Four Men Making a Difference in Haiti
29 Jun
by Jamie Munson, lead pastor of Mars Hill Church
When you’re heading into battle you want good men fighting alongside you and great men who rise above the rest as servant leaders. Through Churches Helping Churches, I met such men In Haiti.
Jean Dorlus is a brilliantly gifted man. At the Churches Helping Pastors retreat, he knew exactly how and when to exhort, teach, and crack a joke with the 250 Haitian pastors present.
Jean is president of the seminary that hosted us, STEP, which basically means he does a little bit of everything. At the conference he led worship, he taught the men and challenged them to be on mission in the tent cities, he played the role of diplomat when the men got restless, and he brought a lot of levity to the room after long days sitting in uncomfortable chairs.
As we talked I could see the lingering pain on his face as he said, “When you knew someone who died in a building, it isn’t just a building anymore.”
Wadestrant Jean “WaWa” Baptiste has a profound story. His father was a witch doctor who would torment his son. After WaWa came to know Jesus, his father kicked him out of the house, and he moved in with some missionaries and celebrated his first birthday party at the age of 22.
A lot more could be said about WaWa’s story, but after many years he is now dean of students at STEP, and his 71-year-old dad has accepted Jesus and sits in on his son’s seminary classes.
When I visited Port-au-Prince, WaWa walked and drove us around the city for hours, sharing stories from the quake and about Haiti in general. We drove by the dry-cleaning shop where his wife was during the quake. He wasn’t able to contact her for hours, but she survived yet was deeply saddened by the collapse of a seven-story school around the corner.
Jacques Louis is the business manager for STEP. For the pastors retreat, he was responsible for housing, feeding, and translating materials for over 200 people.
In addition to his role at the seminary, Jacques pastors a church and leads a wonderful family of a wife and three kids. His 5-year-old daughter isn’t in the photo (above) because they sent her to live with friends in the U.S. for a few weeks—partly because the aftershocks were very frightening to her, and partly because Jacques had to help manage STEP’s temporary housing (tents city) for 3,000 people following the earthquake.
Finally, I’m grateful that Thomas Kim is leading the Churches Helping Churches effort. He organized the Churches Helping Pastors retreat in Port-au-Prince, and, with tact, grace, wisdom, and service, he is forging meaningful church connections that are resulting in more lives changed by Jesus.
Each of these men has had a life-altering experience that began January 12, 2010. Jean, WaWa, and Jacques are living in the immediate reality of a broken country, but, by God’s grace, maintain a really stable grasp on their identity, hope, and security in Jesus. These men are good soldiers on the frontlines of ministry: pastoring pastors, equipping leaders, and discipling people out of a deep, tested, and evident love for Jesus.
