Nothing is Impossible

Medical supplies crowds the hallways at HCBC

Yesterday, God reminded us again that He can do the impossible. Our hallways were crowded with medical supplies on Saturday when we learned that “Hope for Haiti” in Belton, Texas had an opening on their cargo plane to airlift our supplies to Haiti. The catch? It must be inventoried, packed well, and labeled ASAP. God provided volunteers from dozens of places throughout the community, including Grace Covenant Church. Volunteers arrived and completed the “impossible” task by 3:30 pm. A donated moving truck and a covered cargo trailer left HCBC at 4:00 pm with all the donated supplies.

In total, 31 skids of medical supplies (22 tons) were shrink-wrapped and perfectly packed with an accurate shipping manifest. They will reach Haiti by early next week and be delivered to Mission of Hope’s compound all free of charge.

That same day, God miraculously provided 2 landing slots for Sunday afternoon directly into Port-au-Prince. Mission of Hope: Haiti fed more than 450,000 meals.

Friday

a volunteer labels medical equipment in the hallways of Hill Country Bible Church

In Austin
Starting at 9:30am, companies including Seton, Texas Orthopedic, Austin Radiology, Austin Samaritan, Cedar Park Regional, MD Anderson and Austin Pulmonary and Critical Care began bringing donations of medical supplies.

The hallways of HCBC were filled with more than $1,000,000 worth of medical supplies and equipment.

Volunteers from Austin Stone, Grace Covenant and several other churches and organizations jumped in. The volunteers inventoried and condensed boxes.

At 8pm, both jets were loaded with incredible drugs, equipment and supplies.

In Port-au-Prince
A logistical team of five men from HCBC arrives in the city.
Mission of Hope feeds more than 450,000 meals.

Docs on the ground!

The first plane load of docs and supplies just landed in Haiti!

Airport

The airport building itself is cracking (photo by Bob King, in Haiti)

The Haiti team made it to the airport.

Just waiting on those docs to land!

Sunday

Church service Sunday morning in Haiti

Team in Haiti reports bus broke down on the way to to airport to pick up docs....please pray. This morning they attended worship service at Mission of Hope Haiti compound with 800 kids and a handful of adults. Powerful stuff!

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

Pouring In

Thursday/ 21st
7:15pm

Another Amazing Day!

In less than 24 hours we have seen an amazing response. We have 18 medical staff leaving on 2 planes with 2 pilots that have donated their time. We will have the highest priority medical supplies aboard from several places throughout Austin. The entire city has come behind this! Thanks to many of you who have been putting in many hours and making sacrifices for the cause!

Mission of hope passed out over 390,000 meals yesterday, that's almost double the U.N.'s goal for yesterday!

The teams of volunteers have been amazing! Keep Praying!

-Chris