Reaching Beyond the Radio Waves

(Pictured above: Lesley Millar, Pastor Sem and a BTGMI employee)

This is the fourth in a series of articles that looks at how the Christian Reformed Church and its partners are helping to rebuild and restore Haiti six months  following the devastating earthquake in January.

July 23, 2010 — The earthquake that hit Haiti more than six months ago on Jan. 12 destroyed hundreds of radio stations, towers, and much of the broadcast equipment. For many days, the airwaves were nearly silent.

That meant that Back to God Ministries International, which had been running its program Perspectives Réformees  in the country on a growing number of stations, was faced with few, if any, outlets to expand its fledgling radio ministry.

Meanwhile, many of its volunteers and students who had been attending Bible studies as a follow-up to the radio program left the area. Some were likely among the more than 200,000 people who died in the disaster, while others scattered, moving to different towns and even countries.

While the future remains uncertain, it will likely involve continued expansion of the program on stations across Haiti – once they are all up and running again.

But the last few month have kept BTGMI personnel busy attending to more immediate needs, says Lesley Millar, who works with BTGMI and Christian Reformed World Missions. Before the quake, it was Millar's job to connect with people who could help expand BTGMI's radio and follow-up ministry. She had the job for about a year when the earthquake occurred, disrupting her duties and requiring her to adapt to other more intense realities.

Once the quake occurred, she joined other Christian Reformed Church agencies, filling in where needed and responding to emergency requests, including those for temporary housing. In one instance, the work had a strong personal dimension.

"Pastor Sem, who is my colleague at Back to God Ministries in Haiti, lost his house in the earthquake. His wife has just given birth to their first baby 9 days before the earthquake. Can you imagine?" she writes in a report.

"Due to the instability of the situation in the capital (Port-au-Prince), Pastor Sem was forced to send his wife and child to his in-law’s house in the countryside. Pastor Sem was miserable without his wife and new baby, so we kept looking for solutions about how to get him a house in the city where they could be together."

Fortunately, she says, the Christian Reformed Church of Haiti, which is based in the same ministry center out which she works, agreed to give him a small plot of land, on which he could build a temporary wood house.

"When the construction of Pastor Sem’s house began, I saw a changed man," writes Millar. "He was so excited, anticipating the return of his wife and child. He made sure that the work crew did their job and did it well. I was so happy I could play a little part in helping Pastor Sem reunite with his family.

BTGMI, however, maintains its mission to reach people for God through its life-changing media ministry.

Rev. Paul Mpindi, French ministry leader for BTGMI emphasized: "It is important that as the international community is focusing on helping Haiti financially, we, the people of God, focus even more on helping the Haitian people to strengthen their faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

"One goal for BTGMI is to rebuild relationships with radio station managers and seek out new stations to broadcast the program in order to provide words of encouragement and hope to the Haitian people."

BTGMI will continue to broadcast; work to locate and bring people back into the Bible studies; reproduce and distribute BTMI material, provide pastoral counseling, and take part in training church leaders who can in turn help members of their congregations continue the long, sometimes discouraging process of reconstruction.

Millar asks for ongoing prayers and support as CRC ministries continue the difficult, uphill struggle in the next six months to work to rebuild people's lives and ministries in Haiti.

"Haiti is a very difficult place to live right now and we are all working extremely hard to meet the needs of the Haitian people," says Millar.

—Chris Meehan, CRC Communications