Homecoming. The word speaks of returning to the warmth and stability of a place dear to one’s heart and being joyously reunited with family and friends. For BI Director Hantz Bernard, his wife Iguelle, and their three children, going home to Haiti has always been such an experience. Until now. When the earthquake of catastrophic magnitude occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010, Dr. Bernard’s thoughts of home paralleled the words of Nehemiah: “The remnant that are left . . . are in great affliction and reproach” (Neh. 1:3). His desire was to return home to: 1) encourage the brethren, 2) distribute relief funds, 3) gather information for interested parties, and 4) help local leaders strategize for recovery.

By the grace of God, Dr. Bernard was able to return home to Haiti on January 20. Thoughts of his years in Haiti filled his mind as he made the trip. Haiti is where he was born and also where he was reborn as a child of God under the ministry of Baptist Mid-Missions missionaries. Haiti is where he returned to pastor and teach after receiving college training in the States. Haiti is where he became involved with Bibles International as the translator for the Creole New Testament. And Haiti is the land God asked him to leave to become the director of Bibles International. Though a nation ravaged by political and economic instability in recent decades, Haiti had represented the warmth and stability of home for Dr. Bernard.

As he stepped off the plane, however, Dr. Bernard viewed a homeland that was hardly recognizable. Buildings of every design and dimension were reduced to piles of rubble. Even the presidential palace, once thought to be invincible, was severely damaged by the quake. Imagine the US losing our White House, our Supreme Court, our IRS, our postal service headquarters, and 80 percent of our hospitals and schools. Such was the case for Haiti. Beyond the loss of buildings and services, however, was the loss of lives; over 220,000 dead and more than that wounded. With the aftershock activity, people were afraid to sleep in what was left of their homes, and tent communities sprang up everywhere.

The tools for cleanup and restoration are not as readily available in Haiti as they are in the US, tools like cranes and bulldozers and industrial trucks. The believers in Haiti, however, have a tool not made with hands. It is designed to deal with the rubble of people’s lives called sin, to clear it away and bring peace and restoration to their relationship with God. That tool is the Creole New Testament. As the Word of God, it is alive and powerful and able to deal with every problem every human has ever faced, including post-earthquake trauma.

When Bibles International completed the Creole New Testament in 2002, 13,000 copies were printed. Distribution was so extensive that a second printing was done in 2007.

Could it be that God put that many copies of the Creole New Testament in Haiti for such a time as this? Indeed, the Word of God in Creole has been going forth with power in recent days. The mayor of the City of Jacmel allowed Hosanna Baptist church to conduct a five-night Gospel Crusade in February. Thousands attended these standing-room-only services, and many committed their lives to Christ. One new convert was a witch doctor who had carried out his satanic practices in both Haiti and the US. Let us pray for victory in Haiti, the ability to “build upon new foundations,” the motto adopted by Haitian church leaders.

Bibles International recently produced and shipped 100,000 comfort-and-witness brochures that contain verses from the Creole New Testament, and those have now arrived in Haiti.

Homecoming. The word speaks of returning to the warmth and stability of a place dear to one’s heart and being joyously reunited with family and friends. What if the final homecoming, when God’s children gather before the throne, is populated by many Haitians who made their choice to follow Christ on the heels of disaster in their country? “O Lord God of heaven . . . let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant . . . .” (Neh. 1:5,6).