September 16, 2024
CLAXTON, Ga. — Worship, praise and prayer rang out as usual on a recent Sunday at Eastside Baptist Church in Claxton, but with a big difference. The nearly 40 people in attendance in the church sanctuary lifted their voices in their native language – Creole.
It was the first meeting of Eastside’s new Haitian ministry, and attendance was nearly double what was hoped for, says Freddy Gardner, associational missionary for the Tattnall-Evans Baptist Association.
Looking back at the process of getting the ministry started, Gardner clearly sees the Lord’s hand at work.
The association hosts a free medical clinic for those without insurance. About a year and a half ago, Gardner recalls, the clinic started serving more and more Haitian patients. Gardner realized that a way was needed to reach and help the large influx of Haitian immigrants in the Glenville and Claxton areas.
Lorna Bius, a Mission Georgia mobilizer, connected Gardner with Wilbert Michel, pastor of the Haitian congregation at First Baptist Jonesboro. Wilbert Michel and his wife Guccy began translating at the clinic for the Haitian immigrants.
Wilbert Michel, who came to the U.S. from Haiti in 1980, has a heart to reach his fellow Haitians for the Lord. He says that Mel Blackaby, pastor at FBC Jonesboro, empowers him to do just that. Wilbert Michel and FBC Jonesboro support a school and church in Haiti and a Haitian church in Chile.
“We’re so grateful for churches like First Baptist Jonesboro,” says Bius, “who support God’s work among the nations by hosting language churches. It gives the opportunity for the body of Christ in different languages to not only grow where they are, but also help new congregations in their shared language to begin in other places. That was the case with the Haitian church in Claxton. We connected leaders in Jonesboro with leaders in Claxton, and things started moving.”
Discussions began, accompanied by prayer, about how to meet the needs of the Haitian population. Over the course of the next year, Gardner says, the time never seemed quite right.
While the Lord prepared the ground, He also began providing the people.
In 2017, Eastside Pastor Matt Brady felt led to travel to Haiti on a mission trip, with the prospect of forming a long-term partnership in that country. When he returned, he felt that despite the “Lord tugging on his heart” to go to Haiti, a long-term partnership wasn’t right at that time.
But, in 2024, a Haitian gentleman named Lemec Fleurmont and his family began attending Eastside Baptist Church in Claxton. Wilbert Michel says Fleurmont had been in the U.S. for only about five or six months before attending Eastside.
Fleurmont spoke no English, only Creole. He brought other Haitians with him, few of whom spoke any English. Despite this, the Haitians participated actively in the church, even attending English-language Sunday School classes. In a conversation aided by Fleurmont’s 14-year-old daughter, Brady asked, “What can we do to minister to you, your family, and the Haitian community?”
“The greatest thing you could do,” replied Fleurmont, “is provide a way for us to worship in Creole.”
During their conversation, Brady learned that Fleurmont had been a pastor in Haiti and trained in a Baptist seminary there. Brady called Gardner and told him, “We have a pastor. What do you think about starting a Haitian ministry?” Gardner replied that the structure was already in place, they just needed a location.
Since Eastside had grown into holding its services at The ROC, its worship center, Brady offered Fleurmont the opportunity to host worship in Eastside’s sanctuary. The plan to have a Haitian ministry in Claxton came together.
Wilbert Michel met with Fleurmont before the start of the new ministry to discuss Lemec’s theology and background. Brady remembers Wilbert Michel being so impressed with Fleurmont, that he said, “If you had to choose between me and him, choose him. He has better credentials.”
That first service, Gardner says, was the result of collaboration between Eastside, FBC Jonesboro, the Tattnall-Evans Baptist Association, and the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. One of the keys to success in this case, Bius says, was making the connection between a need and a provider. “Mission Georgia often stands between needs and opportunities and connects the two,” Bius explains. “It’s exciting to see God at work through His people.”
Before the service, Wilbert Michel led an adult Sunday School class in Creole. The kids and youth attend English Sunday School classes. The worship music in the service and the sermon by Fleurmont were also in Creole.
The very Monday after the first service, Brady says, he encountered a group of Haitian immigrants in the grocery store. He greeted them in Creole, using the few words he had learned on his 2017 trip to Haiti. They were surprised to hear their own language. Brady gave one of the men Fleurmont's number and he called him on the spot, saying “My family needs to come and worship in your church!”
In November, to emphasize the fact that there are not two separate churches, but rather one church that ministers to two communities, Eastside is planning on having a bilingual joint service in English and Creole. Worship will be in Creole, and Fleurmont will preach the sermon, which will be translated into English.
The launch of the Haitian ministry in Claxton, according to Gardner, can be attributed to seeing a need, praying over it, and waiting on the Lord. “His timing is perfect,” says Gardner. “Right when we needed it, He dropped a pastor on us!”
