HFC Victory Center

The Story Behind Helping For Christ

David Young has served in the US Army Reserves for 24 years.  Shortly after 9/11 he left for his first one-year deployment to Afghanistan.  The orders for a second deployment to Iraq come in the summer of 2005.  Just before he was scheduled to ship out with his team, he was tapped to complete a “short-term” project in Haiti.  This “short-term” project turned into nine months and he ended up spending his entire second deployment in Haiti.  While in Haiti he met a local Haitian who served as his interpreter.  They quickly became good friends.

Pastor Dicksent claimed to be a Christian but his lifestyle did not support this claim.  He was involved in voodoo and was living a sinful lifestyle.  When David left the country, Pastor Dicksent lost his job.  David continued to stay in contact with his friend after he returned home from Haiti.  One day, while going to a job interview, Pastor Dicksent was in a horrible accident.  Many of the people riding on the vehicle were killed; he was injured and became paralyzed.  David was able to arrange for him to be flown to the Dominican Republic and have surgery to repair the damage done from the accident.  The surgery was a success but Pastor Dicksent had a long road of recovery that included much physical therapy.  While he was recovering, David made arrangements to have someone give a Bible to his friend.  Pastor Dicksent read the gospel and, as a result, accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior!  A short time later, he took his wife to be baptized as she also made the decision to follow Christ after seeing the change in her husband.

After some time, Pastor Dicksent graduated from his studies and was ordained as a Lutheran Pastor.  He is a new man, completely changed in all respects from the man David knew while he was in Haiti.  Upon his conversion, God placed in “D’s” heart a deep desire to help the people in his community.  Working with the Pastor of his local church, he began an organization called Helping for Christ, operating as a Christian day school for the children in their community in Port Au Prince.  One hundred fifty children were enrolled in the school but only a handful of the children’s parents were able to pay the $7 per month tuition that is charged each student.  However, Pastor Dicksent has never had the heart to deny the children an education and teaches them for free.  In addition, Helping for Christ began providing free literacy courses to the adults in the community who have never learned to read and write.  There are currently 10 adults ranging in age from 32 to 74 who attend the classes.  The goal is to teach them enough so they are able to read the Bible themselves.

In addition to running the school, Pastor Dicksent has taken into his home several homeless children that have come to him for help.  He has formally adopted five of these children and another 15 have been taken in by the other teachers who work with him at the school.  He and the members of his team have a burning desire to do so much more for the people in their community.  As part of the school, they want to provide at least one hot meal a day to the children.  They would also like to operate a children’s home to provide shelter, food and a caring environment for the abandoned children who live on the streets of Port Au Prince.  They want to setup a medical care center to provide necessary medical care to people who cannot afford it.  Above all and as part of all of these activities, they are preaching the Gospel to as many people as they can.  Since the school began, all of the teachers and students have accepted Christ as their personal Savior and now many of the children’s parents are beginning to accept Christ as well!

In the fall of 2008, we partnered with Heart of God International Ministries, a U.S. charity that has agreed to take on Helping for Christ as one of their missions.  Heart of God International Ministries is operated completely by volunteers.  As a result, every dollar donated to ministry in Haiti goes directly to Helping for Christ.  The teachers at the school are Haitians living in Pastor Dicksent’s community, providing them with employment that they would not otherwise have.  The eight teachers are each paid $75 per month for their services.  Additional costs to operate the school include school supplies and books, food to serve the children at least one meal a day ($1.00 per day to feed a student at the school), and materials to make benches for the students and blackboards.  Currently we are able to provide enough funding to cover the salaries of the teachers and provide about one meal a week for the children.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and our ministry there.  Any donations are tax exempt and go directly to the mission field.

Dave & Julie Young, Executive Directors
Heart of God Haiti
Haiti@heartofgodinternational.org

Post Earthquake

Haiti experienced an action-packed year in 2010.   We had numerous obstacles placed in front of us yet God continually established that He is in control and has brought us through them all.

During 2010, our children and team in Haiti have witnessed earthquakes, hurricanes, cholera, a major life threatening medical emergency for Pastor Dicksent, a failed election, civil unrest, a breakdown in security, and a disruption in their feeding programs.   Just this month, when we thought we had seen it all, Baby Doc (Jean-Claude Duvalier who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow by popular uprising in 1986) showed back up on scene in Haiti. This has caused a bad situation to quickly grow worse.

From a secular point of view, the events of this past year would have you believe the situation with our group of people in Haiti is hopeless.  However, we rejoice in the fact that the gospel of Christ brings hope. We have seen our Haitian team bring the gospel to a population that is in a desperate situation.  Gradually, as the Truth and Light of Christ enters their lives, a transformation begins as their hearts are changed – their spiritual life affects their physical life, and the evidence of God’s presence leads to hopefulness with anticipation for better things to come. Christ does it through them; it is not forced on them from outsiders from the United States.  This is why we feel it so important to empower Christian leaders in Haiti to minister to their own people … they know the culture and the challenges each one faces, something we only know as a distant observer.

Through the gifts of many donors the lives of 300 people were saved; our destroyed school was relocated and has now been transformed into a center that serves as an orphanage, school, church, community center, and medical clinic.  It is because of the hand of God working through your generous support that we have all made it through this past harrowing year.

Location of Helping for Christ Day School, January 12, 2010