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At Lighthouse Bible Church we have a Missions Committee. The members are Becky Carr, Rod Kasper, Ashley Dudak, Kim Houghton, Laura Geremia and Karen Pasquariello. One of the roles of the committee is to ensure accountability regarding stewardship of financial resources. Our main emphasis in fulfilling the Great Commission is to share the Gospel message, meeting the spiritual needs of man. Along with that, we recognize that the physical and social needs may need to be met as part of a gospel ministry.
I have witnessed firsthand the malnutrition and hunger of the children of Haiti. The majority of Haitians live on less than $2 a day. How do you share Christ with a father or mother while their child is starving? While providing spiritual food, we must also provide physical food.
One of the ministries we support in Haiti is the Feminine Training Centers in Port au Prince, Mirebelais and LaJeune. These vocational schools were initiated by the desire of Marie St Amour to help the women of Haiti and the purpose is to share the Gospel while teaching skills that will help them to acquire jobs to provide for their families.
There is a lot of thought, strategy and prayer that goes into ministry. For example, the centers teach women skills, they bake, cook, decorate cakes, craft, sew, learn cosmetology and hair styling. The center in LaJeune is located on the main road from Port au Prince to the northern city of Cap Haitien. Marie shared with me her vision to open a store on that road where the women could sell the products they made. It is a brilliant idea as the location is strategic to reaching many people who travel on that road. The Christian World Outreach board of directors approved Marie's proposal. $10,000 is needed for this project. The missions committee prayerfully considers all needs and unanimously decided to give $2100 from our missions account to help with this project. It will not only meet the physical needs, but also spiritual needs as everything CWO does is rooted in sharing the Gospel. Each student attends a weekly Bible Study.
Here is an interesting tidbit: back in the 80s I took a large team to Haiti, and we built the building that is now being used as the training center in LaJeune. This is what I mean by being strategic in our ministries. If a school is built, will there be teachers, how will their salaries be paid, will there be students? We don't just build a building; we have to think through the long-term effects. That is what CWO does with the various ministries and what your missions committee does to ensure that the funds given through Lighthouse for missions are being allocated wisely.
On behalf of the Missions Committee, we would like to thank you for your generous giving to Lighthouse Bible Church. 10% of what you give goes to missions to evangelize the lost through the proclamation of the Gospel.