Thank you for your prayers for our recent trip to Port au Prince, Haiti. God certainly blessed this joint effort between Piney Grove Baptist Church in Samson, Alabama, and St. Andrew Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida. Our team worked alongside of SCORE International Missions, a worldwide mission organization with a presence in Haiti.

I want to encourage you to read the team member testimonies that will be posted to the blog over the coming days, and you can still access our field updates from the "Blog Archive" link on the right hand side of the page. Thank you again for your prayers!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Something Old, Something New

I am excited about the possiblity of blogging updates from our trip to Haiti. I have always believed (and still do!) that it is best to abstain from two way communication on the mission field, for several reasons. First of all, too many times I have seen a team member's trip disrupted or ruined by homesickness or "bad news" after calling home while on the mission field. Second, I believe that mission trips are much more than just witnessing and ministering in a foreign land...equally as important is the spiritual growth of the missionary. In order for an individual to truly experience all that God has in store for them, then that individual must leave home at home and focus completely on their relationship with Christ and the task at hand while on the field. But perhaps most important is the matter of faith. Faith is not truly understood so long as it remains untested, and a missionary must have the faith that not only will God provide guidance and protection in the field, but that He will also keep those we love back home safe as well. It is this exhibition of faith and complete focus on a relationship with Christ that generates tremendous spiritual growth in the life of a short term missionary.

The downside to no communication, however, is that it leaves our friends, families, and prayer partners with no clear direction on how to pray for our team while on the field. That is where this blog comes into play. It is my hope that this blog will provide us with the opportunity to give daily one way communication so that those that are praying for us can be more intimately involved in our trip. I ask that you do not leave comments--we will not read them in order to preserve our focus on the task at hand. But we do ask you to pray, and pray often about our immediate needs, concerns, and victories.

Please understand that while it is our intent to update this blog daily while we are on the field, it is entirely possible that we will have no way to connect to upload our updated posts. If this happens, please do not be concerned about us or our well being. If we fail to update the blog in a timely manner, that simply means that we either cannot get connected to the internet, or that we are so busy serving Jesus that we simply do not have the time to post. After all, we are going to Haiti to minister, not to blog!

Thank you in advance for your prayer, and I hope you are praying for us even now.