A Recap of God's Work

Friday/ 22nd
11:30am

Haiti. This time last week, it wasn't even on your mind. Today, the images of devastation flood our TV and computer screens and haunt our thoughts. The extent of the tragedy is so overwhelming that even the most trained military, medical and disaster relief experts don't know how to begin to help. As a church, we asked God, "What do you want us to do?" God answered us through a remarkable chain of events...

3:00 pm, Tuesday: Church leaders received a call from Haiti.
The pastor of one of our partner churches (in Florida) was in Haiti at a compound operated by *Mission of Hope Haiti. He was calling to ask HCBC for help. MOH has been serving Haiti for over a decade and was slated for a segment on "NBC Nightly News" that evening. With the welcome publicity came a problem: with only two volunteers in their stateside office, MOH was concerned they would be overwhelmed with calls once the story aired. Could we help on such short notice?

5:55 pm, Tuesday: HCBC staff and volunteers joined forces together and set up a phone bank and volunteers to field calls and assist in taking donations within two hours of MOH's request. The phones started ringing shortly after the story aired, and over $120,000 was raised via phones and website for MOH.

But God wanted us to get up close and personal with the people in Haiti. As we continued discussions with leaders at MOH, they told us the harsh reality: Logistics in Haiti are a nightmare. Their teams were exhausted from feeding over 100,000 people a day. Did we have people who could locate vehicles to assist with distribution of needed supplies? And the supplies themselves are scarce; could we send more desperately needed medical supplies? We answered these questions with "yes."

Wednesday morning: an HCBC member e-mails the church to say he has two private planes available and access to the airport in Port au Prince if we could supply the fuel. Could we use the planes? Again, we said "yes!"

6:00 pm, Wednesday: We held a conference call between local doctors and medical specialists and the medical team in Haiti to determine the biggest needs. By the end of the evening, we had assembled our first medical team and by Thursday morning, had a second team assembled. These teams will relieve exhausted medical personnel who have been serving in Haiti since the quake occurred.

6:30 am, Thursday: Five men (four from HCBC NW and one from HCBC Pflugerville) leave for Haiti via the Dominican Republic. Their goal is to purchase vehicles in the Dominican Republic and transport them to Haiti to help with distribution of supplies. While in Port au Prince, they will also work with MOH to develop an infrastructure to provide short and long term relief in the form of food, medicine and medical supplies and eventually, to rebuild Haiti.*

9:00 am, Friday: The HCBC team arrives safely in Port au Prince ready to get to work!

Saturday, January 23: We will deliver approximately 13 tons of donated medical supplies and send skilled medical personnel to Port au Prince via chartered flights (please let us know if you can give toward fuel costs!)

God connected our path with Mission of Hope Haiti at just the right time and brought forward individuals from within our church and around the nation who felt compelled to help. We urge you to pray for all those who will be directly serving and supporting Mission of Hope Haiti.

How can you be part of the ongoing story of hope for Haiti?
• Give. By giving, you will be helping finance medical teams and supply flights from Austin to Port au Prince. Give here.
• Volunteer. If you are available on Friday, January 22, to receive, inventory, condense, pack, transport, or load medical supplies then please e-mail us at go@hcbc.com or call 512-331-5050.

Go to www.hcbc.com/haiti for more details on how you can help bring hope to Haiti. May we bring glory to Jesus Christ as we make ourselves available to serve the people of Haiti.
-Tim