Worshiping God through the Psalms

Zach and Sharon shared the role as speakers and facilitators during the Music and Worship Conference with several other Haitian worship leaders and pastors.

There were approximately 100 participants in this year's Music and Worship Conference held at Quisqueya Chapel

Randy Bouwer, the worship leader of Calvin CRC of Holland, MI, was a speaker and a worship leader at this year's Conference.  Randy's organization, RJB Ministries and Calvin CRC, also supported a portion of the Conference's cost.

If you are at all familiar with the Bible, you know that the Psalms are worship book of Israel.  The Psalms, which have been sung and read in worship for millennia, touch every aspect of the human experience including great joy and praise, thanksgiving to God, heart-rending remorse for sin, and even deep lament.  During this year's Music and Worship Conference, we tried to help the participants understand the importance of the Psalms in Christian worship.  Zach taught sessions worshiping with the Psalms, the nature of worship and how to engage your pastor and preacher in worship leading and planning.  Sharon taught sessions on children in worship and the movements of the worship service.  What was really exciting is that for the first time, Zach and Sharon did not plan the conference.  The planning responsibility was undertaken by Perspectives Reformees, the French-language arm of Back-God-Ministries International.  In addition to being a great learning opportunity, the Conference is also a great opportunity to praise God through song and Scripture.  For the second year, the praise was lead by the Quisqueya Chapel Praise Team, a group of young musicians under the direction of Ronald Pierre, Quisqueya Chapel's worship leader.  Please pray that God will use Perspectives Reformees and the Music and Worship Conference as a vehicle to bless Haitian worship leaders.

The Left Hand of Christian Fellowship

God has been teaching Zach a few lessons about Christian fellowship.  Shaking hands is an important part of Christian fellowship, symbolizing the fraternal connection we all have as Christian brothers and sisters. However, since getting chikungunya fever a few months ago, Zach has pretty horrible arthritic pain in his right hand.  Every time he offers the right hand of fellowship, he cringes in pain, especially among the "importance-of-a-firm-hand-shake" crowd.  So, Zach has taken up offering the "left hand of Christian fellowship."  The only problem is that people don't really know what to do with this, and so a lengthy explanation is often required.  Fortunately, Haiti, where we live and work, is not Africa, where offering the left hand is considered a curse.  But Zach's experience with arthritic pain in his right hand has taught him something.  Even when we are not feeling up to it, Christian fellowship, openness and a warm welcome are necessary for a healthy church and ministry.  Our God welcomes everyone into his kingdom who repent of their sin regardless of sex, age, race, and history.  So also, we, his church, must receive all people and show them God's grace.

Growing in the Desert

We did our training at the Nouveau Kiskeya Guesthouse, a facility perched on the sea-cliffs near Jean Rabel.  Nothing but cacti and thorny scrub-brush grows this harsh environment.

Pastor Bellizaire holds up his "action plan" for the rest of participants to make comments and suggestions.

Timothy Training participants pray and sing before a training session.  Nearly half of the expected participants could not attend because they were stricken with chikungunya fever, a mosquito-borne illness that has reached epidemic proportions in Haiti.

It is amazing how God has designed plants, organisms that typically rely on regular rainfall, to grow in areas in which there is almost no water.  The Jean-Rabel area, a place where we have been doing Timothy Training for the last three years, is such a place.  The plants growing in the parched desert soil have two characteristics: thick rubbery foliage (to keep the water in the leaves from evaporating in the hot desert sun) and thorns (to protect the water inside from thirsty animals).  Timothy Training is very effective at helping church leaders grow and prosper in spiritual deserts.  It teaches leaders the importance of developing key ministry skills and allowing the Holy Spirit to use them to water the dry ground of human hearts.  It teaches ministry leaders to avoid being scorched by spiritual laziness and instead use what they have learned for God's glory.  Most importantly, Timothy Training encourages church leaders to remain faithful for "long-haul" so that they will grow daily, even in difficult conditions.  In fact, to fully complete all six core Timothy Training materials, it will take most participants two-and-a-half to three years (every material requires two months of weekly training sessions and another two-to-four months to implement a ministry plan based on the training the participants received).  In Haiti, many training sessions last one or two days, during which free books and literature are distributed and a certificate is given to each participant at the end.  In contrast, Timothy Training requires participants to pay for their own training and materials and demonstrate what they are doing with the training they have received.  Needless to say, the long-term results of Timothy Training have been very encouraging.  We give thanks to God who sends nourishing spiritual rains just at the right time.  We give thanks to God for how he is using Timothy Training to help churches and Christians grow in difficult spiritual environments!