Joel and Medita Zamor borrowed three wooden pews from their nearby church to go along with some of their own chairs, anticipating maybe 10 friends from their neighborhood in downtown Port-au-Prince to come to their home Thursday evening to watch the My Hope Haiti program outdoors on their patio.
Thirty showed up.
The couple, which has seen God heal their marriage — both committing their lives to Jesus Christ during the past 15 years — are now praying for even more to come for the next My Hope program Friday evening.
They’ll need more pews.
The My Hope Haiti program features Haitian music artists, testimonies from prominent Haitians and a Gospel message from either Billy Graham or Franklin Graham.
Haiti is the 54th country to host My Hope, a world evangelism project from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association that has seen over 4.5 million Matthew hosts trained since it began in 2002. In December, Zambia, Portugal and Spain will be hosting My Hope on consecutive weekends.
More than 5,300 churches throughout the impoverished Caribbean nation are taking part in the three-day evangelistic campaign, using television, radio or portable projectors to present the 30-minute My Hope program. The Zamors are but one of 200 families from their church that are hosting My Hope programs in their homes.
As Billy Graham was preaching about the Cross of Jesus Christ and how Christ died for the sins of the world, Natasha was standing in the back, listening intently. The 21-year-old girl, who is a next-door neighbor, had slipped in quietly and stood off by herself.
When Mr. Graham extended an invitation to surrender one’s life to Jesus Christ, she fidgeted, but was then eager to talk with Pastor Vladimir Dorsainvil, who is serving as a regional coordinator that includes this particular area and was attending the program at the Zamors’ home.
Pastor Vladimir’s wife, three-month-old daughter and mother-in-law were killed in the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. His testimony was included in the first night’s My Hope program, as he testified to God’s grace and strength that have sustained him during this personal family crisis.
Pastor Vladimir talked with Natasha and she told him that she used to attend church but stopped going when she didn’t think it meant anything to her. But Natasha said that while she listened to Mr. Graham, she became burdened for her sin and shame. Pastor Vladimir assured her that God loved her and that Christ died on the Cross for her and that she could come to Him just as she was and He would forgive her.
Natasha smiled. She confessed her sins and received Christ as her Savior by faith. “Now I want to stay in God’s presence,” she said. “Now I want to go to church. That’s important to me.”
Medita was thrilled with what took place in her home. “I want to be an ambassador for Christ, and I want our house to be a place where people can find Christ,” she said.
While guests were milling about talking with one another, a beaming Joel said, “I am feeling really happy to the Lord because so many people came tonight.” He then added, “I’d like to see even more people come tomorrow night. This is only the beginning.”
