How to Pray for Haiti After Another Deadly Earthquake
Christian leaders in Haiti share what is different for believers between 2010 and now, as death toll passes 1,400.
Last month, Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. On Saturday, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean country, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and thousands more injured and displaced from their homes.
The earthquake drew comparisons to the 7.0-magnitude tremor that hit the island in 2010, killing more than 300,000 people according to the Haitian government and injuring nearly as many. In its wake, Haitian theologian Dieumeme Noelliste told CT in 2010 he didn’t expect that crisis would lead his people to forsake their faith:
This is not the first time that disaster has come to us. This may be the most brutal, but two years ago we had four devastating hurricanes and even then the people didn’t turn against God. They’ve suffered many things at the hands of fellow Haitians and remained fast to God. Even during slavery, Haitians were treated brutally but open to the version of Christianity that the slave owners were preaching. The slaves were even asking for more! I see the church continuing to grow. In these situations people tend to turn to God. This is their only hope.
More than a decade after the first earthquake, what has changed for Haitian Christians now facing the aftermath of a second devastating tremor? Amid such hardships, have they kept the faith, and how?
CT asked Haitian church leaders and missionaries to share what they’re seeing on the ground, including:
- Edner Jeanty, executive director, Barnabas Christian Leadership Center
- Lesly Jules, apologist and author, Objections Rejetées: L’Approche Apologétique Classique
- Luke Perkins, assistant to the president, Séminaire de Théologie Évangélique de Port-au-Prince
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Cheer on These Christian Olympians from Around the World
Meet the women and men who make their faith a priority as they compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Opening Ceremonies have just commenced, but the 2020 Tokyo Games already feel weird. The Japanese government made a last-minute decision to bar spectators, and a number of athletes had to drop out after testing positive for COVID-19 or quarantine after being exposed to those who have tested positive.
Like their fellow Olympians, Christian athletes have made sacrifices, worked through mental health crises, and pushed themselves to their physical limits to make it to the Games. But they’ve been able to do so with the conviction of where their ultimate identity rests. Many have also used their platform to share about God’s work in their life and to give back in response to what they’ve achieved. Here’s 14 athletes currently in Tokyo from around the world.
Lucas Lautaro Guzman, Taekwondo (Argentina)
In 2012, Sebastián Crismanich became the first Argentine to win a taekwondo gold medal at the Olympics. Lucas Lautaro Guzman hopes to become the second.
In 2019, he won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Taekwondo Championships in the men’s flyweight category. His achievement came just three months after his mother passed away from a brief battle with breast cancer. Though losing her has been hard, Guzman deepened his faith and today says he has much to be thankful for.
Just before the start of the Olympics, Guzman celebrated his 27th birthday in Kazakhstan. In a caption accompanying his “last photo as a 26-year-old,” he wrote, “I don’t feel I deserve all that I am experiencing. … I cannot ask God for anything more, because he gives me so much that I am more than complete and full. Regardless of all the external
Critical Race Theory: What Christians Need to Know
Let’s talk about the issue tearing the American church and country apart.
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Rick Warren Mastered the Formula for Suburban Church Growth
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After more than 40 years leading Saddleback Church, Rick Warren has announced his retirement.
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