Commission Stories Tabloid Vol2 No1

SPECIAL HAITI EDITIONVOLUME 2, NO. 1 COMMISSIONSTORIES.COM

Inside: THE SILK ROAD4

Haiti’s moment of truth?

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On Jan. 12, shortly before 5 p.m., life as the people of Haiti had known it crumbled. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the capital of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, leaving piles of rubble and death in its wake. It had been more than 200 years since an earthquake of that scale had rocked the city. With a fragile infrastructure, no building codes and houses stacked like lines of dominoes along hillsides, much of the city either collapsed or was badly damaged.

More than 230,000 people died, matching that of the 2004 South Asian tsunami, and thousands of others were injured or missing. Most of those who survived were left homeless and grieving over lost loved ones. Access to food and water was scarce at best. The country’s presidential palace was badly damaged. The Port-au-Prince airport shut down. As people scrambled for help, the cry for relief quickly spread. Southern Baptists — along with relief agencies around the globe — heard that cry and responded. Haiti, a country marred for decades by political strife, conflict and poverty, is in its darkest days — and the world is watching. There are those who believe Haiti is on the verge of a great revival. Only time will tell.

Haiti’s moment of truth?

MOUNTAIN OF DAMAGE: A hillside community shows the magnitude of the destruction when an earthquake struck Haiti Jan. 12. Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital and largest city, was particularly hard hit.

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H aiti fell as a nation years before the earthquake toppled its buildings into the streets. The country has long been the poorest nation in the Western Hemi-sphere. A look at a satellite image of the island of Hispaniola — which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic — shows an easily discernible boundary between the two. On the east side is the Dominican Re-public, lush and green; on the west, Haiti, barren and brown. Haiti is poor … grindingly poor. The earthquake simply added an exclamation point. As violent as the quake was — with the massive loss of prop-erty and more than 230,000 lives — poverty is still the worst form of violence Haitians face. Jesus talked a great deal about the poor and our relationship with them. Even His restatement of the Ten Commandments alludes to it. Loving

your neighbor as yourself is a not-so-subtle reference to our tendency to divide people into “them” and “us” — for what is a stranger but a neighbor we have not yet met, despite differences and distance? Yet out of great tragedy can come great opportunity. And Haiti offers such opportunity. In the following pages you will find stories of brothers and sisters in Christ who have responded to this crisis. You will find ways to respond personally through prayer and ac-tion. Both will challenge you. This is an opportunity that will not be realized in days or months, but in years. Many who read these pages will become involved in tangible ways. You will pray for people you may never know. You will give without seeing the fruits of your giving. You will lug relief supplies up hillsides. You will work side by side with strangers — now neighbors — clearing rubble, raising walls. You will sit in a silence that transcends lan-guage, holding a hand of sorrow. Through it, you will learn the desires of the Haitians’ hearts and find them similar to your own — to live in a house of their own among neighbors with whom they are at peace and to provide enough for their children to thrive and have a chance at a tomor-row better than they had themselves. In that is great wealth … and through Christ it is something we have to give.

— Bill Bangham, editor

[email protected] To learn more, go to commissionstories.com.

Bill Banghameditor

Kate Gregoryeditor, stories

Anita Bowden, Sheryl Hash, Nancy Robertsoncontributing editors

Kathy Floreseditor, design

Roy M. Burroughseditor, photos

Erich Bridgesglobal correspondent

Beth Taylor editorial assistant

Consultants

Dan Beattydirector, digital strategies

Mary Jane Welchinteractive editor, commissionstories.com

Gunther Friedrichssenior producer, video

neighbors being neighbors

Print staff

From the cover:

HELPING THE HELPLESS: A man carries a woman out of one of the tent cities in Port-au-Prince, intent on find-ing medical help for her. They join a parade of tens of thousands seeking aid, food, shelter ... and hope.

PHOTO ROY M. BURROUGHS

“It’s been the church’s encouragement that has helped give me strength.”

Mark Rutledge could barely speak as he tearfully stood with a handful of members from Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince. Along with their homes and many loved ones, members also lost their pastor, three other church lead-ers and most of their church building during the Jan. 12 earthquake. One church member told Rutledge, an International Mission Board missionary, “All our strong leaders in the church who were spiritual giants were prepared to go to the Lord, and those were the ones who were taken. “Now we’ve been given a chance to grow in our faith and become stronger, … pray for us in that process,” she said, while standing in the hollow shell of what was once their church. Rutledge has served in Haiti for more than 26 years. He and his wife, Peggy, were longtime friends with the church’s pastor, Bienne Lamerique, who died when his house collapsed during the earthquake. “I understand what they are feeling and sensing,” Rutledge said. “This church had made a huge impact here in this commu-nity and in Haiti. “My prayer would be that the Lord would raise up powerful leaders to lead this church.” Only 100 members of Shiloh’s 2,000-member congregation were accounted for a week after the earthquake. Some mem-bers left homeless by the quake were living beneath a blue tarp tied to what remained of the church building. Twenty-five-year-old Pierre Anderson and several other church members were in the auditorium when the earthquake hit. A few members were injured, but none seriously, Anderson said. The church, however, sustained so much damage it is now unsafe to use. The congregation has been holding services outside since the quake. “It’s been the church’s encouragement that has helped give me strength,” said Anderson, who lost two sisters in the earth-quake. “No matter what happens in life, the only thing that matters is Jesus Christ,” Anderson continued. “If you have faith, He will sustain you.”

For more, go to imb.org/haiti. The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

holding on: Haitian congregation perseveres

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ABOVE:REMNANTS: IMB missionary Mark Rutledge prays with members of Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince. Sev-eral families who lost their homes during the earthquake live underneath a blue tarp tied to what’s left of the church building.

TOP RIGHT:PRAYER REQUEST: Members of Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince gather outside what’s left of their church building. Four leaders of the church, including the pastor, Bienne Lamerique, were killed during the earthquake that shook the country Jan. 12. As church members recount stories of that horrific day, they ask for prayer that God will raise up new leaders to guide their church.

STORY ALAN JAMES

PHOTOS ROY M. BURROUGHS

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I didn’t want to go. The trip seemed too rushed, too difficult and, honestly, too dangerous. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti Jan.12, and the next day the International Mis-sion Board’s media department decided to send a team to report on the devastation and relief efforts. We wanted churches to know as soon as possible how they could respond. But there seemed to be too many unanswered questions. How would we get in to the country? What would we do for transportation? Where would we stay when we got there? What about food and water? According to news reports, the capital city of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas were pretty much shut down. We were hearing reports of desperate Haitians looting and threatening to riot. It didn’t help that some of my friends who had traveled to Haiti were saying, “Haiti is scary on a good day.” OK — then what is it like on a bad day? We needed a good plan, but we didn’t know how many logistical details we would have to nail down after we got there. Mark Rutledge, an IMB missionary with 26 years of experience in Haiti, agreed to trans-late for our team. Still, I was concerned about navigating a disaster of this proportion. Getting down there within a week of the disaster didn’t seem realistic. I prayed, Lord, if You want us down there so soon, then You’re going to have to make this happen. The next day we got a tip about Tim Dortch. The bi-vocational pastor of Good Hope Baptist Church in Camden, Miss., Dortch has more than 15 years of volunteer experience

in Haiti and owns a compound in the Dominican Republic just east of the Haiti border. His compound had electricity, running water, food, supplies, Internet access and trucks to take us across the border into Haiti. Dortch offered to let our team use his compound. He planned to accompany us to Haiti so he could take supplies — fuel, water and food — to an orphanage on the out-skirts of Port-au-Prince after hearing about its needs on the news. Suddenly everything fell into place. A peace came over me. I couldn’t wait to get there. When we arrived in Port-au-Prince, we were assaulted by the smell — dust, urine, rot and death. The sight of thousands and thousands of people living in makeshift camps scattered around the city was overwhelming. People were sleeping, bathing, going to the bath-room right out in the open. Cell phones were getting recharged out of the back of a van. A group of men in one of the camps casually chatted around a closed coffin. Our team encountered a woman rolling around in the street, screaming, “I can’t take life in the street anymore.” Though Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, most of the people there had homes before the earthquake. They had jobs and access to water and food. Life as they knew it is now gone.

PEACE AMID CHAOS

Still, there were moments that confirmed to me God was there. A pregnant young woman sat quietly against a monument in one of the camps. A Bible rested in her left hand. As she read, she raised her right hand toward the sky. It was a quiet moment in the middle of chaos. Then there were the children. Many of them were quick with a smile when they saw cameras and outsiders entering their world. Some played soccer. A couple of boys playfully chased each other through the crowd. Others flew homemade kites made of plastic plates.

first person: life and death in Haiti

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STORY ALAN JAMES


FACING DEATH: The smell of death was everywhere. Unclaimed bodies lay in the streets, often with little more than rags draped over them. More remained beneath the rubble.

“Suddenly everything fell into place. A peace came over me.

I couldn’t wait to get there.”


Many of the young ones seemed oblivious to the devastation around them. The toughest part was seeing collapsed buildings, especially schools, where we knew bodies of children remained beneath the rubble. More bodies — ones no one had claimed — were in the street. The smell of death was strong in many areas of the city. On the final night of our trip, our team visited a clinic just beyond the Haitian border in Jimani, Dominican Republic. The clinic looked more like a war zone. Wounded Haitians were scattered all over the facility. Some were resting on mattresses on the clinic floor or in the grass outside because that was the only space left. Some had limbs amputated. Many others had bandages on their heads or pins in their broken legs or arms. Volunteer doctors and IMB missionaries serving as translators were bleary-eyed and exhausted from days with little sleep. They walked among the injured, providing whatever medical help and comfort they could. Again, we found a moment of peace and hope amid the chaos. An elderly woman was resting on a bed in the lobby. Claire’s hip was broken and she was waiting for surgery. Looters had stolen everything from her abandoned home. And some of her family had died in the earthquake. Despite all of this, Claire couldn’t stop smiling. “I have hope in God,” she said in Creole through a translator. “God will get me through this.” People like that give me hope for Haiti. For more, go to commissionstories.com/haitihope.The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

BGR: Baptist partners in disaster relief

OVERWHELMING: IMB writer Alan James talks with Michell, who lost his mother and brother — and life as he knew it — in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti. For James, meeting so many displaced people in the days after the quake was overwhelming.

LIFE ON THE STREETS: Since the earthquake, makeshift camps have cropped up in and around Port-au-Prince. Mothers cook and care for their children. Everyone tries to hold out hope for relief and somewhere else to go.

n Pray — See page 21 for specific ways to pray for the people of Haiti and their recovery from the earthquake.

n Give — There are two main ways to give. BGR (Baptist Global Response) — gobgr.org IMB (International Mission Board) — imb.org/haitifund When you give to Haiti relief through BGR or IMB, 100 percent of your gift is used to help Haitians in need.

n Go — If you would like to volunteer for future projects, e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]. Include your name, contact information, skills and when you are available.

Baptist Global Response (BGR) connects people in need with people who care. The “people in need” are those suffering from natural disaster, war and epidemic, as well as chronic issues of poverty, hunger and poor health. The “people who care” are Southern Baptists who want to be involved in making a significant difference in the lives of needy people worldwide. BGR was created in 2006 to help Southern Baptists become more effective and efficient in responding to global needs created by acute and chronic situations. It seeks to coordi-nate the global resources of Southern Baptists in response to natural disasters, catastroph-ic crises and chronic humanitarian needs outside the United States and Canada. BGR’s purpose is to connect Southern Baptists with relief and development needs worldwide. It seeks to mobilize and involve the human and financial resources of South-ern Baptists for worldwide relief and development, providing a venue for Southern Bap-tists to help poor, needy and suffering people. BGR works and cooperates with Southern Baptist state conventions, local associations, churches and individuals to accomplish this. Its primary ministry partners are Baptists around the world. As part of this broad effort, BGR cooperates with the IMB (International Mission Board) to help implement a more effective and efficient international relief and development effort. BGR is collaborating with the IMB, Florida Baptist Convention and other Baptist partners in the current relief effort in Haiti. The Florida convention is a major partner in Haitian relief efforts. They have a 15-year partnership in the island nation supporting indigenous missionaries, starting new churches and sending volunteers. It uniquely positions them for efforts in response and recovery. Over the past 15 years they have enabled the start of nearly 900 churches in Haiti, supported theological education for their pastors and food distribution programs in times of disaster and civil unrest.

L

CUBAATLANTIC OCEAN

CARIBBEAN SEA

GOLFE de laGonave

Canal du Sud

Canal de Saint-Marc

Port-Salut

Les Cayes

lle a Vache

lle de la Gonave

Jacmel

Saint-Marc

Gonaives

lle de la Tortue

Port-au-Prince

Petionville

HAITIDOMINICAN REPUBLIC

HAITI: WAYS TO HELPIn any disaster, the greatest needs initially are for prayer, money and people with skills in medicine, disaster assessment and recovery.

PHOTO FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION

ABOVE: Pam Fields, center, works with a Haitian translator, right, to assess the medical needs of a Haitian patient. She works in a makeshift medical clinic set up under blue tarps across the street from the presidential palace in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Fields is part of a 15-member volunteer team of doctors, dentists and nurses from First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. The team sees 150 to 200 patients a day. They treat wounds, deliver babies, pull teeth and set bones. With hundreds of Haitians in line asking for medical care, food and water, Fields says, “I can see God’s hand in me being here.”

COMMISSIONSTORIES.COM SPRING 2010

O n a hot afternoon in a crowded, makeshift camp in Port-au-Prince, Jean Junior Cineas sits under a tarp suspended by a broomstick. He shares his faith with five Haitians left homeless after a Jan. 12 earthquake rocked their island nation. Soon, all five pray to receive Christ as their Savior. The irony: Cineas is the son of a voodoo priest. Cineas, 26, who prefers to go by Junior, has had plenty of opportunities to share his faith since disaster struck. He says voodoo’s influence has diminished and many Haitians are now calling on God. The transformation of Junior and many of his countrymen has not come easily, though. Junior grew up in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, in a family immersed in voodoo religion. He knew early on he was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a voodoo priest. His future changed at age 16 when an International Mission Board missionary visited his father’s house. The Southern Baptist missionary told Bible stories, and Junior accepted Christ. His father did not accept the stories but gave Junior permission to become a Christian.

voodoo priest’s son leads other Haitians to Christ STORY TRISTAN TAYLOR

PHOTO EVA RUSSO

IMB missionaries comfort injured Haitians at border clinic STORY ALAN JAMES

PHOTO ROY M. BURROUGHS

T he effects of the earthquake that claimed more than 230,000 Haitian lives in January continue to echo loudly throughout the city and surrounding areas. In hospitals, volunteers offer medical care for broken bones and missionaries deliver supplies to help rebuild broken lives. But the catastrophe also has broken countless families. Enso Jean Louis is alone in L’Hopital de Fermathe. Unlike many of his fellow patients, the 22-year-old wasn’t accompanied by any family. Enso lost his parents and five of his siblings when their house collapsed during the earthquake. One sister survived, but the two were soon separated when Enso was taken for medical care. “I do not know where she is,” he says. “I feel that I am alone.” At a makeshift clinic in the Dominican Republic, 22-year-old Johnny Francois sits at the foot of his sister’s bed. Dieula has a row of stitches on her left side stretching from her thigh to her ribs. Johnny has a small bandage around his right foot. While his sister sleeps, he gazes listlessly at the floor. Johnny is the oldest of 12 siblings. When Dieula was sent to the Dominican Republic for medical care, Johnny went along to look after her. “My father — I don’t know where is him,” he says in broken English. “I don’t know this country.” He looks around the room and shakes his head. “I have no person come to see me. No person come to help me,” he says. “I do not have a friend.”

For more, go to imb.org/haiti. The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

Haitian quake survivors suffer added ache of separation

D elores York sits in the hallway of Good Samari-tan Clinic just east of the Haiti border in the Domini-can Republic. Her feet hurt. She’s exhausted. It’s been a long day for her and other clinic volunteers as earthquake victims fill every room, waiting for treatment. Patients include amputees, those with head wounds, infections and broken bones. They line the hallway as ambulances pull up to unload new patients. Rooms overflow with patients, exhausted doctors and other volunteers, some just trying to catch an hour or two of rest. The only available space for some is a patch of grass and dirt just outside the clinic. “I just did a 24-hour shift,” IMB missionary Dawn Good-win said. “I haven’t been able to get much sleep, but there aren’t enough translators.” Language barriers complicate the situation in what looks like a war zone. Translating is just part of what the IMB missionaries are doing. A day at the clinic can include everything from help-ing lift patients on and off beds to cleaning bathrooms. The focus, however, remains on comforting the patients — most of whom have lost their homes as well as family and friends. “Everything is gone,” said a man visiting his wife, a pa-tient at the clinic. They lost their two children in the earth-quake. “This is all we have,” he said as he pulled on his shirt. “We have nowhere to go.”

The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

COMPASSION: IMB missionary Delores York translated, consoled and prayed with patients at a clinic in Jimani, Dominican Republic, near the Haiti border. In addition to being injured, most patients had lost their homes as well as family and friends.

ALL ALONE: Enso Jean Louis, 22, lost his parents and five of his siblings during the Haiti earthquake. Enso, a believer, clings to his faith as he lies in a hospital bed, recovering from an injured right leg.

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Before long, though, Junior’s father changed his mind — he no longer wanted his son to be a Christian. When his missionary friend returned to the United States, Junior met IMB missionaries Mark and Peggy Rutledge in Port-au-Prince. He was able to escape tensions and voodoo ac-tivity at home by staying with the Rutledges on weekends. When Junior finished high school, their house became his new home. He learned more about how to study the Bible and now is a first-year theology student at a seminary in Haiti. For more, go to commissionstories.com.The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

PRAYERS OF COMFORT: Jean Junior Cineas, a Haitian Baptist, prays with a woman who lost her home and lives in a makeshift camp following the Jan. 12 earthquake. He is the son of a voodoo priest. He accept-ed Christ as a teenager and now seeks to help those whose lives have been impacted by the Haiti earthquake.


H e couldn’t find the words to pray. He could only sing. Concord Baptist Church pastor Ronel Mesidor left his Port-au-Prince office at Compassion International, a Christian child advocacy ministry, at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 12 to drive home. Before he was halfway there, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people shook Haiti. Shocked and grief-stricken people, crumbled buildings, crushed cars and dead bodies made streets impassable, so Mesidor continued home on foot. Feeling his way through the darkness and devastation, the Haitian Baptist pastor sang every song that came to mind as he walked throughout the night. It was the longest night of his life, he said. It was the next morning before Mesidor arrived at his church in Carrefour, a Port-au-Prince suburb about 12 miles south of the capital. He found his wife, Manise, there and unhurt. He soon learned his five children were OK as well. Miraculously, the church and his house, located on the same block, were intact. People who had lost their homes soon began arriving at the church — they had nowhere else to go. Manise, a nurse, turned the Mesidor home into a clinic to care for the injured. When space ran out, the pastor opened the church.

Haitian pastor turns church, home into makeshift clinics STORY TRISTAN TAYLOR

PHOTOS EVA RUSSO

“I think God left us alive for a special reason,” Mesidor said. “Because these people need someone to take care of them.” People continued flocking to the church in search of medical care and food. It has become a hub of grass-roots relief activity. One of the pastor’s friends with medical experience treats people in the makeshift clinic set up in the sanctuary. Manise helps prepare food for all the workers. Relief started to arrive from other sources, too. Dominican Baptist and Southern Baptist assessment teams visited the church and delivered supplies. IMB missionary Dawn Goodwin, who has worked with Mesidor, says the church is being used as a distribution center for supplies sent by Dominican Baptists. Mesidor believes good can come from this tragic earthquake. More than anything, he prays that Haitians will find hope in God.

To learn more, go to commissionstories.com/mesidor. The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

MEDICAL CARE: Emilia Flaven, 90, has her blood pressure checked by Dominican Republic physician Pedro Juan Gonzalez as medical student Magdalena Dongervil translates for them at a makeshift clinic at Concord Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince.

‘no bottled answers’: Haitians ask volunteers ‘what do I do’ now? STORY ALAN JAMES

PHOTOS CHRIS CARTER

“What do I do?” the Haitian man asked helplessly. The Jan. 12 earthquake had destroyed his home and taken the lives of his wife and two children. He was living out of a suitcase. Butch Vernon, pastor of Thoroughbred Community Church in Nicholasville, Ky., struggled to answer the question. Vernon was in Haiti as a volunteer with a Kentucky Baptist disaster relief team. “I’m not asked that question a lot back in the States, you know?” said Vernon, his voice cracking with emotion. “It’s not one of those deals where you can say, ‘take two [Bible] verses and call me in the morning.’ It’s the only time I’m going to see that guy, and there are no bottled answers. “I prayed with him and I hugged him, and we gave him some medicine that won’t fix [his problems], but it made him feel better,” he added. “We’re seeing a lot of that.” From Jan. 31 to Feb. 8, Vernon and the Kentucky team joined forces with a Mississippi Baptist disaster relief team. They were part of a coordinated effort among the Florida Baptist

Convention, which has a long-standing relationship with Haitian Baptists; Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development agency; the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board. The toughest part for a volunteer is accepting that you can’t help everyone, said Daniel Edney, who directed the medical response efforts with the Mississippi team. “But we can take care of those who God puts in front of us,” said Edney, a member of First Baptist Church, Vicksburg, Miss., who had led relief teams in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and in South Asia after the tsunami. “When those you help walk out with a smile on their face, you know you’ve done something.”

For more, go to commissionstories.com/haitivols. The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

IN NEED: Daniel Edney, who led a Mississippi Baptist disaster relief medical team, prays over a Haitian man who came to a clinic suffering from a high fever, dehydration and serious infections.


The first to stir the dust of this ancient trade route were moved by both selfish and noble motivations. The Chinese needed horses, the Arabs paper, Genghis Khan an empire, Marco Polo a land route to and from the East. Above all, the main prize was silk, China’s secret treasure. Romans, Persians, kings and queens of Europe all coveted the luxurious fabric. In the second century B.C., the first shipments of Chinese silk arrived at Mediter-ranean ports. Lighter than gold — nearly as precious — silk became a kind of cur-rency in bazaars across Central Asia. As a result previously unconnected cultures were woven together — much like the fabric they sought — in ways measured only by the hand of God. Today the eastern end of the Silk Road is vitally important to a regional revival of commerce. It is in the east the road begins …

the Silk Road has always been about dreams ...… dreams of wealth … expansion … adventure … and conquest.

THE EAST

Oases are generous places. Barrenness gives way to greenery, toil to rest. The city of Kashgar is one such oasis. Here on the edge of China’s Taklamakan Desert the city grips the landscape. It rises out of the sand in a stunning display of color and activity. People still travel by donkey and camel carts to the city’s thriving outdoor market, but they are far outnumbered by trucks and other motorized vehicles. Travelers, traders and farmers find abundant opportunities for buying and selling. It is a city of hospitality. One can see it in the traditions of the Muslim Uighurs who populate the area, in the service of Han Chinese to their Uighur neighbors, in the wed-dings of young women, and the laughter of old men. Yet not all is restful in Kashgar. Uighurs chafe under the authority of China. The gov-ernment squelches dissent in the name of anti-terrorism, suppressing Christians and Muslims alike. God’s Word, the one true oasis, gets crowded out repeatedly. Yet hope still persists. Here at the eastern end of the Silk Road, possibilities once again grow in the hearts of modern-day dreamers. What if God, in response to prayers, causes streams to flow in this desert? What if His Word gets planted in the heart of western China — and from here bears fruit all along the old road?

LIVING IN FELT: Yurts were transportable over steppes and mountain ranges. Nomadic peoples once controlled vast stretches of the Silk Road. Today, a small number of mountain Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uighur peoples can still be found living this lifestyle, but most have settled in farming villages or urban centers.

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BakuTrabzon

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Silk Road routes

Caspian Sea

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T H E S I L K R O A D

Only the love of Christ can turn enemies into friends. Social change is not

the same as heartfelt transformation.

ROUTES OF THE SILK ROAD: The routes varied over time. Some routes were heavily traveled as early as the 2nd century B.C., while others developed much later in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. This map illustrates some of the most popular trade routes.


THE MIDDLE

It is called Suleiman’s Mountain — where young women slide down a rock incline to increase their fertility … and old women tell fortunes … and holy men dispense bless-ings, for a small fee. On this holy mountain outside Osh, Kyrgyzstan, people come to sightsee, to celebrate weddings, to pray, receive a blessing from their ancestors or pronounce one on their descendants. At the top, a small mosque stands just beyond a lookout point where there is a small display of souvenirs and Islamic prayer beads. The view carries all the way to Uzbekistan and the Ferghana Valley. Below lies Osh, a sleepy town years behind more progressive cities in Kyrgyzstan. The crowded bazaar can be seen from the mountain. From here can be heard its sounds — butchers hacking meat, horns and mufflers, squealing brakes — mixing with the rumble of pushcarts, as a loud speaker blares announcements in Russian and Kyrgyz. It is the largest outdoor market in the former Soviet Union. It has been given new life with resurrection of trade along the Silk Road: Toiletries from Russia sit alongside bug poison from China, cakes and cookies from Turkey can be washed down with cherry juice from Uzbekistan. The growing trade — and with it the variety of people groups and languages pouring into Osh — is a reminder how the various people of Central Asia fade one into another from east to west. Each is distinct yet shares characteristics with the others. They share values — such as hospitality — and treasure relationships above all else.

Yet despite these commonalities, prejudice exists: Kazakhs look down on Uighurs, Uighurs look down on Uzbeks, Uighurs are marginalized by the Chinese. Only the love of Christ can turn enemies into friends. Social change is not the same as heartfelt transformation. Believers in Osh are a study in contrasts. Bold yet cautious, they tell how life in Osh is not like life in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, or Almaty, Kazakhstan. Rule of law more likely pre-sides in those places. In Osh, community values and tradition reign. People won’t wait for a court to pronounce judgment on someone who has violated tradition and denied Islam in favor of Christ. Judgment is meted out according to their own rules. Perhaps this explains their reserve. One reason Osh is different from other cities in Kyrgyzstan, it is close to the Uzbek border. The spiritual climate of that country seems to bleed over. Kyrgyz believers are like Kazakh believers were 15 years ago when independence was a novelty yet to be believed. Maybe independence hasn’t truly reached Osh yet. With the government ready to enforce laws restricting religious freedom like that found in Uzbeki-stan, it may be years before it will. It is difficult for the believers in Osh to stand firm under persecution, to know in their spirits that they are free and secure in Christ. Yet despite the difficulties, God is working miracles across the Ferghana Valley. It seems the more firmly Islam is planted in Central Asia, the greater the opportunity for Jesus. Christians in Osh may not recognize it, but God is moving.

living history Sounds come from every direction in the choked passageways of Tabriz’s ancient bazaar. It is a brightly colored place filled with spices, dried fruits and carpets. Neatly stacked rugs and apricots mock the chaos on the worn paths that wind through it. The sea of shoppers, all dressed in dark clothing, subdues the light that streams in. To walk in the bazaar is to travel back in time. Shopkeepers call out in Farsi or Azeri as they have for centuries. There is no air conditioning and the bazaar is at the mercy of the weather. The sprawling marketplace has served traders along the Silk Road since the 1500s. Among the maze of paths are large open areas — caravanserais — that once housed caravans — the men and their animals passing along the Silk Road. The stables seem to whisper stories from long ago. Down one of the paths is Jomeh Mosque. A spectacular red brick structure, it is not only a place of worship but also one of the most prestigious Islamic seminaries in Iran. The cavernous building is filled with bearded teachers reclining against walls. Their students sit on the floor before them taking notes. Quietly min-gling with the academics and students are tourists and citizens taking in the beauty of the building. Off the main sanctuary is a smaller, more intimate place. A shoeless old man finds a spot near a pillar and begins traditional prayers. He stands, bends and prostrates himself; his shabby clothing and unkempt appearance in sharp contrast to the bright, stunning room. Soon he is in tears, his mouth is moving, begging for God’s attention. Like so many others, the old man has come to the bazaar to meet his physical and spiritual needs. Near the bazaar is the Armenian section of Tabriz. Narrow streets are strewn with litter and faced by neglected buildings. Nestled in the crowded neigh-borhood is the Armenian church. It sits behind high walls and multi-locked gates. It is empty except for the pastor and his family. A young man standing outside the gates proudly displays a cross around his neck. “Even though this causes me trouble at university,” he says, “I will never give (it) up.”

ISLAMIC SEMINARY: Outside the seminary and mosque in Tabriz, imams visit with one another. Inside, students study Islamic theology.

THE WEST

There is great symmetry in the work of God. Difficult endings bring beautiful beginnings. Death is overtaken by life. Deep sorrow gives birth to great joy. It is no surprise that the Silk Road ends where some early Christian mission-ary efforts began. The vast network of trade routes converges on the shore of the Mediterranean where the most lucrative trade for many cities was goods from the Silk Road. Antioch was among them. A bustling port, it was here followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Paul set off from here on his missionary journeys. The ruins of Ephesus — another Silk Road city where Paul gave years of his life encouraging young believers — lies near the modern day Turkish city Selcuk. For centuries the church thrived in Turkey. Monastic communities were carved into the cliffs of Cappadocia and built into rock faces on the coast of the Black Sea. The Cappadocian Fathers helped shape the theology of the Trinity — it was canonized by the early church and guides our understanding of the nature of God to this day.

18 COMMISSIONSTORIES.COM

... it’s no surprise the Silk Road ends where some early Christian missionary efforts began.

19SPRING 2010

worship somewhere in Central Asia It’s 6:30 Sunday evening and a husband watches at the gate as his wife sets several teapots on the low table in their largest room. One by one several neighbors trickle into the courtyard, remove their shoes and step inside to sit on mats around the table. They pull Bibles and songbooks from under their jackets and set them reverently before them. The husband comes in with the last two men. His wife brings bread, jam and honey from the kitchen and lights three more candles in the middle of the room. She sits down at the women’s end of the table and begins to chat about the week. After another round of green tea and bread, an older man named Hasan leans back at the head of the table and asks the husband, “Shall we start?” Everyone turns cupped hands upward as Hasan opens the meeting in prayer. One woman asks to sing number 31. They gather around the songbooks, bending toward the candles for light. This room — like most in the city in January — has neither heat nor electric-ity. The believers sing through several pages, setting down their books to clap in rhythm. There are no instruments, only joyful voices. Hasan opens a Bible to Philippians and begins to read slowly through sev-eral chapters. He turns to younger believers for help with words. The husband spends half an hour leading the group through a discussion of the text. He ends the study by asking several at the table to retell the Gospel. His wife brings more tea. One man asks for prayer. Several others share burdens. The candles burn low while they pray. Neighborhood children come in from the cold and sit in the corner watching with wide eyes. They all linger over a meal of rice and bread, then gradually disperse.

Between the seventh and fourteenth centuries, waves of Turkic tribes migrated from the Central Asian steppes into Anatolia — the ancient name for Turkey — and Islam began to overshadow Christianity. When Mehmet the Conqueror broke through the walls surrounding Constantinople in 1453, the glory of the Byzantine Empire faded. But history had bequeathed this grand, Silk Road city a majestic bearing and a proud self-assurance that it retains to this day. Its beauty is seen in dozens of minarets reaching toward the skies, casting shadows along the shores of the Bosphorus. Today the number of followers of Jesus in Turkey is less than 0.3 percent. There is promise, however, in a God who always finishes what He began.

GATHERING PLACES: At Diyarbakir’s Ulu Cami, Great Mosque, a man passes the afternoon sitting quietly in the courtyard. Many mosques around Turkey are gather-ing places where men sit and talk about life, politics and Islam.

Excerpts and photographs from Along the Silk Road: Stories, Reflections and Photography by Christians traveling ancient routes in a modern world. This large-format coffee table book is available from IMB for $12.99. You can order from imbresources.org or call 800-999-3113, option 3. To view more of the collection of photos and text, go to alongthesilkroad.org.

missionary collects envelope of hope As people in and around Port-au-Prince, Haiti, were clamoring for food, water and shelter in the days after the earthquake, one International Mission Board missionary tried to offer a little hope by simply providing a pen, paper and a listening ear. While walking along some of the hardest hit streets in Port-au-Prince, Mark Rutledge and an IMB media team found thousands of people searching for someone to help them. The team stopped to talk with a small group of men about the crisis. “We have no food, we have no water,” pleaded one man. “We need help now!” With little to offer such a crowd of people, Rutledge decided to help another way. He told the men he would give their names and contact information to a Southern Baptist disaster relief team that was assessing needs in the city.

As the men quickly jotted their information on scraps of paper, more people came run-ning to see what was going on. Within 30 minutes, a group of four had turned into more than 50 gathered around Rutledge. People passed around pens. Some tore off pieces of a nearby flier to write down a name, phone number and street address of where they were staying. An envelope soon surfaced and the notes were stuffed inside. Before Rutledge drove away, he took the envelope filled with the dozens and dozens of scraps of paper — some with long lists of names. He delivered the envelope to a Southern Baptist disaster relief assessment team the next day in the Dominican Republic.

The writer and photographer can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

HAITIANS SEARCHING FOR LOVED ONES

It’s been months since the earthquake, and some Haitians still do not know what happened to some of their family members. Pray those who are alive will be reunited. Ask God to bring closure for families whose loved ones have died. It is difficult to lose any individual, but so many Haitians grieve the deaths of multiple family members: spouses, children, parents, siblings, aunts and uncles. They grieve the loss of breadwinners, the one who brought sunshine into their lives and the student who had so much promise. PRAY the Lord will bring comfort in the midst of cha-os and that the love of Christ will be shared through continuing relief efforts.

BURDENED HAITIAN BELIEVERS

Many Haitian believers struggle to move forward after the earthquake. Like their neighbors, they lost fam-ily, friends and homes, but they also lost members of their congregation, pastors and church leaders. Pray for Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince. The church lost four church leaders, and much of their congregation was unaccounted for after the disaster. Some survivors lived under tarps outside their church. Pray new leaders will step forward to guide this congregation and many other believers dealing with the same challenges. PRAY the Lord will give Haitian Christians a vision of revival as they rebuild their lives and ministries. Pray for the families and friends who are grieving the deaths of loved ones.

HELPFUL HEART FROM MISSISSIPPI

Many here in the States are giving sacrificially of their time and money to travel to Haiti to help earthquake survivors. Pray for families as volunteers leave their homes to travel to this country. Pray for those like Tim Dortch, a bi-vocational pastor at New Hope Baptist Church of Camden, Miss. A few years ago, Dortch built a compound in the Dominican Republic near the Haiti border to help start churches among Dominican and Haitian people. Since the earthquake, Dortch has al-lowed the compound to become a staging area for IMB relief teams to reach Haiti. PRAY that others like Dortch will step forward to help with the relief efforts in Haiti. Pray the Lord will give these teams safety as they travel in and out of the country.

BLEARY-EYED VOLUNTEERS IN JIMANI

IMB missionaries continue working to help the earthquake survivors of Haiti. Pray for missionaries like Delores York, who has served at the Good Samaritan Clinic in Jimani, Dominican Republic, near the Haiti bor-der. York and her husband, Sam, have provided support and translation for those who don’t speak Haiti’s Creole language. Pray for York and other missionaries as they help volunteers navigate logistical challenges. PRAY for guidance, wisdom and energy as missionaries follow Christ each step that He leads on this journey.

Find more prayer requests at imb.org/pray.

prayer requests


STORY ALAN JAMES


“We have no food, we have no water ... we need help now.” TOP:

SEARCHING FOR HELP: Young men walk the streets of Port-au-Prince looking for supplies. IMB missionary Mark Rutledge gave their names and contact information to a Southern Baptist team that was assessing needs.

BOTTOM:GLIMMER OF HOPE: IMB missionary Mark Rutledge holds an envelope filled with dozens and dozens of notes pleading for help in various communities that had not received any relief or aid.

continue to pray for Haiti BY ED COX

Try to imagine what life has been like in Haiti the past few months. We’ve heard the news reports. We’ve heard the horrendous stories. We’ve seen pictures of children being bathed in the street with a bucket and small ration of water and families hanging their laundry over bushes and fences to dry. We’ve seen people setting up rudimentary shops to sell local foods or provide a cell phone recharging service. I smiled when I saw one photo of a small boy who had transformed a paper plate and some string into a kite. Life in Haiti is nowhere near normal but the Haitian people are finding normalcy in doing simple things. Haitian believers are singing and praising God’s name. They are praying. They are gathering together daily for worship. The people of the world have truly been touched by the suffering and massive needs in Haiti. It is incredible to see the names of other countries involved in providing aid — Canada, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, France, Sri Lanka and so many others. Just like our neighbors, our hearts have been broken for the people of Haiti. But what is different for us as Christians? The difference is that we know the One who is able to help. We do not have to wait a single minute to send aid. We can talk to our Lord immediately, begging for His mercy throughout these days of recovery. Please take every opportunity to lift the Haitian people to our heavenly Father, asking Him to fill them with a sense of calm and unity of purpose.

Ed Cox is the IMB’s global prayer strategy director. He can be contacted at [email protected] and through his blog, imbprayerdir.wordpress.com.

As international aid trickled, then flooded, into Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake, some hard ques-tions began to surface. Perhaps the hardest: Can any amount of outside as-sistance rebuild Haiti at this point? Long before the 7.0 magnitude quake killed more than 230,000 people, drove 1.5 million from their homes, de-stroyed the national capital and decimated both the in-frastructure and the economy, Haiti was one of the most dysfunctional nations — and societies — in the world. Unemployment ranges as high as 90 percent. Per capita annual income is $1,300. One in five children dies by the age of 5, usually of preventable diseases. Many of those who survive into adulthood suffer the effects of

malnutrition for life. Fewer than three in 10 Haitians continue their education as far as the sixth grade. Government and politics have long been notoriously corrupt and ineffective. Foreign debt and dependency cripple economic progress. The long-term presence of thousands of aid groups and charities seemingly has made little permanent impact on the nation. Haiti gained its hard-won independence from brutal European colonial rule long ago, but outside involvement often has done as much harm as good. So even if the billions of dollars pledged are received for post-quake reconstruction, even if the infrastructure is put in place to accommodate rebuilding efforts, will Haiti ever become a land that can stand on its own?

SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION

“It is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty,” urged David Brooks of The New York Times in the days after the quake. “Haiti has endured ruthless dictators, corruption and foreign invasions. But so has the Dominican Republic, and the D.R. is in much better shape. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island and the same basic environment, yet the border between the two societies offers one of the starkest contrasts on earth — with trees and progress on one side and deforestation and poverty and early death on the other.

worldview: hard questions about Haiti “Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized.” In other words, Haiti does not work as a society. Yes, the nation desperately needs relief and rebuilding aid now and for years to come. Southern Baptist missionaries, relief workers and volunteers will play a vital role in that ef-fort. But Haiti needs more than a Caribbean-style “Marshall Plan” (U.S.-sponsored European Recovery Program to provide economic aid after World War II) for physical rebuilding and economic progress. To “build back better,” as relief planners urge, Haiti needs hope — the kind of hope only Christ can give. Could the reconstruction of Haiti after the national trauma of the earthquake bring the opportunity for spiritual reconstruction? Haitians are amazingly strong and resilient people — like Darlene Etienne, the 16-year-old girl pulled alive from her collapsed home in Port-au-Prince more than two weeks after the quake. She clung to life and wouldn’t let it go. There are countless other stories of Hai-tians enduring Job-like trials since the quake, yet singing unto the Lord in faith and hope. IMB reporter Alan James, who went to Haiti immediately after the quake, wrote of en-countering an elderly woman named Claire in a clinic: “Her hip was broken and she was waiting for surgery. Looters had stolen everything from her abandoned home. Some of her family had died in the earthquake. Despite all of this, Claire couldn’t stop smiling. “‘I have hope in God,’ she said in Creole through an interpreter. ‘God will get me through this.’” The surviving members of Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince displayed the same spirit as they stood near their quake-damaged sanctuary. Their pastor and three other church leaders had died in the disaster. Hundreds of members were missing. Survivors were living outside under tarps. “We don’t know where our future leaders will come from,” 25-year-old Pierre Anderson told IMB missionary Mark Rutledge. Still, he added, “No matter what happens in life, the only thing that matters is Jesus Christ. If you have faith, He will sustain you.” God will use young believers like Pierre Anderson in the spiritual reconstruction of Haiti.

What do you think? To comment, visit “WorldView Conversation,” the blog related to this column, at worldviewconversation.blogspot.com/

BY ERICH BRIDGES, GLOBAL CORRESPONDENT

IMB connectingBY JERRY RANKIN, PRESIDENT

Major crises throughout the world seem to be happening more frequently. The recent earthquake in Haiti is a tragedy of unimagi-nable proportions. The scope of destruction, death and con-tinuing need is massive. In other parts of the world, people experience famines, floods, bombings that result in signifi-

cant loss of life or tragic circumstances caused by ethnic violence or a systemic political problem such as the genocide in Darfur in the Sudan. At the International Mission Board, our Crisis Action Team repeatedly is called into action at a moment’s notice. There may be a political coup that threatens the security of missionary families, reports of personnel yet to be accounted for after a disaster or in a location of unrest, or the sudden and tragic death of someone overseas. There is no convenient time for a crisis. Pre-existing work and travel commitments can make communication a challenge, especially when a crisis occurs. But whether it is 2 a.m. or the middle of a work day, designated representatives of that team — senior administrators, overseas leadership, and specialists in the areas of personnel, communications, medical care and counseling — drop what they are doing to help people cope with and resolve the crisis and minister to those impacted during and after it. The unity and servant commitment to do what needs to be done takes top priority.

It is amazing how people come together to help when others are in need. It has been gratifying to see nations, political entities, secular humanitarian agencies and a diversity of Christian groups put differences aside to respond to the crisis in Haiti. Other issues and agendas take a back seat to focus on providing assistance. Certainly, as Christians, the added dimension of our faith compels us to give sacrificially to reach out to the helpless and suffering and to respond with personal involvement to minister to hungry, displaced, injured and grieving victims. The IMB is blessed to have the expertise of Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development agency, to channel the efforts and resources of SBC entities, state convention disaster units, volunteer teams and others to provide immediate relief and coordinate future, long-term rehabilitation in Haiti. I once heard someone traveling throughout impoverished third-world countries describe it as a 911 world in which no one was answering the phone. When there is a fire, accident or personal crisis here in the States, we can call 911 and someone is on the scene to help immediately. The world needs people ready to answer its call for help. The phone is ringing. Will you answer this 911 call? Learn how you can pray, give and go to help Haiti at imb.org/pray, imb.org/haitifund and gobgr.org.


parting shotsPHOTOS ROY M. BURROUGHS

Moments of hope. When the earthquake hit the Port-au-Prince area, most of the people lost everything — their homes, family members and their livelihoods. At first glance, all might seem lost on this small island country. But if you look closely, you might find a few surprises and glimmers of hope amid the desperation. That hope might come in a smile from a child or from a group of Christians singing hymns in praise to God. In one of the tent camps, a pregnant woman was sitting against a monument, atop a small hill, quietly reading her Bible. Around her, people were bathing, some were lying on mat-tresses, one group was charging cell phones with a generator and others were just trying to survive on what little they had left. This woman was surrounded by chaos, but she seemed calm and at peace with God’s Word resting in her lap. Children were playing soccer or chasing each other like it was an ordinary day in Port-au-Prince. One boy flew a kite made out of a plastic plate and knots of string. These displays of tenacity reveal moments of hope amid the despair.

The photographer can be reached at [email protected].

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Commission Stories Tabloid Vol2 No1

Spiritual

Transcript of Commission Stories Tabloid Vol2 No1