The bivocational minister and mission trips

In the mid-1980s the American Baptist Men of Indiana and Kentucky took a mission trip to Haiti. The church I served as their bivocational pastor agreed to pay for my way to go on that mission trip. They even bought me a round-trip ticket! I can say it was a truly life-changing experience.

Our main project was to help rebuild part of a youth center that had been burned. Most days we worked alongside our Haitian brothers, first tearing down the existing walls and then replacing them with new blocks. Each of us took tools with us that we gave to our Haitian brothers when we left. While most of us on the trip worked on the building, one or two dentists (I forget how many now.) worked at a nearby dental clinic.

We also spent time traveling to other mission projects our denomination supported in Haiti. We visited a hospital, an agricultural center and a seminary. We spent a lot of time with our host missionary and caught his passion for ministry to the people of Haiti. On Sunday we attended a local church that was packed with worshipers to the point that some sat on the floor around the pulpit area. Sunday night we worshiped with a group of missionaries in their own service.

The first afternoon in Haiti we went to a local market with voodoo drums announcing the arrival of the white missionaries. One evening, sitting on our hotel's front porch, we watched a parade of people dressed in white garments going down the street to a voodoo temple a few blocks away. The drums from that temple kept me awake a good part of the night. It showed me the spiritual battle that goes on for the souls of the people there.

We had the opportunity to meet a number of people whose lives had been changed by work of our missionaries. Through their efforts these people had encountered Jesus Christ in a way that transformed their lives.

I learned more about mission work in that one week than I could have learned from any class on mission work taught in any seminary. That week gave me an opportunity to spend time with some of our denomination's missionaries and see the work they do in one of the poorest places in the world. Although our little church had been very supportive of our missionaries through its financial gifts, we became even more supportive as I began to share some of what I had experienced in Haiti.

Every bivocational minister would benefit from such an experience. Many denominations take such mission trips, and I would encourage my readers to go on at least one in their lifetime. It will change your life and that of your church. I would also encourage churches to fund these trips for their bivocational pastors. Every church, regardless of size, can afford to do that, and it will have a great impact on your pastor and church that will be well worth your money.