January 15th, 2010

On Tuesday, January 12 just before 5:00 p.m., a 7.0 earthquake shook the small, impoverished country of Haiti, causing destruction in mass proportions and killing tens of thousands of people.

The earthquake—claimed to be the largest and most powerful to hit the country in 200 years—was centered near the capital of Port-au-Prince, a city with three million people. After the initial shake, multiple 5.0 aftershocks have continued to rock the country.

With a population of a little more than nine million people, more than 80 percent of the country's residents live in extreme poverty. Since the natural disaster hit, widespread panic and chaos has ripped throughout this and surrounding areas, and the security and safety for survivors have become a serious concern.

In these tragic situations, Brentwood Baptist partners with Baptist Global Response (BGR), a Southern Baptist disaster relief and development organization that responds immediately to catastrophic events of this nature.

Scott Harris, Missions Minister at Brentwood Baptist, said, "In situations like this, people want to help NOW—and understandably so. It's counter-intuitive, but sometimes the best opportunity to help comes later when assessments have been made. We have a relationship with BGR and will be working with them to see what role we can have in the future regarding Haiti. Even so, there are several things people can do right away."

If you'd like to help now, the Missions Ministry at Brentwood Baptist encourages one of the following action steps:

• Pray now for Haiti and the victims of the quake. Then, join us to pray during our Missions Prayer Time on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in Room 1150.


• Give to the Haiti relief fund through one of two ways:
  1) Make your check payable to "Brentwood Baptist" with "Haiti" on the memo line and drop it off at the church offices.
  2) To make an online donation, click here. Through Baptist Global Response, one hundred percent of your donation will go directly to aid the victims of this tragedy.


• Sweet Sleep, one of our Hope for the World Missions Offering partners, is collecting blankets, mats, and more for thousands of displaced and newly orphaned children in Haiti. You can drop off your new or like-new donations at one of two locations:
  1) Brentwood Baptist, Connection Center | January 20 | 8:00 AM-8:00 PM
  2) Cool Springs Galleria (Sears Parking Lot)
  Wednesday, January 20 | 10:00 AM–7:00 PM


• To give to our Hope for the World Missions Offering, which supports ministries like Baptist Global Response, click here.


• Click here to see how Southern Baptists are set up to respond to these types of situations and stay up-to-date on relief team efforts in Haiti.

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