Brian Bacola, who is originally from Syracuse, NY now resides in Hattiesburg, MS and attends St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral. In addition to being an EMT, Brian currently serves as a lieutenant for a local fire department.
I have been blessed in many ways in my life and wish to spread my blessing with others. In my 12 years of work in the emergency services field I have never turned away from any chance I had to assist my fellow man and this is just another opportunity to lend a helping hand. I pray that the medical services as well as food we provide will bring some comfort to the people of Haiti during these trying times.
Jim Beard resides in Gardendale, AL.
Richard Bradley, of Gardendale is an engineer who graduated from the University of Alabama, and has been married to Kristie, who is a school teacher, for thirty-eight years. He has one daughter, Alison, who is married to Jonathan Dunagan, and they have a daughter (Addi) and another baby on the way. Praise God. He also has a son, Adam, who works with him at Laser Works and delights in making Richard look like a dinosaur.
I have built things all my life and love to serve in any way, mostly through construction, so this mission will be outside of those experiences and abilities. I tried to see if I could hook up with a team the day after the earthquake, but since I was not “Disaster Certified” I could not go. Then Jeremy sends me this email and I jumped at the chance to go and do something… My heart was broken the day the news started pouring out the images of the destruction and the loss of life and the desperation. The unfolding story of Lt. Col Ken Bourland and his disappearance in the rubble of the Montana Hotel drew me to the tv screen and computer every chance I had. Ken is the husband of Peggy, brother in law of Bobby, two close friends. And I hurt so much for them and the three boys. This is personal and tragic and heart wrenching. I had to do something. As most of you know, for many of us, business is not good right now, so my most valuable asset right now is me. I hope that God points us in the direction that will be the most useful to the people of Haiti in such a way that it glorifies Him and establishes a connection for years to come. We have a chance to help the people of Haiti in many, many ways. May the Lord open doors.
“Your life is the means by which God presents the Gospel believably.” John MacArthur. I believe that is what we are doing.
Mark Faulkner resides in southern Texas.
Mark Fisher of Pelham, AL, is married to Sandy and is a member of Sunview Baptist Church.
God has laid a burden on my heart for the people of Haiti. I had a trip planned in April to go down with my Uncle to assist one of the Churches he works with. When I had heard about the Earthquakes, the massive devastation, and the hurting of the people down there, the pressure from that burden intensified. When I saw the email from Jeremy, asking who could go, I knew then, I was all in. It was Christ who said, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. I couldn’t sit by any longer and do nothing.
Roy Gilbert of Birmingham, AL, is married to Sharon and is a member of Oak Mountain Presbytarian. The following is a letter he wrote to his pastor concerning the trip to Haiti:
Bob,
When I send this I will be headed to Haiti with a small band of brothers from my work Feb 7th thru the 14th.
I write to you because I can imagine at times you wonder if the Lord really works thru your messages to the flock. To this point I write to you as a modern day Jonah; I really have no personal desire to travel to an unknown land to serve an unknown people in the midst of a national disaster.
I would prefer, rather, to sit ‘outside the city’ and stay in the comfort of the ‘shade of the vine’ God has provided for me in the way of the American life with all the comforts of 35242.
I have found myself ‘swallowed by the whale’ that is the concerns of my day and my own personal interests. I used to pray a prayer that the Lord would give me the eyes of Jesus, the feet of Jesus, the hands and heart of Jesus; I don’t pray that prayer much anymore as I have become consumed with the fading things of this life; but to His glory He has ignited in me that prayer again and in a time that would cause me to reflect on where Jesus might be at this point in time. I have filtered thru the million reason why couldn’t or shouldn’t go and I have laid out my fleeces and still He is urging me towards Haiti.
The opportunity has come swiftly and the preparations for our team have fallen in to place. We go to serve a village of 700 just outside the epicenter.
I have no answers for why things have happened as they have in Haiti; perhaps they did put themselves in harm’s way by leaving the arms of the Lord; perhaps the fruit of their lives has grown sour in His nostrils and I am no prophet, but I like Jonah, do know the Lord; He is loving and compassionate and in the midst of our rebellion and pain He is ever watching, working and waiting for our return. To that end, I too have left His arms and my fruit became sour and my rebellion was strong yet He thought enough of me to reach down and save me; therefore I go.
I would ask, true to my selfish nature, that you not only pray for those we go to serve, but also for me that He would take the flame He has ignited and turn it into a burning coal that would last well beyond this journey.
P.S.THANKS FOR THROWING ME OUT OF THE BOAT…..
David Jarret, M.D. resides in Washington, D.C.
Jeff Kuespert, of Petal, MS, is married to Sherry. He is father to Matthew, Jessica, and Grace. Also included in his family are his dogs, Maggie and Sully, and his cat, Binx. He is a member of Petal Harvey Baptist Church.
There was no doubt I was going to be part of this mission trip the moment I read Jeremy’s request. As I read his words, God was already at work within me, encouraging my decision. I also remember how humble and appreciative I was after Hurricane Katrina when others traveled long distances to bring me much needed food, fuel, and other basic necessities. God blessed my family then, and now I am getting the privilege of passing that blessing on.
Heath Kyle, of Gardendale, is married to April and is father to Daniel. He is a member of Gardendale First Baptist Church.
I run a Chick-fil-a in downtown Birmingham and we've been members of GFBC for about four/five years. My wife and I have been praying for some time that God would give us the opportunity to participate in a mission trip...we just didn't realize that God had "sooner than this summer" in mind! It is our desire to seek God's face in, with, and through our lives. I firmly believe going to Haiti with this particular team of guys is exactly what God has for me. Our prayer is that He will be glorified in everything we do. I'm so grateful for this opportunity and I'm grateful to Jeremy for the vision and direction he's given for this trip.
Josh Moody, of Gardendale, AL, is married to Kim and is father to three beautiful girls.They are members of Gardendale First Baptist Church.
Originally Jeremy told me about the trip, and I thought it was a great idea......for other people, not me. But God wouldn't let it go. He stayed on me about it. So I began to pray that if He wanted me to go, I would, but He would have to open a ton of impossible doors for me to be able to. Long story short, He has been faithful, and opened every single door that I thought would keep me from going. I don't know what He wants to do with this trip yet, but I have a feeling it will be HUGE.
Jesse Prater resides in Indiana.
Scott Ronyak, of Ohio, currently resides in south Texas. He is married to Kate and is father to Grace and Micah, and has a little one on the way.
We are missionaries with To Every Tribe and are raising support to go to Papua New Guinea in January of 2011. I was sitting at my desk a few days after the earthquake hit in Haiti, and being in the position that I am thought, I need to go there. I am not committed to having to be in an office everyday so there was really no reason I couldn't go. I sent emails and made calls to all the large organizations but they were not accepting volunteers. So it seemed like there wasn't going to be a way for me to get there. I think about a week later, my teammate Alex got a call about a group going from Alabama...So here we go! I'm excited to be a light for Jesus there. We were able to get about 3000 tracts written in Haitian Creole to hand out with the meals. My prayer is that God would be glorified in people turning to Him for salvation. The food we take will eventually run dry. But Jesus is the living water, a spring that never runs dry.
Jeremy Sanders, of Gardendale, AL, is married to Kandy and father to Sam, Olivia, and Everett. He is a member of Gardendale First Baptist Church.
Missions has been heavy on our hearts and is continually shaping the direction of our lives. To this I owe my wonderful wife for igniting the spark in me. She has had a heart for missions for a long time reaching back into her childhood as a GA at Sharon Heights Baptist in Brookside, Alabama.
As I was reading about the tragedy in Haiti my heart was burdened not only for the believers in Haiti who desperately need us to show them the love of Christ in this time of need, but also for the hundreds of thousands of lost people who may have never heard a clear contextualized articulation of the gospel in their own language who had their lives extinguished and died and went to Hell. Since I didn’t have my passport yet, it was my wife’s willingness to go to Haiti that even prompted me to try to put a team together. I was able to get it expedited and we decided that it was probably best for me to go on this one instead of her, but again, she was key in the process of putting this together.
The day after the earthquake we heard Ravi Zacharias speak at the BJCC. During his session, he talked about the fact that we ask our young people to grow up and go to college, so that they can get good jobs, buy nice houses, and send their kids to good schools. He asked why we are not calling our young people to heroic acts for Christ? What it comes down to is this. If God is sovereign then we are free to fearlessly and boldly live for Him. He gets the glory, and we get the joy in His glory. So while compassion and a love for the lost are definite motivators for helping the people of Haiti, the primary motivation is that it glorifies God for us to do so.
I am very excited about the trip. I am sure that it will be a life changing experience for me. I have never been to a third world country, much less one in the middle of such tragedy. I pray that God will grant me the grace needed to fulfill His purpose for me on this trip.
Ronnie Sanders, of Northport, Alabama, is married to Sandra and is father to Jeremy, Nicole, and Lori. He also has six wonderful grandchildren. He is assistant pastor of Church of the Redeemer Charismatic Episcopal Church.
I am tagging along to keep Jeremy and Jim Shaw in line and in case somebody needs to know how to spell Episcopal.
Really, about a week after the earthquake, a close friend, Eric Jones, who now teaches at Stephen F. Austin University, sent me an email asking if I knew of any opportunities that he and I could join up with to go work in the relief effort in Haiti. I found that there were not any opportunities at that time to go. About a week later, Jeremy let me know that he was thinking about organizing a team. I notified Eric that God had provided the opportunity we were looking for. As it turned out, Eric was not able to join the team on this trip, but he is hopeful to be able to go at a later date. God used Eric to turn my heart toward the devastated Haitian people. And then he used Jeremy to open the door to make the mission possible. I am so thankful to watch how the Lord is working through Jeremy in bringing this team together.
I am blown away to be privileged enough to be sent by my family, friends, coworkers, and fellow believers to bring some relief to those suffering from the earthquake or just because of the poverty in Haiti. To be able to work along side my son and son-in-law as a member of this team is a real joy. If you have given money or sent other supplies, or if you are praying for us, you are a part of our support team and just as important as those of us who are traveling to Haiti. May God allow us all to be used to bring hope, healing, and eternal life to those in need.
Jim Shaw resides in Northport, AL.
Brett Simmons resides in Brookside, AL.
Alex Sisson, originally of Birmingham, AL, now lives in sunny South Texas with his wife Kelley and their three children Haley (5), Graham (3), and Nate (5 months).
I am a missionary with To Every Tribe Ministries in preparation to move to Papua New Guinea this year in order to spread the good news of Jesus Christ among the unreached tribes there. I am privileged to go on this Haiti trip with my 2 teammates Mark Faulkner and Scott Ronyak. As far as why am I doing this. Well it is actually very simple. To show the love of Christ to people who are hurting badly. While I am excited to be on a team that is providing both food and medical care, the most exciting part of going is to be able to proclaim Christ and the salvation that comes from Him and through Him. My chief motivation is to bring God glory through this trip, and I hope to be able to proclaim the good news of His salvation as much as possible while I am there.
Jimmy Sitton is from Los Fresnos, Texas.
As I was watching the news first break about the earthquake and the the mass suffering of all the victims, It had been on my heart to somehow get to Haiti and help with the relief in any way. Over the next few days, it seemed quite difficult if not impossible to get into the country due to airport overloads and the need more more qualified workers (doctors, medics, etc) rather than someone like myself. But a few days later I heard from some men with To Every Tribe teaming up and going to Haiti with others from Alabama and was asked If I would be interested in going. I immediately said yes. I contacted My friend Scott Anderson with Kids Against Hunger and we were able to have 50,000 meals shipped and ready for us to pick up and disttribute among those we are working with. My hope for this trip is simple, I hope that through our labor and long days in the sun that our service would be glorifying to God and that we would have those opportunities to share the hope they can have in Christ. There is no way to make sense of this earthquake and the suffering it has caused, but the message we have for the people is that they can turn to the one who holds all of life and its events in his hands and his desire is to see many people saved through this disaster.
Mark Turner is married to Karen and they reside in Arley, AL on beautiful Smith Lake. He is an attorney and she is in real estate. They are members of Gardendale First Baptist Church.
I am going on this trip to hopefully make a positive difference in someone's life. I have been blessed by so many thoughtful people all of my life and it is my turn to focus on others and take my eyes off of me. We truly pray that the Lord will lead us in this mission trip.
