As far as I can remember, I’ve visited the country of Mexico six times, one of those times before I arrived at Chapel Hill. These visits have always been worthwhile, sometimes challenging, sometimes surprising, and always memorable. But never before have I been so excited for our church to revisit our southern neighbor. This year […]
Coffee!
We have a love for coffee in Gig Harbor, but our team has a greater appreciation that we gained directly from the farmers here in Haiti. One of the programs that World Relief is involved with is training coffee farmers on better pruning techniques. Coffee plants can grow quite tall, but the harvest diminishes as […]
Pucker Factor
Let’s face it: when a church announces a new giving initiative, it causes some—perhaps many—to pucker up a bit. Maybe even a lot. I heard from three different people last week who showed up for the launch of “Beyond These Walls: Making Disciples That Make History.” All three admitted that they came a bit reluctantly, […]
Graduation Day
God continues to bless our time together here with World Relief and the relationships we are forming as we learn about this bountiful, beautiful country we are in. It’s amazing how God uses us in our own time and place for His purpose. The same day Pastor Mark launched our Beyond These Walls series, we […]
Beyond These Walls in Haiti
Today we definitely felt like we were praising God Beyond Walls! After a bumpy (that’s putting it mildly) ride from Thiotte to Pichon and then up to the “Cascades,” we encountered one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen! It was a series of water cascading from very high up and then down […]
Haiti Worship Night
Friday evening, April 28 After taking a red-eye flight, we arrived in Port-au-Prince on Friday afternoon greeted by torrential rains, but they lightened up by the time we reached the guest house. After settling in and having a light dinner, we went to a “Night Watch” prayer and worship service at Joseph’s church (he is […]
Blessings even before touching Haitian soil
One of the objectives of this trip is to build relationships between the World Relief (WR) staff in Haiti and Chapel Hill Church. I am eager to meet Esther. She is the WR staff person directly involved with training pastors and leaders of 40+ churches to serve the most vulnerable in their community. So in […]
Making Disciples That Make History
This year, 2017, is significant in the life of the Christian Church. It marks the 500th anniversary of the launch of what we know as the Protestant Reformation. If enough of you are interested in joining me next June, I hope to lead a Reformation tour. We will stand before the doors of the Wittenberg […]
Chapel Hill in Haiti
The first Chapel Hill Go Team to Haiti leaves late Thursday evening. We are going as ambassadors from Chapel Hill and working with our partner organization, World Relief (WR). Their mission is to “empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable.” We go to make connections and friendships with the WR staff and to […]
Haiti Go Team
Our Haiti team departs this Thursday. Although every team we send out is special, the sending of this team feels particularly sweet. This team started training last fall for what we all thought would be a November 2016 departure. A year earlier, World Relief had invited us to be a part of the Church Empowerment […]