US Director

Our family is getting ready to take an amazing journey!  I would have never imagined seven years ago when we moved to Florida that God would lead us to the place we are today, but after my first trip to Haiti in 2003 something changed. 

After working with HomeBuilders for most of my professional career, the passion I once had to excel in Corporate America began to be eclipsed by a new passion to serve God in Haiti.

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Haiti, and it is amazing to see the many miracles God has done since that maiden voyage in 2003.  What began with building benches for a poor church in rural Haiti has progressed to the building of an elementary school in 2004, a ministry center and school expansion in 2006, and a feeding center and a medical clinic in 2007.  I've moved from a passion for HomeBuilders to a new passion for building God's work in Haiti!  But more than the brick and mortar, it is the people of Haiti who have captured my heart.

On that first trip to Haiti, I had the privilege of sharing a message of God's love with the children of Open Door Church.  Speaking through an interpreter, I shared a story of God's love for each person no matter how different they are.  After I concluded, the Pastor spoke to the children (I had no idea what he was saying), and then a small six year old girl walked up to the front.  As I knelt to pray with her, she climbed on my lap, and all I could think about was my own Breanna.  When I had finished praying, I opened my eyes, and it was then that I noticed the front of the church flooded with little children, all on their knees, praying for Jesus to come into their heart!  It took my breath away.

On my trip this past week, one of the haitian leaders brought me over to the clinic to pray for a mother and her one month old child.  The mother was weeping, brokenhearted.  Again, what I saw took my breath away.  This precious child had a sever cleft palate.  She couldn't even keep her mothers milk in her mouth.  It is in moments like these that I feel helpless, but I have come to know that God is able.  Nothing is impossible for Him.

It was a seminal moment in my journey.  It was May of 2005.  The final night of another trip to Haiti.  I sat on the roof talking with two friends, but I had been quiet for a while.  I didn't know how to put into words what was on my heart.  I couldn't hold it in any longer.  "I think God is asking me to sell everything and give to the poor in Haiti."  Did I just say that?  What does that mean?  How will we live?  This is crazy!

It is now 2007, and I know now what God was asking me to do on that rooftop in Haiti.  It was not to sell everything, but it was to give everything.  It has become clear to Kathy and I that God wants us to give our lives to serve the people of Haiti.

Open Door Haiti is a vibrant, growing ministry based on the northern coast of Haiti in a rural, farming village nestled among the mountains.  The ministry is led by Pastor Wiljean Compere, who began the work in 1994.  He is a man of great faith and hope for the people of Bois de Lance and Open Door Church.  He is a man with God's vision for Haiti and intentionally invests in the care and education of the children of Bois De Lance.

Doug Holliday, our neighbor and close friend since we moved to Lake Mary, was the one who invited me to Haiti and introduced me to the ministry of Pastor Wiljean Compere.  

Doug travels across the US and to other parts of the world as an evangelistic missionary, sharing the message of God's love and training leaders.  As he has brought others like us to Haiti with him, the ministry has steadily grown.  With the addition of more classroom space, a feeding center and a medical clinic over the past 12 months, fundraising efforts have brought in over $250,000 of resources for Open Door, and the ministry continues to grow.  A 5 year, $200,000 commitment to the medical clinic was signed in October of this year.  And with plans to expand the education efforts there to include a professional school, a trade school, a secondary school and a seminary, and with land already purchased to build an orphanage as well as agricultural development, the leadership demands are significant.  Due to the expansion of Open Door, Doug and Pastor Wiljean have been praying for someone to step in and take over the lead of the US side of this ministry.  I am honored to see that God has been preparing me to leave the corporate world, step out in faith and answer this calling with a resounding “Yes!”

Does this mean we will be moving to Haiti?  We are willing, but as of right now, we would lead these mission efforts from Florida.  As the US Director for Open Door Haiti I will be casting the vision for Open Door to the corporate world here in the US, coordinating leadership of the many ministry efforts and securing additional resources to support the growing ministry.