Jan. 22, 2010 | By Paul F. South
NEW ORLEANS - An Atlanta-area Haitian congregation has delayed a planned trip to Haiti because of a shortage of commercial flights to the devastated island nation.
Now, pastor Seneque Saintil of the Mitspa Haitian Baptist Church in Norcross, Ga. plans to lead a team to Haiti next week in a mission that has taken on greater urgency. In recent days, some church members at Mitspa learned that eight children with family ties to the 150-member congregation are orphaned and living in the streets of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
SEE A VIDEO BY PASTOR SAINTIL
Not only does the church want to take much-needed money and supplies to the earthquake-shattered island, it wants to bring home precious cargo - five girls and three boys, ages five months to eight years old.
"A woman in my church is the aunt of these children," Saintil said. "She spoke to other family members on the island who told her the children were alive."
The church is also continuing to prepare for its mission to Haiti, and hopes to fly to the island Jan. 27. Stuart Lang, associational mission action consultant for the Georgia Baptist Convention, will lead the church in a disaster relief training session Jan. 23.
Saintil said he had been working non-stop to translate a 24-page disaster relief manual from English to French.
"We want to get Haitians ready when we go to Haiti to do missions, so they can be ready to help" Saintil said in a phone interview.
The death toll among family members of Mitspa members remains the same - more than half have lost loved ones in the quake. However, in recent days, relatives learned that more family members are homeless, living on the mean streets of Port-au-Prince.
"Some of them, they have a lot of stress, especially those who have discovered they have family members who are orphans," Saintil said. "Some of them have stayed in prayer and have stayed united. We hope that something good will come out of this crisis."
The tragedy in Haiti has sparked Baptist churches throughout the nation to action. If Saintil makes it to Haiti next Wednesday, he has to return by Sunday, where he will speak at an Alabama church pastored by a classmate at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Saintil attends classes at the main campus in New Orleans and at the seminary's North Georgia extension campus.
The seminary has deep ties to Haiti, with an established certificate program that has trained 159 ministers for the pastorate. Many serve in house churches on the island. On Thursday, at a special offering during chapel services at the seminary, students, faculty and friends of the seminary donated nearly $4,100 to Haitian relief.
Saintil and his church are trying to collect food, water, clothing, personal hygiene items, medicine and other necessities to send to Haiti. In the initial days, however, the going has been slow. As of now, the church has collected about $100, he said.
"I think it's great that people are contributing to the Red Cross and CARE, but we as a church are going to be doing one-on-one ministry in Haiti and in the community there," Saintil said. "People are willing to listen, but they feel more comfortable giving to big organizations, not to little churches."
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