Tampa church ministers to their ‘heart’ family in Haiti

Jul 30, 2010
By MARGARET DEMPSEY-COLSON
Florida Baptist Convention

Related Coverage:

Hope for Haiti

PORT AU PRINCE (FBC)—The first predominantly African-American congregation from Florida to minister in Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake returned to Tampa consumed by a kinship of hearts and spirit.

“We felt like we were ministering to family,” said Jeffery Singletary, pastor of Exciting Central Tampa Baptist Church, after leading a group of eight mission volunteers to Haiti. “There was a oneness between us and the Haitians.”

When church members, several of whom claim Haitian descent, first heard the devastating earthquake had rocked the tiny nation, they quickly mobilized to collect food, clothing and other essential supplies. They also accepted financial offerings.

NEW&8200;HOME Exciting Central Baptist volunteer Jerel McCants (far right) helps build a temporary home for a Haitian family. FBC photo by Ken Touchton

Hands-on ministry came next.

Arriving in Port-au-Prince in late June, the eight mission volunteers could easily have been overwhelmed with the earthquake’s aftermath—the desolation of collapsed buildings, the stench saturating the air, the crowded tent cities that had become home to unnumbered multitudes.

Instead, the group was encouraged, said their pastor, by the “resiliency of the people” and their “openness to the Gospel.”

Calling their experience “bittersweet,” Singletary said the needs were palpable.

“Our hearts were broken. There was so much that needed to be done and so little we could do. We were trying in a small way to give a cup of water in Jesus’ name,” he said.

Fritz Wilson, who directs Florida Baptists’ disaster relief efforts, said the efforts were appreciated.

“Their personal involvement showed the Haitian people that the Florida Baptist Convention and the SBC are multi-cultural and open to all like-minded churches regardless of ethnicity,” Wilson said.

Originally, the mission volunteers from Exciting Central thought they would be ministering in a children’s home. Prior to departure, team members learned the mission trip’s focus had been changed to demolition of damaged structures and distribution of Buckets of Hope to desperate Haitians.

“They let us put them where God was working in the community of Leogane and did what was needed,” said Wilson. “They put into practice the Henry Blackaby principle of seeing where God was at work and joining Him there. They did not press their agenda. As a result, the people they encountered were blessed.”

After working their way through “mayhem” at the Port-au-Prince airport, the stalwart mission volunteers traveled west for approximately 20 miles to Leogane, close to the earthquake’s epicentre. With almost all of the buildings of the “once-graceful city” flattened, the mission team found much hard, manual labor still to be done, even six months after the destructive earthquake.

Related Coverage:

Hope for Haiti

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