"Preach the Gospel - and if necessary, use words."

This advice from St. Francis of Assisi over 700 years ago is so appropriate in describing the life of Rev. Jean Luc Phanord. He certainly knew how to use words very effectively and could preach in four languages. His Maranatha Haitian Missionary Baptist Church in La Romana, Dominican Republic has over 800 people. More than just a preacher on Sunday, Jean Luc Phanord ministered to the total person. He was born and educated in Haiti — the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1979, he moved to La Romana (a city of 200,000 people) and soon became the leading Haitian pastor in the region. Just outside the city are many bateys (bahTAYS)—villages of Haitian sugar cane cutters and their families where the level of poverty is almost as bad as in Haiti itself. Educational opportunity and medical care in the bateys were virtually non-existent when he began ministering in the La Romana area.

Rev. Phanord established links with many Americans who saw a need for Christian service in La Romana and the bateys. Since 1984, over 2,000 American volunteers have gone there and put their faith into action. They saw naked little boys, little girls wearing only panties, and barefoot people of all ages walking on ground contaminated with animal wastes. Seeing children with bellies bloated because of malnutrition and witnessing the lack of educational opportunity and the need for health care, they did significant things to help—and came home as changed persons.

Thanks to Rev. Phanord and others who inspired so many folks to get involved, 21 new churches and schools have been built in the bateys. Parents in the bateys and barrios now can have realistic hopes for their children to achieve more than they did.

The physical accomplishment for which Rev. Phanord probably will be most remembered as its chief inspiration and leader, though, is the Good Samaritan General Hospital in La Romana. Literally hand-constructed by Haitians, Dominicans, and Americans working together, it now provides quality health care within a Christian context. Learn more about it and him on these websites: www.laromana.org and: www.laromana.homestead.com

When American Airlines Fight 587 left New York for Santo Domingo on November 12, 2001, Rev. Phanord was on it. A few days earlier, he had been in Massachusetts for a meeting of his hospital supporters. The big plane crashed, and Rev. Jean Luc Phanord "Graduated to Glory," as Salvation Army folks say, just after his 49th birthday. This directory primarily seeks to help people from diverse Christian backgrounds stretch their faith so that God may help them in personal overseas activities—as He used Jean Luc Phanord and all the other folks who helped in La Romana.

Hopefully it can help you get information that you can use in or for the place where you sense God calling you to be of service. A major goal of this document is to identify sources of free and inexpensive medical supplies for mission activities. If you can suggest additional ones, I would appreciate hearing about them. Other material in these pages may give you ideas to implement before, during, or after a trip—plus some if you can't go in person. My church is part of American Baptist Churches/USA, so I am more familiar with it and places in my home state of Michigan than other denominations and locations. Because of space limitations, I could not include the names of most organizations involved in missions. Hopefully, though, you will find this document useful in your own mission goals. You have my prayers, and I look forward to hearing from you.