This month marks the first anniversary of the massive earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 300,000 people in a matter of minutes. With such an immense loss of life, there was probably not a family in Port-au-Prince who didn’t lose a mother, father, child, aunt, uncle, or other loved one. Three million people lost their homes, and today at least 1 million are still homeless.
From the very beginning, pastors in Haiti asked us to come preach the “hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23, NKJV) to people so desperately in need of hope. Over the past 12 months, we have shared the compassion and lasting hope found only in Jesus Christ with many thousands of Haitians, both one-on-one and in small groups–all the while praying that God would give us the right time for a larger evangelistic meeting.
Today, I stood before thousands of Haitians crowded into their national soccer stadium, and proclaimed the hope found in Christ alone. Pray for those who responded to the Gospel, that they will connect with a church and grow in the Lord in the midst of their circumstances. After this Crusade, we will continue to work among the suffering people of Haiti all year. The churches of Haiti are poor, and the people are poor, but we want them to experience “the exceeding riches of [God’s] grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).
Already, we have been providing Haitian pastors with evangelism training, helping them to become even more effective as they share the love of God and the life-changing message of the Gospel among suffering people. In addition to continuing this training, we also want to take our My Hope World Evangelism Through Television project to Haiti. The year 2011 will be an all-out effort to preach the Gospel to every corner of this struggling nation.
Will you devote the rest of this month to praying for those who respond to the Gospel at the Port-au-Prince Crusade? Pray also for Christians who were trained to share their faith during the preparations leading up to the event. Let’s ask God to use these believers to bring sweeping change all across Haiti.
We need your prayers that God will guide and direct us as we carry out this evangelistic ministry all the rest of this year. Your support is valued, needed, and much appreciated.
May God bless you,
Franklin Graham
President
