Bishop Baptist mission team to reach out to ravaged Caribbean nation

In its nearly 100-year existence, Bishop Baptist Church has been known for its local outreach with mission activities in the community.

But later this year, 18 members will embark upon a first for the church when they travel to earthquake-ravaged Haiti to offer aid in the form of medical help, construction and ministering.

"This will be our first international mission trip," said Bishop Baptist's pastor, the Rev. Eric Buffington, who added the mission team would be "in the field" Oct. 23-30. "Everybody's really excited because a lot of the folks who are going haven't been on a mission trip beyond our national borders, and some haven't been on a mission trip at all."

Buffington, who has served as the church's pastor for eight years, said the missionaries will travel to Haiti as part of the Southern Baptist Convention's sending agency and will offer their services in three different areas.

Recently, the church learned that the Georgia Baptist Convention will donate $25,000 to help cover the cost of air fare and shipping. This will allow the church to use more of its own funds for providing services and needs to the people of Haiti, Buffington said.

"We'll have several nurses and nurse-practitioners along, and we're also talking with a pediatrician about going, and we hope to be able to set up a medical clinic," he said. "We've also got seven guys who will be involved in construction projects, and we have another team who will work with children, so we'll be connecting with orphanages and displaced children's organizations."

Church members originally had planned a mission trip to Ecuador, but when the earthquake hit Haiti on Jan. 12, those plans were immediately altered.

"We're part of the Apalachee Baptist Association and we recently participated in a mission celebration, which gave us the original idea to go to Ecuador," Buffington said. "We had loosely planned to send 10 people there within the next year."

Buffington took part in a missionary trip to Haiti in 1997 and fell in love with the Caribbean country and its people.

"I spent about 10 days there, sharing the Gospel and learning about Haitian culture," he said. "When the earthquake hit, it hit me, too. It really touched my heart. That weekend, I preached a sermon about why disasters occur and what the Bible says about the way we should respond.

"At that point, we changed our plans and decided to go to Haiti.

"It's a great idea, to give in times of tragedy. It grew out of our awareness of this tragedy and our desire to help."

Churc

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