The following is an email I received from Pastor Gary Frost regarding Concerts of Prayer Greater New York – Haiti Response.
PLEASE distribute widely to your churches and ministries!
HAITI RESPONSE
WE HAVE ALL SEEN THE NEWS ...."HAITI IN RUINS," "QUAKE SURVIVORS GROW DESPERATE"
In response, we at Concerts of Prayer Greater New York would like to offer the following "Next Steps" suggestions to take as our offices and your church phones keep ringing with people asking.."What can we do?" Here are some bullet points for you to consider:
•Commit your church to hold a prayer gathering to intercede for this humanitarian need.
•Pray specifically that:
1. God provide the needed equipment to dig people out and clear the roads so that supplies can get to those in need, and that lives would be saved.
2. The right materials, medical & food supplies, and water would be delivered in time.
3. Renewal would reign as the Haitian people turn their hearts to God in the midst of this tragedy.
4. God empower and enable the Christian community (both Haitian and International) to offer comfort, display the love of Christ and share the Gospel.
5. The weather remains clear and that rain would not compound the tragedy.
6. World governments would give tangible support and that the Government of Haiti would be willing to accept it and use it wisely.
7. Lawlessness would not prevail during this time of desperation.
COP will continue to send you bullet points and updates for your continuing prayer efforts.
Because most of the above cannot happen without the financial resources necessary to bring it about- here are further suggestions and points of wisdom:
o Consider taking an offering this coming Sunday for Haiti's need. And as a model--let your church supplement congregational giving with a church donation.
o Advise your people to stay away from Haiti for the time being, and let agencies that are on the ground handle these early needs. Secondary response to help will make it clearer as to how to respond in the near future. We will keep you advised.
o Forward collected funds to agencies you trust and have historically handled funds for these types of emergencies. Perhaps your church has a denominational group or agency such as MCC, or NAE, and World Relief, for example.
o Concerts of Prayer has worked with World Vision for over a decade following the 9/11 tragedy. Funds which were offered to World Vision for NYC were distributed in collaboration by our two organizations. Through your church giving, we also labor with them in numerous global projects. World Vision has a base and offices in Haiti that consists of 370 workers.
o For details on World Vision's relief efforts in Haiti, click on the following link:
http://www.wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf/maindocs/51D3402D0A371CB1882576AA002CDB47?opendocument
o Click on the following link for bulletin inserts, PowerPoint slides and other materials prepared by World Vision that you can use to share with your church:
http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/church-erdm-home
o If you plan on taking an offering for Haiti relief efforts and would like the funds distributed by World Vision, please contact World Vision's regional Church Relations person, Linda Nolan. Linda will add your church name to the list of churches who are reaching out to Haiti. Linda can be reached via email at linda@worldvision.org or by phone at 516.287.3714 (cell phone) or 516-608-2095 (home office).
Lastly, this earthquake tragedy could be one of the worst in history. The numbers could be significant. In 1201 AD 1.1 million Syrian lives were lost in what is, perhaps, the greatest number of recorded earthquake deaths in history. In 2004 almost 300,000 people lost their lives in Shaanxii, China. This is paled by the major earthquakes that occurred in the Middle East (Syria, Iran,) in the middle ages which numbered several hundred thousand.
God bless you as you pray,
Pastor Gary Frost, President
Concerts of Prayer Greater New York
