As of March 10, 2010, International Ministries has received $325,093.18 given by American Baptists for earthquake relief in Haiti.  Total giving through American Baptist channels is $1,280,324. $126,000 was sent in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.  As our Haitian partners identify specific needs and projects, additional funds are being released.

$20,000 in One Great Hour of Sharing funds have been sent through International Ministries in response to the 8.8 earthquake that jolted Chile on the morning of February 27.

In a recent press release, the World Council of Churches reported that there was a March 3 meeting between Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and Rev. Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss common concerns around Christian unity.

Rev. Jane Esdale, founder and former director of Cameron Community Ministries, Rochester, N.Y., died on Wednesday, February 24, at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., after a three-week illness. She was 62 years old.

Dr. Paul T. Losh, former president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, KS and executive minister of the Vermont Baptist State Convention, died Saturday, February 27, 2010 at Meadowood Retirement Community in Worcester, PA where he had resided since 2003. 

An additional $21,600 in One Great Hour of Sharing funds has been sent to an International Ministries’ (IM) partner in Haiti.  This amount is in addition to the $105,000 already provided to IM’s various Christian partners in Haiti in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, the capital of this Caribbean nation, and the surrounding area.

National Ministries seeks to ensure that all Haitian American Baptist congregations are aware the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced availability of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians who cannot return to their country because of the devastation caused by January’s massive earthquake.