God called me to Haiti shortly after the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people there. At the time, I didn’t understand why I was called or what I could offer to the people of this devastated country. I was a risk management consultant from Maineville, Ohio with more interest in serving those around me than those suffering in a foreign land.
I soon began to lead mission teams to Haiti to serve the most vulnerable and to spread the good news of Jesus to all who would listen. These teams provided clean water, food, clothing, and shelter to some of the poorest people in the world. Still, through all of it, something didn’t seem right—with me, with the ministry, and with the people we served. So, I began to pray, and I prayed for more than two years before God gradually placed a new mission and a new vision on my heart and in my mind. It was a mission and a vision to help the people of southern Haiti provide for themselves through the creation of sustainable small businesses and job opportunities.
The Holy Spirit showed me that the people of southern Haiti needed more than physical sustenance in the name of Jesus—they needed restoration of hope through Jesus and dignity through work. God created His ministry—John 6:35 Ministries— in the summer of 2018 to promote Jesus and jobs in Haiti and to restore hope and dignity to the people there.
The last seven years have been a wild but rewarding ride for J635 and our all-volunteer leadership team. Through government collapse, gang wars, hyperinflation, disease, violence, widespread hunger, and natural disasters, God’s small but powerful ministry has prospered. Over this time, J635 seeded a variety of small businesses, including a food manufacturer, a trucking company, a taxi service, a goat farm, a mango farm, several grocery stores, grain millers, and even a small movie theatre. Every business has been covered in prayer, and every business owner has been taught to share the hope of Jesus that they experience.
Unfortunately, Haiti is now a failed nation-state and millions of people are sick and hungry. In the Les Anglais region of southern Haiti many people, mostly young and elderly, die from curable diseases and starvation every day. There is little food, no government assistance, and virtually no medical care.
Many ministries have left the region, but by God’s grace and mercy, J635 remains. We’ve had to shift our mission a bit in recent years to include feeding the hungriest and funding urgent medical care. Doing so has saved hundreds of lives in the name of Jesus and spread the Good News of God’s son to thousands in the Les Anglais region. And now I know why God called me to Haiti—to advance His Kingdom there and to demonstrate that even ordinary people—here and in Haiti—can do extraordinary things in the name of His son, Jesus Christ.