Pray for that God Would Prepare the Soil

A participant in Timothy Training shares his Action Plan (how he will use what he learned in his ministry).  The young woman at the left is Monica Petit-Homme, the coordinator for Timothy Training.

One of Jesus' most famous parables is the parable of the Sower, the story of how a gardener scatters seed on four different soils.  On the first three soils, the seed failed to germinate and was destroyed.  However, in the fourth soil, the good soil, the seed took root and gave a harvest of thirty, sixty and one-hundred times.  The parable of the Sower teaches us about the Gospel and the grace of God.  Only in the soils that God prepares will the seed of the Gospel germinate, take root, and produce a harvest.  When you are organizing training activities for Christian leaders, as we often are, this is a difficult lesson to accept.  Why?  Because we would like to think that if you are well enough prepared, the training ministry that you do will have dramatic results.  Of course, there is no excuse for poor preparation, but the reality is that some things are out of the hands of the trainer.  Most obviously, what the participants do with the training after the end of the week is out of our hands.  This is especially true for the Timothy Leadership Training (TLT) that we will do 7-9 May in Port-au-Prince.  TLT focuses on doing what you learn.  However, doing what we learn about the Gospel runs against human nature.  This means that the central characteristic of a successful training is the Holy Spirit working in advance to prepare the "soil" of the heart so that the seed of training will take root and yield a harvest.  Please pray during the week of the 7-9th of May that God will prepare the soil well so that the participants will do what they learn about ministry in our training.

Segaar-King April Update

Dear Friends and Family:

We pray that in Christ you are all well.  This morning while I (Sharon) was thinking, I sang the words of Psalm 34:19: “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” (NIV)”  We juggle many activities and ministries like balls in the air.  But then challenges like blackouts and electrical fires (both of which we are having) make things even harder to juggle.  However, God reaches out His hand to help us juggle. Jesus states, ^“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30 KJV).   We pray that all of you who feel burdened from juggling so much can find rest and peace in the Lord.

What we need God’s help juggling:

-Our kids are well overall and we are trying to finish the school year in Haiti strong on May 28.  When vacation begins, we will be juggling a three-month-long summer break since school starts in Michigan at the end of August where we will be for home service.

-Though our family is basically healthy, we are juggling Esther’s persistent cold/cough for several weeks. 

-Ministry needs are piling up.  We are negotiating annual contracts and ministry plans with our partners (a huge job).  Next week Zach will do a Timothy Leadership Training (TLT) conference. Recently, a group of people who are being trained in TLT went evangelizing for several days and reported thirteen people converted to Christ. 

-Problems: Blackouts (43 out of every 48 hours without electricity), increasingly aggressive boys demanding money on the streets, an outbreak of Chikungunya Fever (we call it “Chimichunga Fever”), a dengue-like illness which causes high fever, fatigue and body pains (in addition to a craving for Mexican food—just kidding) for several weeks.

-Perspectives Reformees Pastor’s Conference at the end of May

What God has been juggling for us:

 -A successful supervisory visit from CRWM’s Regional Leader for Latin America and the International Director.  Big changes are coming with the departure of several colleagues.

-Zach is successfully teaching in a new theological training program with our partner, the Center for Integrated Christian Development.  We will do more theological training with the CRC of Haiti in May.

-The construction of the Savannette Church has successfully finished.  Next up is the Savann Plat Church.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti

Christian Reformed World Missions

 

On the central plaza of Port-au-Prince, new government buildings arise behind the famous statue of the Run-Away Slave.  Most of the government buildings including the National Palace and the Parliament Building were destroyed four-and-a-half years ago.

Holy Week, Haitian Style

Last week we enjoyed another Holy Week in Haiti.  In a society where there is so much death (a very low average age of death among the population) and new life (a very high birth rate per woman), Holy Week is especially poignant.  Zach led a Holy Thursday (sometimes called Maundy Thursday) service at Quisqueya Chapel.  During the service we reflected on the events of Passion Night (i.e., Jesus' anointing, the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus' trials).  Zach preached on Mark's story of Gethsemane, encouraging the congregation to "watch with Jesus" at the foot of the cross and served communion.  On Good Friday, which is a holiday in Haiti, we had an opportunity to climb the mountains outside of Port-au-Prince and meditate on Christ's sacrifice surrounded by fog, green grass and beautiful trees.  Saturday turned out to be an interesting day because several local utility company employees partially cut down a power line outside our home, allowing the remaining portion to make contact with the razor wire on top of our walls.  This had the effect of sending 110 volts through all the razor wire surrounding our home and through the metal gate which serves the main entrance and exit to our home.  All Saturday night, we were entertained by electrical fires and arcing electricity dancing on our walls!  The city power remained on from about 5 pm on Saturday to about 5 pm on Sunday (an extremely rare occurrence), which meant that we were "trapped" in our house by arcing electricity.  On Sunday morning, Zach donned rubber gloves and a wood broom-handle to attempt to push away the offending power line from making contact with our razor wire.  With only a few minutes before the Easter Sunday Service, we finally were able to open the main gate and safely exit our home and go to church!  One of the highlights of Easter is that a group of people from Quisqueya Chapel had taken the cross Zach used for the Holy Thursday service and covered it with beautiful local flowers for Easter (see the picture above).  This picture reminds us of the beauty and power of the Resurrection that not even the powers of death (or those of arcing electricity) could defeat on Easter morning!

A Sign of Peace in Valley

The entrance of the church where doors would soon be hung

The team of local volunteers hangs the doors and windows of the church

Pastor Eli, the foreman of the project, looks at some of the recently laid blocks.

The Savannette Valley has been part of our regular ministry as we have been visiting a collection of small churches nestled in it just outside of the main town of Savannette.  It is impossible to describe the road through the valley, except to say lamas from the Andes and Sherpa guides from the Himalayas would be at home scrambling across the dangerous and narrow two-track road which hangs precariously near the cliff ledges.  For several months now, two organizations, SON-BEAM International and Christ Community Church of Victoria, British Columbia, have been assisting the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti to build a new building for a local congregation.  Our organization, Christian Reformed World Missions--Haiti, has been playing the role of facilitator and connector between North America and Haiti.
Bruneus Merisier, the pastor of the Savannette church, is a patient man.  His congregation sits in the last of the seven geographic areas to receive a church construction project.  For a long time, the problem was communication, as there was no way to contact him or his family.  However, two years ago, Natcomm, a cell-phone company owned by the Vietnamese government, built a tower in the mountains above Savannette.  Viola, communication was established and the organization needed to build a church became a possibility.  It is amazing to see how God has brought evidence of his peace to this isolated valley community.  By God's grace, the new Savannette Church was completed this week (see pictures above) through the labor of local volunteers and materials provided through the funds donated by SONBEAM and Christ Community Church.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will use this new building to advance the work of the Gospel and bring peace to the valley!

The bottom of the Savannette Valley where the river widens out.

Perspectives Reformees Graduation 2014

Thirty-five of the thirty-seven graduates since together at the end of the graduation ceremony.

Zach prays that the graduates can use their learning in the Bible correspondence course to serve their communities and churches in Jesus' name.

It is always a blessing to witness the completion of a course of training, whether it be from a three-year-long formal institution or an informal course of study.  On 29 March, Zach participated in the graduation of 37 students from the Perspectives Reformees of Haiti (PRIHA) Bible Correspondence Course.  PRIHA is a ministry of Sous Espwa (the collaboration of CRCNA agencies in Haiti) and is a partnership between Christian Reformed World Missions and Back to God Ministries International.  PRIHA's ministry sits on two pillars: radio broadcast of the Perspectives Reformees program and the distribution of the Bible correspondence course.  Student-listeners of PRIHA can come to the PRIHA follow-up center to get answers to questions about the program and the Bible study.  The numbers of participants in the correspondence course are challenging.  There are approximately 1,500 students at any one time in all three levels of the Bible study (approximately 12 lessons in each level).  The only way that the individual lessons can be graded (as PRIHA has only two full-time staff) is through volunteer graders.  We give thanks for these hard-working servants of God who spend many hours reading through hundreds of lessons.  They only send the hardest questions back to PRIHA's administration to answer!  These graders are an inspiration to us in an age where it is sometimes feels impossible to find volunteers to do the work of the church.  Please pray for PRIHA, its volunteers and its correspondence course ministry!

Segaar-King March 2014 Update

Dear Friends and Family:

Sitting in small Haitian church on a balmy Saturday morning in a suit and tie, perhaps the last thing Zach’s mind was Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2:2 (“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others”).  However, this was the theme for the graduation ceremony of 37 participants in the Bible correspondence course run by Perspectives Reformees Haiti (PRIHA), a joint ministry of CRWM and Back to God Ministries International (see our blog for pictures).  Though it was exciting to see so many people graduate (some of which have been in the course for several years), it was bittersweet because this course will no longer be offered (see prayer request below).  At the end of May, these graduates (and hundreds of other participants) will hopefully participate in PRIHA’s Conference for Pastors where we will be looking at the challenges and Biblical solutions to the pit-traps of pastoral ministry.  If you are wondering what these are, just ask your pastor.  Be ready to listen for a long time!

Please join us in giving thanks for:

-Sharon’s successful visit to the Vila de Wòz church in preparation for the annual women’s spiritual conference for the CRC of Haiti churches which will be held at the end of June.  Pray for good preparation!

-The final week of construction on the Savannette church.  Interior walls and doors will be going up.  The next building project will be in Savann Plat, in the Thomassique area.

-A safe return from the Dominican Republic where we had a joint spiritual retreat with Dominican colleagues.  Since returning our team has held a training for a new “youth group” initiative called IMPACT Clubs.

-The beginning of rainy season.  We had 3.5 inches of rain last night at our house!  Drought continues in the North West Department of Haiti where we do Timothy Leadership Training.

Please join us in praying for:

-A supervisory visit from CRWM’s Regional Leader for Latin America and the International Director.

-Our participation in a new theological training program with our partner, the Center for Integrated Christian Development.  We are teaching introduction to New Testament for the next two months.

-A busy month for Timothy Leadership Training in which we will do a presentation of our TLT for pastors and mission leaders (April 25) who will hopefully send students to our biannual training on May 7-9.

-Perspectives Reformees Haiti (PRIHA), our media ministry.  Recently we had to shut down a Bible correspondence course that we have used successfully for five years.  Pray that we will find another good quality course to replace it.

FOR MORE PICTURES, STORIES, AND INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MINISTRY AND FAMILY, PLEASE SEE OUR BLOG AT segaarking.blogspot.com

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Isaiah, Vivian and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti

Christian Reformed World Missions

Progress on the Ministry for Christian Development Conference Center

In Haiti, roof pouring is done by means of a small cement mixer and a lot of guys with buckets on a ladder.  As you can see, the wet cement is scooped up and handed up to the roof of the building, where it is poured, bucket after bucket, on plywood forms and rebar.  The guys on the ladder handing the buckets up take a "cement shower" as the contents of the bucket spill on their heads and backs.  If you have ever worked with wet cement, you know that such a shower is not good for your skin!

In January and February of 2014, progress was made on the Ministry for Christian Development Conference Center (MCD).  The roof on the building was fully poured (as of the departure of our last work-team in June, 2013, only about 1/3 of the roof had been poured) and a lot of progress was made inside the conference room on concrete finishing work.  There was a bit of a hiccup when one of the project foreman fell off a defective scaffold (a young man named Lyonel or "Lele").  After a visit to the hospital, it was determined that he had no broken bones, but he did need a few weeks to recover.

The vision for this project is to assist our partner, MCD, to have facilities at its disposal that can help it pursue its own vision for training Haitian leaders and can help it gain more financial independence.  Once finished, it is our hope to use the Conference Center for our own training programs like Timothy Leadership Training.  Also, we see the center being rented by other organizations for conferences, weddings, graduations, and other activities.  Financial sustainability is the "900-pound gorilla in the room" of Christian ministries in Haiti like MCD as beneficiaries don't provide much compensation for ministry received.  Pray that this building can soon be completed and put into service for the benefit of MCD and its ministry.