Lifeline
in Haiti
Lifeline began work in Grand Goave, Haiti in 1980
with a goal to keep Christ at the CENTER of all ministries and
to work with people spiritually and physically. In 1981,
Lifeline’s first Christian church and Christian school were
established and opened to evangelize and educate. Thirty-five
people attended the first church service and sixty students
enrolled into our first school. The leaders in our schools and
churches are nationals and currently over 250 Haitians are on
staff. (Lifeline works through foreign nationals who serve as
teachers, principals, administrators, and ministers).
With Christ as the center of all that is done
and evangelism the primary focus, the first part of Lifeline’s
goal was to work with people spiritually. This was accomplished
through personal evangelism, church planting, congregational
development, edification and Christian schools. The Lord has
been working and Lifeline now oversees 19 Christian church
congregations with a combined attendance of around 5,000
people. In 1987, a Leadership Training Program was established
to further educate and equip church leaders. Bible College
professors come from the U.S. and teach and instruct in courses
that are relevant to the church leaders’ ministries.
The
second part of Lifeline’s goal was to minister to people’s
physical needs. Aware of the need for education and health
care, our Lovelink Child Sponsorship Program took form in 1981.
Lovelink provides the opportunity to for concerned persons to
participate in the education and physical development of a needy
child. Through this ministry, benefits are provided for the
children that they otherwise would not receive: a traditional
and Christian education, clothing, daily food, books, medical
and dental care and much more. In 1995, Cookson Hills Christian
Ministries gave the work and facilities they had established to
Lifeline. This included additional churches, schools, a
medical/dental clinic and an orphanage that has been renamed
Lovelink Children’s Home. Vocational training, band, music,
typing, sewing, embroidery and other vocational programs have
been integrated into Lifeline’s schools and Children’s Home.
Lifeline hosted its first work crusade in the
summer of 1982. Work Crusades are regularly hosted to Haiti
where people can minister in a “hands-on” fashion. Individuals
can engage in mission led activities, such as preaching,
teaching, construction, carpentry, painting, gardening, working
with children, medical and dental work, nutrition programs,
clothing distribution and much more. Lifeline’s Laborlink Work
Crusade Program has grown rapidly and Lifeline now hosts nearly
500 people each year on work teams.
The medical aspect of Lifeline’s ministry was
developed in 1982 with a small-scale clinic and child
immunization program. In 1988 construction for Phase I of the
Christian Health Center had begun. In 1991 the dental wing was
fully equipped and operational and a new Health Care Worker
Program was instituted. Phase II of the Health Center was
completed in 1996 and medical services are continually
expanding. Today, the Christian Health Center operates every
weekday. It provides an infirmary for ill school students,
ministers to several hundred patients each week, includes
special programs for pregnant women, nursing mothers,
malnourished infants and toddlers and clinics for diabetics,
hypertension and obstetrics. Nearly 7000 children and adults are
fed daily through Lifeline’s Christian schools, clinic nutrition
programs, children’s home and more. Every week day one or more
groups of malnourished come to receive grains, peanut butter,
canned meats, raisins, baby formula, cereal, milk and much
more. Thanks to the contributions of supporters Stateside, food
or funds to purchase food literally keeps these people alive. We
believe that by meeting physical, as well as spiritual needs, we
can show Christ’s love and light in an effective way.
In addition to the above ministries, thousand of
lives are being touched through our flourishing vocational and
nutritional outreach programs. As of 2004 Lifeline employs
more than 300 Haitian nationals who are the backbone of the daily
ministries and through them, the work continues round the
clock.
Lifeline
in Honduras
An
opportunity to expand Lifeline’s work into a second country
came in 1986 near San Pedro Sula, Honduras. During a survey
trip, the need on the Meredon Mountain, above the city,
became apparent. A small, one room government school,
located at Laguna de Tembladeras, was housing 110 students
with only one teacher and no books, uniforms or feeding
program. It was discovered that the teacher was a Christian
and welcomed any help Lifeline could give.
After research, it was determined that the
government of Honduras would agree to Lifeline aiding in the
restoration of the school program. An additional teacher
was hired, a school lunch program providing food was
implemented, and school uniforms, books and supplies were
purchased. Bible classes began under the direction of the
second teacher who was also a Christian. The Lovelink Child
Sponsorship Program was enlarged to include all 110 children
at Laguna de Tembladeras.
In August 1986, Dean Cary, a well-known
Christian church missionary and past President of Colegio
Biblico in Eagle Pass, Texas, was approached to work with
Lifeline in Honduras. Dean was the ideal person to
represent Lifeline in this Spanish speaking country due to
his background in missions, his command of the language and
his teaching experience. God provided the funds needed for
Dean’s ministry and he began working in Honduras. Dean’s
ministries included working with and overseeing the schools,
a radio ministry and personal and group evangelism. Radio
programs broadcasted four times daily to a Christian
listening audience of over 750,000 people.
In 1989, Lifeline made it possible for some
of the primary school graduates at Laguna de Tembladeras to
begin attending the San Pedro Sula Jr. High School. Through
our “Plan Basico Program”, Dean arranged for eight students
to be housed in a Christian boarding home while attending
school during the school year and return to the mountain
during school break (November through January). Dean was
also instrumental in providing the opportunity for several
of the young Christians from the church on the Meredon
Mountain to attend Colegio Biblico, a Spanish speaking Bible
college in the United States.
In February 1992, Lifeline began another
church and Christian school in Colony Gonzales, a poverty
stricken area near San Pedro Sula. These are the poorest of
the poor in Honduras and Lifeline has provided the children
with education, Christian training, food, clothing and
medical care. All major developments of church and school
facilities was began and is now complete at this colony.
In 1994 our dream to begin a complex in
another colony became a reality. The government of Honduras
provided us with nearly six acres of land in a colony named
Ocotillo in which to duplicate the model of Colony
Gonzales. The spiritual work in this community began with
church meetings and a small school. In 1995 construction of
classrooms, a kitchen, storage building and a clinic has the
Lord well on His way at making an impact in Ocotillo.
In 1997 Joel Augustus joined Lifeline as
Honduran Business Administrator. He and his wife, Janny (a
Honduran national) graduated from Kentucky Christian
College, Grayson, Kentucky, cum laude and have served in
Honduras since September 1997. They continue to be the
backbone of the work there and see that everything gets done
on a day-to-day basis. Janny is Lifeline’s Lovelink Field
Coordinator for Honduras and is responsible to coordinate
and provide all materials relating to the child sponsorship
program, such as biographical and measurement information,
photos, colorings, correspondence between child and sponsor
and much more. Joel handles all of the other aspects of
Lifeline’s work there.
In
1999 Cliff and Connie Allen, retirees, joined Lifeline as
volunteer, part-time Laborlink Work Team Coordinators,
hosting and leading work teams. Cliff & Connie host
hundreds of work team members each year and do so without
compensation or reward.
This same year, Amable Rivera became the
minister of the Gonzales Christian Church. Amable, a
Honduran national, is a graduate of Colegio Biblico, the
Christian Church Spanish speaking Bible College in Eagle
Pass, Texas.
Also, in 1999, Lifeline’s medical work in
Honduras took off. With the addition of 2 Honduran
physicians, nurses and a dentist, the children in Lifeline’s
schools are getting cared for first, and then people of the
community second. A new birthing wing of the clinic opened
at Colony Ocotillo in June 2003
Throughout all of Lifeline’s presence in
Honduras, Lifeline had no main “headquarters” in Honduras.
In early 2000, Lifeline was able to purchase almost 5 acres
of land near Colony Ocotillo to begin a central compound
that includes a large dorm for visiting work teams, housing
for staff, a shop, garage and other buildings to support the
compound, as well as providing a camp atmosphere for school
and church retreats. In December of 1999, due to health
reasons Dean Cary was no longer able to minister with
Lifeline. The new headquarters in Honduras has been
dedicated to Christ Jesus and named in honor of Dean Cary.
It is affectionately called CaryHill!
In the fall of 2002 Antonio Orellano, a
graduate of Colegio Biblico, Eagle Pass, Texas, and his wife
Maya and their two sons joined Lifeline’s team, ministering
at the Ocotillo Christian Church.
Through the dedicated staff members, the
financial gifts and prayers of supporters, Lifeline’s
Honduras work is growing and bearing much fruit for Christ.
