Prayer and Action should also be our response to the disaster in Haiti. I heard last night that there had been another earthquake in Haiti. As God’s people, we need to be in prayer for the people of Haiti. Here are some of the ways I have been praying for the people of Haiti: Strength for those still trapped; Direction for those searching for survivors; Medical help for the injured; Wisdom for the nation’s leaders; Protection and Energy for rescue and help personal; Supplies to arrive where needed; Guidance for leaders of helping agencies. Our prayers also need to take action. The best action at the present time is money and/or health kits. Our Mission Team has already sent $1300 from our Faith Promise Budget to Haiti relief. In addition, $1905.69 was given Sunday to Haiti relief and it has been sent. I am aware of additional money that has come in since Sunday. If you want to make a gift simply make your check to the church and mark it for “Haiti.” One advantage of giving through your church is every penny given through our United Methodist Committee on Relief will go to Haiti relief. Here is some of the latest information I have about our Annual Conference’s efforts. On January 19, a PX-12 airplane departed Huntsville with purification systems, health kits and medical supplies. We were ready to respond so quickly because of our Disaster Warehouse in Decatur. “Health Kits” were there, ready to be shipped. The plane should have landed by now Barahona, Dominican Republic. The supplies will then be trucked 20 miles to an orphanage in Jimani, Haiti. This 40 bed orphanage was scheduled to open in February. It has become a relief station that had 1,800 people last Thursday night. There were 10 water purification systems on the plane. Each system will produce 10,000 gallons of drinking water per day. The rest of the shipment was health kits and medical supplies. It is a God thing that a general surgeon from Nashville, Dr. David Vanderpool, was in Haiti. He is now working out of the orphanage. On Monday he made contact with his wife in Nashville listing medicines and supplies that were needed. She worked with Nashville hospitals to collect the supplies and got them to Huntsville to be part of the shipment. The plane also carried a satellite uplink system so that better communications with our UMCOR teams can take place. These kind of things happened because of the connection of our great church. Let me get back to Actions we can take. We are told that right now money is the best thing we can do. Attached is a link to the UMCOR site where you may make a donation. http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ There are two other ways you can also take action. One is collect items for Health Kits. Our Children’s Ministries are giving leadership in this. Our Child Enrichment Center has collection bins outside their dining room where Health Kit Items can be placed.
Here is what is included in each Health Kits:1 hand towel (15” x 25” up to 17” x 27”, no kitchen towels)1 washcloth1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, no child-size brushes)6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandagesPlus $1.00 for toothpaste (Our UMCOR warehouse purchases toothpaste in bulk to ensure product does not expire before it is sent.) The After-School Children at CEC will be putting these supplies together into Health Kits. Because of international transportation issues, each kit must have only the listed items, so if you bring items they must be those listed above.
There is also a need for Food – specifically rice, dry beans, powdered milk and powered infant formula. Our Disaster Relief Warehouse in Decatur is collecting these specific food items and will be doing a shipment of them. Bins will be place around the church were you can donate these items as well.
Don’t forget there are two important Training Events Sunday. Our Evangelism System training will be 12:15 PM. This includes lunch, so please contact the office to make your reservations. There are a variety of opportunities in our Evangelism System where volunteers with a heart to bring people to Christ and the Church are needed. The Evangelism System includes Sunday Computer Teams, First Time Visitor Follow-up, Telephone Teams, Cultivation Teams and Welcome Wagon Teams. Come and see if there is a place God may be calling you to serve.
Care Team Captain training will be held at 4:00 PM Sunday afternoon. These teams are vital to providing care to our growing congregation. Each Team consists of about 5 families. The Captain sees that the Care Team truly cares for one another. We can always use additional Care Team Captains as the need for additional teams grows every year.
Our Global Impact Celebration kicks off two weeks from tonight. (Kick off service is Wednesday, February 3, 6:30 PM) Make plans to be part of this great night of worship. And be in prayer about your above the tithe commitment to this year’s Faith Promise Budget.
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