November 2020 Prayer Letter
Flat Coronavirus – Praise God!
We were encouraged during our recent trip to Haiti to see COVID-19 basically flat – PRAISE GOD! Remaining are the miseries of corruption, riots, inflation, and hunger. Believers are interceding concerning these issues! Very recently Hosanna Baptist Church members came together for 15 days of prayer and fasting. The church opened its doors for personal prayer every day from 6 until 2 and then held a combined service of prayer, song, and preaching in the evening. Our hearts rejoiced to see a steady stream of believers coming and going all day long, concluding with a packed evening service. PTL!
Another Week of Camp – Please Pray
The school schedule will be allowing a brief semester break from mid-October to mid-November. That will give Pastor Salomon an opportunity for a week of camp. He will split the week in half to allow two groups of campers to attend. We covet your prayers for every facet of the camp – speakers, topics, “God and I” booklets, and teaching that will reestablish godly principles and convictions in campers’ hearts.
Highlighting this month . . . Jean Toussaint
Pastor, Seminary Vice-Academic Dean
“for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14b)
Pastor Jean came to us in the providence of God! Having been raised in Catholicism/voodooism, he found Christ as Savior at age 13. His parents separated shortly thereafter, which devastated him. However, through God’s grace, he began attending a Baptist church, where he was baptized and his spiritual growth increased dramatically. He preached his first sermon at age 17. Doors began to open for him; and when he graduated from high school, the leadership in his church made a way for him to begin pastoral training at the Theological Seminary of Port-au-Prince. His superior grades gained him a full scholarship. Then the earthquake happened in his junior year (2010) and the school was forced to close. One month later, he and a few other students chosen by the dean of students received a full scholarship from Mr. Leo Wells of Wells Fargo Bank to continue their studies at Carver College, Atlanta, Georgia. Since commercial travel was suspended, the donor sent his private jet to pick up these young men to begin their studies at Carver in the fall of 2010.
When Jean graduated, a friend invited him to North Carolina, where he found a job with Foxconn, earning $14 an hour. Although delighted with the income, Jean stated, “It made me too comfortable and I forgot my first objective of being in the U.S., which was to study and go back to serve the Lord in Haiti. So the Lord sent hardships to remind me of my divine appointment.” God then led him to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 2015, where he enrolled in Piedmont International University to pursue a master’s degree in biblical studies. While there, he married his Haitian sweetheart and they welcomed their first child. Upon his graduation in 2018, they returned to Haiti and Jean began teaching at our seminary (SBTH).
Then God opened our eyes to Pastor Jean’s amazing gifts as administrator in addition to his teaching abilities. Because of Pastor Dieupie’s involvement in the Haitian Parliament for four years, the seminary had declined. Then the “Toussaint Transformation” began: a new student manual, a manual and syllabus for the professors, a new curriculum for women, the establishment of a yearly operating academic calendar, the inauguration of an alumni association, the introduction of a seminary anthem, the beginning of an SBTH work/study initiative, the opening of a bookstore, and a complete library reform. In addition, Pastor Jean has established a student day of evangelism, an annual student conference day, a pastors’ conference, and a semiannual white glove cleaning. Surely, we praise God for providentially bringing Pastor Jean Toussaint to Hosanna – “for such a time as this”!!
Our thanks and praise to God!!
Tom and Sarah Bennett
