November 2009 Newsletter

(Click here for the printable pdf color version of the newsletter.)

GREETINGS
My name is Steve Mossburg. Some of you know me, but for most of you this will be our first introduction. My wife Shirley and I were recently confirmed to be missionaries for Cross Cultural Ministries in Haiti where I will be taking over the resposiblities of Vic Binkley. It’s a great honor to be following my friend and the man I consider my missions mentor in leading the Project Help ministries in Haiti, and it is also a tremendous responsibility. My situation is somewhat like the athlete or assistant coach who leaves a successful career and returns to his alma mater to follow his former coach.

I have been working in Haiti for 10.5 years, and my first two years were spent working at Pierre Payen and finishing the construction on the new hospital 2000-2001. Later I briefly worked up at the Borel compound getting it ready to reopen (early 2002). It was with the encouragement and support of Vic that I went on to start my own ministry and mission organization in Haiti.

In the summer of 2002, my wife and I started G.A.P., go and produce Ministry (John 15:16). We ran our ministry and guesthouse in Montrouis, Haiti from 2002-2005 when we decided to not renew our lease on the property. In 2006 we relocated to Canaan Christian Community and opened a new guesthouse where our ministry work and construction projects continue on.
Vic contacted me this summer that he was facing a serious medical condition that would keep him out of Haiti for long periods of time. My first thought was how can they find someone to step in and direct the ministry work at P-H. My second thought was why would someone want to step in? As in sports, major corporations, churches and other successful organizations, following a legendry and long serving leader can be difficult for a multitude of reasons. I didn’t give it much thought that I might be that person until I returned to Haiti in August. Almost immediately I could feel God convicting me that I was the one most prepared and immediately ready to come in and direct Project Help. I shared this with Vic and several days later received an e-mail from Don Dennison, director of CCM, asking about arranging a meeting to discuss many of the ideas I had talked to Vic about. Our nearly 1.5 hour meeting resulted in us both going away and feeling comfortable with one another and an invitation to sit down with the CCM commission members at their September meeting.

Shirley and I are very excited about the opportunity to work with P-H, we have both been associated with the Church of God denomination from our earliest years. Shirley has always been with the First Church of God Columbia City and my earliest recollection of church was attending The Oak Grove Church of God. We are hoping to visit as many COG churches as we possibly can to promote missions and short term missions (stms).

At G.A.P. Ministries we have had great success at recruiting and leading mission teams from across America. The people they have helped in Haiti have been blessed by the loving hearts and helping hands of so many teams these past years. Yet I never fail to hear from those who have come to Haiti how their lives have changed forever from the experience. In my conversations and visits with pastors I also hear how the dynamics of their church changes after their members come back from a short term missions opportunity. Just possibly you or your church have been thinking, praying and talking about a mission experience—that is a good First Step. Step Two of your journey is contacting myself or Dee Callahan. I can be reached at smossburg@msn.com or 260-691-3806. You can always contact Dee Callahan in Findlay at 419-424-1961 ext.122.


GETTING STARTED
Shirley and I return to Haiti on November 11th and will be jumping into the work right away. The first item of business will be the International Pastors Conference being held Nov. 13-18 at the Borel Discipleship Training and Conference Center. We have 23 delegates arriving from the United States, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya and Venezuela. After that concludes I will try to start visiting some of the 29 Project Help churches and 17 schools to talk with the Pastors and school directors. All during my 6 weeks in Haiti I will be identifying future projects that short term teams can come and get involved in. Some of these will be simple maintenance, and others will be larger projects that may involve securing funding before we can start. We hope to receive a container in late November or early December that will need taken out of Customs. Plus we are hoping to get several of the P-H vehicles repaired and back in service for 2010.


THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE US
Upon being confirmed last month I requested and received much of the historical information relating to Project Help. Even though I knew much of the history, I still found the reading very interesting. We of the Church of God have a mission heritage to be very proud of in Haiti. There are quite probably only a handful of missions with a longer history there than ours. What is amazing is that even as the face of missions has continued to change over these last 42 years, we have held true to our missions purpose and main focus of making disciples. It is with that single thought in mind and all those who have come before us to forge the way that we humbly accept this great responsibility. —Steve & Shirley


(Click here for the printable pdf color version of the newsletter.)