As most of you know, on Tuesday a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the island of Haiti, creating one of the greatest natural disasters of our lifetime.  There are several factors that make this disaster so terrible.  The epicenter of the quake occurred in a densely populated area, where poverty levels were high, and the quality of building construction wasn’t.  At present, the Red Cross estimates that 50,000 people have been killed.  More than a million people are now without homes.  Access for aid workers is difficult, because Haiti is an island, and the port was destroyed. Lines of communication have been seriously disrupted. And on top of everything, many of the responders are also victims—people who have lost their homes and their loved ones
Most of you are asking: WHAT CAN I DO?  Our government and first responders discourage us from going.  At this stage in the process, we need leave these efforts to the professionals, because most of us would just get in the way and become an additional resource drain.

But there are two things we can do as followers of Jesus: We can PRAY.  We can GIVE.

At all three of our weekend services, we will receive an offering for our partner on the ground in Haiti—the Convoy of Hope.  The Convoy of Hope is a humanitarian organization with resources leveraged around the world to help those in need.  Their ministry in Haiti feeds 7000 children each day, and I’m thankful that their warehouse was restocked just before the earthquake.  This enabled them to establish a command center just outside the capital city of Port-Au-Prince within 24 hours of the disaster.

But they need help.  They need our prayers.  They need our money.  Right now.  When you come to church this weekend, please come prepared to give generously for our friends who really need our help.

www.convoyofhope.org

Here’s a link from MSNBC with a reference to our partners:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34846230