike Bickle in Orlando when the news came. Instantly, all those attending the meeting burst into prayer for the people of that nation. I have been on the phone today trying to coordinate how we as The Harbour Church can help with ground level relief efforts in Haiti. Theo Steinhauer, a former staff member at The Harbour and Haitian citizen is planning on going into the nation this Friday with:
They will actually be staying tomorrow night here in Fort Lauderdale on their way to Haiti and our plan is to provide for their housing. The goal of this recon team is to get into Port-Au-Prince via automobile through the Dominican Republic. All commercial air travel is suspended into Haiti at this time. Theo's father, Ted Steinhauer is living in the country and works for a Christian School. The plan is to use the campus of this school as a base for relief operations to the city of Port-Au-Prince. Theo and his team will evaluate the situation on the ground and put in place a strategic plan to render aid. Lee Weeks, another former Harbour staff member, will also be leading a team of disaster relief trained missionaries sometime early next week. As The Harbour Church and LIGHT International we are going to partner with Theo and Lee in this endeavor. I know these men and the organizations they are working with and trust their expertise and leadership in this outreach. Right now the best way that we can help is to give financially. If you would like to give an offering for the people of Haiti, you can do so by giving online at harbourchurch.org/myharbour/ or by dropping off your gift to the Ministry Center during office hours or at the service this Friday night. Just make sure to designate your gift for Haiti relief. There may be other ways we can help in the days ahead and I will keep you updated with those opportunities. I will keep you briefed as more information comes available. For His glory, |
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