The Church at Work
Within hours of the most cataclysmic earthquake in Haiti’s history, the Tabernacle of Glory Pentecostal Church in Port-au-Prince became a place of refuge for thousands.
The church – an impressive half-completed mini-amphitheater – became a central food distribution point for World Relief.
Inside, thousands of bags of rice and beans – enough to feed more than 100,000 people – were readied for distribution to the neediest families.
World Relief set up a system with the church to distribute the food in bulk, primarily to trusted local pastors.
Word soon got out.
Hundreds of pastors and others lined up in the sun in the hope of receiving some rice to take back to their families and their churches.
Meanwhile, children were served hot meals of rice and beans at the church’s feeding station – a lifeline for many families struggling to find any food.
Pastor Louis Ricot came to the church every day after the quake, looking for food. “My people have nothing,” he said with a slight shrug. “We have no help from anywhere else…”
Pastor Ricot was just one of thousands of pastors desperate to help his people who were living in tents made out of sticks and torn sheets.
“It’s very difficult because there are many people in Port-au-Prince who are hungry right now,” said Michael Jean Baptiste, a church mobilization officer with World Relief, working alongside the church. “I thank God that we’re able to serve Christian and non-Christian alike, because everybody needs help.”
Like many quake survivors at the Tabernacle of Glory, Baptiste questioned God: ‘Lord, thousands have died… why am I not one of them?’
God gave him the answer: ‘I have given you the opportunity to live to help your brothers and sisters in this hour.’
“Pastors come to us and say: ‘I have to feed 500 people… can you help me?’” explained Baptiste. “These people love Jesus… Jesus taught us to give to those who are hungry and it is a grace for me to serve them.”
Meanwhile, in the church grounds, hundreds received medical care at a clinic set up under a shelter.
Moms with their babies in their arms waited patiently, while a doctor and nurses from Colorado treated and bandaged wounds, checked eye infections and gave out vitamins.
“I feel that God is at work here,” one mother said. “Who else would do this for us?”
–Article from World Relief and used with permission. Original can be found here.
