Welcome to IDES.org
The purpose of IDES is to bring glory to God by bringing help and hope to our hurting world. Among independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, the work of IDES is unique -- the one source our churches and missionaries consistently turn to for help. We welcome you to our web pages. Please visit the site often, get to know us, and partner with us in this great ministry of benevolent evangelism.
Haiti Earthquake: A Message from IDES’ Executive Director |
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We continue to get reliable information about the needs of our partners in Haiti. IDES is helping with the immediate response, and preparing for long-term involvement. As part of our immediate response, IDES has already sent emergency funding to about dozen different Haitian missions. These missions are providing water, food, shelter and medical aid. We are also beginning to receive more specific requests that total in the tens of thousands of dollars as our Christian partners give assistance to survivors of the earthquake and begin securing their structures. As reports from the field are received we will continue to post a summary of this information on our website.
Many are asking for practical ways in which they can help. Here are a few things you can do now. Opportunities for YOU1. Pray!Host a prayer meeting at your church for Haiti. Pray for the mission workers to have the physical strength to continue to help the hurting. Pray for avenues to open in order for food, medical and other supplies to be distributed to the people. Pray for our military personnel that are there to keep the peace and protect the innocent. Pray for the IDES’ personnel to have wisdom in how to prioritize the overwhelming needs for help.2. Financial Contributions.Collect a love offering at your church. Prayerfully consider your response, financially. Funding is one of the most needed things right now. IDES will be in need of funds to help the Haitian Brethren to rebuild their homes, churches and schools. You can donate online by clicking here or mail a check to IDES, P.O. Box 60, Kempton, IN 46049. Please write in the memo "Haiti Earthquake".3. Serve in Haiti.Joe Luttrell, our Disaster Relief Assistance Team coordinator is collecting prospective workers willing to go and help with relief efforts and rebuilding houses and churches. Depending on the response and availability, IDES will sponsor short-term trips to Haiti during 2010 and into 2011. If you are interested in going to Haiti you may email Joe at jluttrell@ides.org or call the office at 765-947-5100.4. Join IDES’ Food Packaging Events.These events will be scheduled throughout 2010. For more information you may contact Ryan Chapman at rchapman@ides.org.Involvement in Haiti is nothing new to IDES. Our history with Haiti goes back to the 1980's. We have been involved with several food distributions, hurricane relief, and various development projects. Frequently, we have assisted different mission organizations with shipping food and other goods into the country. We were assisting ministries in Haiti before the earthquake and we will continue to partner with them as long as we are needed. Rick Jett Executive Director |
IDES News Update 1:30PM - Monday, February 8, 2010 |
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While network news coverage of the situation in Haiti has begun to fade, the need has not. There is a consistent theme in the messages we are receiving from mission partners in Les Cayes, Jeremie, Gonnaives, and other cities and towns throughout Haiti. Large numbers of people have left the devastation of Port-au-Prince. They have returned to the villages where they grew up, or other towns and cities where they have family and friends.
The ability of those communities to absorb, shelter and care for these displaced multitudes is limited. We are partnering with multiple missions that are seeking to provide food and shelter for these evacuees. In most of these communities, there is a scarcity of food and other needed resources. Another consistent theme we are hearing is that of spiritual openness. Many of our mission partners are encountering opportunities for effective witness far greater than they have seen in recent years. Having faced the prospect of death so closely, and having suffered the loss of so many loved ones and neighbors; many Haitians from non-Christian or nominal Christian backgrounds are contemplating anew their own spiritual condition. Questions that were once pushed to the back of the mind are now front and center in the thoughts of many. One of the national evangelists with whom we work reports 11 baptisms this past Sunday alone! Please pray that God will continue to meet not just the physical, but also the spiritual needs of those who have suffered so much. He alone is able to turn this terrible disaster into an opportunity for blessing. |
Volunteers Needed 2/4/10 |
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In preparation for the first anniversary of the Pearlington Christian Church, we are requesting volunteers for a work week March 7th - 13th. Most of the work will be on the church building, but we would like to do a community outreach project as well. We need 10 - 12 more people for this week. If we can get 2 or 3 more skilled carpenters and 7 or 8 helpers, we should have the skills we need. Following the work project, on March 14th, we will have a special service commemorating the first anniversary of the Pearlington congregation. Cost for the week long project will be $150 per person, which will cover food, lodging and materials. Even if you are not able to join us for the work project, we would love to have as many as possible attend the 1st anniversary celebration. You will need to make your own arrangements for lodging if you are not a part of the work team. If you are interested in this project, please contact Ryan Chapman at rchapman@ides.org Thanks, and we hope to see you in Pearlington!! -- |
IDES News Update 4:00PM - Tuesday, January 26, 2010 |
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The numbers are astounding: 200,000 fatalities; 200,000 more injured; 1,000,000 left homeless. 750,000 are living in makeshift camps in and around Port-au-Prince, while nearly 250,000 have already fled to other areas throughout Haiti. It is estimated that even with international assistance, it will take 5 to 10 years for Haiti to rebuild.
IDES continues to develop partnerships with missionaries, national evangelists, orphanages, and other ministries within the Christian Church / Church of Christ brotherhood to bring assistance where it is urgently needed. In the first two weeks of the disaster, we released emergency response funds to 13 partner missions on the front lines of the relief effort. This weekend the IDES board approved the first round of longer range projects aimed at caring for the ongoing needs of survivors, bringing additional food into the country, deploying an assessment team, and helping our mission partners to restore their properties to operating condition. The IRS announced on Monday a new law that allows Haiti earthquake-relief contributions to qualify for immediate income-tax relief. Taxpayers who itemize their deductions, and make a cash gift (as opposed to a gift of property) to a qualified charity between January 11, 2010 and March 1, 2010, may elect to deduct their contribution on their 2009 income-tax return, or their 2010 return. For more information go to www.irs.gov and search for "Haiti Relief". If you or your church would like to make a donation for the people of Haiti you can online by clicking here. 100% of your donation will go to help the people of Haiti. If you would like to send a check or money order you can send it to IDES:Haiti Earthquake PO BOX 60 Kempton, IN 46049 Important Haiti Links: Click here to view updates on Haiti and how you can get involved. Click here to read prayer requests from Haiti. Click here to print out a flyer for your church or small group. Click here to read status updates on our missionaries on the field. |
IDES is helping in Haiti 1/21/2010 |
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As of Thursday, January 21 IDES Has Released Emergency Disaster Response Funds to the Following
Christian Church / Church of Christ MissionsMeeting Urgent Needs in Haiti:
Blessing Hearts International / Berea Children’s Home
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Haiti Update 1/21/2010 |
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News Synopsis 3:30 PM - Thursday, January 21, 2010Officials now estimate the number of earthquake related deaths could be as high as 200,000. The Haitian government reports that 80,000 bodies have been buried in mass graves.Although medical care is once again being provided at improvised hospitals and clinics throughout the disaster zone, many report a backlog of patients awaiting treatment. In some cases the wait is estimated to be over a week. Critical medical supplies remain in short supply. The US Navy hospital ship Comfort is anchored just off Haiti's coast, and is caring for many critically injured patients who have been airlifted aboard its decks. The Comfort adds 12 operating rooms, and 1,000 hospital beds to the relief effort. There is good news to report on the transportation front. 120 to 140 relief flights a day are now able to land at the Port-au-Prince airport. Alternative airfields for bringing in relief supplies have also been commissioned in Jacmel, Haiti; and across the border in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, part of the Port-au-Prince harbor facility has been reopened to ships carrying relief supplies. Two million people have seen their homes destroyed or severely damaged. Public parks and other open tracts of land are overrun with survivors setting up improvised shelters. There is an urgent need for proper sanitation in such settings. Several of our partner missions are accommodating large numbers of displaced persons in their churches, schools, and other facilities. As of today, IDES has released emergency response funds to 13 Christian Church / Church of Christ missions in Haiti, and we have received our first round of project proposals focusing on the longer-term needs. If you or your church would like to make a donation for the people of Haiti you can online by clicking here. 100% of your donation will go to help the people of Haiti. If you would like to send a check or money order you can send it to IDES:Haiti Earthquake PO BOX 60 Kempton, IN 46049 Important Haiti Links: Click here to view updates on Haiti and how you can get involved. Click here to read prayer requests from Haiti. Click here to print out a flyer for your church or small group. Click here to read status updates on our missionaries on the field. Click here to read past updates on our Haiti relief. |
Haiti Update 1/19/2010 |
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IDES News:On Tuesday, January 19 IDES will release emergency response funds to at least five additional mission partners in Haiti. (This is in addition to the five missions which received funds last week.) The supplies purchased with these funds will be distributed through Christian Church / Church of Christ missionaries and Haitian church leaders.General News:Over the weekend, relief supplies from 30 donor nations began arriving in larger quantity at the Port-au-Prince airport. Distribution from the airport to the affected areas is still difficult. Reports of civil unrest have slowed some efforts to bring food, water, and other urgently needed supplies to the quake survivors. The US military and other international peace keepers are aiding in the distribution effort.The US military hopes to have the seaport functioning at a basic level within three days. This will greatly improve the ability to bring relief supplies into the country. Estimates of the number killed in the quake vary widely, but a growing consensus puts the number at around 140,000, with tens of thousands more still unaccounted for. Time is running out for survivors still trapped amid the rubble. Those extricated in recent days have often faced a second life-threatening battle with gangrene and sepsis from the wounds they have sustained, and have gone untreated until they could be rescued. If you or your church would like to make a donation for the people of Haiti you can online by clicking here. 100% of your donation will go to help the people of Haiti. If you would like to send a check or money order you can send it to IDES:Haiti Earthquake PO BOX 60 Kempton, IN 46049 Important Haiti Links: Click here to view updates on Haiti and how you can get involved. Click here to read prayer requests from Haiti. Click here to print out a flyer for your church or small group. |
Haiti Needs Our Help |
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