In letter, Baptists ask Obama to aid 10 held by Haiti
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--An appeal to President Obama has been made by three Southern Baptist Convention leaders in behalf of the 10 Baptist volunteers currently being held in Haiti on kidnapping and criminal association charges. [QUOTE@left@160="... We are concerned that the continued detainment and possible conviction of these Baptist mission volunteers will distract the world's attention and undermine the relief efforts so desperately needed by the Haitian people....] The Feb. 5 letter asks the president "that you do everything within the authority of your office to secure a safe return home for these brothers and sisters in Christ as soon as possible." The Baptist leaders affirmed "the diplomatic negotiations currently under way between your Administration and the Haitian government to resolve this matter … to bring about a solution that respects the rule of law, honors international agreements, and ensures the best possible care and full legal representation for these Baptist mission volunteers." The letter was sent to President Obama by the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, Morris H. Chapman; the SBC's president, Johnny Hunt; and the SBC's immediate past president, Frank Page, who is a member of the president's Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. "We have closely monitored news reports that these Baptist mission volunteers have been arrested, detained, and charged by the Haitian government on allegations of child kidnapping," the Baptist leaders wrote to the president. "It is our understanding that these mission volunteers were attempting to transport 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic for humanitarian purposes. We do not know all of the facts of this case, but we are concerned that the continued detainment and possible conviction of these Baptist mission volunteers will distract the world's attention and undermine the relief efforts so desperately needed by the Haitian people.... "It is possible that the Baptist mission volunteers currently detained in Haiti have acted with the noblest of intentions in a desperate situation ...
Baptist volunteers in Haiti charged with kidnapping
PORT-AU-PRINCE (BP)--A Haitian prosecutor Thursday charged 10 members of a Baptist volunteer team with child kidnapping and criminal association for allegedly not following the law in attempting to transport 33 children into the Dominican Republic. Haitian Deputy Prosecutor Jean Ferge Joseph then handed the case to an investigative judge, Reuters news service reported. "That judge can free you but he can also continue to hold you for further proceedings," he told the group, comprised of five men and five women who were arrested Jan. 29. The charges carry prison terms of up to 15 years, The New York Times reported. The case has garnered national and international attention and has adoption and Christian aid agencies concerned it could tarnish their work. The 10 volunteers maintain they are innocent. A Haitian pastor who assisted the team told the Associated Press that the volunteers had permission ...
SBC leader calls for World Hunger Fund emphasis on Haiti at Super Bowl events
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--With many churches already planning to hold special events around Sunday's Super Bowl game, Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has issued a call for churches to add an emphasis on Haiti and the World Hunger Fund.
5 Baptist detainees meet with Haitian judge
WASHINGTON (BP)--Five members of a Baptist volunteer team being detained in Haiti met with a judge in Port-au-Prince Feb. 2, according to the Voice of America ...
Baptist volunteers see Haiti’s anguish
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP)--Devastation and despair -- that's what an Arkansas Baptist medical team encountered when they touched down in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 18, just seven days after a 7.0 earthquake ravaged ...
In Haiti, Baptist medical teams moving into action
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--Six state Southern Baptist Disaster Relief medical teams are among the first Baptists to minister in Haiti since the deadly 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12. SBDR medical volunteers from Arkansas and North Carolina have already come and gone, and Kentucky and Mississippi teams arrived on Monday, Feb. 1. Florida and South Carolina medical volunteers are due to arrive in Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday, Feb. 3. The Mississippi and Kentucky teams wasted no time after arriving on Monday, turning a small library into a pharmacy and treating 550 patients. The Mississippi team is operating a small hospital out of a Haitian Baptist church located on the edge of one of Port-Au-Prince's larger tent cities directly across from the national capitol building. The Kentucky team is working at a clinic near the presidential palace. North American Mission Board disaster relief consultant Terry Henderson and a team of six will leave Atlanta on Thursday, Feb. 4, to serve as an incident command team in Haiti. They will link up with Fritz Wilson and Dennis Wilbanks of the Florida Baptist Convention, who are on the ground in Haiti for the second time since the earthquake. Henderson and his team will be busy planning logistics, lodging, transportation, feeding and communications for SBDR's eventual "D Day" ...
Haitian pastor opens church to victims
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)–He couldn’t find the words to pray. He could only sing. Haitian pastor Ronel Mesidor had left his Port-au-Prince office at Compassion International, a Christian child advocacy ministry, at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 12 to drive to his home in nearby Carrefour. Before he was halfway there, the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck, claiming the lives […]
Voodoo priest’s son leads Haitians to Christ
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)–On a hot afternoon in a crowded, makeshift camp in Port-au-Prince, Jean Junior Cineas sits under a tarp suspended by a broomstick. He shares his faith with five Haitians left homeless after the Jan. 12 earthquake rocked their island nation. Soon, all five pray to receive Christ as their Savior. The irony: Cineas […]
Haiti day of prayer set for Feb. 14
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)–Southern Baptists in Florida and elsewhere have been called to raise their “collected voices” Feb. 14 on behalf of “the hurting people of Haiti as they try to recover from one of the most devastating disasters in the Western Hemisphere.” John Sullivan, executive director of the Florida Baptist Convention, issued the call to […]
Detainees say some govt. approvals were given
WASHINGTON (BP)--A 10-member Baptist team being detained in Haiti remained in custody as of mid-afternoon Feb. 2. There were no reports whether the Baptist volunteers appeared before a Haitian judge Feb. 1 as had been expected over accusations of unlawfully attempting to transport 33 children from the earthquake-ravaged country into neighboring Dominican Republic. The leader of the volunteer team, Laura Silsby from Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, was quoted in video reports posted on CNN and The New York Times websites Feb. 1 as describing their Christian motives in traveling to Haiti to aid orphans after the Jan. 12 earthquake. Silsby told a CNN reporter, "We believe that we have been charged very falsely with trafficking, which of course that is the furthest possible extreme, because, I mean, our hearts here -– we literally all gave up, you know, everything we had, I mean, income, used of our own funds to come here and help these children and by no means are any part of that horrendous practice." The reporter said authorities had permitted the team to be interviewed. Of the 33 children the team was seeking to aid, Silsby said, "They really didn't have any paperwork. This is, again, probably a misunderstanding on my part, but I did not really understand that that would really need to be required."
