It’s been nearly a year since a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people. But Haiti’s rebuilding is far from over. In fact, more problems are arising, including a recent cholera outbreak that claimed the lives of an additional 2,000 people there.
While the nation saw an initial rush of help, some ministries have since moved on to the next disaster. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), however, is still on the ground in Haiti to offer help and plans to offer even more support in 2011.
“This country is still struggling, even though there have been some great things that have happened this past year,” says Franklin Graham, president and CEO of BGEA and international relief agency Samaritan’s Purse. “We want to do everything we can to not only help the people of Haiti, but to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
BGEA is reaching out to the people of Haiti to share the hope of Christ in a real, tangible way through various ministries, including the Rapid Response Team, the Franklin Graham Festival, and My Hope-Haiti.
The Rapid Response Team remains in Haiti and its crisis-trained chaplains have prayed with more than 17,000 people to date. Meanwhile, the Franklin Graham Festival will take place in Haiti this weekend to bring the hope of Christ to the masses. And the My Hope evangelism project encourages equipped churches and Christian families to open their homes to friends, family, and neighbors to share the Gospel using television broadcasts produced by BGEA in the local language. Since the program was launched in 2002, more than 9.7 million people in 48 countries have made decisions to follow Jesus Christ.
“I call on the churches of America to pray for the people of Haiti, our neighbors just a few hundred miles from our own shore, who have suffered so much this year,” says Graham. “Out of the abundance that we have been given, we should share with those who have so very little.”
