Thursday, January 14, 2010

Haiti Earthquake Relief

Here's an email I just sent out to the members of Delta Church regarding relief for Haiti:

Dear Delta,

As you all certainly know, a terrible 7.0 earthquake occurred in Haiti on Tuesday afternoon. Hundreds of thousands of people have died and upwards of 1 million people are homeless. 80% of Haiti's population lives below the poverty line, which makes them the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. By their own admission, they are no where near equipped to handle a disaster like this and are in need of tangible help. Please pray fervently for the people of Haiti and the relief workers. But beyond that, financial gifts are necessary to fund the relief efforts - everything from food, search & rescue, etc. Here are 5 tremendous organizations that you can send a financial gift to (even a small micro-gift of $10 will go a long way):

Baptist Global Response

The Red Cross

World Vision

Samaritan's Purse

Compassion International

Additionally, let me emphasize this as well: this is in no way any type of "judgment" from God punishing people. There are misinformed, arrogant, judgmental, non-gospel centered religious people who are saying and believing such things. Do not believe them. Romans 8:22 says "For we we know that the whole creation has been groaning..." The context is the suffering that this life brings because of the terrible effects of sin. The fall (Genesis 3) not only brought death to people, but to all of creation as well. An event like this earthquake is a stark reminder of the brokenness of the world and great need we have for the hope of the gospel to renew not just us, but all of creation. So let us be a people of prayer, a people on mission for the gospel, and a people who do what we can to renew this creation and bring comfort to those who are hurting for the glory of Jesus.

Pastor Ryan, on behalf of the Delta Elders

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