"God Uses Our Storms"

Pastor Asha LaRonde and family at their destroyed home

In August and September of 2017 some of the most devastating hurricanes hit the Caribbean and the southern regions of the US. Harvey, Irma, and Maria left hundreds dead, thousands homeless, and cost the US and many islands hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Our own church members in Florida suffered greatly from the winds and rains of Irma that came in the last days of August. 

Destroyed homes by the hundreds along the road in Dominica

Good and generous church members rose to the occasion and gave hundreds of dollars worth of supplies and dozens of man hours to help clean up the mess left behind in our state. We helped some in our own region clean their flooded homes and help salvage part of their valuables. We carried supplies to the Florida Keys, 8 hours away, to show the love of Christ as well. 

Kim playing with girls in a shelter in Canefield, Dominica

Then in the last week of September, Kim and I boarded a plane with other needed relief and traveled to the islands of Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. We spent 14 days visiting shelters and sharing Christ in churches and schools. It was amazing to see the enduring spirits of the people who had lost so much. Dominica was the island that was affected the most. Most houses were either roofless or a total loss. 

A wonderful group of school kids in Bridgetown, Barbados

While in Dominica, we visited shelter with Pastor Suprian George. He was a young pastor of a church in Canefield. The church in which he served had much of it roof completely ripped off and the damage was extreme. The parsonage where Pastor George and his wife lived was in the upstairs and their narrowly escaped death as 160 mph winds nearly destroyed them and everything they owned. 

A 103 year sweet lady in a shelter in LaPlaine, Dominica

We also, were blessed to cross to the other side of the island and see Pastor Asha LaRonde and his sweet family. They were in despair as their entire house was blown from its foundation. They were and are still currently holed up in the back of their church property which sustained great damage, but was still habitable. Our church along with some nearby sister churches sent chainsaws, tarps, food items, and hundreds of dollars to help both of these men of God and their families. 

While on this trip, Kim and I were blessed to help in a revival on the island of Barbados with our new friend, Pastor Roger Paul. He and his family and members are great people who love the Lord. We were treated with such care  and affection. God blessed in the four islands as I preached 14 times and had 934 souls saved. God is good. He uses even the storms of our lives to help people find shelter under His everlasting wings. 

Kim and I before heading home from Barbados

Where the Fish are Biting in North Africa

There are those who believe that the Arab World is a place that will never be receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, I am not a believer in this line of thinking. It was a man from northern Libya that carried the cross of Jesus in his dying moments. It was to this region of  North Africa that I made my way on a recent trip to sow the seeds of TRUTH. I am not sure who or what fruit will eventually come from my stay in Tripoli, but I am sure that God's Word will never return void. While in Libya, I saw a great need. I along with some whom I ministered with attempted to meet that need.

There is a philosophy that I have sought to live by in doing the work of evangelism. "Go where the fish are bitting". This is what guides me in winning the lost in America, but also, when I am abroad. I search for interest. I search for those in who the Holy Spirit of God is working. I try not to waste my efforts calling those who are afflicted by apathy or even hardness.

So as I walked the streets of this city along the coast of the Mediterranean, I was looking for those in need, but also those who would acknowledge that need. In every 'muslim-strong' culture there are pockets of people in search of truth. As in the days of Cornelius from Acts 10, there are people in spirtual darkness today who long for someone to help them see light. While in Libya, I found some of these.

This pocket of people had come to this region from West Africa in search of a way to migrate into Italy and other parts of Europe. Many had nearly perished crossing the Sahara and had risked all for this opportunity to reach the northern coast of Africa. Most of them had made at least one or more attempts to sail accross the sea, but in each case they had failed. Some had seen fellow immigrants drown in deep waters, while they themselves survived to try again. One dear brother named Newman had made three attempts to cross. Each time he had spent nearly a years savings only to suffer loss. Why had they risked so much? Why were these black Africans here in this Arab land? Last year alone, more than 360,000 had attempted to make it through the troublesome waters for a better life in Europe. An estimated 5000 had died at sea. What could possibly be worth such a heavy risk?

Each one of these souls had a story. Some had come from abject poverty in their motherland. Some had sent their families on before them and were now trying to catch up. Some had gotten stranded in this harsh land for their kind and had turned to prostitution for survival. However, God had brought them to this land for a greater purpose in my opinion. These were the same tribes that I had spent much of my life evangelizing in western and central Africa. These people were some of the most responsive to the Gospel. And so as I was in this place of Tripoli, I found pockets of these migrants and won many of them to Jesus. And it is my belief that they are the link to seeing the Libyan people turn to the Light. These sub-Saharan Africans have learned to speak Arabic and live in the Islamic culture. As born again people, they have the great opportunity and responsibilty of sharing Christ with a people otherwise lost to eternal darkness. The hope for the Libyan people is that their migrant community might be a voice fot Christ. These who came here looking for passage to the Western World could be used by God to bring the message of Heaven to their host nation. God help them to see their divine purpose.